Dutch Wonderland

My brave sister-in-law Miranda, drove her pregnant self and her 2 sweet little girls in for the week. Thanks to my mom's work, we got some free tickets to Dutch Wonderland. We had a great time being together tonight.

The boat ride


Avery's anticipation for the train ride to start


Aaron's joy on the train ride


Ditto


Sweet little boy lovin' the ride


The frog jumper... Aaron kept shouting, "I'm bouncing!" It was hilarious.


Afton and grandma watching the big ones bounce


Avery and Aaron on their "fast" ride. I so wish I would have there faces at a different angle here


Such joy


Yes, my son is a carnivore


We've decided to join the Amish church


Aaron was LOVIN the water slide

Guest of the Day

This past weekend we had the chance to go away overnight as a family. We had a coupon for a Hampton Inn in Ephrata (a town about 45 min. away) for $29 a night. It was such a great offer, we couldn't pass it up. When I went to check us in the lady said to me, "You have been randomly chosen to be the guest of the day!" We got a premier parking spot (see above pic) and a room upgrade. So for $29 we got a king suite room! So even though it was a big hotel room, it was still tight with 4 kids. The biggest 3 slept sideways on a pull-out sofa. That was Aaron's first time sleeping with his sisters. It went well for the most part.
The kids all had such a great time. We swam and swam, ate, and just relaxed. It was nice to all be together. On Monday when we were packing up to leave, Aaron asked where we were going and I said "home". His response was, "I don't want to go home!!"

The crew before everyone got wet

Bloomin' Parts 3 & 4

A few of these are already done blooming but the pics are still pretty!

Allium


Peonies


Cool, unknown bulb


Daisies


More allium


Yarrow


Black-eyed susan vine


Cone Flower


Lilies (thanks, Deborah!!)

Good Deals

One of my favorite spring time activities is to go yard saling. Ever since we moved back to PA 6 plus years ago, I have used that as the primary way to clothe my children, decorate my home, and buy gifts for my kids. It is amazing some of the things you can find. Now that I am more of a "seasoned" saler, I have houses that I return to every year for the good stuff. This past weekend was another. I bought these shoes for my older girls and had set them outside to air out. They were all in near new condition for 50 cents a piece. What a steal. The only problem is when things are soooo cheap I over-buy. What 8 year old girl really needs 5 pairs of ballet flats. Hmmm??

Holy Moment??

Oh, my poor, poor baby in the hands of her siblings. Late this afternoon, Morgan wanted a bucket of water to have a swimming pool for some Barbies. All the kids were playing outside while Steve was mowing and I was prepping supper. While supper was grilling, I sat down to do a few e-mails and I heard Morgan in her sweet little voice say, "Greta, you are baptized!!". Unsure why my instinct was to grab my camera... Morgan was squeezing a wet washcloth on Greta's head. She was drenched from head to toe.

Happy Girl

Science Factory

On Saturday, we took the kids to the (new??) Science Factory in Lancaster. Great fun was had by all.






Seeing if you could build a house to withstand an "earthquake"


Blurry but funny


Blowing bubbles

Cherry Pickin' Time

Today it was time to go and get the cherries. It was not a very good year for them because we have had so much rain. It is still fun to eat and pick, eat some more. The kids love to go too.






















I think we picked half the amount we did last year. B/c they were not very nice we didn't want to pick them and have them go bad.