Bowling

The kids always get free bowling in the summer and we usually go to Price Lanes but this summer that particular bowling alley was charging something like $25 per child to bowl for the summer.  We ended up finding free bowling at Pleasant Hill Lanes which we've never been to before.  Well I've never bowled there anyway, I knew where it was because I took one of the kids there for a birthday party a few years ago.  

It looks like an older bowling alley so I wasn't really thrilled about going there but hey, it was free.  It was just me, Zach and Megan.  I was hesitant about going to this bowling alley but there were many cool things about it.  First, I didn't have to input any names or anything, the lady at the desk did all of that so that when we went to our lane it was all set up and ready to go.  2nd, they gave Zach a 6 lb. ball that they kept behind the desk.  3rd, and this was the really cool thing, every time it was Zach's turn to bowl the bumpers automatically came up and then went back down when he was done.  At Price lanes the bumpers stay up the whole time.

Zach's second time up and he gets a spare! 

Since I videoed Zach bowling I had to video Megan.  She had a chance at a spare but...

did not get it.  :(

At the end of the first game these were our scores.  I won!!!  Even beat Zach with the bumpers.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the kids got 2 free games of bowling, I did not.  Nor was shoe rental included.   It was still only $12 for me to bowl plus shoes for all of us so it was still a good deal.  For 24.95 I can add me plus 3 other family members and then bowl with them for the rest of the summer without paying anything additional.  I'm thinking about doing that.  Anyways, here's the scores from the second game.

Zach was actually ahead of everyone most of the game but I came back and won again.  I would have had a better score if I hadn't flubbed on that spare I got in the 10th frame.  :)   My goal next time is to break 100!

A New Night Downtown Newark

That's what they called the new revamped Newark Nite,  "A New NIght Downtown Newark".  Two years ago they changed the name to "Newark Day".  Apparently that didn't go over too well so this year they tried changing not only the name but the concept too.  They restricted the vendors to those that actually had stores on Main St. or South Main St. and changed the date of it for later in June.  I'm not sure I liked it because there were lots of empty spots as you we walked along Main St and it was a little disappointing.  The kids area was still the same though so that was a plus.  I think Zach was the first kid there so he had his pick of games.  He did the football throw...

...ladder golf...

...soccer...

 ...and this speed pitching inflatable.

He did a lot more games than that but I didn't take pictures of them all!  The last thing he did was the two inflatable bouncy things they had.  This one was the double slide one that he easily spent 20 minutes on. Once he paid his 5 tickets (about a $1) he could continuously go on it for as long as he wanted.  I sure got my money's worth on that inflatable!

The other inflatable cost the same amount of tickets but he was only inside jumping for about 3 or 4 minutes and then his time was up and he had to get out.

The total time we spent on Main street was about an hour and a half.  That was plenty of time to see everything so we headed back to the car.  Right as we arrived at the parking lot where my car was the railroad crossing gates went down and a train was coming.  So of course we had to watch it go by.

It wasn't until after the train left and we were getting in the car that I noticed a white envelope on my windshield. Can you take a guess what it was?  I knew before even taking it off my car, a parking ticket!

It was my bright idea to park in a different lot this time, one that was closer.  I've been coming to these Newark nite/days for years and never got a parking ticket in the past, of course I've never parked in that particular lot before either.  I probably only spent about $15 the whole night plus Zach won $20 to Buffalo Wild Wings on one of those spinny prize wheels so technically we were ahead $5.  I was walking back to the car feeling kind of proud that we just had a great time for practically no money and then get hit with a $40 parking ticket.  I was bummed to say the least.  My cheap night just turned into an expensive one.

I jumped online when I got home and checked the UD parking website which said I could either pay in person, pay online or put a check in the envelope and mail it.  It also said that if you get a ticket that says "lacks valid permit", which mine did, and you're a visitor that you can come in person and they allow one ticket excused per semester.  So yesterday after the kids and I did some errands I stopped by Parking Services at UD and withing minutes of walking into the office they dismissed my $40 ticket.  The lady was so nice and the best part was everything was handled so quickly that I was able to get my car out of the garage before the 15 minute grace period and didn't even have to pay for that parking.  Whew!  Now if I ever go back to Newark Nite again I know not to park in that particular lot!  In fact I might just stick to parking meters from now on.

Happy Birthday Lauren!

We celebrated yesterday by going to dinner at Chesapeake Inn, Lauren's choice for her birthday dinner. We tried telling her that family birthday dinners end once you move out but she didn't buy it.  :)  

None of us had ever been to the Chesapeake Inn before, the ambiance of being by the water and seeing all the boats docked was really neat.  I called a few days before we went and asked about reservations but for the deck area, where we were wanting to go, they don't take reservations.  It was first come first served and I was warned that all day on weekends they are pretty full.  We took our chances anyway and found a little corner to wait in until our buzzer went off.  

Zach was with us, he was just hiding behind Lauren and Megan, you can barely see his shirt and the girl next to Lauren is her friend Amanda.

 It really didn't take long before we were buzzed, maybe 30 minutes.  The downside we learned about sitting on the deck was the sun shining us.  They gave us an umbrella but it didn't help much, good thing it wasn't too hot out.

There are two places to eat at the Chesapeake Inn, the Main Dining area and the deck where we were. The Main Dining area is a formal and elegant place, the deck is a more relaxed, party type place with live music. The menus differ too.  The deck had casual fare like burgers, pizza and sandwiches.

