Playground and Golf

Our hotel had a little playground and 3-hole mini golf. Carleigh loved the golf whereas Cody enjoyed the playground.

River walk

Matt, Dennis (Matt's dad), Cody, Carleigh and I took a scenic walk along the river. Thr trail began behind our hotel and went for 3 miles. Luckily for us we started at the almost midway point and walked to the beginning and ended at our hotel. We walked for a mile and that was enough for everyone! Carleigh was making silly faces after we rested from our walk.

Day 2 - Monday

Day 2 of our trip started out on the wrong foot! It was pouring when we left our hotel for day 1 of Holiday World. When we got there, the rain started coming down harder. It was nice to have free ponchos that the park provided but it was not fun waiting over 3 hours for the rain to stop so that we could ride and have fun. We started riding rides despite the rain. On one pic, you can see Carleigh wearing her rain poncho. Cody refused to wear his and was soaked. Luckily the rain finally stopped and I had extra dry clothes for the kids to change into. We stayed until after 8pm and the kids had a blast after it finally stopped raining! We crashed in the hotel room for the remainder of the evening. My footsies were killing me from all that walking!

4th of July section

Cody and Carleigh enjoyed the canoeing ride as well as the Salmon run ride as the rain was slowing down.

Cody and Carleigh enjoyed all the rides. Raygan, Devon, myself and Ryan enjoyed the Reindeer games where we flew up and down like we were reindeers!

Day 3 - Tuesday

On our last day of the trip, we went to Holiday World for the second time. This time, no rain was in sight and there was plenty of sun and hot temps! Matt and I hit the wooden roller coaster called " the Legend" first and then we took Cody and Carleigh on the Scarecrow Scrambler again. Then, it was off to Splashin' Safari water park. The kids had a blast in the lazy river inner tube ride and enjoyed the kiddie water slides in the toddler section of the park. Carleigh was scared of the wave pool, so Cody and played for awhile. Every time a wave would hit Cody's legs, he would burst out with laughter. It was so cute! After an hour or two in Splashin' Safari, the kids feel asleep and we walked around the park, bought sovenirs and spent the rest of the day in kiddie land. We left the park a few minutes before 6pm and arrived home a quarter til ten. It was nice putting all the kids in their beds and we fell asleep fast. It was a fun time for all!

Cotton Candy anyone?

Cody and Carleigh brought home a couple of bags of cotton candy. They love the stuff. Daddy and Carleigh posed for a silly pic!

Cotton Candy anyone?

Cody and Carleigh brought home a couple of bags of cotton candy. They love the stuff. Daddy and Carleigh posed for a silly pic!

Loving the rides

Cody and Carleigh loved all the rides! Carleigh's favorite was the small merry go round. On Tuesday, she rode it four times! They could ride all the rides in the Rudolph's Reindeer Ranch (kiddie land) and they were tall enough to ride the Scarecrow Scrambler in the Halloween section and the Turkey Tilt-a-whirl and Gobbler Getaway in the Thanksgiving section. I am really proud of them for wanting and enjoying the big kid rides this year!

Water Bumper Boats

Carleigh was such a big girl by waiting in line by herself and riding the bumper boats while Cody was snoozing in his stroller.

Getting Ready!

This will be my last post before heading off to Santa Claus, Indiana! Tomorrow, we will be leaving right after church. It is a 3 hour drive. Once we are there, we plan on enjoying the hotel by swimming, playing on the playground and going on a scenic walk. There will be 12 of us in all going and our van will be filled with more children than adults....eeeeek!!! On Monday and Tuesday, we will be having a blast at Holiday World. We will be traveling back on Tuesday evening.

Tonight, we have been doing laundry and packing. I should have everything packed and the van loaded before church in the morning. There is just so much to bring for a family of four, especially when you have to bring diapers!!!

Until next time, look for pics on Tuesday night or Wednesday!

The grandchildren

L to r: Ryan, Cody, Raygan, DJ, Riley, Devon and Carleigh

Fourth of July 2008

We had our annual Independence Day cookout at our home. We have 19 guests which was done from last year. Despite the rain, we had a nice cookout. The rain stopped so a game of kickball went on and on. Everyone had a blast! Cody and Carleigh gorged on food and we will all be going to the fireworks in Hamilton in a few hours. Cody socked Carleigh in the mouth and busted her lip! She was so unhappy! You can really tell by looking at the third pic!

