Fun with Dad

While Lara was helping out in Cook Forest, the kids and I enjoyed some of our usual fun things in our neck of the woods.  They were both so well-behaved the day that I got them from Lara. We were back in our house around 6 am and I was exhausted.  We all did get in bed at home for a few hours.

 

Mid-July

Our new favorite summer treat is a trip to Menchies (a make your own frozen yogurt place).  Grant got a free yogurt certificate in school for reading 10 books.  Much to our surprise, when Grant cashed in that certificate they gave him another to complete.  He is quite a good reader these days and so 10 books for free yogurt is no problem!

Gracie and I made a stop by our old van to pick out a few more belongings since it was totaled.  We were a bit sad to see it go but...

so happy when we got our new Chevy Traverse.

Then, in the middle of July the Hetrick kids came for a sleepover. We had a full 2 days of cousin fun.  However the second night they were here Jenny called late at night (on July 20th) to tell us that Dad had a heart attack.  Since Jeff had just left earlier in the day for Ohio (to help Jase and Heather move) I could't do anything till Amy came up to get the kids.  She ended up being here around 1 in the morning.  We woke up all the kids and headed towards Erie.  At that point, Jeff was on his way home so we met him on an exit off of 90 and we gave him Grant and Gracie.  We dropped of the Hetrick's at their house, took a 2 hour nap and then headed for Pittsburgh.  LONG story short, Dad is OK and only stayed 2 nights.  He had a catherization and a stent placed.  The nurse told us he had the best kind of heart attack to have.  Grateful he is still with us!!!

This is Dad the day we got home from the hospital.  I say "we" because I stayed with Mom and Dad at the hospital after his procedure.  Jenny had us over for a healthy dinner and Mom and Dad watched a good game of wiffleball.  Love you so much DAD!!!!

Some July Fun.

A couple of days after we got back from Maine we went to visit the Hetrick's and the kids did their first drive in movie (the secret life of pets).  We also got to go to an acquaintance of Ian's boathouse at Presque Isle.  

After a night at Amy's we were off to Mom and Dad's to pick up Luna.  Mom and Dad watched her for us while we were in Maine.  Long story short, she ended up running away and biting someone and she wasn't up to date on Rabies :(  She had to be quarantined at mom and dad's for 10 days.  That is the short version.  She is now up to date on rabies and back with us where she will stay for now on!  We spent two nights and the kids had so much fun.  We camped out both nights, got to ride Excaliber, multiple 4-wheeler rides, Beartown Rocks, and ice cream at Farmer's Inn.  

Grant lost his first tooth in the car from Amy's house to Grandma and Papa's!!! Grandma made him a toothfairy pillow, she let him pick out which material he wanted.  He was thrilled!!!

Since Grant got his Toothfairy pillow made by Grandma, Gracie wanted her's too!!! 

Our Leaning Tree Hike!!!  We do it everytime we are at Grandma and Papa's!  

Vacation

At the end of June until July 4th we went on a road trip visiting friends in Maine and making lots of fun stops "along" the way.  Our first stop was State College where we enjoyed all the fun things we used to do.

A visit to the greatly improved Arboretum

Where's Waldo?

  

Campus and the Creamery

Paradise and Bellefonte!  See http://lawsnews.blogspot.com/2012/08/paradise.html

 Bellefonte Wok

Penn's Cave

And of course, the fun of the hotels themselves.  We stayed 2 nights, each in a different hotel in the area.

After reminiscing the first part of our vacation, it was on to new territory with a night in Connecticut.  I should mention that we planned to camp a bit on our way north but given our accident, we were now road-tripping in a Chevy Malibu rental rather than our van and so we elected to leave some of our camp gear at home (but still tent at Cam's).

First stop...PEZ factory.  Everyone loved this place.  We came out with tons of PEZ dispensers and enjoyed the BINGO game that they had.

The next day it was on to the New England Air Museum which was awesome.  The kids got to climb in a bunch of aircraft and hit a bunch of levers and buttons...what's better than that?!

Their first (and hopefully last) flight lesson.

Then it was a night in Freeport with lots of shopping and 3 nights of backyard camping at the Shuck's.  Good friends, good beer, and good beaches...it doesn't get much better.  And to top it off, the mosquitoes weren't bad this year,

This sand was covered by the tide about 15 minutes before.  When the tide goes out you can get to the island that I am standing on.

Great game...let's smash each other with a hop ball.  What could go wrong?

Before we knew it, it was time to head home.  The kids can be world-class travelers and we only made one stop on the way home!  It was our only gas, food, and potty break.  We are so glad that this has become a yearly tradition.  Also while on this vacation we got word that some of our friends from NY were moving to Maine (about an hour from where we usually go).  It looks like even more Maine time next year.