Seven Years…

… Does it ever end?

That’s an interesting question…

Seven years ago, our family looked something like this:

My goodness… a lot can change in seven years…

Seven years ago, today, I…

… Attended a livestock auction…

… Had my heart broken into a million pieces…

… Made a baby…

It was quite a day, to say the least…

I like George Santayana’s quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. I have always liked this quote. And I have also found it true.

Unfortunately, it seems that many people just want to forget. Sometimes, I want to forget. But then… I remember…

I remember…

“…that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us…” (Romans 5:3b-5a NIV)

… that we grow more from failure than success…

… that I am broken, and I do not need to be fixed…

… that God places people in our lives… and places us in the lives of people… and sometimes we have to say, “good-bye” to say, “hello”…

Oh… my friends of seven years past…

I remember you.

I have loved watching you grow.

I have laughed… and cried… and prayed over you… and I still do…

You are my friends… and my family… and my home…

But…

On this day… seven years later…

I have been reminded…

…that life moves on for you, without us… and that life moves on for us, without you…

… that God loves people… everywhere… and He wants us to love them, too…

… that God can provide “family” anywhere you go… (although the older I get, the more I take on new “kids” as opposed to new “siblings”, which has a different dynamic altogether…)

… that what is intended for evil can unquestionably be used for good…

So, does it ever end? That was the question, right?

Does what ever end?

The pain? No, not really… but it fades with forgiveness; and peace and hope help…

The love? Never… and it only grows with time…

Do not forget. Shed some tears. Fully embrace God’s next chapter.

“Faith My Eyes”
By: Caedmon’s Call

As I survey the ground for ants
Looking for a place to sit and read
I'm reminded of the streets of my hometown
How they're much like this concrete that's warm beneath my feet

And how I'm all wrapped up in my mother's face
With a touch of my father just up around the eyes
And the sound of my brother's laugh
But more wrapped up in what binds our ever distant lives

But if I must go
Things I trust will be better off without me
But I don't want to know
Life is better off a mystery

So keep'em coming these lines on the road
And keep me responsible be it a light or heavy load
And keep me guessing with these blessings in disguise
And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes

Hometown weather is on TV
I imagine the lives of the people living there
And I'm curious if they imagine me
Cause they just wanna leave; I wish that I could stay

And to visit places from my past
But only for an hour or so
Which is long enough to smell the air
To tell the tale and find the door

But I get turned around
I mistake some happiness for blessing
But I'm blessed as the poor
Still I judge success by how I'm dressing

So I'll sing a song of my hometown
I'll breathe the air and walk the streets
Maybe find a place to sit and read
And the ants are welcome company

And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes.
And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes.

Lisa

St. Louis Vacation, End Note...

We got home last night. St. Louis is finally in the books after a seven year wait and a long trip back. And that makes me smile.

And so I want to mention that when I began blogging some 5 years ago now, I always wanted to keep it real. I have actually had people offer condolences after reading some of the stories I've written about various vacations. And that makes me laugh... because if I was to post only the pictures where everyone is smiling and tell only the tales where no one gets hurt, what kind of existence would that really be?

I think that somewhere in the back of my mind, I hope that someone out there is reading this and figures that if our family can survive vacationing together, maybe their family should give it a try, too! I'm not sure there's anyone in the world who loves to go on vacation as much as I do... even if it doesn't always come out perfect... on paper...

I did have one moment late in the trip when I thought to myself, "I bet it will be a whole lot easier to do this when we're down to Ian: age 17 and Miah: age 14". And then I caught myself and smirked... or maybe winced... because it occurred to me that even though it will be easier, it probably won't be nearly as much fun. They won't want to do the kinds of silly things they love to do now. And I will miss that... a lot.

That's not to say that I don't dream of one day lying out on a private beach... just Phil and me... thinking about all the fun times we had when the kids were little and reveling in the fact that there are no more poopy diapers or temper tantrums. But I am quite content to wait for those days... at least for awhile...

It seems that waterparks have a knack for catchy tunes that stick with me a whole lot longer than I ever would have intended, and as I sit at my kitchen table, I find myself humming one just now. I had to look it up to get all the lyrics, and it is sung by some guy who calls himself... or his band... or something, "Uncle Kracker". It's just a hunch, but I'm guessing I wouldn't be too impressed by the rest of his music, so I'm not even going to bother to do the research. But "Smile" caught me off guard, and it's probably a pretty perfect fit for how I feel about this family of mine... even if they make me want to pull my hair out sometimes, too...