Our cookout!

First pic: Some of the cupcakes I made
Second Pic: Jesse, nephews Riley and Ryan
Third pic: A rare pic of Matt and I

Enjoying the food

First pic: our friends Shannon and Niki
Second Pic: Matt's sister Michelle and Jesse
Third Pic: My father-in-law doing what he does best-eating!

Playhouse fun

All the grandchildren piled into Cody and Carleigh's playhouse. I am sure they were over the kid capacity. Can you believe that there were 6 kids in that house?

Carleigh decided to pull Cody in the wagon!

The kickball game

The kickball game was fun for the kids as well as the adults!

Back to Normal

We are all getting back to normal health! Phew! The kids and I went to PT/OT today and then did some minor shopping for our picnic under our carport on the 4th. Wouldn't you know it that that storm is supposed to hit right in the middle of the day?!! Argh! We are still going to have the cookout since everyone has to eat, but we will not have the lawn activities like in the past. Maybe we need to break out the board games lest the wind kicks up. It could be really interesting to say the least!

We are hoping to see from fireworks tonight and are hoping that it isn't too "scary" for Carleigh. Today in therapy, she had to go down a slide with bubble wrap popping underneath her and it scared her! She is the frightened little rabbit these days. Of course nothing scares Cody!

May you and your family have a wonderful, safe 4TH OF JULY!!

Speech Explosion!

Both kiddos are talking like crazy! This is such a good thing! Cody is starting to repeat words if I ask him! Wow! He is also starting to put two words together and somtimes three! I am so proud of them both!

I walked out of the kitchen briefly while Cody and Carleigh were eating lunch today. I hear a crash and of course Carleigh's booster seat tray was on the floor and there was a mess there as well. Carleigh looks up at me and says "I sorry Mommy!" Of course I couldn't get mad at her after that!

Even though her behavior can be so frustrating at times, I think we have moved up to a better mother/daughter stage. This summer, she has been attatched to me now that I am home all day and all evening, she doesn't want me to leave her side. One of our little moments is when she hurts her finger or something and wants me to kiss it and then of course she says "hug" and wants me to hug her hurt finger. She is too cute! If I am laying on her bed while she is falling asleep for her nap, she will smile at me and hug me until she falls asleep. I can't even express how long I have been waiting for this to happen!

Cody's latest thing is to munch on whole apples. If he had this craving a few years ago, I would be hysterically worried as he had MAJOR feeding issues, but now he has come along way. He yells "more apple please" and of course I have to give him another apple!

Recuperating!

Well, we are all on the mend thankfully! Carleigh was really sick, lifeless and slept almost all morning and afternoon yesterday. She would wake up briefly ask for her juice and then go back to sleep. When Matt arrived home, it made a spark in her and she was up! She didn't go back to sleep until bedtime. It is amazing how quickly she can get over a bug! I think prayers also helped! She was playing and back to her normal self of bugging Cody and taking his toys away. She was craving crackers and ate over a dozen of them over the course of the evening!

I still do not have an appetite, but my stomach cramps are over for the most part. The good thing about not having an appetite is that it is helping my diet that I started a couple of week ago. I have now lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks! I have a goal of 25 lbs before school starts. I haven't been able to exercise due to getting ready for the yard sale and being sick so now that I am back to normal, I plan on starting my exercise regime today and hopefully more pounds will melt away.

We are also finding more items to sell at our final yard sale over at Matt's sister's house this Saturday. I sold my baby swing on Sunday. Woohooo! That brings my total to $151! I am hoping to sell $100 at the yard sale this Saturday. The cash will be needed for admission prices for a family of 4 to Holiday World!!

On top of getting ready for the yard sale, I am getting ready for a picnic on the 4th of July at our house. We are expecting 19 people including us. Last year we had a bigger number, but since the 4th starts a 3-day weekend, alot of my family will be going out of town.

It should be a fun time for all, hopefully no one else gets sick!!