Throwback

To the Monday before school started. When we claimed almost victory to our extensive summer bucket list with our annual trip to the where-we-used-to-live parks. We took our cousins with us this time!

Leftovers on the bucket list included visiting a beach, camping out, and going ice skating. But, really, been there done that so no big deal!

Conjugations.

Over a bottle of wine, my girlfriend and I were discussing our woes with the current 4th grade homework in which the students are asked to select “who” or “whom” to appropriately fill in the blanks on a worksheet. I said that if you aren’t Shakespeare you have no business saying “whom” in any instance as it seems to be completely outdated as well as completely confusing and unnecessary to teach. We then shifted our conversation to tricky verb conjugations, at which point I said the words “drink,” “drank” and “drunk” trip me up every time. With that, Camryn—who was playing with her jewelry in what seemed like another dimension yet not more than five feet away— said, “My mom drank too much wine and is drunk, so she should not drive home.” Bam. Conjugated. Give that girl a free pass to fourth grade. And a platform to speak on! Proud mom moment? Eh...

School work

Camryn brought home her first assignment on Monday. The instructions were to "trace, write, read, and color." This was clearly left up to interpretation as this is her finished product:

I asked her why she didn't write the word "red" on the line below her traced words, and she exclaimed, "OHHHHHHH! I thought we were supposed to write our favorite letters..." Hilarious because after looking back at her work, it appears that her favorite letters are "S, R, M" and a series of hieroglyphics. We practiced this worksheet several times after school, and this is what came home the next night:

Nailed it!
This girl is ready to take on the world!

Mason turned eight...

... And had a lot of fun celebrating!

{Mason had ALL of his cousins around for his party!}

{He snagged lots of baseball paraphernalia, among other good loot!}

{Let the fun begin! Mason wanted a slip and slide and water balloons for party entertainment, and we did not disappoint! What started out as an eight cousin party morphed into a 20+ neighborhood kiddo celebration! Tons of fun!}

{His actual birthday was Monday when he got to open gifts from us. Headband and "sleeve" pictured above. He also got a new PS4 baseball game. Mason told us this was his best birthday ever. I love this kid’s excitement and appreciation!}

{The traditional cupcake cake disguised as a baseball. Just when I think that I am running out of ways to dress up the cupcake I go and surprise myself! #9 represents Mason’s current baseball number and his favorite player of the week: Javy Baez.}
Happy birthday, buddy!!

Let’s do this.

And they’re off! Welcome to fourth, third, and kindergarten my little nuggets. Thank goodness school started today because I was beginning to believe those kids were overstaying their welcome. Looking forward to my quiet house. And looking even more forward to hearing their loud voices tell me all about their first day! 

At it again.

Because it’s been about three weeks since the last season ended, so why not get the ball rolling again?! Mason is thrilled to be playing for the Cubs this season, was drafted in the first round, and is playing with Baez’s number. Sadly, his team looks more like the ‘80s Cubs than the current Cubs. Happily, this season will be over next month. Go, Cubs. Go! 

For the Sake of Nostalgia

Growing up, my grandparents would take all of the grandkids on a quick summer vacation to a local Midwest destination. And this summer, my mom and I decided the next generation was old enough to make some of the same memories. 

Topping our list of favorite childhood vacations was the overnight we would spend at Chestnut Mountain in Galena. So the other day we packed up all the grandkids and my brother, squeezed into my van, and made the three hour journey to the state border to share with the kids some of our favorite memories while creating new ones along the way. 

Galena is a beautiful river town filled with shops and restaurants. Neither of which we saw, as we were focused on going down the Alpine Slide at the ski resort 15 minutes from town. It is--in its simplest form--an incredibly long sled ride on a track. It’s fast. And it’s fun! 

{The line of people waiting to go down the slide was much longer than I remember; however, by the end of the day we had the slide all to ourselves. My brother and I timed it: 15 minutes round trip from the time you start the slide to the time the ski lift drops you back off at the top of the "mountain."}

{We even got my mom to go down the slide. Once. She was much more poky than I remember her being when I was a child!}

{I did say that the sled you sit on goes fast. But it does come with a brake. Mason learned about 8 seconds in to his first run that he should follow the signs that say "slow," and perhaps pull back on the speed around the sharp curves. Lesson learned. Incident report filed. Skin will grow back.}

{Just as fun as the speedy ride down was the leisurely lift back. Glad we were all able to hop on and off the lift without any casualties. And by the end of the night, the three youngest grandkids were riding without any adult supervision! Maybe the best part of the lift was when the boys spotted a rogue flip flop 20 feet below us, and I had Mason convinced it was a rock shaped like a flip flop. You know, because most rocks come with an Old Navy print on them. Oh, Mason.}

{Camryn had to share a sled with me because of height requirements, but by the end of the night she was feeling brave enough to control the brake. Which gave me time to capture this. Beautiful!}

{After the sled run closed, we headed inside for a dip in the pool. The kids loved the changing lights in the water!}

The next morning we grabbed breakfast before checking out of the hotel and heading downtown for a quick stop at Grant Park where there were several historic cannons placed around the grounds for the kids to look at (but, let’s be honest, what they actually did was climb on them). 