Lisa

Lyrics for "Smile":

You´re better then the best
I´m lucky just to linger in your life
Cooler then the flip side of my pillow that´s right
Completely unaware
Nothing can compare to where you send me
Lets me know that it´s ok yeah it´s ok
And the moments when my good times start to fade

You make me smile like the sun
Fall out of bed
Sing like a bird
Dizzy in my head
Spin like a record
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold
Buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Ohh you make me smile

Even when you´re gone
Somehow you come along
Just like a flower poking through the sidewalk crack and just like that
You steal away the rain and just like that

You make me smile like the sun
Fall out of bed
Sing like bird
Dizzy in my head
Spin like a record
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold
Buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Ohh you make me smile

Don´t know how I lived without you
Cuz everytime that I get around you
I see the best of me inside your eyes
You make me smile
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold
Buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild

You make me smile like the sun
Fall out of bed
Sing like a bird
Dizzy in my head
Spin like a record
Crazy on a Sunday night
You make me dance like a fool
Forget how to breathe
Shine like gold
Buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild
Ohh you make me smile
Ohh you make me smile
Ohh you make me smile

PS One last thought... Ian was completely wasted by the end of the trip. On our return home, he must have told us that he was hungry a zillion times (even when we'd just eaten), and he kept pointing out restaurants that he wanted to stop at. He was doing just anything he could think of to stay awake! He finally conked out less than half an hour from home, and when I pulled him out of the van and carried him up to the house, I caught his reflection in the screen door. He had the happiest look of contentment on his face... just a huge smile. I'm glad we're back. L.

St. Louis Vacation, Day 9...

Today we went to the City Museum and World Aquarium...

We give the City Museum 14 thumbs up...

If we had it to do all over again, we wouldn't go to the World Aquarium, but it's all good... now we know...

We also purchased tickets for The Roof, which was definitely worth it.

All in all, I don't think I could be more impressed with the set up if I tried! I have never experienced such a place, where someone is constantly climbing above you or sliding beside you and you actually feel completely safe letting your children explore caves... and castles... and vaults... Wow!

And so, as the trip winds down, I will post some pictures of our adventure:

The Family, Outside the Museum Entrance:

Ian Loved the Huge Ball Pits:

Climbing Above the Roof:

Ian made the climb twice,
so Mommy could see it, too:

Swinging From the Ceiling:

We found this completely uninhabited vault...
and figured it was probably OK to go inside...
It was full of mirrors:

She is her father's child...
Classic kind of shot I would usually have of Phil...
Mmm... yummy slushy tastes like Flavor-Ice:

A Couple of Really Big Fish:

This 3 story slide was amazing...
The kids begged to go on it all day long...
At the end of the day, I conceded...
(I had to climb back up to the 3rd floor for my pressed penny, anyway)
It was really fun until Caleb decided to climb back up when he reached the bottom...
And Grace started screaming at him...
And I thought for sure we were going to be kicked out...

Miah Liked the Museum, Too:

Lisa

St. Louis Vacation, Day 8...

We definitely slept in today... and then found ourselves running to catch breakfast before it closed at 9:30! After this many days of HIE breakfast, even I am getting tired of it, which is saying something!

This was our day for the St. Louis Zoo, and it was Ian who got very excited when we announced where we were going! We have found that it is a little bit difficult to come up with activities that everyone is excited about at this point due to the age difference in kids (I think I probably mentioned that earlier in the week, but exhaustion is taking over, so I'm likely to begin repeating myself... and repeating myself... OK... not so funny...) When we said that we were headed to the zoo, however, Ian nearly jumped out of his booster seat and immediately said that he wanted to see the elephants! Caleb is usually our elephant lover, so I was slightly surprised. Caleb, too, seemed happy with our destination of the day. Grace put up with it. Seth reminded me several times of how bored he was throughout the next few hours, by asking Miah is she was as bored as he...

I have to say that I was quite impressed by the size of the zoo, the variety of animals, and the attempt at making the animals' habitats as natural as possible. It was beautiful. The elephant exhibit was especially nice and large, including a river and waterfall, as well as several different viewing areas. As expected, Caleb was quite pleased and ready to leave after he saw the "Ellies"... When Phil asked Ian what he thought of the elephants, Ian replied that they were stupid! So... uh... go figure...

