Sesame Place

One of our favorite places to go in the summer with the kids is Sesame Place.  We made sure we made reservations after NBA Finals were over.  We left a little after 9am on Saturday.  I drove all way.  I like driving since I can't really do anything else in the car.  We had one stop at a rest area for a potty break.  The kids do great traveling and always let us know with plenty of time if they need to go potty.  We checked into our hotel.  We were hungry so ran over to McDonald's across the street for dinner.  Austin and Sydney ordered pancakes.  That is one of their favorite foods.  They love that they can get pancakes for dinner there.

After dinner, we went to Sesame Place.  We got there around 6pm.  We rode the rides.  We got Sydney on the roller coaster.  She really wanted a piece of candy.  We said if she tried the roller coaster she could have candy.  She was scared at first but Brian told her to scream if she was scared and then she loved it.  She loves to scream.  She is definitely loud.  She even rode it again.  This was a big step for her.  She's never was a big fan of bigger rides until now.  It turned out to be her favorite ride.  She also tried the Elmo drop and was scared at first but loved that too.  We ended the night watching the night parade with some popcorn

On Sunday, we got to the park when it opened.  We listened to the Star Spangled Banner.  Austin and Sydney know most of the words because of the Cavs games.  The first ride we went on was the roller coaster.  Again everyone loved it.  Then we went on more rides at the back of the park.  Another favorite ride is the swings.  Austin wasn't feeling well so I took him to minute clinic.  Brian stayed with Sydney and watched a show and rode some rides.  Austin and I were gone for about 2 hours.  I brought Austin and activity book at CVS for something to do while we waited.  Austin did a great job waiting.  He was placed on antibiotics.

I picked up lunch on way back, chicken nuggets and milkshake.  Kids were super happy especially about the milkshake.   Then we went to water park in Sesame place, lazy river, water slides with double tube. Sydney loved that ride.  Austin went down big water slide and liked it.  Sydney was sad she was not tall enough. Hopefully next year she will be tall enough.

That night we had dinner reservation at Elmo and Friends.  We got dinner, pictures with characters then interacting with characters.  Kids decided to honk characters noses.  They thought it was so funny! Sydney loved the dinner and danced with characters.  Austin still wasn’t feeling that well and wasn’t as interactive. We rode rides until the night parade.  We all like the night parade.  

On Monday we had breakfast at our hotel.  Once again we did the roller coaster first when we got the the park.  However we decided by 11am that we wanted to do the water park.  We changed and went to the big duck water slide first.  The kids loved it.  They wanted to do it again but the line was too long.  Then went back of park and did other water slides.  Sydney enjoyed the double inter-tube slide.  Austin had issues with life jacket needing to be off for one of the bigger water slides and he cried.  He was really tired.  We played in the big bucket area then played in the splash pad.

We were down swimming by then so we changed back into dry clothes.  The kids played in the train car area.  This was the first time the kids played there even though it was our 3-4th time to Sesame Place.  They really liked being in charge and pushing other kids.   They saw a kid doing that so Austin really took charge and played there for a long while.

We watched the Abby art show.  It was cute.  We rode more rides and ended the evening once again a the parade.  We decided to go to Friendly's for dinner.  We don't have one near us so we decided on that.  We even order ice cream for dessert.  It was a great way to end a fun trip.  

On Tuesday, we left at 730 am.  However there were traffic problems for about 30 minutes.  We got home around 3 pm.  Once we got home we had to grocery shop and Brian cut the grass.  And that evening kids had T-ball.

Cavs are Champions

On Father's Day, we went to Wildwater in the morning to wear out the kids so they would take a nap.  Brian drove around for an hour trying to get them to sleep.  Austin and Sydney have always went to sleep easier in the car.  Sydney finally feel asleep but Austin barely got any sleep.   My parents stopped by for a bit in the afternoon with Aunt Betty and Jeff.  We visited then we got ready for the important Cavs game.

We were nervous when the watch party tickets went on sale.  We really wanted to make sure we got them and we did.  We've loved the watch parties this year and this was the most important one.  We considered leaving the kids at home but knew they needed to be there.

