Paddle Tme

Another summer bucket list activity checked off!  Ra and I went kayaking on the intercoastal while Sis was at gymnastics practice.  I've been hesitant about kayaking here without another adult around because sharks have been known to swim through the intercoastal - connects to the St. John's River and the Atlantic Ocean at Mayport.  I made sure I had my phone and whistle along, just in case.  We put in at this cute dock which is only about a mile or two from our house.  Paddling in the intercoastal also means we have to worry about the tides.  

Launching at the dock

Letting him lead the way

Check out how happy he is in his kayak

We saw lots of heron and even had a few Mayport shrimp climb aboard our kayaks!

Happy Momma!

I need to take him out again soon.  We had a great time.  

Bombs Away!

One of the items on our summer bucket list was to launch water balloons off the kids front porch.  I found this awesome water balloon contraption at Target.  You fill it with water, put the balloon on the end and pump the red handle to fill it with water.  Then you use the small red tube on the side to tie it off.  It's so easy, the kids can do it by themselves!  We drew a target on the driveway and assigned point values to the target.  The kids had a BLAST trying to score more points than mom!  Best $10 I spent!  It has entertained them multiple times this summer.  We did have to set some rules - no bombing random people walking down the sidewalk!  ;)

A Night on the Intercoastal

I've always heard that the best friends to have are friends who have boats...Well, we've lucked out and have awesome friends and they have a boat!  They offered to take us with them on their boat to Nippers for dinner the other night.  We love Nippers - great food, drinks and view!  The kids had a blast on the boat.  Ra and Viola are the same age and have been in the same classes for the past 3 years.  Lydia is a year older than Sis, and she looks up to Lydia.  She loves having a friend at school who is older - it makes her feel "cool."

This was our view on the way home:

It was awesome to spend time with them on their boat.  The kids had a great time and the parents did as well.  We feel so blessed to have such great people to walk through life with us.

You Can't Ship FUN In A Box

Can you believe my baby is SIX?  Where does the time go?  She kept bugging me to tell her what she was getting for her birthday.  My response was it's FUN.  She kept telling me that you can ship fun in a box.  For Sissy's birthday, her grandparents chipped in and we got her a folding gymnastics mat.

I'm happy to report that we proved her wrong!  She loves her present and it was a total surprise.

She was excited that she had gymnastics practice on her birthday!  She also got to spend the day with her BFF.  The kids got to pick out cupcakes from Cinnotti's Bakery as well.  We had decided to take her to Sea World instead of throwing a birthday party.  The day we wanted to take her, it rained so we need to put it back on the schedule! 

As we say goodbye to fun stages, we say hello to new experiences and adventures. Happy Birthday to the little girl who puts the color in my world. I always thought I wanted a family of boys until Kendall entered our lives and changed my perspective. She's a princess in hiking boots and reminds me daily not to take myself too seriously.

I can't believe how quickly she's growing up...Not sure I'm as ready as she is!

PA Vaca - Day 9

Our last full day in Lancaster!  We started our day by heading up to Denver to see my cousin Lori's new house.  They had just moved back to PA from way too many years in Wyoming.  Lori is my cousin who is closest in age to me.  We've been able to stay close through the years even with an 8 year age gap.  I'm so happy for them to finally feel settled and in a place of their own.  It was also great for us to see Jason.  We missed seeing him earlier in the week.  The kids got to play and Lori showed me around and shared all her ideas for her new place.  I really miss her - I loved it when we both lived in Lancaster as adults.  We spent a good deal of time together then.  Now it's lots of text messages, emails, Facebook, etc. that keep us close.

After we left there, Sis was in desperate need of a nap so we headed back to the hotel where I got us packed while she slept.  While we were at the hotel, the boys went down to a creek near Safe Harbor that Andy and I use to go hike along when we were dating.  Ra had a blast with Andy, catching crayfish, building dams, rock hopping, etc.  Andy always loved that as a kid and now Ra does too.

