I love my little photobomber.

With a bonus sno-cone surprise after.

I love my little photobomber.

With a bonus sno-cone surprise after.

Look what happened mere minutes after arriving at the pool today?! Tooth #2!


She had a tiny freak out but not nearly as bad as before. We also had a momentary panic when I was putting her tooth in a Ziploc bag and it magically disappeared. But we found it and all was well and she was back playing within 10 minutes.
Tom has wanted to come here since we moved here. He hasn’t been to one in 25 years and I’ve never been—I’d never even heard of it before we saw it here. It didn’t quite live up to his hype, but it was passable. Nothing we had was terribly exciting but I’m glad we were able to take a trip down Tom’s memory lane.

Whoever came up with slime needs to be shot. 🔫 Whoever came up with GLITTER slime needs to be burned at the stake. 🔥
I told the kids we’d do it once. On a rainy day. And I already regret it. I’ve told them it’s going in the garbage in a few days. IT JUST STICKS TO EVERYTHING. How are you supposed to play with it without it getting all over every damn thing?! (I thought if you kneaded it more it would become less sticky. Nope. It doesn’t even come off your hands nicely when you wash them. #neveragain






Note: Just so you don’t think I’m a horrible parent, I did get some troubleshooting advice from friends… And it helped, but I’m still never making it again. A 5yo plays with it much differently than I touch it, and it still gets ALL over and is too sticky. I just don’t have the patience. Plus she plays with it for about 45 seconds and she’s done.




https://youtu.be/H1BKizRt0hA
We were a playground and the weather was really nice and I kept thinking it would be a perfect day for Six Flags…so we went! I texted friends and they were able to meet us there! Yay!
But first, a bit of backstory.
I love rides. Always have. I remember riding carnival rides all day with friends out at Hanson Hills. And Cedar Point with my dad and cousins (one of the best days ever was an overcast/threat-of-rain day where there were so few people there that we could have just stayed on the ride to ride again if they’d have let us). Tom and I even went to Cedar Point together back in the day. And then I gained weight. And gained weight. And then, shortly after we were married, Tom and I went to Kings Dominion and I had to get off a ride because the safety harness wouldn’t close and I felt so horrible that I gave up on all rides and parks after that. For 15 years. Until I recently lost the weight. So when we moved here—two miles from an amusement park—I was going to make the most of it. And I foolishly bought season passes for all of us because I was excited about it. Kind of forgetting that my kids weren’t big on rides. And apparently Tom isn’t anymore, either. 😭
So a trip to Six Flags isn’t as exciting for them as you’d think. And it’s actually a bit of a bummer for me because they don’t even want to go on the little rides (like the swings) so I can’t even go on those so I have to spend the whole time walking by rides I can’t go on. Katie likes the baby rides but we’re obviously not going to spend all day on those. And Owen is too big for those.
Now, our passes are also good for the water park—which they would love—but it’s so big that we would have to stick together and I’d have to follow them around… And that’s not much fun for me. I’d much rather go to our small water park where I can trust them to play on their own for hours at a time and I don’t even have to put my suit on.
So, needless to say, we obviously won’t be buying season passes again…but since we’ve already bought them, we’re going to use them. So here we are, waiting for our friends. I’d hoped that maybe being with a friend would get Owen on more rides… The sky looks a little threatening but it’s just the phone—it was gloriously sunny. Owen wasn’t thrilled to be taking the picture.

This is the type of ride Katie likes.


Owen did go on a teacup-style ride with his friend and said he might go on it again. Baby steps? Katie, on the other hand, loved it.

Both kids did okay on Justice League—it’s just a ride on a track on an “enhanced-motion vehicle” (it spins and moved around) where you get to shoot at things like a video game.


A ride I made Owen go on because our friends had to leave and Katie wanted to go on it. He survived.

The train. Which they both liked. Because of course it does nothing.

