Our Jam Packed Weekend

Wow what a weekend!

Saturday we got up and loaded the truck and van with our chi-beagle McNair, chairs and cooler, towels etc. Stopped at the store and got a fried chicken pack, drinks and ice for the cooler. Then off we went!

The park was just getting set up. The rock wall was going up and the Water Wars people were filling up balloons. We parked in the usual parking lot and started lugging everything to our chosen spot. We decided to forgo the sunshelter this year and instead take advantage of the now-mature fast-growing trees they'd planted a couple years ago that made a great shaded area that stayed shady all day as the Sun crossed the sky.




We ran into neighbors who have girls the same age as two of ours and they wanted to hang out, so we let them stay with us while their family went to visit with others. It was great for us, kept down on the "I'M BORED!!!" nonsense.



Corina showed up a little while later with the cooler (it was in her truck) as well as Tyler (her fiancee), his cousin Adam and her friend from school, Kristen. I was glad we brought blankets for people to sit on the ground since our 6 folding chairs were always full.



A few hours later, Hubby's sister Colleen, her husband Eric, their kids Alex and Leah, and my mother-in-law CoraLynn all showed up with 2 more chairs. Thankfully the kids didn't mind sitting on the ground.

It was so great having so many friends and family to share such a great day with. There was no chance of rain and it wasn't horribly hot, and there was even a nice breeze most of the day. We all had fun battling each other at Water Wars.






The kids tried the rock climbing and inflatables. There was no bunjee jumping this year, but the kids didn't really miss it too much. There was plenty to do.




There was great music, tons of food of all sorts, and just talking and relaxing.



The fireworks were great, though McNair didn't like the noise. He loved watching them though heh.


Eric and Colleen wanted to meet somewhere later for food and drinks, but we were worn out, so decided to meet for breakfast the next morning. That was fun and Ryan's has a great breakfast bar on weekends. After getting goodbye hugs from everyone, they headed back to the hotel to sleep some more since they were going to be driving back to NY overnight.

We had planned on going to the zoo since our soon-to-be-8 yr old Zoe wanted to go for her birthday like we do every year (for the last 3 years anyway). But the kids really wanted to go swimming and it was turning hotter, so we decided to head to the lake. On the way, Hubby wanted to stop by the Museum of Natural History which is on the way to the lake. It's the only MoNH that's on the site of the dig.



We'd heard about the place for a few years. The first discovery was made in 2000 when the road was going to be widened. Since then it was made a protected site and the museum built and active digging on-going and a staff of paleontologists. Very cool. They have a website here: www.grayfossilmuseum.com





So finally we were off to the lake.



We only stayed there a couple hours before Rhiannon was tired of it and then Hubby was getting hungry. We took off back to the city and ate at CiCi's Pizza buffet. On our way home, we stopped and got the kids Super Mario Galaxy2 for the Wii which they have been playing almost nonstop ever since. No Wii game has ever held so much interest. I went straight to bed and collapsed.

It was a good weekend and I loved spending time with family and friends. Hubby and I are both back to work now. Tomorrow is Zoe's birthday. I got her a new DDR Wii game and an MP3 player, and her dad is going to take her to the zoo Thursday or Friday when he's off work again.

I hope you all had a great holiday weekend!