Birthday Trip!

Today is Nick's birthday...he was born on MY birthday, by the way.  (So, that means that I will forever be 25, as he took my birthday from me!)  Anyway, we wanted to do something extra special for him because he's just such an awesome kid and he is a fantastic big brother.  We decided to take just him to Cedar Point.  (No brother!)  It was also a good excuse for us to go, we love it there!  :-)

First of all, Nick hates surprises.  To the point that he will mope and throw a temper tantrum.  This only makes me NOT want to tell him things more often, so we didn't tell him the plan.  We kept him in the dark.  He headed to school just like normal on this particular Friday.  I did fib to him and told him that Wesley wasn't going to school because he had an appointment.  This is no unusual thing for Wesley.  Little did Nick know that we would be packing up and taking Wesley out to stay with my dad for the weekend and picking up my mom to go with us.

We showed up at school at about 11 that morning and picked him up.  As soon as he got in the car, we told him that we were taking him somewhere for his birthday and to not ask any questions.  I did, however, supply him with a steady supply of hints that he received every 25 miles we traveled.  Every other one was announcing how many more miles to go, then the others were actual hints.  Such as...it's surrounded by water and there are 6 consonants and 4 vowels in the name.   That hint proved to be a little more vague than intended.  I didn't realize how many things that this applies to!  Outer Banks and Great Lakes being a couple that he guessed.  Who knew?  Anyway, he didn't guess until we were about 20 miles away and he saw a sign.  By this time, we had ran out of clues and were playing an "unscramble me" game.

He finally figured out where we were going!  :-)

So, we went up on a Friday and spent the night in one of the resorts.  Wow!  This one has an indoor water park!  What fun!  We had a fantastic time with just this!  There were water slides all over the place, a wave pool, and even a water roller coaster!  This really got us into the mood for Cedar Point!  We relaxed a bit in the giant hot tub while Nicholas utilized the water slides a bit more.  Then it was off to bed for a good night's sleep.

Mom, me and Nick, ready to head out!

The next morning I grabbed a couple photos on our way out.

I can't get a real smile!

Look at that, Dad!

Rich and I worked at Cedar Point many moons ago, in 1998.  So, this place has lots of meaning for us.  We really wanted to share some of it with Nick.  Some of this being our love for roller coasters.  :-)  Now, Nick has never been to a big amusement park before, and therefore never been on a real roller coaster.  Rich was foaming at the mouth to get him on his first one!  We had a plan in place for the park.  Since we stayed in one of the resorts, we could get into the park an hour earlier than the general public.  Rich was going to take Nick on a smaller, milder one and work up to the Daddy coasters.  Turns out that our plans were all for naught.  The smaller, milder one was closed and while Mom and I were busy getting her a scooter for the day, they hit the Rich's favorite coaster...the Raptor!  I was a little worried about jumping feet first, but I should have known better.  My boys are daredevils!  We went straight to Top Thrill Dragster, but it's line was already stupid long, so we headed to the Power Tower.  Got Mom of this one...both sides.  :-)

It was really interesting how they have things set up for the handicapped.  Your party waits in line while you and one other person wait at the exit, once your party gets to the front, you get to slip in the exit and get on.  Fair for everyone!  Neat!  Anyway, we saw something really interesting while waiting for the Power Tower.  We saw an 86 year old woman get on and ride!  I want to be that woman!

We really did have a fantastic time.  They have lots of new things since we worked there, so it was interesting to tell Nick the way things used to be when we were there, but there are lots of things still the same as well.  I was the manager for a little food stand there, it was called the Surry back in the day...it's a Subway now.  Rich, of course, played guitar.  He works less then half the hours that I did and made twice as much!  Now, I ask you, how is that fair?  Anyway, back to our trip.

WindSeeker

I am afraid of height, but I am usually up for trying something at least once...this being one of them.  And that's it too.  I tried it once, I won't be getting back on this one!  I thought it would be just fine...it's really high, 301 ft...but it didn't seem to go that fast.  I imagined a beautiful scenic view up top!  Well, it was certainly a beautiful scene, but WOW!  What looks serene from the ground is screaming, flinging round and round up top!  Thirty-five mph doesn't sound that fast, but it's an entirely different thing when there is 300 ft of air beneath your feet!

