Other Summer fun

Our vacation wasn't the only fun we had this summer. Here are a few of the highlights.

Swimming lessons. Adam, Lizzy and Ben took lessons this summer. They all did great. Anna and Jake hung out with me on the side watching the other kids (thus the picture of Anna sticking out her tongue; don't you just love her freckles?) We also enjoyed a few evening trips to the pool with Greg. The pool we have is great with waterslides and a lazy river. The kids always love a trip to the pool.

I convinced Greg to take the day off for his birthday this year. We spent the day at Adventureland. It was a lot of fun. It is a smaller amusement park but the lines were practically non-exisitant and all the kids could go on so many rides. It was a great day, with a funnel cake serving as Greg's cake that day (I actually made him one a few days later, but the funnel cake was on his actual birthday).

We also had box seats at an Iowa Cubs game thanks to John Deere. We all enjoyed that way more than we thought we would. We did feel rather out of place in the box seats, but it was still awesome. Too bad the game went on into th 14th inning. We left after about the 11th or 12th and caught the rest of the game on the radio.

The Omaha Zoo was a fun trip too. We are not very smart though and went the same weekend as the NCAA world series for baseball so traffic and parking was insane (the zoo is right next to Rosenblatt stadium), hotels were overpriced and the heat was oppressive. Oh well, we bought a season pass and will be going back.

Another fun event was the National Balloon Classic in Indianola, IA. We have never been to see any hot air balloon stuff so it was great fun for all of us. If you live in Iowa this is a must do one summer. It is really cheap to get in too. It was a lot of fun.

The Iowa State Fair kept us busy one day. Again thanks to John Deere for footing the bill and even giving us meal tickets and ride tickets. I don't think we would have gone if they hadn't paid for all of us. We are glad we got to go, but I don't think this is going to be a yearly tradition. We would much rather go to Adventureland:) for the money. But, everyone must see a butter sculpture at least once in their life right? That is not be outdone by the snake house that had some really cool (but creepy snakes). Greg insisted we pay to have our family picture taken with a 13 foot burmese python. I said I would do it as long as he held the head. How's that for a memory?! Another crazy thing was feeding the camel at the petting zoo. Can you say slimy and GROSS?!

How was your summer? I hope it was as filled with fun as ours was. Here's to a fun fall!

Vacation Days 8, 9, and 10

Day 8 is easy. We just drove from Palmyra, New York to Port Clinton, OH. We stayed in Port Clinton in preparation for our last hurrah, Day 9.

ALL of Day 9 was spent at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Ohio. I do mean all day. We arrived at the park even before it opened and were there until the Park closed at 10 PM. We spent a lot of the day split in two different groups, with the makeup of the groups changing throughout the day. Adam was tall enough to go on all the rides, Lizzy and Anna could go on most of the rides, then Ben could go on a few less, and Jacob even fewer, but Jake was tall enough to go on most anything for little guys.

Both Adam and Lizzy are roller coaster hounds and that is how they wanted to spend all of their time. Adam may have only been on one ride that wasn't a roller coaster and it was a water ride to cool off a little. (It was crazy hot so I totally understand that!) Cedar Point has more roller coasters than any other park in the world. That was a big draw for the kids.

Favorites at Cedar Point:

Anna and Lizzy: The Millenium Force; From the Cedar point website:

It's a coaster so big and tall, we had to coin a new name for this type of steel scream machine - the Giga Coaster.

Millennium Force is the park's star attraction, standing 310 feet above the Earth. It broke 10 world records when it opened in 2000 and continues to deliver ultimate thrills to those who challenge it.

Dive to the ground at an 80-degree angle and reach speeds of 93 mph during your two-minute journey.

If you want to see a video of this ride go here and click on the video tab

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/coasters/millennium_force/index.cfm

That first hill is so steep and so high you feel like you might fall out!

Adam and Greg: Their favorite was this amazing, like no other, roller coaster called the Top Thrill Dragster. Earlier in the day they waited in line almost 2 hours only to have it break down when they were the next in line to get on. They closed down the ride and devastated Adam. We tried again as it was quickly approaching closing. They got on at 9:57 or something insane like that. Adam said it was totally worth it and it is his favorite of any coasters he has ever been on. Greg loved this one too, but says the superman ride at Six Flags in Chicago where you are like strapped in like you are laying on your belly and "fly" under the track is close with this one for his all time favorite.

The Dragster stands at a whopping 420 feet tall and goes from 0 to 120 MPH in less than 4 seconds. The actual ride only lasts about 17 seconds. It was amazing. You can watch a video here: http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/coasters/top_thrill_dragster/index.cfm

This ride is all about speed. It is just crazy! You should try it some time (even though I didn't :))

Ben: Ben enjoyed going on some of the younger rides. He and Liz are almost exactly the same height but he does not share her thirst for adventure and thrills. He enjoyed the Iron Dragon, a much smaller, more tame roller coaster. His favorite though was the Scrambler. We went on that several times. Since Greg does not tolerate spinning rides well, every time one of the kids went on this ride I went with them. It has several different arms with a car attached at the end of each arm and it spins around and you get squished against the people you are with. Let me rephrase that, I got squished! Jake was tall enough that he could come on it as long as he had an adult with him so the three of us rode this ride several times. The girls also really liked this ride.

Tammy: I loved spending time with all the different kids during the day. Our family is really at this great stage right now. There was something that made everyone really enjoy the day. I didn't see a lot of Greg as we were usually split, but that's OK. If I had to pick a favorite ride it would probably be the Raptor, a roller coaster that rides under the track and your feet hang down. I love those. The Millenium Force was a bit intense for me. I know, I am not the girl I once was.

