A Cousin Sleepover

Paige came over Friday night for a sleepover. Rudy, who won't even let N IN his room, asked if Paige was sleeping in his room with him. He was sorry to hear she wasn't. After dinner, we five plus Grandpa headed to the playground.

The swings were a big hit this weekend and Paige and N spent a lot of time on them. Grandpa was called into service as a pusher.

After tiring them all out, we headed home for baths and bed. A successful night of getting three kids to bed (of course, Paige is easier than either of our two!)

The next morning, our early birds, and our early bird visitor, were all awake by 6:15. The kids played and ate breakfast and checked out books in Paige's room. (Rudy wanted a pony tail because Paige had one).

We went again to a playground (at about 8:00-surprisingly, no one else was there). Then we went to the farm to get our vegetables for the week. Paige and N had fun picking tomatoes. After the farm it was time for naps for Paige and N, if Rudy had consented, Pal and I might have taken one, too! After naps and lunch, we waited for Bill & Renee to return so we could head to the boardwalk.
As we hung out in front, I decided to try to take some pictures. For some reason, as soon as I tried to take a picture, Paige and N decided it would be funny to show their bellies. As you can see in the background, as soon as Rudy realized what was going on, he joined in.

I tried to get them to put their shirts down, and then realized I should just take the belly picture first...

Then when I tried to take a 'normal' group shot, N ran to the camera to "cheese" into it and Rudy lifted his robe as if he were Count Dracula. Poor Paige, it's a miracle she survived the day!

Once Bill & Renee arrived we headed to the boardwalk rides. When we were in Ocean City, MD, he was not interested in the rides at all, but this time he had a great time. He and Paige went on lots of rides together.

The Choo Choo- Grandpa's favorite. I love how all the kids are giving half smiles, but none are looking at the camera.

The big slide- always a favorite. Rudy won just because one of the workers told him that he should pick the yellow row-  now I know for next time!

He rode the carousel two times.

"We all live in a yellow submarine..."

The one ride I was able to take pictures of Rudy- he and Paul kept going off to do their own rides while Paige and N rode the kiddie rides inside.

The balloons were also a hit- N rode them twice and Paige went on them three times.

After rides we had dinner and of course dessert (ice cream for some, funnel cake for others). While Bill & Paul walked miles away to get the cars, the kids acted crazy on the boardwalk.

All in all a fun time with Paige and a fun first trip to the boardwalk this year/
 

Summer Fun

So far Rudy has had a fun and crazy summer. He spent the first week of July at a local camp. Every day was a different theme. One day they had to dress as their group name. His group was The Funky Frontmen (it was an all-music theme). Here is our funky frontman and then a picture of his group.

This is a first day of camp picture (taken from the camp's facebook page).

First day playing volleyball.

One day was camper and counselor switch places, so Rudy dressed in a black shirt, since that's what the counselors wore.

And then one day they had a camp version of The Color run. Rudy was excited about this, since he'd done it before. Obviously they didn't run 5K. Rudy wouldn't let me take a picture of him after camp, but I got a good picture of his hat later.

Last week Rudy and I were at home together. We did some things locally and just stayed home a lot (it's been really hot)!
Friday was fort day. Rudy started this and I gave him a little help with it.

Since we were hanging out at home, I made him a smoothie and put a lid on it so he could drink it in his fort. Look carefully in the background and you will see Moonie in the fort. He really liked playing in it, too.

Trying to get Moonie to cooperate for a picture.

Just chillin'

A Not-So-Happy 4th (and a Happy Family Get-Together)

We started out our Fourth of July celebration as we have in past years with an early morning breakfast at Smithville Bakery. With N, we decided we couldn't go right to our parade seats, so we wandered around Smithville for about 45 minutes and then got our chairs and found a good spot. We relaxed and waited for the parade.

By next year, hopefully we will remember that the parade is loooooong. And the weather is usually pretty hot. And Rudy (and this year, N) is really not that interested in the parade after the first 20 minutes or so. So after an hour or more, we had two fried and exhausted and hot boys. Rudy was lying on the grass. N was yelling and screaming (and made us grateful for the fire engines and sirens that filled the end of the parade!)
Next year we will get up and go to breakfast and then go to a beach or pool, or home just to play, but we will NOT go to the parade.

