King's Island

We arrived home yesterday from our last vacation of the summer, I think. We went to Kings Island in Ohio and everyone had a good time. Lee and I stayed in Nickelodeon land for most of the trip with Zach while the others went and rode the "big people rides". Poor Daimien rode the Vortex, which is a big coaster with loops, and threw up at the end. He then joined us in kiddie land and was gun shy about riding the coasters there too. Who can blame him? The first day we were there some of the coasters were down because of an electrical problem, but were up and running the second day. Zach showed no fear when riding his rides. His first coaster was a little one called "Little Bill's Giggle Coaster". Poor dad had trouble fitting into the seat and mom couldn't ride anything. His next coaster was a biggie in kiddie land. We called it "The Raptor" but that's not the correct name. The video posted is of Zach on that ride. The other coaster he rode was "Fairly Oddparents", which is a typical wooden coaster but for the kids. We went to the water park on the second day and Zach got to ride a big water slide. I think like five people could sit in this raft and go down this slide. Lets just say I don't think I would have done it, but he seemed to enjoy it. Zach got to meet some of the characters around the park and took some pics with them. The last night there we went over to the "big people side" and the kids played all kinds of games. Zach came home with a batman pillow, an elephant, a care bear, scooby doo, a frog, and a dog. I just took stuffed animals to the good will and I come home with all this. The only bad thing about this trip, beside the long car ride, was the walk from the shuttle drop off to the park entrance. It must have been a half mile and I had a lot of trouble with it. By the last night I had tears streaming down my face because I was in pain trying to walk to the shuttle. All in all it was a good time and hopefully when the new baby is Zach's age we will go again.

Busy busy busy

It has been non stop while we have been on vacation. We went to the neighbors house for dinner yesterday. The kids played badminton before dinner then after dinner they lined up on the couch and played their game boys. Jake had arts & crafts this morning and then we went to the movies to see Space Chimps. Jake had tennis lessons after we got back and won 1st place in his tournament. Zach and Brody went to the park after the movies. We then got ready for Halloween night. The kids dressed up in their costumes and went down to the center where they split the kids up into two groups and took group pictures. They then got to go trick-or-treat around the point. Sadly this is our last night. Zach and the boys are at the neighbors since it is Zach's last night playing game cube. Zach is sad to leave and really wants to stay. But we will be leaving on Monday for Kings Island so I will be updating on that vacation as well.

Vacation Update

Yesterday morning it stormed but it turned out to be a nice day so we went to the beach. We went to family night on Monday and got to play some games. We went to bingo last night and Jake was the big winner. A whole $5. The kids are at arts & crafts now having fun. It looks like a nice day so we will try and hit the beach again.

Zach having fun!!

These are some pictures of vacation and more importantly pictures of Zach's first crush over the last couple of years. He has been a busy bee over the last couple of days. On Thursday nights they have a theme night. Thursdays theme was "Happy Birthday". He got to decorate his own cupcake. He played pin the tail on the donkey and some game where you tie a balloon around your ankle and try to stomp someone else's. Zach did really well. He was the youngest of the three kids left in the game so of course they ganged up on him and got him out. They then played capture the flag which Zach had no idea what was going on. We've been to the beach everyday except yesterday. We went to a square dance at the community center and Zach had a lot of fun. Currently he and his cousin are at arts and crafts. Hopefully we can get to the beach today, but it's not looking good.

Baby Update

I had a doctors appt. on Thursday before we left for vacation. I gained 5 pounds for a grand total of 17 lbs. I have about 10 or 11 weeks to go. She said the pain I'm feeling is normal because it is my second. Since everything was stretched out from Zach all my ligaments are pulling down further, you show earlier and all that fun stuff. She suggested that I were a maternity belt to help lift up my uterus so it has some support. The baby's heart beat was 147bpm. I now I have to go every 2 weeks. I'm pretty sure the internal exams will be starting so that sucks. I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions for about a month now. I didn't feel them with Zach but they say you feel everything more with the second. It's just a daily reminder of how painful the real ones are. So on that fun note, I'll be signing off. This picture is from the 4th of July and you can see my baby belly.

Vacation 2!!

We left for vacation on Zach's 5th Birthday. Happy Birthday Zachary!! We went to New York first. We had two nice days at the beach. Zach built sandcastles and went swimming with Dad. We went for long bike rides so Zach could have some practice before riding his bike in the parade. We took Zach to see Wall-E for his birthday and we got to see some fireworks and THE bonfire. Jake and Brody got there in time to ride in Van Buren Point's 4th of July parade. Every year they have a bike parade and you are placed in different sections and each section someone wins for best decorated bike. At the end of the parade everybody get a prize too. A fire truck takes people around the point to see the sights too. After the parade we set of for camp. We celebrated Zach's birthday again when we got to camp. Zach said he liked going on vacation for his birthday because he got to have two parties. We didn't do our annual firework display this year since there were cops around. We did get to see the fireworks in Warren though. It was nice to get away for a while but it feels good to be back home.