The boys before they went "creekin"

This is the spot they went - flows into the Conestoga between Slackwater and Safe Harbor

Having fun being a boy

Building a dam

In the evening we took the kids to the Washington Boro Tomato Festival.  WB is known for their delicious tomatoes and something I just took for granted for so many years.  My family use to go to the festival when I was younger and Andy and I kept that tradition for all the years we lived in Lancaster.  It's a great place to see many friends from our former church, friends of my parents, former neighbors, etc.  My cousin Jon and his wife Laura and their beautiful little boy Jake met us there.  It was awesome to catch up with them and finally get to meet Jake in person!  He's even more adorable in person than all the pics that Laura and Jon post of him!

The best part of the 'Mator Festival is the FOOD!  Tomato sandwiches, chicken corn soup, beef bbq sandwiches, Turkey Hill ice tea, and every type of pie under the sun!  The second best part is the raffles!  It use to cost a quarter but I guess inflation effects everything because now it's up to 50 cents to play!  The kids loved it and all the proceeds go to the Blue Rock Fire Rescue.  My dad's good friend is on the board of directors.

This was their first time playing this type of raffle - put your money on a number and they spin the wheel.  If it lands on your #, you pick a prize!

The most expensive bag of M&M's, but so much fun to win!

This sweet boy is even cuter in person!

Meeting a new cousin for the first time!

Kendall could have eaten him up too!

Me and Jon - It was so great to see him.  What great parents he and Laura are.  So proud of him and love their family! (not sure what Andy was laughing at but he photobombed us!)

After the Tomato Festival, we headed back to the hotel and I met up with my BFF Beth to go out for a GNO.  It was some much needed time together.  She and I never get enough time together or time on the phone without interruption!  We had all night to talk, drink, eat and be merry!  I miss her terribly and wish we lived closer to be there to help out in each other's lives on a daily basis.  I'm so thankful for a friendship that has survive the thick and thin.  We've always stood by each other's side, no matter what roller coaster we've been on in life.  It's so comforting knowing that you have a friend who loves like a sister!

We had a fantastic time on our trip to Lancaster.  We headed to the airport the next morning to fly back to Jax.  There's always more to see and do and people we didn't get to see or see enough of, but that's what makes our trips back home so special.  Our 10 days will have to hold us until October!

PA Vaca - Day 8

The City of Brotherly Love

I have a special place in my heart for Philly.  I know a lot of people think Philly is unsafe, dirty, etc.  I can't say that I disagree, but Old Philly is absolutely beautiful.  I love the architecture, the history, etc.  I have fond memories of Philly from going to Phillies games as a family, to Flyers games with my dad, Eagles games with Andy and friends, clubbing and cheese steaks anytime we wanted in college!

We decided the kids needed to see a bit of the United States history by visiting Philadelphia.  We started by taking them to the Italian Market.  We hit up Di Bruno Brothers which happens to be my favorite cheese store EVER!  I've been there a few times before and knew it would go over well with Andy.  They let you sample anything and offer fantastic suggestions of cheeses, crackers and jam combinations.  They also offer a wide variety of meats like bacon, prosciutto, salami, sausage, etc.

Philly is filled with beautiful murals like this:

Inside Di Bruno Brothers - So many olives and cheeses to choose from

This took the kids by surprise - not sure if it was squid or baby octopus or both

 Just a few more blocks and we arrived at the corner of Passyunk and 9th Streets.  This is the famous home of the Philly cheese steak.  We bought the exact same cheese steak from both locations for a blind taste test.

I divided up the steaks and didn't let the kids know which was which

 They look pretty similar - both are American cheese with onions

Each kid choose a different steak as their favorite.  The birch beer (which was another PA favorite they discovered on our trip) sitting in front of each child indicates which steak was their favorite.  Out of the two, I have to agree with Sissy.  Pat's has always been my favorite.  There are actually much better cheese steaks available in Philly, but our kids don't know any better so Pat's & Geno's is a great place to take them for a taste of authentic Philly cuisine!

After we finished up our cheese steaks, we headed over to Old City to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall.  I had tix for Independence Hall, but we missed our window to pick them up so that will have to be included on a second trip to Philly.  I knew Ra would have loved the National Constitution Center, but that it would bore Sis, so we'll catch both of those on a future visit.  

We took the kids in to see the Liberty Bell at the Independence National Historical Park.  This was their first time seeing the bell and learning about it's importance.  Ra read every single word about the bell inside the Liberty Bell Center.  He just LOVES history, especially having to do with the Revolutionary War.  