My only complaint was that the day was incredibly hot... and heat tends to make me sort of... uh... crabby... I hit several misting fans on our short trip, which helped a bit. The penguin exhibit was also especially cold, so we stayed in there for quite awhile! It's the kind of zoo that I would definitely enjoy revisiting in late October!

We ran through the Wendy's drive-thru for dinner, returned to the hotel, took another dip in the pool, and now everyone under 5 feet tall is sleeping... finally... after some wiggly bedtime antics!

I am getting kinda lazy at this point... just wiped out from the speed of the trip and the heat of the day... so I will post a few highlight pictures and call it a night:

Some of my favorite "wild animals":

The Hippo Was Awesome:

I'm going to make them look at this
every time they forget they love each other:

Caleb And His "Ellie":

Ian Doin' What Ian Does Best...
Being Too Cute:

Miah... and Me... and a Giraffe:

Lisa

St. Louis Vacation, Day 7...

… was long and tiring… and a little bit unbelievable…

We started our day with just getting basically “cleaned up” and another yummy HIE breakfast! Then it was off to Busch Stadium to see the Cardinals take on the Brewers:

Getting ready to walk to the stadium from the parking garage...
Right after Ian lost his lunch... Stupid wheat bread...

Waiting for the game to start:

Miah's 1st Major League Game:

Unfortunately, the Cardinals lost, even after a promising rally in the bottom of the 9th. The good news, though, is that we were able to sit through most of the game with our gang, which has not happened to this point in our lives! Even Ian and Miah only took a short break with me. I think the popcorn helped…

Ian watching the end of the game through his, "Binoculators":

Getting ready to leave the stadium...
A little disappointed...

From there we decided to try “America’s Incredible Pizza Company”… and things kinda took a turn for the worse…

It wasn’t the Pizza Buffet (the cheese bread was awesome)… or the Arcade… or the very cool layout of the restaurant. It certainly wasn’t the pleasant surprise that Thomas the Tank Engine was playing on the big screen or that there was an Ichthus on the door. It’s just that… well… I was sitting there minding my own business… nursing my baby… and waiting for the rest of my family to finish their dinner so that we could hit the games… when the manager of the facility came up to me and said something to the effect of, “Excuse me, but we’ve had several complaints, and could you nurse your baby in the restroom?” I am sure there must have been just a moment of silence at this point while I tried to process if I had heard him right. Then I asked, incredulously, “Are you serious?” To which he just looked kind of sheepish and said, “yes”.

Phil says I got hot then… like microwave hot. I think this perception came from the fact that I stood up, informed the manager that I wanted my money back, and snapped my fingers at Phil and told him to give me the receipt. The manager was rather accommodating and seemed like he might be able to make the refund at this point.

I think I need to back up a little, though…

If you know me at all, you know that I am on the conservative side when it comes to nursing my babies in public places. As a matter of fact, I cover myself in my own house most of the time, for crying out loud. There have certainly been times (and even on this trip) when I have found myself in less than ideal situations for nursing and have simply made the best of it, being as discreet as possible, even if not as discreet as I would usually be. This was NOT one of those times. I was completely covered, and Miah was covered from her head to her knees. In addition, the stroller was pulled up next to the table, so to even realize that I had a baby in my lap, you would have really had to have been looking!

To cover another angle, I had just visited the restroom moments before this fiasco and found it to be filthy, with most of the toilets clogged with poop and toilet paper. Uh… is that the kind of sanitary environment in which I would want to feed my child, and further, do you go to the restroom when you want to eat? I didn’t say all of this to the manager, but as I followed him out to the cash register, holding my rather hungry, now not eating, 4 month old, I certainly told him about the poop…

And I asked whether they were a Christian business, and if he would agree that God had created breastfeeding as the way to nourish babies… And I really try not to use the "Christian" card if I can help it, but I'm sure he must have thought that they were setting a terrible example at this point, because he doesn't have a clue who I am or what I believe...

