Ohio 2012 Day 6-8

 The day after Roman's birthday the rain let up here and there so we made sure to go out and play whenever we could. The kids started the day by helping grandma make pancakes.

Roman and Corinne went back outside to see if they could find the baby bird. I was worried they would find a dead baby bird but they didn't. They found a toad instead.

And they rode four wheelers again.

Ezra even decided to give it a try. He really liked it.

Greta's family gave Roman a "party pack" for his birthday which included silly string, suckers and pop-it's for everyone. The kids really had fun with it.

Determined to have a fire, we did have our hotdogs and marshmallows that night but it was sprinkling just enough to make it uncomfortable to stay outside to eat so we had designated cooks who got wet and the rest stayed inside. Roman showed that rain, and ate in the rain anyway.  

Sunday the kids went to church with Grandma and then the cousins went home :( That night we went to a local alpaca farm. I had no idea how different alpacas were from llamas. How cute. In general they are pretty shy and didn't want to be touched. This guy, however, was a little social butterfly. He came wherever we were and always wanted his neck rubbed.

Only a few days left. I can't believe how fast vacation just flies by.

Ohio 2012 Day 4 & 5

Two summers ago we traveled to Erie, PA for our little get away and we found this fun little amusement park called Waldameer that we vowed to come back to when the kids were a bit older. It's well kept, you don't have to pay to get in (just ride), parking is free, it's right next to the lake etc. etc.

This was the trip. Since we were there before Pennsylvania schools were out the park was all but ours. We had to wait in line next to never and we rode from 10 in the morning till 7 at night when they closed. We also lucked out being that this was the only day it didn't rain at some point during our trip. The weather was perfectly cool, but not cold.

The kids had a blast. The Ravine Flyer 3 was their favorite ride. They still pretend to be on that ride all the time.

Roman and I rode most of the big rides. I can't believe he's old enough for that. The Ravine Flyer 2 is the one that Shane and I rode one time when we came before. Roman said he wanted to do it so I took him. HOLY COW! This roller coaster is FAST. It's only about a minute and a half long but the whole time it's just intense. The first time we went on we were in the front and it was great, the second time we were closer to the back and my age reared it's ugly head. It felt like my brain was going to fall out my ears. Ugh! It was brutal.

We really liked a few of the other rides and Roman only got really scared on the X-Scream. It's the kind that takes you way up high and suddenly drops really fast stopping right before you hit the ground. I'll admit it's pretty scary, but totally thrilling. Roman swore he would never do it again.

We stopped only long enough to go across the street to a conservation center that has a lookout and to get some lunch at a diner just down the road.

Near the end of the day, we decided to do the log ride. I didn't want to be soaked for the rest of the day because it wasn't hot, so this was a good time. The kids loved it and we got thoroughly soaked (and cold) Luckily I had taken off my sweatshirt so I could get warm after we were done. The kids begged to go again and again. We had put away the cameras so we bought this gem. I love how we all kind of look like we're in pain.

Five rides later I called it quits and searched for my warm, dry sweatshirt that sat on the bench along with Marisa's hat and Grandma and Grandpa while they waited for us to go on the ride but it was gone. The last time we rode, they turned their back for just a minute to watch us go by and some sticky fingered punk took my sweatshirt! Lifted it right of that bench! We checked the lost and found just in case by any chance someone had thought it was abandoned, but no luck. I was bummed and cold ;) Oh well, I hope it gets a hole in it the first time the person who took it wears it.

Anyway, we finished off the day by riding as many rides as we could fit in before they closed. Then we headed home tired and hungry. What a fun day, and a wonderful way to celebrate a certain someone turning 8 the next day.

That's right, The next day was Roman's birthday. FINALLY! As if we hadn't celebrated enough, we did more.

Since the weather was so good for us at Waldameer it made up for it by raining the entire day.

That was OK though. The cousins came up to play for the weekend and we got right to work. We all wore our tie dye shirts from last year and I made a tie dye cake. Pictures of that in a bit.

Roman wanted to eat at Freindly's because of their Monster Mash ice cream sundae.  So we made the trek (it was about an hour away) and all had lunch and ice cream.

Roman was a little disappointed that his sundae that was supposed to look like this:

Ended up looking like this:

Ah...what are you going to do? But for a kid who doesn't really like ice cream all that much, "looks" is really what he was after.

After lunch we went bowling at our regular "rainy day" bowling alley.

Ezra, having just learned how to play bowling on the Wii was really bummed that it was so hard to get a strike.

When we got home the kids found a baby bird that had fallen out of it's nest. They had fun torturing investigating the little bird until we told them to leave the poor thing alone.

 

The tie dye cake was yet another Pinterest discovery and it surprisingly turned out pretty good. I love the bright colors inside.

Presents and cousins....Good times!

Roman wanted to have a bonfire with hotdogs and marshmallows for dinner but the rain wouldn't have it so we did that the next day...in the rain ;)