Jam Packed Summer Fun!

I can't believe it has been a month since I last sat down to write. We have jammed alot into the summer already with more fun still to come.

The kids and I took a fun road trip with Jen and her girls out to see our good friend MK in Ohio,

We rented a minivan and were on our way, sadly, my DVD player died an hour into the trip.

We drove half way and stayed over and made the rest of the journey the next day.

Frequently heard on our drive by Maks: "How long is this gonna take, I hate this car, are we almost there, I hate this car, I want to be at hotel, I hate this car."

It made for an interesting 8 hr drive!

We had a blast in Ohio, visiting MK and her two youngest, and meeting her new grandson. Wow, so hard to believe i have a friend who is a grandma! We played at the pool, cooked out, jammed in the garage, with Mike's instruments-the kids thought that was super cool. Maks is definitely going to be a drummer. We saw Toy Story 3 and I bawled at the end. What a great movie!

We wrapped up our visit by going to the Toledo Zoo. It was a blast, what a really nice zoo.

The biggest hit for my boys: the elephant taking a big dump right in front of us. All the boys in the crowd were impressed with that. Maks stated: the poop is as big as Alek's head. Nice!

It was so great just hanging out with Jen and MK, sometimes it seems like just yesterday we were all working at Buster Brown with MK as our boss! Amazing how fast 24 yrs goes!

Next up was an overnight trip to Knoebels Amusement Park. It is a great old fashioned park in central PA. You still buy tickets per ride, and it is so reasonable. It also has a campground, but definitely not for me as long as I can help it. Thankfully we were going with Rach and Megs, and they are all about the hotel, just like me.

The kids had a blast at the park. Both wanted to go on a rollercoaster right away, probably not one of my brightest mom moments, but I agreed. Alek being as skinny as is, I had to hold him in the seat the whole time, so stressful! he kept asking when it would be over. Maks sats with Megs and had no expression whatso ever on his face the whole ride. When asked if he liked it, he said yes, when asked if he wanted to go again, he said, no way. He avoided any thrill ride the rest of the day.
The pool at the park was a big hit, Alek loved the water slide with Megs, Maks just wanted to go off the diving board. Maks was thrilled to be going off the board and Alek ran right over to the high dive and jumped. Gave me a heart attack, but he loved it.

It was a great time and we look forward to a return trip in August with Alek's buddy and his family, though I am sad to report, it appears I will have to camp for the night. But the good news is, apparently there is electric hook up, so I will being my fan and an air mattress!

July 4th weekend was spent at the beach at Pop and Noni's. It was alot of fun as always. Weather was great, lots of fun in the sand and in the water. The street celebrated saturday night, so we all had campfires and we sat in between two groups duking out with their fireworks. Alek said the guys on the left of us won, I have to agree. Nothing like sitting on the beach with a campfire, watching the sunset, having some beers and eating smores. The kids entertained us with their dancing and antics. Another great holiday weekend!

In between all of this, we have been going to the pool. Both boys passed their tests and are allowed on the water slide. Maks finally was coaxed into taking it and he passed easily. Now he loves to hit the water slide and diving board. They are both little fish.

We've enjoyed cookouts and get togethers with friends and look forward to more as the summer winds down.

We took our vacation week at Pop and Noni's house while they are away. The first weekend started out disgustingly hot, pretty much not wanting to stay outside for too long. The M's came down for the weekend and we had a good time despite the nasty heat. We enjoyed a great dinner in Lewes at the marina and did a little shopping at the outlets.

Monday brought gorgeous weather all week. We were able to turn off the air and enjoy the breeze from the bay.

The water was perfect. We hit the boardwalk in Rehoboth and enjoyed a great dinner in Dewey.

We spent most of time lounging at the beach, playing in the water and eating great dinners.

Thursday we took the boys on a pirate cruise out of Lewes. It was a blast! What a great job this company did, I highly recommend it. As soon as you arrive, they give the kids eye patches and swords (plastic ones) and dress them up as pirates. Then they get a little face painting. Once all the pirates are ready, they have to take the pirate pledge.

The crew then leads the kids to the ship, the parents are mere spectators on this journey.

Once aboard they have their map to find the buried treasure. They use the map to spot things like crabs and mermaids which are posted all along the canal. Once out in the bay, they are "attacked" by a rogue pirate on a motorized raft with a big water gun. The kids can fight back with the water cannons on the sides of the ship. It was hysterical. Alek was totally into that part. Maks was none too happy getting sprayed, so he hung back and watched. Soon after they defeat the pirate, they find their bouy and bring up the treasure chest. Each pirate gets a goody bag full of fun stuff to bring home. On the way back in they are once again challenged to a battle by the pirate. After beating him once again, they wrap it all up with a limbo dance. Maks was voted best limbo by the one pirate so he received some extra gold coins. It was loads of fun and the boys are already begging to do this again!

After that we drove down to Delaware Seashore park for some fun in the ocean. The waves were a bit rough, but Alek was loving it. I forgot my whole beach bag so we were minus towels, but I improvised with the sweatshirts I had in the back of the car. We stayed there for a bit enjoying the ocean and then packed it up when the skies looked threatening. We drove down the coast a bit further through Bethany into Fenwick and had a great lunch on a marina at an Irish pub/raw bar.

It was definitely a great day and we were all beat by the time we arrived back at the beach house.

Friday and saturday were spent lounging around and enjoying the sun. SO hard to get back on track, we were all sleeping in every morning, including Maks who was sleeping past 8. Alek was in bed until 9:30 most mornings. Going to be hard to get back on track this week!

The boys and I are headed back to the beach this weekend with friends and we have some more adventures to look forward to including Camel Beach Water Park and Knoebels.

The summer is flying by as usual but we are packing in as much fun as we can!

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