End of Summer celebration

For the last day of Summer (for our kids at least) the cousins spent the day at WOF and OOF.

We were going to leave early as Ethan and Raegan had a back to school night where they go see their classroom but they decided they wanted to finish the day out with their cousins instead!

We didn't get too many pictures of the older ones as they were off on their own but this was the whole group. And with that, summer was over! It just goes by way too quickly...especially since it's my favorite time of the year!

Seventh grade locker

I don't have a girl that wants to put wallpaper all over her locker (thank goodness) she just likes the basics so makes it pretty easy for me! 

Ethan was getting a little bored with all the sitting around so decided it was a good time for some push ups.

All done and all ready for school.

Trey didn't even want to check out his locker this year till the first day of school!

Salty Dog/Pup triathlon 2013

Back in August we went to Hutchinson for the Salty Dog/ Pup triathlons. Last year Avery inspired me to try my first triathlon. I have done duathlons (run, bike, run) but throw the swimming part in and that quickly became a big challenge to me. I am not a swimmer.at.all! 

I practiced over the summer by swimming laps at the pool before collapsing in a chair for the rest of the day! The swim portion was done in a pool which was the only reason i didn't drown!

Avery participated in the pup triathlon again this year. She is a strong swimmer unlike her mom!

so happy to be done with this part!

on to the bike portion...it was a loop course which we had to loop 5 times. If you missed a loop or miscounted you were disqualified so i was worried about that...the solution was putting 5 pieces of tape on my gears and i just took one off each loop. You would think it wouldn't be hard to keep track of which loop you were on but you would be surprised!

Avery finishing the bike portion. Her goal this year was to remember to put her pants on before the bike...she cracks me up! She remembered her pants! Mission accomplished Avery!

Avery in transition...

Me finishing up the bike...when John went to get my bike later my tire was obliterated so i am really happy that i even finished the bike portion! I had no idea there was anything wrong with my tire!

Avery coming in to the finish!

Me coming in to the finish...

I love this picture because my Mom is there in the red cheering me on and my Dad is back behind her! I know she would be at all of my races if she could! Love my supportive parents!

Thank you Avery for inspiring me to complete this! I don't know if i will be doing another one anytime soon but it is one thing i can check off the bucket list!

Another season at the parks

We bought season passes to WOF/OOF this past summer again. We decided to buy the platinum passes this time because it got us in to all Cedar Fair Parks which is where we went on vacation so it was well worth the money. We spent more days at OOF this year than we have in years past, mostly because as the youngest two have gotten older it has gotten soo much easier!

The kids loved the kayaking!

Ethan handled his kayak like a pro

Trying to get a decent picture of all 4 at the same time is quite the challenge these days!

Raegan wanted a picture of Mommy and her favorite ride...i love the Prowler!

Oh wait...did i get 4 smiles???

Raegan decided to try this ride this year...let's just say it didn't go very well and she cried the whole time. But, she did it! Probably never again though! 

We had some great times! The part i like the most about having season passes is being able to just go for a few hours at a time and when we are tired, hot or hungry we can leave and not feel like we are wasting money!

Our roller coaster of a vacation

This year we decided to do something a little different than we normally do for vacation so we threw out the idea of an amusement park vacation to our kids and they were very excited about the idea so we decided to go for it! I like to relax on vacation and spend time at the beach, but i knew no matter how exhausted we would all get this would be a memorable vacation! When your oldest is in high school and you realize just how short the years are left with him at home you certainly think about making memory's a little more each day!

We loaded up the mini van and took off to Sandusky, Ohio to Cedar Point! We drove through the night (stopping for a couple hour nap part way through the night) and were able to check into our hotel when we got to Sandusky mid morning. 

After we got settled and cleaned up a bit we were off to the park!

Our crew ready to take on roller coasters for 5 days...

The sky cars were a lifesaver and a nice relaxing way to get to different ends of the park. Our little #4 was terrified to get on the first time as she has a definite fear of heights but after the first ride she cautiously enjoyed all the rest!

The rides by the water were awesome!

riding the oldest coaster!

I have gone to this park before almost 15 years ago...i waited in all of the lines for hours...after each wait i would just walk right across and exit the ride...i was so sick that time and felt completely miserable to be honest...i was in my first trimester pregnant with Trey! I was excited to actually be able to ride these crazy coasters this time!! I didn't even have to wait in line for hours either...We took advantage of rider swap so john and the oldest kids would wait in line, i would take the little ones to smaller rides and then John would text me when he was nearing the front and as soon as they got off the ride i had a pass that i gave them and i hopped on the next ride with someone from our group riding again with me! It was perfect!

One of the evenings we went out with a couple of friends of John's from his growing up years. They live in Ohio and made the drive to come eat dinner with is. We had a nice evening hanging out and they got to catch up!

The youngest two were excited that Snoopy lives in Ohio too!

Raegan couldn't ride this ride and we were waiting for the others to get through a lengthy ride. She stood here and opened the gate for all the people and had more fun doing that than anything else she did that day i'm pretty sure!

This ride (The Top Thrill Dragster) was R.I.D.I.C.U.L.O.U.S. It launches you and accelerates to 120 mph in 3.8 seconds and shoots you up 420 feet straight up and then back down the other side. I don't think Avery would care if i said she was in tears before they took off the first time! Not gonna lie, i was terrified too!!

We wore the kids plain out! We wore ourselves out!! We spent 3 days at Cedar Point. We stayed till the park shut down those days too! Our feet were killing us every night...we would go through a drive through, inhail some food and go crash at our hotel!

We took a little break one afternoon and went out to the beach (there is an exit right out to the beach) took our shoes off for awhile and played in the sand a bit.

After our 3 days at Cedar Point we got back on the road to Kings Island. We spent a day and half at this park. It was a very nice park!

It's Planet Snoopy was amazing! Raegan loved the Boo Blaster ride! She also rode a smaller version of the Patriot (terrified and crying) but she did it. She is so brave and will ride them and i wish we had video of her while riding them...it's fear and fun all wrapped up and her emotions are all over the place! She has 3 thrill seeking siblings and she is trying her darndest to keep up!

This was Avery and i after one of the last rides we rode on our last night...

it was crazy...

When we left the last night i think we were all beyond exhausted and were happy to done but sad at the same time! It was a memorable vacation and hearing the kids talk about it makes me so glad that we did a vacation like this...no matter how tiring it was!