Weekend Top Five-8/23/08

What a weekend. We were originally supposed to go to Wisconsin this weekend for our annual trip to see my friend Beth and her two boys, Alex and Dylan. With gas prices what they are and a van that has questionable reliability, we figured a smaller trip would more appropriate. But I still wanted to do one more special thing with the boys before the summer was over.

So although it was difficult to pinpoint five highlights, here they are:

5. The trip itself: Not necessarily a "highlight" but definitely memorable. A normally three hour trip, extended closer to about six. Within the trip, a stop at the outlet mall in Indiana with a temp reading 92 degrees outside and not a single "bargain" to be had, Noah's first bloody nose right after Aaron finally falling asleep for a nap, who of course was no longer, thanks to Steve freaking out a little over what to do about all the blood, picking the different route to getting to the hotel and taking a side trip through the entrance to O'Hare including extra tolls of 80 cents apiece, and the final straw, getting to check in to find out that our reservation DIDN'T include the water park on site and it would be another $70. After throwing a minor temper tantrum in the lobby, I was able to finally able to get them to hand over the wristbands at no additional cost.

4. After finally getting there and eating dinner, we hit the water park in the hotel.

Even though going down the slide was fun for everyone...

Noah













Aaron

















Apparently it's more fun to see how many cousins can RAM into each other at the bottom before a lifeguard catches you and brings an end to the fun

Kira, Odin, Noah


















Noah also loved the huge tube slide




















and EVERYONE loved the lazy river










except for maybe Cousin Ronin, who had better things to do...
















3. My brother and sister in law are int the VERY beginning of the process of building a new house so another highlight of the weekend was to visit the dirt. This was the most talked about activity for the rest of the day. The land has two tiers and a big crevice splitting down the middle. After throwing rocks over the "canyon" for awhile, the fun game was to run and jump over the crevice.














2. How convenient that there is an ice cream place right near where the new house will be that NEEDED to be tested. (It passed the test)

Cousins Kira, Aaron, Noah, Cousins Odin













Look...a picture of mommy...wow















1. Time with family: My sister in law and I got some "quality" time in the hot tub in the pool after the kids were in bed with the daddies in our rooms and the kids got along so well the entire time.

Why is it that my oldest seems to enjoy being a "big brother" to other kids more than to his own little brother?"

Noah and Cousin Ronin


























And Aaron liked having the chance to act like one

Ronin and Aaron












So we were all sad when the fun had to come to an end after a brief dinner at our favorite restaurant (Noodles) but I am in great hope that this memory of the last hurrah of summer will carry into the stressful first weeks of school as we settle into routines of rushing around and figuring out a new pattern of life for awhile.

As always, I hope you will share with me your top five from the weekend.

Happy Monday.