We got there in plenty of time and stood in line for an hour to get in the door.  Brian was at the front and I went to the walkway.  I thought the walkway would be quicker.  I was wrong however Brian and Sydney had already came over.  It seemed to take forever to get in.  Finally we  got in.  We ran to our normal section and it was full.  I ran upstairs and got seats.  Not the best but seats with a front view of the screen.  Then we realized the Cavs were not giving out free food to Wine and Gold members.  This was the one game I didn't cook dinner because we have got free food for all the other ones.  Brian went to buy hot dogs.  They were sold out.

It wasn't turning out to be a good night.  The floor of the Q was all under construction for the RNC.  It looked funny.  There wasn't the normal entertainment on the floor like the past.  The game started and during a time out, I went out to find hot dogs to eat.  I finally did.

The last few minutes of the game were so intense.  The kids were getting tired.  Brian and I were so nervous.  The kids were into cheering.  Then Lebron got hurt.  Brian and I were convinced he was out and somehow we were going to loose the game.  However he was fine and the Cavs won the championship.  We were so excited.

Here is the link to our video of our reaction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fimwvoEqttU

We celebrated downtown for at least an hour with kids.  Then they fell asleep on us. Austin fell asleep on Brian's shoulders and I was carrying Sydney thoughout downtown with two hands because she got so heavy.  It was truly amazing experience.  It was awesome!

We got home around 2am.  Brian wrote himself a note by his alarm clock that it wasn't a dream the Cavs really won.  It was funny. Brian went to work that next morning.  I was lucky I was off with the kids.  Brian had the idea to meet the Cavs at the airport.

I met Brian at work  so we all could see the Cavs come in from the airport. That day it was hot and sunny.  I was not prepared for that.  I didn't bring much water or snacks.  But luckily they were handing out free water.  I did bring their Kindles so they had sometime to do while waited and they did not fight.

We were 4 rows back and it was hard for me to see.  The kids could see great on shoulders.  I had Sydney on my shoulders for a bit.  It's hard for me to do it but I for a bit.  It was really cool when the Cavs players got out of the plane.  They were in disbeilef on the number of fans there.  It was really cool.  We stayed for about 45 minutes after the players landed.  Then I took Brian back to work.

On Wednesday it was the parade.  That is what we've been waiting for.  We left house at 5:30am
I was sitting on Ontario St. at 6am with Sydney.  I brought their Kindles and lots of snacks for them.

Brian and Austin walked around to Rally area.  They came back and then Brian took Sydney for a walk.  We all waited together with my friends Dawn and Erin.  It was fun!  It didn't seem like it was hours of waiting.

The parade finally started at 11:30am.  We were front row until people kept getting closer and closer.   Kids were getting tired but enjoyed seeing the players and getting free stuff.  Austin got 2 t-shirts, bracelets, and bead necklaces.  Sydney need to be held a lot and was tired but she enjoyed some parts of it.  The parade would stop because they couldn't get though in the street because so many people were in the street.

It was after 1pm it was done by where we were.  We were at the beginning.  I can't imagine if we were at the end of it.  We walked to Rally.  The parade wasn't ended yet and still a long way to go. Brian walked around to see what was going on.  Then we decided to leave.  We were all tired.

We got home around 3pm.  The kids fell alseep in the car.  We took them to their rooms when we got home for a nap.  Brian and I watched the rally on TV while kids took a nap.

It was awesome!!!  We are so proud of the Cavs and to be from Cleveland!

Kindergarten Graduation

Austin graduated on Thursday night.  I picked the kids up by 4pm so we could get home and get dinner and ready for the big graduation ceremony.  Austin was tired and cranky.  He was pulling on Sydney dress and just being difficult.  It drives me crazy.  This was such an important day and don't understand why he makes it more difficult.  My parents came over to go to the ceremony.  They brought them balloon 3 and 5 balloons for their ages.  They were very happy.

We ate dinner and then Brian and Austin left for graduation pictures.  Brian takes great pictures and he decided to take pictures for the school.  He needed to get there early to set up.  The rest of us got there pretty early too and got front row seats.  We then walked around a bit to keep Sydney entertained.  She was complaining she was hungry because she did not each much of here dinner.  Luckily she was easily distracted.

Brian and I were more sad about this day then Austin.  He didn't understand that he will likely never see some of these kids again.  We've gotten to know a lot of families and it's sad we will now go on our separate ways.  Austin will be at school all summer so he is not really saying good bye but several kids are saying good bye.

Then the ceremony started.  It was nice because Austin was in the front row so we could see him well.  They said the Pledge of Allegiance.  They sang and performed the ABC's in sign language.  Then they did the best song which was the Dino-mite song.  He has been practicing it for months so we kind of knew about it.  Nevertheless it was awesome!  

They called the kids up for their diploma.  Each child got an award.  Austin got the Wiz Tech Award.  That suits him well.  We were so proud of him.  Austin has come such a long way.  He's started coming out of his shell.  He's not as shy.  He loves playing sports especially basketball at school.  He likes to observe first but then gladly joins in and plays with everyone.  He never had a "best" friend at school.  He had several good friends.  Everyone at school liked Austin and Austin likes everyone too.

After ceremony gather in hallway for more pictures.  We talked to some families.  We had some cake.  Then it was time to say good bye.

We came home and had cookie cake that Austin picked out yesterday at store. He wanted graduation cupcakes but we couldn't find them.  Then I also got him a stuffed animal smiley face with graduation hat saying 2016.

Austin was very happy.  We are too!  We are excited for what the next adventure brings.

Our First Camping Trip

The Cavs won the Eastern Conference finals.  We were so excited.  However the game was so late.  All of us were at the watch party.  I was tired. The kids were tired. It was a mess at the end. Brian wanted to enjoy the moment.  The rest of us wanted to go home and sleep.  We walked around downtown a lot though so Brian could take in the scene.

On Saturday was our first camping trip.  Luckily the kids slept in.  I then went grocery shopping for camping.  Brian prepared the camper.  We left our house a little after 1 pm.  When we arrived, a guy that works there helped us tell us where to park the camper. Our site was small and we had neighbors on both sides.  It was very nice of him.  We even had to use some balance ramps too. Luckily Brian was prepared.

We had lunch in our camper.  Then we decided to go to Wild Water kingdom.  It was very hot and I did not pack ear plugs for Austin for the lake.  We are used to swimming in pools.  We had a great time at the water park.  We came back for dinner and I cooked inside the camper hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.

It was time for a hayride at the campground.  We waited about an hour though to get on the hayride.  There was a playground across the way so the kids played there while one of us waited in line.  During the hayride, a lady handed out candy.  That was the kids favorite part.   After the hayride, Austin wanted to play basketball. He even made 3 shots in the tall basketball hoop.  That was impressive.  Sydney played on the playground.

We went back to our campsite and had some smores.  We got ready for bed.  Brian and I did not sleep well. Our bed was terrible!!!  The number 1 thing to buy is a new mattress before our next camping trip.

On Sunday morning, Brian and I were cranky because we got no sleep.  I made breakfast in the camper which were pancakes.  The smoke alarm went off while I was cooking.  That was a mess!  Once we aired out the camper, everything was fine.  Then we decided to go back to wildwater kingdom.  We were there for a few hours in the morning.  We stopped at the store on the way back for some ear plugs for Austin. We also got some drinks.  We had lunch in the camper again.

After lunch, we took the kids to the lake to swim. There was a slide that went into the lake.  Sydney loved it.  Austin did not care of it.    Austin loved playing in the sand!  We were there for over an hour playing.  The kids didn't go out too deep and they loved making things in the sand.

Before dinner, we all took showers at the campground showers. We decided not to use our shower yet. It was nice to be clean again.  We had dinner which was hot dogs again because I didn't want to cook hamburgers inside the camper.  And we went on the hayride again.  This time there was no candy.  Austin and Sydney were sad!

We made a campfire and we had smores.  Storms were coming but luckily they were not too severe.  We slept a little better. In the early morning, I ended up in Austin's bed (which is the bottom bunk). I slept better there than my bed.  Sydney ended up with Brian in our bed.

On Monday, I made eggs for breakfast.  We finally took the kids fishing.  Austin had been begging to do that all camping weekend.  Brian and I were not a fan but we did it for them.  They caught a lot of seed weed.  We packed up the camper and came home.  Everyone around us had already left so it was easy to leave.

Once we got home, we cleaned up the camper and put things away. It only took about an hour or so.  Then Brian cut the grass and he put up a new swing for the kids.  I went grocery shopping.  We all very tired.  We had a good first camping trip though!