To be honest, the poor guy was pretty nice. He actually told me in no uncertain terms that he was on my side and that he was uncomfortable coming to me, because he had assumed that when he heard the complaint that he was going to walk into the dining area and find a woman with her breasts hanging out, which was clearly not the case. I reminded him that he was the manager of the establishment, and he told me that he still had to address the concerns of other customers (apparently, three families were outraged that I was nursing in public... I think the complaint was exaggerated, to be honest)! I asked him if they had babies and if they were feeding them bottles, and whether he would ask them to do it somewhere else if it was offensive to me. He never did answer that…

He did, however, refund my portion of the meal and arcade cost, while leaving my arcade card activated so that Phil and the kids could use it while I left to feed Miah. He also offered me his office to feed her, which I declined, and assured me that they would clean the restrooms.
Phil informed me later that the manager came back in to where we had been eating and addressed the woman who had made the complaint, directly, who… get this… was sitting there in a breast cancer awareness T-shirt… Are you kidding me?

When we saw this sign at the entrance to the arcade, we couldn’t help but stop to take a picture:

Actually, I told Phil that it was awfully tempting to just strip down to my bra in front of it, but I only did that in my fantasy world, because I imagined that it would certainly end in a conviction for indecent exposure and a headline that read something like, “Pastor’s wife models nursing bra for unsuspecting pizza patrons”. They never would have printed my side of the story…

We went on to enjoy the arcade and to eat some ice cream and to even take a spin on the Go-Karts:

Seth Having Dessert... Again:

Phil winning over 300 tickets on Cyclone:

Phil & Ian Riding the Go-Karts:

Seth (back) Actually Won the Race:

Me & Caleb...
We "won" our race, too,
but there wasn't any competition:

Talk to the hand, crazy people:

Little Hungry One:

By the way, Grace was absolutely appalled
that someone would contact the manager
"of the entire restaurant"
because I was feeding Miah...
She loves her baby sister...

Once “Ms. Pink shirted, I love my boobies but don’t want you to use yours” left the building, and I saw another Mom nursing her baby on the floor between an air hockey table and a frog ride; I found a nice, dark, secluded place to nurse Miah again, although at this point she was so stinkin’ overly hungry and tired it was just frustrating to her (she is asleep for the night as I type this, having finally calmed down and nursed well at the hotel, poor princess…)

Wow, oh wow… What is the world coming to?

Lisa

St. Louis Vacation, Day 6...

… Definitely a “down time” day… In fact, you might call this “TV Day”, because the kids watched a ton of TV! You have to understand that for our family that is kind of a treat seeing as our television at home gets exactly zero channels… no exaggeration! Now, we have DVDs and video games up the wazoo, but actual TV… just isn’t there…

To give an example of how this affects my children, Ian was actually irritated with me last night, because I couldn’t “play” Elmo’s World again from the morning Sesame Street show. He has no earthly idea how TV shows and schedules work… pretty darn funny for 3 ½ years old…
Anyhow… we watched everything from Clifford the Big Red Dog to the Beverly Hillbillies (and Word Girl… Super Why… The Andy Griffith Show… Sesame Street… you get the point). We drew the line at Barney. There is a point at which you have to reserve some brain cells, even on vacation…

Grace, Caleb, and I also played another game of UNO. The original plan was to finish our game from a couple of days ago, but Ian mixed up all the cards. I have to take some blame for this, because we left them sitting out in an Ian accessible place, and they were just too tempting. Caleb was not happy. He was, however, quite pleased when Grace won the game today and he came in second… anything to defeat Mommy, I guess!

Late in the day, we took a swim. Below are some pictures highlighting that adventure:

As soon as I got into the hot tub,
all of my "big kids" came running:

Lovin' On My Baby Princess:

My Beautiful First Princess:

Then we went through the Culver’s drive-thru for dinner, explored some run down St. Louis neighborhoods (ahem… I think there were supposed to be trains there or something)… stopped at Quiktrip for my nightly frozen juice fix (black cherry again… mmm…), which I forewent last night due to the milkshake… and now I think it’s time to continue the trend of the day with some Get Smart: Season 4!

Lisa

I Almost Forgot...

Conversation Of The Day:

Me: "So do you feel like you're on vacation?"
Phil: "I feel like I want to die"
Me: "That's not good"

You'd have to see the sunburn to really understand...

L.

