Foto Friday Vacation Recap

This Foto Friday is solely dedicated to our vacation we took in the beginning of August.  I don’t really have very many pictures from the last week because I was recovering and B is not the best at remembering to take pictures of the kids.

This past Christmas, my parents gave all five if us siblings a week stay at a cottage/house on Lake Erie.  Every year we have always gone to my brother’s lake house for a week, and this year it was given a little shake-up with a change in location and some unexpected twists.  We had the cottage from Sunday to the following Saturday, so for an entire week.  Of course, with life as it is, not everyone could stay for the entire time (like us) and some were only able to come for a few days here and there.

S looks forward to the demolition derby every year at our county fair and starts asking usually around the Fourth of July.  This year was no exception.  The demolition derby fell during this week vacation so we decided to go home Monday for it and then drive back up to the cottage afterward (It’s only about an hour drive each way).  Wednesday S had his last tee ball game and it was in the evening so we had to go back for that.  I mean he got a trophy and everything how could we miss it.  Thursday I had a pre-op appointment for my surgery so we stayed home and did not go back to the vacation cottage.  I only had four days left to get everything in order before my surgery.

Unexpected Twists

• Do Not Drink Water Warning-Friday night/Saturday morning Toledo issued a do not consume water warning for anyone who gets Toledo water. (That included us!)  That is a whole other posts to explain, but long story short.  Where does the water come from? Lake Erie.  Where were we vacationing at?  Lake Erie.  The algae blooms that were causing the problems were just at this location as of Friday and we were arriving on Sunday.  Since B treats water for a living and knows quite a bit about it, we were not going to be swimming in Lake Erie.
• My sister broke her leg and had to have surgery-My twin unexpectedly (that’s how it usually happens) broke her ankle.  Well it ended up requiring surgery to fix.  She wasn’t going to be able to go on vacation because she couldn’t get off work.  Well guess what, she got off work for vacation.  It sucked for her because she was basically stuck on the couch the entire vacation.

Sunday

August 3, 2014

We spent Sunday getting acquainted with the cottage and lay of the land.  We basically just hung out and relaxed.

1. The beach with the sand and waves was across the street so we wanted to take S over show him it and let him know he is not allowed to go across the street without us.  The road is the back way into Cedar Point and is relatively busy.
2. I love this picture behind the cottage there is a bay that is quiet and calm (the cottage is located on a skinny peninsula).  The kids all wanted to fish.  S got tired of standing so he went and sat down on the grass.  F and his other cousin went over to sit by him so he wasn’t alone.  (So cute!)
3. I went to check on them sitting by the water and realized it was not so cute because there was goose poop all over the ground.  I fixed that problem and got S his chair (it’s pink because it’s a pig and I love pigs).
4. The fish weren’t biting so S tried to stand on the dock and see if he could catch any fish.  He never got one the whole week, no one did.
5. P did what she does most of the time. SLEEP!
6. Since I was sitting (holding a sleeping P) the only thing I could really do was sit and watch.  I happen to catch the sunset and loved the rays peeking out from behind the clouds.

Monday

August 4, 2014

Monday was F’s birthday.  We spent the day at the beach and celebrating F’s birthday.  We left and went to the demolition derby at night.

1. S spent the morning playing over at the beach.  He was all about watching the news and learning of the water problems so he told us he was not going in the water.  He basically stuck to it.  Even though all of his cousins went in the water, S refused too.  He would play in the sand but not use water to help make sand castles.
2. All of the kids put party hats on, but S refused because he said they hurt his face.  So I told him to go get his bee towel and pretend the hat was his stinger.  I got him to wear the hat like F asked, just not where she was planning.
3. Of course, F had a pinata for her little birthday party.  She always does.  The kids all took their turn hitting the pinata and then my sister (F’s mom) wanted her swing and obliterated the pinata into tiny pieces.  The kids enjoyed getting the candy and it had flown all over the yard.
4. S wanted to go swimming in the little pool we took (I got it for $.99, 90% off Target summer clearance).  It was so small S sat in the pool and took up the entire pool.  I also took squirt toys so I thought the pool would work to fill up the toys.  It did and it worked for S to sit in and get wet.
5. S is all about the Star Spangled Banner now.  He always wants to put his hand on his heart when he hears it.  Now we hear him singing and when we ask him what he is singing he says the National Anthem, duh! (Phonetically sounds like nat-ant-um).
6. I can’t tell you the last time we ever missed a demolition derby in the last ten years.
7. L (S’s boy cousin) wanted to go and sit down by all of the boys.  He climbed over me so that he could sit next to B and S.  It was so cute.
8. P was really good for the demolition derby and sat in the Baby Bjorn the entire time.  I love how cute she looks with the big ear protector earmuffs.
9. She didn’t really like sitting forward so I put her back facing me and the earmuffs went over the padding of the Bjorn and P would fall right asleep.

Tuesday

August 5, 2014

 Tuesday was just a day of playing at the beach and trying to catch a fish.

1. My sister is all about holding P so any chance I could get to try to get stuff done, I most gladly took her up on her offer to hold her.  Of course, F always likes checking out P any chance she gets.
2. There was a little kids table in the cottage and S loved eating all of his meals at it.   I think he liked it because it was between the dining room and living room so he was in the middle of the action.  He could sit, eat, and watch everything that was going on.
3. P and I spent the day under an umbrella at the beach.  We got to enjoy hearing the waves crashing and the nice breeze out of the sun.  (A storm came through in the morning and kicked the waves up to 3 to 5 ft.)  It was like we were at a beach on the ocean.
4. S had fun crawling on the rocks trying to discover new things.  There was a hole in one of the rocks and S was all about digging it out and finding the bottom.
5. S found a caterpillar.  I was totally disgusted by it, but he loved it.  He made sure to put it back in the rocks so it could find its way home.
6. B found a bunch of bones all over the beach.  The bones were scattered all over.  Somehow B managed to find almost all of them and piece them together.  When he actually put them together it was the skeleton of a catfish.
7. My dad went in the water and was having so much fun in the waves that my niece swam out to join him.  My mom decided to partake and went swimming in her clothes because she didn’t have her swimsuit on.
8. We decided it would be fun to have S in every Great Lake before he is 10 and want to do the same for P.  B made her and S’s initial out of rocks.  B put Ps little feet in the waves so we could say she had been in Lake Erie.
9. S just couldn’t give up trying to catch a fish and faithfully stood on the dock for over an hour.  Not even a nibble.

Wednesday

August 6, 2014

Wednesday we hung out at the beach again.  The waves were even bigger and they were amazing!

1. S was climbing all over the rocks and I could not resist the cute little pose.
2. B and I actually got a few minutes to ourselves so we took a little selfie on the beach.
3. I finally got S to stick his feet in the water so we can say he has been in Lake Erie.
4. B was climbing all over the rocks with S and I got a good pose of him on the rocks, too.
5. My dad wanted to try to ride the waves in his tube.  It was hilarious watching him.
6. P and I hung out again on the beach.  We couldn’t put the umbrella up because the wind was way to strong.

It was a great little family vacation.  We all had a good time and S is still talking about it.