No, we didn’t have some special frigid winter access, this is from August!

Love this place and couldn’t wait to share it with the whole family (our first time all here together)

Mari & Ezra going on the Windseeker, I can’t do “swing” things anymore and this is like a swing 30 stories high-no thanks!  But they loved it.

Tobin wanted me to ride the little rides with him, I don’t really care for these anymore but for him & that sweet smile, I’ll suffer

There were virtually no lines, but the sad thing — I was getting headaches during the roller coaster rides, this is new for me and made me not want to ride as many times as we could have.  So, we felt like we had enough before it closed (also not like me at all), and got some swimming in at the hotel water park that night.

We did some more water park in the morning and then headed out.

The silliness . . . we stopped at a little animal park, cheese at it’s best!  They gave us a bag of feed and sent us out back into a gravel, fenced in parking lot looking thing–oh, and warned us that the deer would try to steal the bags;)

Looking for more

And, then Tobin started running and they started chasing

So funny, Tobin was cracking up laughing

Love these creatures, kept adjusting my angle to get rid of the fencing & buildings

This sweet little thing was making us laugh too, he was the tiniest goat

and he kept picking fights with everyone

they had a stocked fish pond that you could fish in too

Stopping for ice cream

This guy was waiting for us at the table

This summer the boys got introduced to Gaelic (or Irish) football, friends from the boys soccer team are very Irish and do all things Irish and the dad decided to put a clinic and mini league together.  The boys learned the very interesting rules quickly and had a lot of fun.  Since we met on Sunday’s from 4-6, the mom’s coordinated themed dinner potlucks.  It was really HOT, so the kids cooled off in the park spray park and then had dinner. It was great fun:)

 

Their youngest daughter, so sweet

Marian brought her balloons one day and made them for everyone.

Suddenly I realized Marian was over 11 years old and really couldn’t do anything for herself in the kitchen, cookies seemed in order.  The boys helped, and the 3 of them basically did it by themselves.

Tobin was an excellent stirrer

And, Ezra, very precise in his measuring

And, hmmm, as I’m looking at these pictures I’m wondering what Marian actually did?  Excellent supervisor!

 

We decided a couple of years ago to try our family Christmas in August, bounce house, sprinklers, warm weather — it wasn’t my first choice but I must admit, it’s so much more fun than trying to manage so many people cooped up in December when everything else is stressful.  So, it is now tradition:)

My sisters & dad are crazy about the Christmas Vacation movie and are often quoting from it . . .

Tara brought games this year

And, we all gathered for present opening

So, funny story, at our Mom Weekend back in May, we went to a garage sale and this woman kept yelling inside to her mother to ask her what price she wanted to charge, “Mooothherrr”, loud and pretty obnoxious.  We got into the car and were laughing and started using it for mom–somehow it stuck so Trish or Tara got her a t-shirt;)

 Ezra got a slack line so everyone was trying that out (with only 1 injury)

Mom’s garden was blooming beautifully

And, we got to use our tent again (easier than being inside with Tara’s 2 dogs and fighting for beds!)