Jacob: Jake was pretty much happy with any ride, but he loves the Frog Hopper rides that just go up and down. He was delightful to spend time with and the kids rides you didn't even have to wait so he was able to go on ride after ride. He even loved the two kid coasters and would always be the littlest guy on there. He is going to be a thrill seeker like Adam and Lizzy.

Here are some of the very few pics we took at Cedar Point:

One last thing that is cool about Cedar Point is that it is on a peninsula that juts out into Lake Erie. On many of the rides that are high you can see the Lake and the Beaches. The kids and I even saw some people Parasailing when we went on the Ferris Wheel. It really is an awesome place. We totally loved it. The kids are still talking about when we can go back. You should go there too!

Day 10 was the long drive back home. We were all exhausted from the day before so in some ways we were happy to sit in the car and do nothing, but we were all happy when we got home. We hope you had as wonderful a vacation as we did. I can't wait for next summer!

P.S. If you haven't watched the video of Jacob bowling on Day 7 you must go back and watch it. It is so fun.

Vacation Day 7-- The Hill Cumorah, the Grandin Building, and the Pageant

The weather had been so hot we decided to get up early again the next morning to hike the short distance up the Hill Cumorah before we roasted. The Hill Cumorah is where an ancient prophet (Moroni) from the Americas buried an ancient record which had been written on golden plates. This record would later be given to Joseph Smith, which the Lord helped him translate into the Book of Mormon, which stands as another witness and testament of Jesus Christ, along with the Bible.

It was a lovely, short hike through the woods and up a hill. What was so enjoyable about this was that the cast for the Hill Cumorah Pagaent, a pagaent all about the Book of Mormon, were practicing that morning. Although we were not allowed to go past a certain point down the other side of the hill, from the top we could see quite well and were very close to some of the actors. I was once again moved by the sacrifices people make to contribute to the building up of the kingdom. These actors are all volunteers who give 3 weeks of their summer to learn the show and perform it for a week. They are families of all shapes and sizes, including little children. This is what they are doing for their summer vacation. Why you ask? It is because they believe in it. They love the Book of Mormon. They want to share it with others so they give of their time and talents. Seeing them there in their normal clothes practicing already that morning was just so moving to me. What a lesson for the children and teenagers in the show; some things are worth sacrificing a lot for. I think I enjoyed this moment on the hill even more than the pagaent itself.

Next we went on to the Grandin building where the Book of Mormon was first published. This was one of our favorite places. Surprisingly we were the only ones in our group on the tour. The Sister Missionary quickly learned all of the kids names and would ask them questions by name. she also geared her remarks toward how the Book of Mormon helps families. She was awesome! She helped us feel the Spirit and once again our hearts swelled with gratitude that we have this book, that we can find answers in this book to life's toughest questions, that we can come to know Jesus Christ better by reading this book, that we can strengthen our families through reading this book. So many miracles happened for it to be published. The Lord wanted this book published!

Then, once again we found ourselves looking for something to do. This time we decided to go bowling. Oh man, it was so fun! I think Anna was the only one who had ever been bowling (she had chosen to do that on of here dates with us) so it was a new experience for the kids. Fortunately for all of us they had gutter blockers so none of us could get a gutter ball. It was so funny to watch the kids different approaches. Jacob was the most enjoyable to watch because he was so little. Adam would put the ball in his hands, then he would just run right up and throw it down the lane. I told Greg he is going to be the kind of kid who just takes life by the horns.

There is nothing like watching a spunky two year old bowl to make you smile. It was so much fun!

Finally we are to the event which caused us to plan this trip at this particular time, The Hill Cumorah Pagaent. I am the only one in the family who had seen the pagaent before so everyone was really anticipating it. We were sad when it had started raining in the afternoon, but it did clear up and even cooled things down a bit (even if it was muddy) by the time the pagaent started. It was also our good fortune to get front row seats. Earlier that morning when we were at the hill we noticed some people had already started saving seats so we thought it was worth a try, so we took our swimming towels out of the car and draped across 7 seats in the front row. They were still there when we arrived so front row seats we had!

We arrived an hour or so before the show started, so the kids had some time to run around and meet some of the actors. They especially liked chatting with the "bad guys". Here's one with the kids and "King Noah".

But they also would talk to some of the good guys - Moroni and Joseph Smith

And, gratefully, they would even talk to each other. Our "twins" Lizzy & Ben. (They are almost exactly the same height now and people often think they're twins).

The show was impressive - especially the special effects. The stage is enormous and complete with large waterfalls, ancient temples, fire, lightning storms (with very realistic lightning and rain), earthquakes, and so on. Many of the significant stories from the Book of Mormon are retold in the pageant through a cast of several hundred actors. The story moves pretty fast - we wondered if it would be confusing for someone if they weren't familiar with the Book of Mormon -but since the stories were familiar to us we were able to follow the action fairly well. The kids really enjoyed it a lot. It was a fun evening and we're grateful to the many people that worked to put that on for us. We did miss the intimacy of the Nauvoo Pagaent. The Hill Cumorah pagaent was much more fast paced and doesn't follow one or two characters throughout (which helps you feel attached to them). It is definitely a big and bold and flashy, which was surprising to me. Things had changed a lot since I had last seen it. We are glad we went though.

House before and after

Well our house is done. It has been done almost two weeks now. We love it. We really liked the company who did it. It makes our house seem more modern. What do you think?

Here is the Before:

And the After: