And yes...we did it all in one weekend! Whew!
Okay--It is the end of August and this blog is from the end of July and I have many more blogs to catch up on--so I will try to keep it short and sweet. For Rob's company picnic we went to Mt. Olympus this year--and as we try to do every year, we took the nephews. But first we had them help us chop down our beloved Magnolia tree.
The tree had grown over 5 feet in one year and it was literally less than 5 feet from the house. It was taller than our house and scratching our windows. I was also getting concerned about the house's foundation. It had to come down. So, with help of the nephews--down it went. It was a beautiful tree and I will miss it--but I did save a few limbs for curtain rods in its memory.
So Saturday morning we hit the road for Mt. Olympus. Usually the picnic is at Noah's ark, so this was something new. In the end we all decided Noah's ark is WAY better than Mt. Olympus.
By the time we arrived, it was lunch. We found a shelter within the park and quickly gobbled our meals. It was then time to have fun. I guess the good thing about being pregnant, was that I was able to hang out with Ky while the rest of the gang did the big rides. Last year Noah’s Ark had many more options of rides that Ky and adults could go on than this park had. So the boys dropped Ky and I off by a very pathetic sprinkler park area (Madison has better sprinkler parks!) while the boys took to the big water slides. There were 2 water slides nearby that Ky could go on—but of course I needed to take him first so he got the idea. Yeah—these slides were no fun! You would get stuck and literally have to scoot yourself down them. After I deemed them safe, I then let Ky go on them alone. (You can see pics of Devan and Rob taking Ky down one of these slides.) By the way—on those pics you will notice the water depth says 2 inches. Ummm—yeah—they mean 2 feet—just another one of those things about this park—it just seemed like it was very sloppily put together.
Ky of course had fun on the slides though he was not impressed by their “sprinkler park” either. After the boys were done hitting the slides (and yes they had done most of them with 1.5 – 2 hours) we decided to go get some free ice cream—which also was disappointing—(I hope Rob’s company decides to go back to Noah’s Ark next year.) Free ice cream should not be disappointing, but when you walk all the way across the park toting a 2 year old and then discover they are small ice cream cups (think grade school cafeteria food) and they only have vanilla and strawberry—that is disappointing. So back to some of the water rides we went. We went to an indoor/outdoor water area which would have been a great improvement over the other rides except the outdoor part had TONS of those Japanese beetles in the water and the water was freezing cold. Poor Ky was shivering. We then went inside—which was much better, but very crowded—and by that time Ky was too cold to really enjoy himself and then getting tired. Poor kid. In the end we went on the Lazy River LOTS—while Jordan and Devan rode the indoor rides. Then Ky and I hit the hot tub while Rob joined them for a little while. And yes—I know—now preggos allowed in the hot tub, let alone little kids—but the hot tub was warm NOT hot. So really I should call it a warm tub.
By this time it was dinner so we ate our meals and then decided to hit the batting cages—well the older boys did. I ended up monitoring Ky and trying to retrieve a manager as most of the batting cages ate our money. The funny thing is—I go to an Info counter at the park to tell them about the batting cages and he tells me I have to go find a manager. That was frustrating. Shouldn’t he have a radio or something? So then I end up waiting around and finally find one after 20 minutes or so. ARGH! I wanted our money back, he wouldn’t give it to us—but the boys did get tokens back. Then I watched the cages continue to eat other people’s money.
Finally it was time for the Go Karts—what Mt. Olympus is supposed to be known for. Well—Ky of course couldn’t go on them—and I didn’t want to go on them for fear of being hit and then having a child in the middle of the track. So Ky and I basically did a lot of waiting. Ky was excellent! He played around, practiced balancing on cement beams, and enjoyed watching the Go Karts. Personally at his age I think I would have been bummed that I couldn’t go with Dad and my cousins on the rides.
Towards the end of the night I insisted on doing some rides with Ky, so the boys took him on one of those twirly swing rides and on the choo choo train. And then we went on the train again and again and again and again and again and again and again---you get the picture. That was pretty much the conclusion to the night. Ky rode the train until the park closed. He LOVES trains! I don’t know if I have written about his love of Thomas—but that is his thing. TRAINS!
So Day 2 we got up and hit the road for the Schnake family reunion in Arlington Heights IL. Here is where I forgot to pull out the camera and take pics. Oh well---I am sure Pops and Debi took lots. To be honest—I was pretty tired this day and really don’t remember a whole lot except trying to sit down and chatting with Debi a bit. Ky ran around and played ball with the boys. We had a nice picnic and saw relatives we hadn’t seen since the year before. I love family reunions—what a great idea—I wish they would have them on my side of the family. I know there is some family I have never met and it would be neat to have the opportunity to see how some of the family genes turned out.
After the reunion we then went to visit the Herbst’s who also conveniently live in Arlington Heights—once again you will see I neglected the camera as I only have a few pics. I remember giving the camera to Rob—so the pics we have are from him.
Ky had a great time! This boy was a real trooper, going on very little nappage in 2 days. He remembered the Herbst’s though and was excited to see them and show them what he could do. Grandma gave him a special present—which you see him opening in one of the pics. And then he played the piano for Aunt Janice and Grandma. We then went out to eat. It was good conversation and good food for all—but boy was I beat. It was nice to hit the road and go home to my bed to recover from the weekend. Pregnancy does take a lot out of you!
So that is that…Yes I have many blogs to catch up on yet before the new one comes, but I think I will do it. I am not sleeping very well at night anymore, so I am using that time to write. Stay tuned for our trip to Michigan (I think that would be the next blog!)
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