St. Louis Vacation, Day 5…

Of all the days to wake up with a migraine… Let’s see… Could it have something to do with the fact that I consumed more caffeine yesterday than anyone ever should, while running around in 92 degree weather, spinning, sliding, dropping, etc; and then not getting enough sleep… That was rhetorical…

At any rate, my amazing husband took the four oldest kids down to breakfast while I downed some Tylenol and tried to sleep it off with Ms. Miah. In the end, I felt good enough to eat breakfast in bed (cheesy eggs and cinnamon rolls) basically in my sleep and managed to roll out of bed at the last possible moment for our day 5 adventure…

We decided to take Amtrak into the city, partly because we thought Caleb would love it. Seth thought it was a pretty silly idea, since we aren’t too far away from St. Louis to drive. Have I mentioned that he’s getting older fast? In the end, I think Phil enjoyed the ride the most. And, it was certainly worth it financially speaking, because it didn’t cost us any more… altogether… round trip… than it would have been to get a good parking spot! Here are some pics. of our ride:

Once we reached downtown St. Louis, we started booking it for the Arch. It was a longer walk than I anticipated, but we made it. Here are some pics. of us outside at the Arch. The kids thought it was pretty cool that they could touch it. Actually… I thought that was pretty cool, too:

I didn’t really have a good idea how everything was laid out, so I found it particularly interesting that the museum, theaters, store, and boarding for the tram all happened underground. The security was surprisingly tight, as well. This was the first time I ever remember having to take a baby out of the stroller to gain access anywhere. This all left us wondering if the Gateway Arch serves more purposes than we realize…

At any rate, we purchased our tram tickets for 2:40pm, enjoyed a quick trip through the museum (I would have enjoyed a more leisurely trip, but Ian and museums don’t mix real well if you can’t touch the exhibits), and I purchased a few souvenirs. Then it was time for our trip to the top… sort of… It still takes awhile once you get in line…

All seven of us squeezed into a five person tram that reminded the kids of the space pods from Wall-E. To be honest, I felt a little bit claustrophobic, but I did my best not to let on, since Grace was slightly concerned that we were going to blow up, and Caleb exclaimed, “We’re going to die, just ‘cause we’re having fun!” :

The Door For Our Tram... It Was Small:

On the Tram:

The view from the top was just incredible! Definitely worth the ride! All of the kids, even Miah, enjoyed looking out the windows on both the river side and the city side. We took tons of pictures, but I’ll just showcase a few here:

City Side:

The Shadow of the Arch:

River Side:

All 5 Kids Enjoying the View:

Miah:

The only real disappointment was that I wanted a picture of our whole family together at the top… and I got one… but it doesn’t really show how much fun we were having, because moments before we took the picture a fight broke out (I’m talking both screaming and fists flying) between Grace and Caleb. Since I didn’t actually see what happened, you will have to check out Phil’s blog if you want further details. I did tell Grace that this picture is going to hang in our living room and that everyone who comes in will see it and comment on how crabby she looks. Grace said that anyone who looks at it or says anything about it will be, “wasting half of their lives”…

And with that, we took the return tram down… panicked momentarily because our stroller was gone (oops… we took the South tram up and the North tram down, duh Lisa…)… and began our long trek back to the Amtrak station with just 45 minutes until our train was supposed to leave!

My poor Ian tripped and fell three times on the walk back, because we were really flying (as fast as you can “fly” with 5 kids in tow). Once we reached the outside of the station, I picked him up, because he was screaming, “Mama,” and I thought somebody was going to think I’d kidnapped him if he didn’t stop! I would have picked him up earlier, but then we never would have made it back. The kid is heavy!

We did… indeed… make it back in time, and as a matter of fact, we found that there was no need to hurry, because the train didn’t board until long after it was supposed to leave! This afforded us enough time to rush to the platform… only to be told we had to go back, because it wasn’t time to board… so the kids were able to use the bathroom… fill their water cups… and knock down a barrier… Even though we were first in line; when they took down the barriers we had to work our way through a series of elevators, while most of the other passengers used the escalators (which almost proved disastrous earlier in the day when Caleb attempted to leap on the up escalator from the top… we caught his attention just in time). Our elevator rides resulted in having to board the train after many other riders, but in the end we managed to slip though into a completely empty car, making it a worthwhile endeavor. I’m sure the other passengers would agree, because Miah was very unhappy at the beginning of the ride (although once we got started and she nursed, she fell asleep).

About an hour later, we were back where we started, settled into the van, and looking for dinner! We stopped at Steak & Shake, where I think I had the best milkshake ever and a pretty good grilled chicken… although I questioned the wisdom on that later, because what good does it do to have your chicken grilled if it is covered in cheese and bacon?

