NO-We Haven't Converted

But we did visit DUTCH WONDERLAND. Lancaster, PA AKA Amish Country. We had an enjoyable day at the lovely theme park geared for the younger crowd. And of course, we couldn't resist the opportunity to have our photo taken in the Amish cut out. You will notice that Maura is not smiling--she was not happy to have to fill in the spot of the little boy. I guess she is not old enought yet to just relax & have fun with this stuff-she is a little vain.
Both girls enjoyed being a little adventurous with the wilder rides. I used to love the "pirate ship" ride, so we tried the "space ship"-same type of ride. Scott decided this ride was a little much for his capabilities & offered to photograph instead. He sat on the ground under the ride to snag the photos. Well, after this ride, I decided I should have passed also. The theme for Dutch Wonderland is that it's a place "Where a kid can be a kid", I have decided to add "and Mom can throw up on her shoes" because that's how I felt after this ride!

It's That Time of Year Again...

Back to school, I feel like summer just started & now we are back to the grinde. Maura is very excited to be in 2nd grade, she gets to learn to write in cursive & can hardly wait!

Meredith is in Pre-K4 and has a writing journal in school. At home she also has a book to write in-her diary, although in true 4year old fashion, she calls it her "diarrhea" book. We can't stop laughing when she says it, so we haven't corrected her yet. She'll figure it out sooner or later. Till then, we assume she is writing all her "loose" thoughts & "run" on sentences in this lovely little book.

OK-Here's the Story...

Our Myrtle Beach campground is really a fabulous resort. They have so many amenities to take advantage of, so one day I said "let's take a paddle boat ride in the lake". I for one, was very excited and so were the kids. Scott, in his usual form, was reluctant. He would have rather stayed at the rolling condo & had a beer. I won & off to the paddle boats we went. As you can see it was very sunny, so we all look like wackos squinting for the family shot (go ahead & laugh-we did). At least we have proof that we took the adventure, because next year when this kiddies say "let's do that again", I am going to show the photo & say "we already did & once was enough".

Anyway, we had payed for a 1 hour excursion & began paddling our little 4 seater paddle boat, but we really didn't go very fast. Now mind you, it has probably been at least 30 years since the last time I was in a paddle boat, but I thought they should go a little faster then we were going. Scott & I also seriously under estimated the physical shape we were in. Somehow we managed to travel about 40 yards away from the station & realized that we also had to paddle back-CRAP! We decided to turn around and go back. Scott & I were both very concerned that we were going to paddle our way to heart attacks. Thankfully we made it back & took the rest of the night to catch our breath!

LOOKS LIKE WE MADE IT (to the tune of the Barry Manilow song)

Well, after what seemed like a longer drive then last year (did they move Myrtle beach further south?) we finally parked the roving WEITZ HOUSE next to the TAJ MA HORTON (our friends rv) and set up camp for the week. We decided to go with the LUAU theme for our ocean front adventure this year, hence the Tiki Hut & various inflatables seen in the photo (Scott & Larry are under the pavilion). I will spare everyone the agony & leave the photos of Scott & Larry in their coconut bras out-thank me later! Here is the view from out kitchen window. We were right on the parade route this year-a very exciting thing as night falls. Golf carts from near & far converge on "The Strip" and drive around in circles for about 3 hours. Our kids blew bubbles, gave out Leis, and gave "high 5's" to the passers by. Maura stayed up late one night with Scott & was very excited to have "earned some beads" (mardi gras type necklaces) as she called it. Thankfully she earned them by High 5ing!
Here is the only photo I have of the "golf cart parade" The lovely lady in the photo is someone Scott & Larry befriended & she really didn't seem to care that they had wives. Kym & I simply referred to her as the "girlfriend". As you can see Maura is looking at her, probably questioning the lovely lady's choice of attire, as were we, but it made for a fun evening.

REALLY? Why do People Stop Here?

That is the question we found ourselves asking. Well, because they are stupid like us! On the way to Myrtle Beach we decided-to stop. I remember as a child stopping at SOUTH OF THE BORDER on the way to Disney. I don't remember much, just that we stopped. Scott on the other hand, had never been. He drives past quite frequently while working, and had always been curious. This now proves that curiousity can get you in trouble.
We stayed long enough to get a few obligatory photos, and to prove to future generations that we visited this east coast land mark. But other than that, it was pretty much a Mexican ghost town, full of delapidated touristy shops full of kichy crap. The merchandise was so outdated "80's", we wondered if anyone had actually purchased anything in the last 20 years. Moral of the story-DON'T STOP!

Hershey-Hershey Park Sounds Like FUN!!!

Unless you are Meredith & suddenly have an aversion to life size pieces of chocolate! You will notice that "Little Bit" as she now is requesting to be called, does not look so amused. I am now wondering what was going through her head? She wanted nothing to do with all the walking candies this day. I now think she might have been under the impression that big people eat little candy, but do big candies eat little people? Fear, maybe it was fear, that made her uneasy-not wanting to be eaten by giant chocolate. Well enough contemplating the workings of a 4 year old brain. We traveled to Hershey with friends from school, the week school let out for summer. We thought it was a great plan-go to the Park before the public schools let out & beat the crowds. We did beat the crowds, but as our luck would have it-it was the hottest week of the summer. So, we sweat our way to the water park & "parked it"! The kids had fun & it felt great to cool off!

Happy Rockin Birthday-Maura!

OK, I am not so great at finding the time to update my blog. I can't imagine that there are too many people hanging on for dear life, waiting for updates on our exciting adventures. However, if you are, today is your lucky day! I will flood the blogspot with new entries, and hopefully I will be caught up. So, here goes...

In June we celebrated Maura's 7th birthday! Where does the time go? She is very wrapped up in "Hannah Montana" right now, and we have to listen to the 15 year old billionairre so much that Scott & I have actually memorized & grown to like her songs also. Pretty sad. So to honor our little gem, we threw her a Hannah Montana "Best of Both Worlds" Birthday Bash. I made a 9'x9' movie screen & we played Hannah Montana shows on the big screen on our patio. We also played several rounds of "Freeze Sing & Dance" as well as water balloons & the 3 legged race. We all had a great time, although the girls birthdays are always bittersweet for me, especially this year. My Mom would have loved this one!