And then back to home a few detours and a dirt road later. To say the kids loved this quick trip would be an understatement. Plans for next year’s overnight are already in the works! 

*Not pictured: The hotel room, which the kids believed to be bigger than our house. It wasn’t, but it did have more beds than we had people. So kind of big! 

Summer Vacation. Day 5.

Back in the USA and on our way to Pittsburgh to catch the Cubs at PNC Park! We arrived mid-afternoon to our hotel, which was very conveniently located directly across the street from the ball field. With not much time to spend exploring the city, we picked one quick activity to do before hitting up batting practice (pun intended). 

The Duquesne Incline is a piece of Pittsburgh history used to transport goods up a hill outside of the city. It was a little more than a mile walk from our hotel, and we booked it there and back knowing we had two hours before the stadium opened. Thankfully Pittsburgh is a very pedestrian friendly city, so we were able to easily cross over two bridges before arriving at our destination. 

{The view was amazing! We counted more than 20 bridges crossing the rivers.}

Fifteen minutes later we were back en route to PNC Park. I have to hand it to the kids. They were absolute troopers as we fast-walked back and forth across the city. No complaints by anyone!

We arrived back at the park with time to spare as we waited in line with a slew of Cubs fans for the gates to open. 

{We headed straight over to right field for a chance to catch some balls during the Cubs’ batting practice. And, wouldn’t you know, I was the only one to catch a ball. Bare handed even!}

Then off to find our seats. Fourth row from the field in shallow right. Perfect! The kids hugged the wall for the rest of the warm-ups hoping for an autograph, and they got it! Jason Heyward signed a ball for each of the boys! 

We had a great time! Lots of food, foul balls, and fun for this group! Getting the W at the end of the night was the icing on the cake! And Camryn can now say she has attended her first Cubs game... several hours away from the home field, no less! 

Summer Vacation. Day 4.

We took a break from the Falls to spend the day at the waterpark located in our hotel. Of course the kids loved it! And what I believe to have been the best part was that Caleb and I were able to station ourselves in a central location and enjoy drinks while the kids entertained themselves. As a parent, I have waited nearly 10 years for this day! 

Camryn spent the first hour getting her feet wet in the little kid splash area and testing out the tame slides. And then Caleb took her down a tube slide and her life changed forever! That girl had a blast! By the end of our day she was going down the slides with Jacob! 

We took an afternoon hiatus from the pool and the boys played some putt putt while Camryn and I went shopping. She picked out a flamingo (no surprise). And then she asked that we take "Lola" around town to show her the sites. So we did. 

{Camryn showed Lola the maze gardens.}

{Then she showed her the hidden garden.}

{Then the Falls.}

{And then she wanted to show Lola how she could roll and run down the hill. So she did.}

And then back to the waterpark for a final go round of water slides before Caleb and I took the kids to a brewery for drinks. Them: lemonade. Us: Locally brewed beer. And then we spent the next hour explaining to them several times in several different ways why it is ok for them to spend an hour doing something we want to do (have a drink) after we have spent the past nine years doing things they want to do (most recently 5+ hours water parking). I’m sure we will revisit that conversation next time Caleb and I make our children go to a restaurant they haven’t pre-approved. Good grief. 

We wrapped up our last night in Niagara with more ice cream and fireworks. That will never get old! 

Summer Vacation. Day 3.

Time to head back to the USA... for a few hours.
We walked across the Rainbow Bridge to check out the Falls from the American side. And after a long walk over the river and a quick stop at customs, we were ready to explore. First stop: Maid of the Mist. This boat leaves every 15 minutes with no less than several hundred people aboard to take a quick spin through the Horseshoe Falls. From shore it doesn’t appear that the boats get very close to the Falls. But when you are on board...

This was a highlight of the trip! The spray off the Falls was so heavy at times during the ride that it felt as if we were in a driving rainstorm. And we were on the lower--covered--deck of the boat! Thank goodness for complimentary ponchos!
After the ride, we walked up a path along the Falls only to turn around halfway as the amount of water pouring down on to us made it impossible to even see!
So we dried ourselves off and continued on exploring. While you can see the Falls crashing over on the Canada side, you can see the river and rapids leading up to the Falls’ descent on the American side. For me, this was just as impressive as the actual Falls themselves.

We trekked around Goat Island to the Bridal Veil Falls (and the "Lonely Fall" as Mason coined it) before heading around to the Horseshoe Falls. And as we were approaching the Horseshoe, the rain came pouring down. Funny because everyone was confused at first thinking the mist off the Falls had just gotten very intense!
After grabbing lunch, we headed back to Canada where the kids spent some time in water they could touch. Then off to dinner at our hotel with views that didn’t disappoint. We wasted away the rest of our day hitting up the arcade, going on a Ferris Wheel ride, grabbing ice cream, and watching the fireworks. Busy day!

{Ready to head through customs. Again.}

{The balcony off of our hotel restaurant. The restaurant was a wall of windows. Everyone had a great view!}

{Camryn spent her time playing this Spongebob game. No surprise there!}

{A Ferris Wheel ride. Per Camryn’s request. And fun for all! P.S. you can see the Falls lit up in the background!}