On Tuesday, we had a field trip to Memphis Kiddie Park.  The weather was perfect.  Austin and Sydney had a great time.  After the kiddie park, we went to the library.  We are still working on 1000 books before Kindergarten. They also signed up for summer reading program.

On Wednesday, it was bike day at school.  I took them there for the morning only. I stayed home and cleaned the house.  The teachers were impressed how well they can ride a bike. Austin can ride bike with no training wheels and Sydney is very fast with her training wheels.  Sydney wants her training wheels off but she needs to practice a little more on the balance bike.

May Fun

Nana and Grandpa came up for a quick May visit.  They were with us on Saturday.  Since Austin has soccer on Saturdays, they got to watch him play.  The weather was cold and light rain but they got to see him play.  Austin is good at soccer.  He enjoys running around the field trying to score and defend.  After soccer, we all hung out at home.  They worked on our curtains for our camper that Nana made for us.  Nana even surprised them with a Happy Meal.  We never let the kids get one so it was a nice surprise for them.

On Sunday, Brian left for Portland for 3 days.  Austin was really sad when he left.  He had never been so sad about Brian leaving like that before.  It was hard to watch.  I tried to reassure him it was only 3 days and he would be home before we knew it.  Distraction was a better technique.

After Brian left we took a quick trip to the library to see our story time teacher who was retiring.  Then we had a field trip to Heien's.  It was a great field trip. Austin tried shrimp and Brussels spouts.  He liked the shrimp but not the Brussels spouts.  I was proud of him for trying both of them.  It was a fun trip!

Then on Monday we had a field trip to Hale Farm.  This was my first time there as an adult.  I was excited to take the kids there.  It was a beautiful weather day.  We had fun!  They got to see wooing, iron making, old school room, general store, old house, and church.  We had lunch there too.  I even allowed the kids to buy an old toy from the store.  That usually doesn't happen but because Brian was out of town and it was pretty cool toy I said yes.  They were happy!

Austin had his last soccer game.  He played well.  I am excited for him to play again in the fall.  He is good and see what happens with him and soccer.  He's favorite sports are soccer and basketball.  Sydney hasn't been playing anything right now.  They will be be starting T-ball in June.

NASA had a free open house.  This was there first one in 8 years.  We thought we would take Austin and Sydney.  We were shocked to realize how busy it was.  We were sitting in traffic for over an hour just to park at the IX center.  Then in line for a bus to take us there for another 30+ minutes.  We finally made it there.  We walked around the facility for several hours.  It was cool.  We were so happy we went.

That night we had a Cavs game.  It was away so we took the kids to the watch party.  Unfortunately the Cavs lost.  We were sad however we do have fun at the watch parties!

Spring fun

Austin has started spring soccer.  He enjoyed soccer in the fall so we signed him up again.  We wanted to sign Sydney up but there was no tot available for a reasonable price.  The tot soccer was more than Austin's soccer so we decided to pass for now.  Austin has soccer practice on Wednesday nights and games on Saturday mornings.  Austin knew a lot about soccer from last year.  He really enjoyed running the field and playing goalie.  Austin knew how to play defense and we believe that is related to all the Cavs games he watched.

Austin and Sydney are in swim class on last time before summer break.  We take the summer off from swim class since we go to Wild Water.  They now go to swim class in the mornings.  Austin does not like that at all. But because of the Cavs we didn't want to do the evenings.  Austin has gotten better and swimming and is probably the best one in his class this time.

Our library started a program to read 1000 books before Kindergarten.  Since Austin starts in August we don't have much time to do that.  Austin is excited about it loves for me to read him books.  They get about 30 books every week from the library.  I used to only allow around 5 books each but now they get a ton and love it.  So I'm fine with it.  This week was our last week of story time.  It makes me sad because we have been going every week for over 2 years.  We always take the summers off from story time too.  But in the fall, only Sydney will be attending story time.

The kids continue not to usually take a nap unless there is a Cavs game or watch party.  Austin is good a taking a nap when he knows he'll be up late.  Sydney is difficult to get to nap but usually she finally will.  They go to bed around 8:30pm now.  Sometimes a little earlier and sometimes a little later.

Brian has been working hard getting the camper all set up for camping.  We are hoping to camp Memorial day weekend so we are trying to get it all set up.  Austin is extremely excited to go camping.  We hope we all enjoy it.

