Sunday, June 29, 2014

Week Twenty Six: 6/23-6/29

As my long-winded, picture heavy post have hinted at.....we went on vacation this week. =) 
It's so hard to narrow down the pictures but going to try to pick a few of my favorites. It was such an amazing week and our family does really well away from everything in the outdoors. There is a lot of harmony, the boys are super best buds and we have a great time together. This week we were so blessed that Grandma & Grandpa vacationed with us. Such a super awesome week!! 






























Saturday, June 28, 2014

PA Vacay - Day 9, 6/28

Saturday, Day 9. Time to head back home. =(  We had such a great time this week in Pennsylvania. Cole announced this morning that he didn't want to go back home. I think we all could have vacationed longer! We thought that the trip back was going to be a breeze. We came up on a Friday and had to go through DC. Surely going back on a Saturday would be easy. Ummmm, not so much. It still took us 9 hours to get back and we ran into a lot of traffic. So much so that we went off Interstate and worked around it (and Mommy let the boys watch a few movies - which they loved!). We were all very happy to get out of the truck but man, could use a few more days off work to catch up! We did make it back in daylight so we got a head start on the unpacking and laundry. All in all, I would say it was a most successful camping trip and totally worth all the planning and preparation to make it happen. Another great family camping trip "in the books" - although I should probably say "in the blog" or "in pictures"! 

Cereal breakfast - doing it easy on our last morning
All their "sleep toys" - Camo Bear and Doodle Jim have new friends. 


I can't believe they didn't start doing this earlier. They were trying to do hand motions in the flashlight light. 
Bye Bye 304 - ready to head back to NC. We very much enjoyed our stay! 
I think Eli was aggravating him so Cole decided to built a pillow fort for peace and quiet. 
Cole seems to be so grown up! 
I think I now have two teenagers. 

Friday, June 27, 2014

PA Vacay - Day 8, 6/27

So last night....a little more camping neighbor drama. About 9:30pm, our "friends" started back up with the movies. I was not going to wait and see how long it continued. Since it was a respectable hour, Tim & I went to the Camp Host site and they called the Ranger. He came over, visited their campsite and then all was well. The Ranger nicely offered to move us but since we only had one night left, we opted to stay put. They were very nice and apologetic about our experience but it was not his fault. Apparently our friendly cursing, smoking neighbor was unhappy that someone (the Ranger) trespassed on his campsite to unplug everything the other night but the Ranger set him straight real quick on that one. Violating camp rules takes away any privacy rights you have. We got back to the campsite about 10:30pm - Grandma had put the boys to bed and Grandpa kept an eye on the action. Thankfully after that visit, they were quiet and no more issues. They were even well behaved tonight so we have had a peaceful evening. 

Now to the fun....Friday: This morning we had to say Goodbye to Grandma & Grandpa since they were heading back home. We so very much enjoyed having them vacation and camp with us. We hope they had just as much fun! If you had told me years ago that I'd go on a one week vacation with my parents, I would have told you that you're crazy. But we had so much fun and have so many memories from it. I am so glad the boys got to spend so much quality time and have fun with their Grandparents. These are memories that are priceless and will be in our hearts and minds (and pictures!!) forever. 









After we said goodbye to Grandma & Grandpa, we headed to Roundtop Mountain Resort for their fun Mountain Adventure. The boys had such a blast. They loved climbing through the Switchback Tower, Alpine Traverse and Canopy Crawl. The big tower was awesome! Tim and I got quite a workout too keeping up with them!! There was also a separate section called The Woods that had a numbered course and they could climb, zip line, balance and work their way through the course. That was a lot of fun and gave us ideas for obstacles to build in our own backyard! While we were there, we also had some snacks and just explored the grounds. We also tried the cedar maze but Eli "cheated" by going under the walls. We all had a great time and were definitely tired when we left! 


At first Cole was upset that he couldn't do it but once he got the hang of it, he was so happy and proud of his little self! 




Eli flipped down this tower but also climbed back UP it! I climbed up with him and it was hard!




Slack line




Mortimer's Crossing - just like Warrior Dash! 










Taking a break in the tree seat




We took a nice chair lift ride to the top of the mountain. 
I am nervous on chairlifts (getting on and off) and here just didn't want either boy to squirm out. 
Eli rode with Tim up and then we switched on the way back. 
Beautiful view. 
Family selfie!
Daddy and Cole. 
Heading back down. 

After our chair lift ride, the boys wanted to do the Bumper Boats. These boats had water guns and you got to battle everyone around you. Cole had to ride with Tim (height thing) but Eli was all on his own. I took a few photos before we started and then I was in on the wet action! 











Since we were already wet from the Bumper Boats, Eli & I decided to try the H2OGO Balls. (You had to be 6 to do them) Oh my goodness!! What fun. It was one of the craziest experiences ever. The big balls are 11 feet in diameter and have a 6 foot ball suspended in them. They used a big water hose to put water in there (it was cold!) and then Eli and I climbed in. You essentially "body surf" down the hill. We were on our bottoms the entire way down. Even though the balls are somewhat clear, you can't see out of them. We had no idea where we were on the hill and couldn't see anything but that it was daylight out. I laughed like a little girl the entire time and Eli & I had fun doing it. So happy Tim got some pictures of the fun! 

Eli & I are in the one in the middle of the picture at the gate with the yellow piece. 
Heading down!


So much fun!!



When we got back, we decided to treat ourselves to an early dinner (out to eat too!!) and then worked to break down camp / pack some stuff up. We went to Chili's and it seemed like the best meal ever! We didn't have to cook it or clean it up. 

This is one of the funniest pictures of all time. Chili's was probably only a 15 minute ride away and after about 10 minutes I looked back and saw this. I think the treehouse wore them out!! They played so hard and it caught up with them once they were still. 
Gifford Pinchot Park - Campsite 304 - such a great week!
And the obligatory silly shot.