Sunday, August 24, 2008

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.

14 comments:

Dad of Divas said...

Looks like you all had a blast! Glad it was a safe and fun trip! When will your bro's house be complete?

Melissa said...

Looks like a fun hotel! Glad you guys had a good time. Enjoy the rest of your summer.

Toni said...

Lazy rivers are da bomb!

Courtney said...

Looks fun. Our weekend was a work one, but we got the outside totally weeded and the ground dug up so it will be easier for planting and mulching in the spring. That was the highlight of my weekend.

Whitney said...

Yay! Oh it looks so much fun! Glad you got out and had a good trip...

Laura Paxton said...

Sounds like a great weekend...especially fun with water AND dirt!

KC said...

Glad you were able to get out and have some fun before summer ended.. that warter park looks wonderful.. but how dumb that you have to pay extra for the ONSITE water park.. are they crazy.. Glad you were able to get out of that.. what were they thinking..

MomOf4 said...

What an awesome weekend! I love the water park pictures - good for you for getting the tickets thown in with the hotel cost as expected!!

Kila said...

Looks like fun!

We enjoyed waterparks also, at Mt. Olympus in Wisconsin Dells, Saturday and Sunday. Will share photos when I get a chance. At work now, and busy evening again tonight!

Glad you had fun :)

Deb said...

Glad everyone had a great time - looks like a fun weekend! :)

Mom Knows Everything said...

What a fun weekend!!! I spent my weekend getting my well fixed and then catching up on laundry.

Kailani said...

Love those water fun photos! That's what summer is all about!

Kailani
An Island Life

Shannon @ Gabi's World said...

You guys always have so much fun! I have one of my laptops back! If you can send me what you want for your page, I'll get to working on it. It's been so long that I have long forgot!

Anonymous said...

That looks like so much fun and and relaxing. Love weekends like that