Visiting Parents Day 5

It was a surprise to Dad that my brother John showed up from Colorado. It was the most hilarious thing ever!  John called my Dad on FaceTime a video chat for iphones from the driveway. Oh how I wish I had pictures to document this!  Anyway, he was chatting with my Dad and walked in the side door. All of us around were giggling as my Dad continued to look at his phone and talk. I think John even said, "Wow it sounds so clear as if I was right in the room with you." He was standing right next to my Dad and my Dad wouldn't look up!  So John pointed the phone at my Dad. That's when my Dad starts tapping his phone saying something is wrong I'm seeing a picture of myself.  We finally had to say, "Dad look up"!

And there he was was an awesome surprise!

Anyway, John brought his wife Beth, his son Caleb and his dog Rado. Took him 2 days of driving. Do I have pictures of them today? Uhh.....I got some later on. The pictures I got today were of my cute nephew Caleb.  I just love this little fella!!!

 I brought him some Usborne books from when I was a Rep.

 It took him a little while to warm up to me. I sure wish I could see him more often. Once a year is not enough!

And this is my FAVORITE picture of him!

Visiting Parents day 4

Thursday we went to Nature Realm.  It was really beautiful. I had two kids full of attitude, but only one was being a problem while we were here.

 I love this picture below where everyone is walking and Mason turns around and does a little jig. I got him in action.

 We had to walk over an extension bridge. I was happy until I found out I had to do it too. I tried to just fix my eyes on something, hold on to the rail for dear life and quickly walk across.  It felt like it took a half hour but I know it was only a minute or two.

 Both Mason and Ashley brought their Pokemon they won the day before.

I would have enjoyed it so much more if I had left one child at home.  There was a place there where you can sit and watch all kinds of birds come up to the bird feeders. That was my favorite part.  There were so many different birds. 

And for lunch Grampa  made his world famous hamburgers.  Chef Mason learned how to make them too.

We also went back to the playground.  This is where another certain someone had a meltdown. It was a hard day!  The boys raced through the playground as Greg filmed them and I sat with my telephoto lens snapping pictures.  I should have gotten Greg filming as that was quite a funny sight watching him run through the playground too.

Visiting parenting Day 3

Sorry to those who have dial up- this post is LOADED with pictures.

Wednesday, Mom took us to Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH.

The kids had a blast. I don't care for amusement parks myself. They make me nervous.  I don't like heights and I don't like "too" fast, which is most of the rides. So I took pictures and held all the stuff.

I don't know why the pictures don't import in order as I save them, but since there are so many of them I'm just going to go in the order they came on here.

Here is the big beautiful ferris wheel. I seriously don't think I would accept a million dollars to ride this! No way no how!  Greg, Mom and the kids are in a green one almost to the top.

 Now this was more my speed.  The carousel.  Actually, this was a fast carousel and I did ride it.

 Here's Greg on the normal merry go round.

 All the kids enjoyed the bumper cars.

 Ashley was really good at it!

 See those 3 little characters at the bottom right?  Yep those are my kiddos.

 They really enjoyed driving the antique cars.

 Here's a car just my Mom's size. :)

 This is silly, maybe I should rearrange the pictures.  Here they are in the ferris wheel car.

 I rode the fast carousel once and then I got off to take pictures.

 Go Mom Go!

 Aussie tried this climb the swinging ladder game.  It is much harder than it looks

 Well I was getting up the nerve to go on the cable car at the end of the day to get closer to the entrance of the park.  I waited in line and then started to panic when we got closer.  I let everyone else go and I walked it.

 This was one of the first rides they rode.  I want to say it is 144 feet high, but I don't really remember.  It's dang high is all I know!

 My brave girl wanted to ride the roller coasters.  I did NOT want her to ride the roller coasters!  Greg took her on the one that looked to be the best (not the craziest twists and turns).

There she goes! Up up up the hill.  As I'm crying and praying that she won't fall out.

And as I was crying sunblock was running down into my eyes as she is coming down down down the hill.

 But she made it down alive. And the ride was so jolty that she didn't want to go on another one. Thank goodness!

 Some of their favorite rides were the mattahorn and calypso.  All these twirly fast ones that I think I would get sick on.  Here is Mom (almost 69) riding this one.  And I tell her age because the whole time SHE was saying I'm almost 69 and I'm riding these rides! I can't wait to tell my girlfriends.

 ZOOM!

 Once they found a ride that they liked, they rode it over and over and over and over and over and over (you get the point) and over again!.

 These Pokemon animals were too much of a temptation for Ashley and Mason!

At the end of the day we came back and won 2 of them. I figure $12 for each of them was a pretty decent price. It was an easy game.  Greg played each kid and made sure they won. $3 for each play. The first time they win they get a monkey and the 2nd time they win they trade that in for a small Pokemon.  We made sure that Greg and Ashley or Mason were the ONLY people playing so they were guaranteed to win.

 This was the first ride they rode.  Mason screamed!

 Before we went into the park, Mason went over and sat on a bench. This bird was protecting her nest. She screamed at us to get away and she came down and attacked Mason on the head 3x.

 When I went over there, she dropped something on my head.  Thankfully it wasn't poop.  But there in the bushes I could see the little birdies.

 I don't know what Mason is doing with his face. He looks like a retard.

By the end of the day I was so exhausted!  And very glad to crawl into bed and sleep way more hours than I should have!