Independence Hall in the background

After seeing the Liberty Bell, we headed over to the Independence Visitor Center.  Here we found a lot of information about the city, Ben Franklin, Valley Forge, etc.  The Franklin Institute is another place for our bucket list.  I visited there as a kid and loved it.  

Sis made a new friend in Philly that she named "Liberty."  She used her money to bring him home with us.  Ra bought a Liberty Bell replica.

First time seeing the Phillie Phanatic.  They need to go to a Phillies game to better appreciate all this mascot has to offer!

I had the kids watch Rocky 2 before our trip as preparation for our day trip to Philly.  Rocky movies were a staple in our house growing up.  I wanted to show them the scene of Rocky running down the streets of Philly and up the steps of the Art Museum.  I was hoping to have time to let the kids run the steps but getting their picture take with Rocky was all we were able to do.  I remember running up those steps with my brother and jumping up and down next to the statue as a kid!  At least they knew who Rocky was and the movie series importance in Philadelphia.  

The kids got the chance to write their names using a bamboo reed pen.  They thought it was great to see how people use to write with these pens.  It took more effort than a modern pen!  

The kids really wanted to take a carriage ride - Andy and I did this back when we were dating.  You can learn so much about the history of the city this way.  We did't have time because we had dinner plans with friends in Lancaster that night, but Sis loved the horses!  Another thing for a future visit!

We had time for one last stop in the City of Brotherly Love - JEWELER'S ROW!  Andy got my ring at Barsky's in Philly on Jeweler's Row on Sansom Street.  My dad also got my mom's ring in Philly as well as one of Andy's cousins.  We stop at Barsky's every chance we can.  I like to get my ring cleaned and inspected.  A few times we've had to ship it back to Philly to have things repaired.  I've lost a few diamonds when we lived in Utah.  Barsky's was able to make sure all the diamonds were secure and made it shine like brand new!  The kids were fascinated by all the shiny things.  It is always dangerous for me to spend any amount of time at Barsky's because they have so many beautiful things.  

There's just not enough time in one day to see and do everything we wanted to in Philly!  We gave the kids a taste of Philly - enough to make them want to come back and see more in the future.

After a long drive back to Lancaster (the Schullkill Expressway hasn't changed one bit from my college days - rubbernecking the entire way) we headed over to see our old neighbors in Millersville. We had a group of us that we called "the loop."  All of us lived on the inside of a loop that connected to another road.  All of our backyards connected and before any of us landscaped a lot, we use to sled from our backyard down the hill, through about 4 other yards into the Farabaugh's yard.  The dads and all their kids would come out and see who could go the furthest.  We also cooked out on weekends together all the time.  We'd all raid our fridges and end up on the Farabaugh's back porch with whatever food we could put together.  Andy was known on the loop as the DJ and firework entertainment!  We got to see the Farabaughs and the Kauffmans while we were in Lancaster.  We missed seeing everyone else - some of us have since moved away.  

PA Vaca - Day 7

Hershey Park Happy!  Today was the day we were headed out to Hershey Park.  The kids were so excited.  We have taken them to Chocolate World a few times but never into the park.  They had seen the roller coasters from outside but this was the first time up close.  The entire family had a GREAT time together at the park.  Ra loves coasters so he was in Heaven.  Sis loves them too but wasn't quite tall enough for all of them.  We had to do a child swap a few times, but she was patient.

Ra's favorite ride was Fahrenheit.  He was a bit scared at first but once we got up the 90 degree hill climb, he was eyes open and screaming the whole way!  He got to ride 2x in a row because Sis was too short.

So happy to have found discounted tickets

 One Hershey Bar and one Twizzlers

 Ra driving us on the PA Turnpike...This is the Lancaster/Lebanon exit.

 These two were so good waiting in lines.  They've had a lot of practice!

Another new favorite ride - Great Bear!

 This ride was just incredible!

 Riding the Wild Cat.  This wooden coaster shook me up so much I felt sick afterwards.

Last ride of the night - Chocolate World!

 This never gets old for them!

It was so much fun to take them on the old coasters and share our memories, like the Comet, Looper, Coal Cracker and Trailblazer but just as much fun experiencing the new coasters together!  It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time as a family.