Everyone was still awake when we made it back to the hotel, so I tucked the kids in with each of their special stuffed animals, and for some reason muttered, “Miah is my special animal,” when I snuggled down with her. I think there was a beat of silence… and then laughter… like deep, exhausted, very happy belly laughter… I love it when my kids laugh…

Sleep came quickly for the rest of the family, while I worked my way through hundreds of pictures and listened to the people above us banging on the floor…

Tomorrow, we take it easy!

Lisa

St. Louis Vacation, Day 4…

It was a good day for Six Flags… And so we went… Particularly because we already bought the tickets last week, and it was the last day Hurricane Harbor would be open for our vacation…
And Hurricane Harbor is where we went first…

Ordinarily, Seth has issues with being eaten by inanimate objects on our vacations. However, as he gets older he also seems to be getting a little too cool for this, so it was Grace who lost her head. You can see here that her brothers were very concerned:

Daddy, however, had a slightly different take on the fiasco and tried to no avail to save her:

In the end, Seth made friends with the shark:

We enjoyed a lot of the attractions at Hurricane Harbor, although we didn’t have time to ride them all. My favorite was the family raft ride, because all of the kids (except Miah, of course) were tall enough to ride. It was a little intense for Ian, because every time the raft went up on one of the sides of the slide, he was completely covered with water, but overall, I think he did OK:

Unfortunately, since there were many things he was too short for (as always); he had to spend a lot of time being the “navigator”:

Here are a few more pics. of our water park adventure:

Grace Coming Off A Slide:

Grace, Ian, Phil, and Seth on The Lazy River:

Phil & Ian:

We were pretty seriously dehydrated a couple of hours into our day, and we were quite sunburned, too, although we didn’t know it at the time. By the time we left Hurricane Harbor we all kinda felt like this:

We made a beeline… uh… sort of… for Johnny Rockets and actually bought a souvenir cup for $12.99, because it included free refills for the day. 11 refills later, we were quite pleased with our purchase… We all ate some lunch and then headed for the ride side of the park!
It was important to both Phil and me that the kids have fun today. That seems like a “duh” statement, but at theme parks it can be a challenge to make sure that everyone enjoys themselves, depending on the age… and height… and interest in rides… We did very well, today, in that department!

We started off in “Bugs Bunny National Park,” where Seth and Grace were actually too tall to ride some things (and Grace actually came off one kiddie ride and informed us that it was "a waste of time:). This was great fun for Caleb and Ian to observe, as they are usually the ones left looking on! The kids especially enjoyed the “Yosemite Sam Tugboat Tailspin” ride, as well as running around “Bugs Bunny Fort Fun”, while Phil and I continued to refill:



From there we went on to experience some coasters, water rides, and the falling star (Which I rode on our last trip here in 1996. It has seen better days):

"Tidal Wave": You can't see him here,
but Ian also rode this and actually slid off the seat on the way down...
Good thing I had a good grip...

Seth, Grace, and Caleb on The Log Flume:

Phil & Ian on The Log Flume:

We also even dropped $20 on a carnival style midway game so Seth, Grace, Caleb, and Ian could “win” superhero capes (We were going to pay $7.50 apiece for them, anyway, so it made sense and made us the superheroes in Seth’s eyes, since he always wants to play the games)… Ironically, I actually did win the game, so Miah got a stuffed snake, too, which she loves:

"Super-Ian"

Super Kids:

Super Baby & The Pink Snake:

And, of course, it wouldn't be a day at the park without a spin on The Ferris Wheel:

Caleb, Ian, Me, and Miah (Miah's 1st Ride Ever):

Grace, Seth, & Phil:

Ian Lookin' Out Over The Park:

Seth Was So Proud of This Face (haha):

We stayed until closing time, which was 8:00, and then hung around for another half hour to refill the cup again! An exhausting but fun day, for sure…

Miah, Ian, and Caleb were asleep not long into the ride back, but we hadn’t had dinner, so we stopped at Quiktrip, where Seth picked out a corn dog, lemonade, and starburst; and Grace picked out a buffalo chicken and cheese fried thing that we put in a bun, an orange smoothie, and starburst. They thought this was great fun. I had another orange smoothie, as well. Phil and I stopped further down the road to grab some Little Caesar’s Hot & Ready, and it’s a good thing we did, because Caleb woke up hungry when we got to the hotel and was a little miffed that we ate dinner without him…

And that is day four… in a nutshell…

Lisa