For Mother's day, the school has muffins with mom.  Usually because of work, I don't attend.  However this year because it's Austin's last year there, I made sure I attended.  The kids were even happy to go to school early for me to go.  It was sweet.  We had a nice breakfast there together.  I was so grateful.

On Saturday, we went to gladiators game. We got free tickets from the Cavs so we decided to take the kids. It was fun. Austin liked it. Sydney enjoys the snacks while watching the game.  It was fun. We left early because we've been there so much with the Cavs.

On Mother's day, I went to my parents house in the morning.  We got mom flowers and the kids made her a card.  Austin and Sydney enjoy playing on the deck.  They like making pictures to hang on the deck.  Then we went home and kids made me lunch in the camper.  That was the first meal we had there. The kids had a lot of fun bring out food to the camper.  They even got me a planter flower.  It was very nice.   Then we went down to the Q for a watch party.  The Cavs won so we had a great day.

Atlanta

Last year, we went down to Atlanta and had a great time.  We wanted to do it again next year because we are not sure we can go next year with Austin starting Kindergarten.  When we planned the trip, we took our best guess that we wouldn't miss a home Cavs playoff game.  And we were right!

We went to the Cavs watch party at the Q at 7pm Friday night.  We love the watch parties.  They are a lot of fun.  They have fun fest down on the court and give a small treats to eat since we are Wine and Gold members.  The Cavs won so it was great!

However we had a flight at 6am.  That was rough but we made it.  Then the plane was delayed which was annoying since we were up so late and got up so early.  It finally took off and we arrived at 8:30am in Atlanta.  The kids are fabulous on the plan.  They watch and play games on their Kindles.

We got a our rental car.  Brian installed the car seats and then we were off to the lake house.  It's a two hour drive away.  The kids were exhausted so they fell asleep in the car.  We stopped at McDonald's for lunch/breakfast.  The kids got pancakes.  They love that they can get pancakes all the time there.

Once we arrived at the lake house, the kid were ready to play.  Brianna was great with the kids.  There were paddle boats.  They loved those and really liked going out with the big kids.  Austin liked kayaking too.  Then we even went out on the boat and Austin got to tube.  Austin didn't like it because he got a lot of water splashed in his face.  There was a golf cart and Brianna would drive it.  They would go down a little hill and she told them it was a roller coaster.  They loved it.  There was a fire and we had s'mores.  There was even a cake for Connie's anniversary.  It was a fun day!

In the morning, Jim took Riley, Ryan, Brianna, Brian, Austin and Sydney fishing.  Austin has been so excited to go fishing.  This was his first time.  Amazing they caught 14 fish!  Jim said he never catches that many.  We believe Brian's dad had something to do with this.  It was amazing.  Austin was so excited!

Later in the day, we all went out on the pontoon boat.  Austin went boating again.  This time he liked it because it didn't go as fast and didn't get splashed in his face.  We even made Sydney try it but she didn't like it.  She was really tired though.  In fact, she fell sound sleep in my arms on the boat before we even made it back to the dock.

We helped clean up and then got ready to go to the airport.  Since it was a two hour drive, we wanted to get there at a reasonable time.  We stopped in downtown Atlanta because we knew the Cavs would likely be playing them next.  Brian took a picture of the kids there.

We checked into our hotel near the airport.  We took the kids to a IHOP for dinner.  They had never been to one before.  Since they love pancakes, it was perfect.  We went back to the hotel and read some books the hotel had for kids.  It was great they have that program!

Then we watched the Cavs game.  I fell asleep.  I knew that it was likely Disney was going to announce it's free fall dining that morning.  And they did.  It was a disaster because the dates I was planning were not on the list of dates.  So we had to figure something else out.  But we still needed to get ready for the airport and eat breakfast.  It was stressful.

We left for the airport and dropped off the rental car. Then went to the ticket counter and the lines were crazy long.  After we dropped off our bag, we stood in line for security for an hour.  We were so close to missing our flight.  We had to run though the airport and got to our gate just in time.  It was a mess!

The flight was fine and the kids used their kindles.  I went and got the van once we arrived back in Cleveland while Brian and kids waited for the bag.  Once we got home, I finished booking Disney and Brian went to work.