While Rich wanted to get Nick on roller coasters, I had a different mission in mind.  Back in 1998, I had decided that I wanted to go on the Ripcord.  Unfortunately (for the sake of the ride), I ended up pregnant before I could achieve this.  So, going back (how many ever) years later, I was going to see this through.  We gave Nick the option and he choose to do it.  (See, I told you they were daredevils!)

Ripcord at Cedar Point

Now, you see those two towers?  They are 150 ft high and you fall head first from the top of this into a huge swing.  Nothing but you, air and the wire at your back.









We had to wait a bit in line...I think that was the hardest.  So, we got pretty nervous and had to talk ourselves back into the right state of mind.  Here's a look at our "Grrr" faces.

And we got it done.  It was, at the same time, the most exciting and most terrifying thing I have ever done!  And, I would do it again.  :-)

All in all, it was a fantastic birthday trip!  Thanks for going along with us.

Happy birthday to one of my very favorite boys!  Love you Nick!

First days of school!

We have made it through the first days of school!  Today actually started the first full week for both children.  I think we are getting the hang of it.  Nicholas started 5th grade and Wesley started Kindergarten...I know, my baby is a kindergartner.

                                                      

                                                                  

Aren't they just the cutest things ever??

Summer time!

Wow!  Summer time is full of sun and fun!  But it's the crazy schedule that blindsided me!  I realized that my days were no longer going to be my own when school let out, but this is ridiculous!  Nick is on the MUAC swim team, so he's swimming 4 days a week.  We signed Wesley up for Miracle League baseball and that's two nights a week.  Between all that, I haven't got a second to think!  Ok, now that I have complained about how busy I am, let me tell you what's going on with us in more detail.

Nick decided to try the swim team.  Last year was his first official swim lessons, so he had no idea what freestyle was when it came to swimming.  MUAC, or also known as Morgantown United Aquatic Club, is a fantastic club!  They are a casual swim team that is only active for the first part of summer.  He only has three weeks left!  But it's pretty intense while they are doing it.  At the last meet, he got to swim the long and the short freestyle, and the backstroke.  He did have a problem with his goggles though, we will have to try and fix that.  He's doing fairly well and has expressed an interest in swimming year round...not sure if we will go that route this year or let him swim with MUAC again next year.

Wesley was signed up for Miracle League baseball.  This is a fantastic thing through Stepping Stones.  They allow kids with disabilities to play baseball!  They have buddies for the kids that need them and two teams of kids.  They play against each other each week.  They each get a turn to bat and there are no outs.  If they can't hit a pitched ball, they can hit it off the tee.  You should see how proud those kids are when they hit that ball!  You should hear the parents cheering for all the kids!  It doesn't matter which team they are on, we cheer for them all!  :-)  Wesley is NOT impressed with baseball...in fact, he will say, without fail, "No hit the ball."  He wants no part of it...well, except for the snack part!  Anyway, the last game was the parents vs the kids and we just let Wesley sit on the sidelines instead of fighting with him.  He did a fantastic job sitting and Rich and I had a blast playing!  The parents had to have a disadvantage when it came to their turn to bat, so we picked out of a hat as to if you were to bat blindfolded, with one arm tied behind your back, or with your shoe laces tied together.  It was a blast, seriously!  I think we are going to continue to take Wesley and let him watch the games and see if he ever decides to play.  I'm not holding my breath though!

Rich and I will be participating in a Chili Cook-Off this Friday at our church.  It's a fundraiser for some awesome friends of ours that are battling Mitochondrial Disease, the mom and all 5 children.  They need to see a specialist in Georgia and need to raise $4000 for the trip.  We need some more entries if you have a great chili recipe!  Here's a page to explain a little more of their battle: Laurie Family Trip to Georgia  I hope to see many people there!  You can also help them out even if you can't come to the cook-off.  Thanks for anything you can do!