A few days after the parade we were getting together to celebrate June birthdays with my family. The plan was to go to Bill and Renee's and they were going to put out Paige's pool for the kids that wanted to go in it. Well, it was a hot week and Renee's aunt and uncle graciously offered us the use of their yard (and in ground pool) for our get together, so everyone could cool off and enjoy the pool. The kids all had fun and had to be dragged and bribed to get out of the pool. N pushed his limits as usual and ended up falling in the pool (he was fine and immediately started yelling "not nice" at the pool). Rudy was a fish who jumped and swam the entire time. I forgot my camera but Renee had a family picture taken before we all left.

Assateague Adventure

This was our third (planned) camping trip to Assateague. The first was not terrible, but turned out kind of cold and windy. The second got canceled because of a tropical storm. So third time is supposed to be a charm. We headed out with high spirits. Somehow we managed to fit an extra kid, and extra sleeping bag, clothes, etc in the car. It might have helped that we borrowed Paul's mom's car.

Our car's captain.

We had a reservation on a 12:00 ferry and arrived at the terminal at 11. We had packed a lunch, so we figured we would just eat it while we waited at the terminal. When we checked in, we were asked if we wanted to get on the 11:00 ferry- it was a waiting at the dock and just about to leave. We said yes and by the time we pulled on the ferry and got out of the car, it was leaving the dock. Perfect timing!
This was a newly remodeled ferry with nicer seats, tray tables and TVs.

After eating our lunch, the boys all engaged in some form of screen- Rudy playing video games, Paul checking his phone and N thinking he's playing video games. The ferry ride was very rocky and it rained for the most part. I actually felt fine, and even got to see dolphins a few times.

After arriving in Delaware by ferry, we had less than an hour and a half before we arrived at our campsite. It was a very sandy site and as Paul and I unpacked the car and set up, Rudy and N had fun in the sand.
Making snow angels...

...using shells as shovels...

 

...and generally getting full of sand in the way they would be for the next few days.

Once the car was unpacked, Paul took the boys to the beach while I set up the air mattress and sleeping bags.

Fully dressed they went into the water, of course.

Rudy came back to get his bathing suit on and found that our camping partners had arrived. Light saber duels were the top order of business.

While the adults set up the tent.

N helped by hammering in some extra stakes.

The boys ran around and played while we cooked dinner. After dinner Paul and Andy took the boys to the beach while Vincie and I washed dishes (only fair since they had cooked). Then we met them down there.

A gorgeous sky.

"Roomies" and BFFs - see the wind blown hair- that was an indicator of things to come...

The other boys all had their bathing suits on, but we decided N was already wet and sandy in his clothes, so we'd just go with that for the night. He LOVED the ocean.

He also loved Andy.

Future surfer...

Not happy to be leaving the beach.

The end of beach time, day one.

We got back to the campsite and decided to build a fire and have s'mores. I thought I'd take pictures of the boys around the fire. This one cooperated and smiled....

 

... so did this one...

...but not this one....

...or his two partners in crime.

We got a small fire started ( the only time we were even slightly successful the whole time) and had s'mores before bed.

The next morning, N and then Rudy were up early so we took a walk and saw a pony. Compared to our last trip, we saw very few ponies this time. Only two seem to live on this side based on how we saw the same two every time.

After breakfast, and a nap in his stroller, we hit the beach. This is his "I'm going to the beach" run!

We intended to eat lunch on the beach, but the older boys decided they were done with the beach by that time. So we had lunch at our site and then walked down to the playground. The morning sun had led to some tired kids.

N showing off his swinging skills.

After showers, we headed to the boardwalk on Ocean City (Maryland). Trying to get a decent picture of 5 boys ages 2 to 9 is quite a challenge. I think there is only one of these where Rudy isn't sticking his tongue out.

Then they stood and watched the entrance of the museum for a while. It just so happened that they were lined up by age and height.

We went to the pier with the rides and were a little disappointed. They use a strange point system for the cost of rides, and they weren't anything great, but the kids did a few rides and played a few games. Then we had a snack (ice cream for some, water ice for others, funnel cake for others, and a lollipop for another) and headed back to our camp.

During the day, it had been a little windy and Paul and Andy added some new tent stakes and strings to our tent because it kept caving in. We attempted another fire, but since it had rained a little, we just couldn't get anything going. The kids played until it got dark and we were able to see a rainbow...