And then… Tom texted saying he was getting out of work early and was coming to meet us!! So he surprised the kids and was just standing there as we walked by. I wish I could have gotten Katie’s reaction.
We went on the mini roller coaster together and they liked it. BABY STEPS. 🙂



She was in a MOOD and wouldn’t stay in her bed to “rest” so I made her lay down next to me. We both napped.







The kids have been doing pretty good on our new summer schedule routine (no whining, picking up, keeping organized, doing schoolwork, following rules) so their weekly family reward was a trip to the local carnival!

We met friends there.

Bumper cars!





Katie wanted to go on the little coaster. Owen did not. 🙂

One of the rules for going to the water park and being able to run around on their own is that they MUST come and check in at each safety break. These happen every two hours and are announced on the loudspeakers—and they clear the pools. We’ve had a few issues with them not remembering and they’ve been given warnings. Today was the last day for warnings, so Katie had to sit out for 15 minutes (past the end of the safety break, for a total of 30 minutes). I figure that’s small payment for the stress she caused me having to go hunt her down (and not finding her on the first go-round).



She was a hot mess when it happened—she was afraid it was going to bleed like a bloody nose. I literally had to hold her and have her breathe deeply to calm down. But then she was happy!!


Getting her tooth pillow ready!



We were out and about and Tom was revving the engine and taking the corners fast to make the kids screech and laugh. Right as we were getting off the ramp onto the highway, Owen started to say he didn’t like to go that fast and Katie, seeing no one in front of us, says “But look at all the room we have to go fast!”

“Look at Ray! She’s having a soak tub!”
Me: Katie do you need to take water for lunch?
Katie: Nah, I can survive without it.
At the playground, Katie showed me how she could slide down the pole. I said I’d never done that.
Katie: Oh that’s right. You might break yourself.
I buy too many shoes (on sale) for Katie to remember what styles and sizes I have so I have to keep a photo collage to reference when I’m out shopping. Today we had to redo it since it hasn’t been done in about 2-3 sizes.


Owen is harder to buy for—here’s what was in his closet. 🙂


They were just getting done with morning camp and we were just arriving to go to the playground!

Katie loves the pole.

They still like the baby swings. The only rule is that they have to get in and out of it themselves because I am too old to be picking them up, putting them in, and trying to wrangle them out.




I love that she’s not afraid.
Katie was playing at the neighbors and came like this—they were doing hair and dressing up. She loved the earrings.


Okay, one of my personal hells: A garage sale. Last minute. In the rain.

This is a community-wide sale that we only found about Thursday so we didn’t put much effort into it. And since it was rainy we didn’t really have much to do anyways so I sat there and worked on business and blog stuff the whole time.
I did have a helper for a bit.

And a cuddler.


She needed to change her clothes to go to the dentist and her first attempt didn’t cut it (bike shorts that are meant to only be used as undershorts for dresses) so I suggested the skirt. Then surprised her by suggesting her Tangled heels. She was so damn cute…






Grannie and Papa wanted to celebrate Katie’s birthday since they won’t see her on her birthday so the kids helped make rice crispy treats!

When your stepsister texts you at 10:30pm and says they are in town and wonders if you can meet the next day for dinner? Of course you say yes. And invite them over for a home-cooked meal and campfire with s’mores.

Last day of kindergarten and third grade!! 😳 and 😭




Owen agreed to let us walk him to the bus stop since it was the last day of school.


Katie’s turn:



My last day of freedom!

Papa and grannie bought the kids balloons to celebrate when they got off the bus!




Before—a kindergartner and third grader:

After—a first grader and fourth grader:

First day and last day:



But they’re still not getting the phones back. #stilltechfreesummer

*Katie said Owen helped write the first note. He wrote sorry and things we did.
*The second note says: And I am sorry Dad for all the things for stealing the phone.
We went to the neighbors for drinks and ended up getting out some fireworks for the kids. They had a blast!

