Not too long after the 4th of July holiday, Courtney and the Alt gang came to visit for a few weeks. One of the things on the To Do list was to go to Darien Lake with the whole family.
Unpacking the kids and gear:
Ian, Aunt Rachel, Nick and I got season passes this summer and we definitely wanted to put them to good use!
Almost ready to head into the park:
Mom, Dad and Aunt Rachel were going to meet us inside because they were delayed leaving due to some phone technical difficulties. 🙂
Everyone inside the park:
The littlest boys and the daddies went on the train ride….
…while the biggest boy rode monster trucks with Aunt Rachel:
After that, it was pretty much a free-for-all trying to keep the kids contained, happy and not lost. LOL
Andrew and Jonathan hanging out in the shade:
Ian on his favorite ride EVER.
It was a tough day for Matthew. He’s not tall enough for a lot of rides and isn’t patient enough to wait in most lines. And, its really frustrating for him to not be able to run where and when he wants. There was a lot of time spent watching other people having fun.
Ian rode this rollercoaster 7646273x in a row. LOL
Waiting in line for a different ride. This time Matthew can ride with Momma:
Waiting for it to start:
Matthew liked this ride when it went forward but was NOT AMUSED when the ride went backwards/in reverse. LOL
Lunch break!
Bumper cars!
Andrew wasn’t tall enough to ride alone so the boys rode together.
Mike, me, Jonathan and the 3 little boys rode on Grizzly Run together 2 times in a row. Grizzly Run is a white water rapid ride where you sit in a round boat and float down a river. The ride has some rapids, waterfalls and water cannons that end up soaking everyone in the boat. The little guys L-O-V-E-D this ride and probably would have gone through 2 more times had the adults been willing to continue getting soaked. haha
Ian, Matthew and Andrew ended up getting stripped down and changed into dry clothes while Mike, Jonathan and I had to suffer in our soaked attire.
Post-Grizzly Run strip down time coincided with Matthew’s 2PM naptime. He ended up sporting a diaper and napping in the stroller like a champ:
He slept like that for a full 2 hour nap. LOL
Siss also took a little nap!
Gotta love a kid that can sleep in the middle of a noisy amusement park!
After that we kind of just walked around and let the boys ride the same rides over and over and over and over. It was a good day!
When we rolled (literally) out of the tent on the 4th, it was pretty darn early and we were pretty darn tired. I don’t know how Ian slept but I didn’t sleep very well. And, if you’ve ever slept outside before, the SECOND the sun rises is the second your day starts. LOL I’m a morning person and even I thought it was a rough start to the day.
Our bed after a long night outside:
Ian feeling a little worn out and mid-yawm:
Nothing that a chocolate donut from Tim Horton’s won’t solve:
(Yeah, we can’t wait until he starts eating more neatly. LOL)
Next, we all got cleaned up and packed our stuff up to go watch a 4th of July parade on Walden in Cheektowaga.
Ready to go home and eat some lunch.
After a light lunch and nice long naps, we went over to Mom and Dad’s for a cookout. Once dinner was all done, we headed over to UB to get ready for fireworks!!!
We set up our chairs in the library parking lot like normal and gave the boys marshmallows, pretzels and chocolate to keep them occupied:
We also had some glow sticks that they enjoyed playing with:
Soon it was time for fireworks!
As usual, both boys LOVED the fireworks!
Here are a few that we saw:
Between the night of camping the day before, the early morning, the hot parade and the late night of fireworks, it came as no surprise that both boys were asleep in the car within about 30 seconds of the fireworks ending.
What a great 4th of July!
One of the things I really, really wanted to do this summer was go “camping”.
(Okay. What I really wanted to do was sleep in a tent in the backyard with Ian. And on an air mattress. I’m not so interested in REAL camping. Momma likes running water, electricity, toilets and the other comforts of home far too much to go REAL camping!)
Aunt Rachel got Matthew a really nice tent for his birthday this year so when the long July 4th weekend rolled around, we decided to put it to good use!
Early in the evening, we all helped build the tent and get the air mattress ready.
Testing out the tent and air mattress:
After a quick dinner out, we came home and began gearing up for a camp fire, s’mores, ladder golf and chit chat with the family.
We played a little game of pick up baseball. Since Matthew is too little to sleep in the tent and be around the camp fire, we let him bat a few extra times:
The fire is lit!
It was a little smokey at first but we still enjoyed it!
Dad and Mike putting on the “roof”:
All ready for us to sleep outside!
A little chit chat…
…then it’s time for s’mores!
Ian was NOT amused by the toasted marshmallow! LOL
Showing Daddy:
That’s okay…a s’more with a plain, untoasted marshmallow will do just fine!
Good stuff!
The expert S’more Chef, Aunt Rachel!
Yummy!
Time for ladder golf!
Almost time for bed!!!
After about 3 dozen trips in and out of the house for various things and potty breaks, Ian and I finally got settled in the tent. Since it was the big holiday weekend, we heard lots of fireworks and parties going on that night and had a bit of trouble getting to sleep. Overall, the night was a lot of fun. Hopefully we’ll get to do this more frequently!
The same weekend that Mom, Dad and I took the boys for pictures at Olan Mills, Mike was busy with friends in downtown Buffalo for the annual Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball tournament.
After pictures were done, we came home for lunch and nap time. While Ian finished eating lunch, Matthew and I played with his new train sets.
After nap time, Mom, Dad, me and the 2 little guys packed up and headed downtown to watch Mike play basketball.
Unfortunately, Mike’s team lost the game we came to watch. They may have lost but I know Mike had a lot of fun. Better luck next year!
Ian and Momma hanging out at Grammy and Papaw’s house
October 2006