We just got back from a mini-vacation. We enjoy going to Syracuse to visit my bro and sis in law. Landon gets very excited when he hears he gets to visit his Uncle Adam and Aunt Cole. We got up there on Friday evening and were planning on heading over to Palmyra, NY to see the pageant. What we realized is that we over estimated our ability to travel in one day. So we decided to just sit and relax instead.
Saturday Adam's work, Lockheed Martin, had a Family Day. Originally we weren't going to be getting in until mid day Saturday, but John was able to get his schedule changed and we got there a day early. Luckily we got this information early enough for Adam to get last minute tickets. It was a free event, but we needed registered. It was an amazing time. The sun stayed behind the clouds which made it much more tolerable. There were tons of bounce houses. Landon tried out every single one of them, several times. When there were three in a row he would just leave his shoes off and run between them. He would hop out of one and holler, "can I go in that one, Mom?" There were also big inflatable slides, the dolphin slide was his favorite. He was on that several times. Besides all the stuff for the kids to bounce on there were free carnival games with prizes. And tons and tons of free food. Ribs, chicken, veggies, general picnic foods, salt potatoes, burgers, chicken pitas, fruit, cotton candy, fried dough, caramel apples, ice cream, hand squeezed lemonade, and drinks galore. Phew! We even got to go inside and see where they work. Check out a few pics of the day!
Will wanted to get in a bounce house like his brother. He loved it! I joined him and we bounced all around.
Aunt Nicole got Landon excited for cotton candy early on. She would ask,"what are you going to eat today? Cotton....socks?" L: "Nooooo." N: "Cotton candy?" L: "YES!"
Spoils of war. Rocket launcher and lots of beach balls.
Day two we were invited to a friend's house to swim. Hooray! I haven't been swimming all summer. And I got to sport my new suit. Who can say no to that? Landon was not a fan of the water at first, but all of a sudden, when everyone was out ready to eat lunch he decided that he wanted to get in. After that revelation he was playing on the steps by himself, including falling in and going under without a huge meltdown, and jumping in over and over and over again. We were there for several hours and I think we were all prunes when we left. Will was also against the pool. I was surprised since he's our water boy, I thought he'd love it! Of course after I had changed him and thrown away his swimmer he wanted to climb in and play on the steps. So I ended up stripping him down and he got in in his diaper and had fun. Silly boys! I think we were all pretty worn out after that day.
On Monday, day three, we had the day to do what we wanted to do. So we went to check out a place that Nicole had told us to check out. Carpenters Brook Fish Hatchery. Luckily we ran into the young man that runs the fishing program and he opened up the fishing shed and let John teach Landon how to fish and to be there as long as we wanted. Landon was into it, partially. John was immersed in it, and Will thought it was very interesting. The pond was very pretty, all the land there was. It was a very hot day, so we tried to stick to the shady areas. John and Landon did catch a fish! We were told later that they were the first to catch anything in weeks due to the heat. The fishy's don't like the heat. When the boys got bored with fishing we wandered off to feed the fish. On the way Landon found a tiny toad, and I managed to catch it. I did a lot of screaming and walked back to hand it to John saying, "I'm not comfortable with this!" as it jumped around in my hands. I do not do these things, I just don't! So I was very proud of myself, even if my hubby laughed at me for the screaming. We fed the fish, Landon fell into a pond, we checked out the hatchery, looked at the pheasants, and just had a wonderful day. And MAN we were hot!
We headed home on Tuesday, worn out and happy. It was a great trip! We made every day a full one with fun things for the kids and us. It was a good time, but we were all happy to be home. Will actually smiled when he saw our house and he ran into his room and giggled with joy. It's always nice to know your kids love their home.