 

...and a pretty pink sky.

The next morning we three were up early again. This time the ponies were at some one's campsite a few loops over, so we went to see them.

After breakfast, as we were packing up to head out for the day, the ponies came our way. They aren't quite as close to Vincie as they look, but they did check out her car and the cooler you see in front of Andy (we were told to make sure we didn't keep the cooler in our tent because they could smell the food and would try to get to it).

Notice as the pony gets near the back of the van, the cooler disappears. Andy slowly pulled it toward the other side of the van, but this pony definitely was checking it out and looked like he knew exactly how to open it.

We left in the rain to go to Frontiertown- a small amusement-type park that had a cowboy theme. As we walked to get our tickets, there were sheep along the way.

We arrived on Main Street and sat to watch the first of many performances.

The kids, on arriving, all received deputy badges and they were asked to come up for an official ceremony.

Riding the pony carousel.

We also took a train ride during which we were attacked by outlaws looking for gold. Our kids, sitting at the back of the train, were picked out by the outlaws as being suspicious and trouble makers.
Then there were the gallows, where you could pick the appropriate sign for your crime.

We rode a stagecoach. The boys were given a bag of gold to protect.

The minute this outlaw arrived (the same one that robbed the train earlier) Rudy's first words were, "We don't have any gold."

Fascinated by the outlaws and being held up. And not at all cooperative with the outlaws.

This is the kids coming out of a mine shaft. It was very strange inside. Somehow you felt like you were walking and tilting. N, in his usual walking stance of head down and bad balance, fell several times in there. The kids of course loved it and did it several times.

A lesson in shooting a bow and arrow.

A pony ride.

After leaving Frontiertown (which the boys loved and all ended up with guns or bows and arrows as souvenirs), Paul and I decided to go to the other side of the park (the National side) from where we were camping and walk a few trails.

Just after this picture was taken, N wanted to get out of the stroller and run with Rudy. As mentioned before, his balance is not good. This is a raised boardwalk (and two feet high). He was running after Rudy and literally stood at the edge of the boardwalk and stepped off. He was very unhappy (as was I since I had to jump down and get him) but unharmed (as evidenced by the first thing out of his mouth, focused on the boardwalk itself, was "not nice".)

As we drove between trails, we saw3 a deer cross the road.

The Dunes trail- hot and sandy but beautiful.

Monkey see, monkey do.

Since this walk was after Frontiertown, we kept running into this bandit asking for gold.

One very unhappy boy. He only wanted to be carried. And we wanted not to carry him (he's not the lightest kid, and add walking in sand to that and it is not a pleasant experience). We would take turns carrying him and then put him down for a few minutes of cajoling and pleading with him to walk ( and usually we would get a few feet before he would flat out refuse to walk again- this boy is stubborn!)

A cool tree- prefect for climbing.

When we got back from our walks, the kids played, Paul sat on the beach for a while, and I tried to start organizing for our trip home in the morning. We started cooking dinner and it was very windy and a little rainy. Once again, our tent caved in. And then Paul cut his finger while opening the sausage. After bandaging that up (the first of many times to come) and worrying about whether he needed to get it looked at, Paul went to try to fix the tent, and discovered that a tent pole (or more) had broken because of the wind. He and Andy tried to figure out what to do about it. And it started to rain more. And then something small broke on Andy and Vincie's tent from the wind. And we knew that even if we could sleep in a partially caved tent, if it continued raining, the rain fly wouldn't protect a collapsed tent. And we made a decision to abandon dinner preparations and pack up.

As it rained harder we packed everything up, took down our tents (and threw ours in the dumpster), and headed home. It was too late to catch a ferry home, so we had to drive the whole way. We stopped for dinner (it was about 7:30 by then) and drove home, arriving home around 11:30 p.m. The car was full of wet sandy things. The kids went to bed full of sand. Paul and I showered and collapsed and prepared for the big job in the morning of emptying the car and cleaning everything off and doing lots of laundry.
Our luck seems to have run out with Assateague, and although we love being there, and walking the trails, and seeing the ponies, we officially give up on camping there (or any beach for that matter). We miss having trees for shelter and shade, and to hang things from. And we have seen and cleaned enough sand to last a lifetime!