It took a little while for our waitress to come take our orders, Zach is patiently waiting for her.

When our food came he wanted to take my picture.  This is his attempt at picture taking:

Zach is happy for his bowl of fruit.  Yep, out of everything on the kids' menu he chose a bowl of fruit.

He also ordered a small cheese pizza which he ate one slice of then took the rest home.

The Chesapeake Inn was a nice place to visit, good choice Lauren!  Paul mentioned that it was also the first birthday dinner that we went to that was out of state.  I think he's right.

One last picture of all of us.  Happy 19th Birthday Lauren!

Who Wore it Better?

The kids had their physicals this week and they got to wear these beautiful paper gowns!  

This was a monumental year.  It was the first time that no one has been referred to see a specialist.  No tonsil issues, no ear issues, no allergy testing, no orthopaedic issues.  I was pretty thrilled!

So, back to the question in the title of this post.  Who do you think wore the beautiful paper gown best???

Longwood Gardens

We made an impromptu trip to Longwood Gardens today.  The last time I had a membership (almost 2 years ago) they mailed me out 4 guest tickets.  I ended up just keeping them because they had an expiration date way into the future and I figured I could use them for myself when my membership expired since I wasn't going to renew.  For some reason I thought I had until the end of the this month to use them but luckily I checked a couple days ago and saw a June 15th expiration date.  That kind of limited me on when I could go.  Normally I would never pick a Saturday to go since the crowd level is higher but I had no choice this time if I wanted to use them.  Kristin, Megan, Zach and I spent a few hours there Saturday afternoon.  There are so many places at Longwood Gardens to pose for pictures and I sure took advantage of that.  Here are just a few of the pictures I took.  We let Zach choose where to go so as we were passing this creepy looking tree I had my kids stand next to it.

Then we visited one of the tree houses and started to do the forest walk.  We passed 3 stumps, another perfect photo op.

We had to visit the New Meadow Garden since it just opened and that is the one thing at Longwood Gardens that we've never seen.  I must say I wasn't impressed.  If you've seen one meadow you've seen them all in my opinion.

Right before going into the conservatory Zach said he wanted to sit down to rest.  After running up and down these grass steps for 5 minutes he finally stops to rest.

Once in the conservatory we head straight to the Indoor Children's Garden.  Everything is just as we remembered.  Check out Megan's face in this picture!

Zach wanted to use my camera so here's his picture he took while we were still in the conservatory.

I took this picture for Lauren.  We're standing in front of the "Old Man" Cactus.

Another place we have to visit each trip is the Children's Corner.  They've taken a few things away from this area without replacing anything new so it was a little disappointing.  Zach however didn't care and walked the maze paths non-stop and sat in the Queen Bee (Or should I say King Bee) chair.

There's never a dull moment with my kids!

Zach was the official map person.  He got us where we needed to be (or so he thought!)  One time he needed a little help though so his sisters consulted their maps too.

I wanted to get a good picture of all 3 of them sitting beside some of the colorful flowers.  No one wanted to cooperate so instead all I got was this...

It's a cute picture just not what I was envisioning.

We then went to the Chimes Tower to see the waterfall and of course, the tower.

We were planning on visiting the Eye of Water next but Zach's map skills led us past the rose garden and topiary garden instead.  He really wanted to get his picture taken under this arbor? structure? I have no idea what to call it, and after waiting 5 minutes for him to fold his map I finally took the picture.

We left after that since we were all tired.  We thought about stopping at the pool to go swimming but the day was a little windy and cold at times so we instead opted to stop by where Paul was umpiring.  There was a swing set/ play structure for Zach and a concession stand where we could get some food.

We lounged around for about an hour there and then ended our day.  It was a beautiful day to be outside today.

Our 1st Beach Trip of the Summer

Megan was invited to spend a few days at the beach with her friend.  They do this every summer, it's sort of like an annual tradition for them.  The only problem was that Megan was at Hersheypark on her 8th grade trip when her friends' family left.  No problem.  I figured I would just do a day trip to the beach for my kids the next day and then just leave Megan with her friend for the rest of the week.  These plans were in place at least two weeks before... well... as we get closer to the actual day the weather forecast was not looking too favorable.  It was overcast and kind of cold.  We went anyway because I had to take Megan because I promised.  The good thing is that it didn't rain.  It poured on us on the ride down and it was a little drizzly on the way back but nothing while we were there.  

I've always heard about the house they stay at, Megan comes home with tons of stories mostly about the house being haunted and creepy, so I was looking forward to actually seeing it.  It is definitely an older house, a much older house but I thought it was very quaint and cozy.  Now the nails upstairs in the bedroom she stays in was creepy, it looked like some kind of torture device.  I should've taken a picture.

The ocean/beach is just a short walk away and there's a lake view from the front of the house.  It would be a very relaxing place to stay just for the views.  So we make our way to the beach and Megan, Martina and Zach immediately run to the ocean.   

They didn't stay in the water long.  Zach came out shivering!  He stayed on the beach the rest of the time we were there.  He played with his toys, making racetracks with his cars...

He played "sand baseball".  He would get some wet sand and make a ball and then take his arm as a bat and hit the ball.  The sand would go everywhere and then he would run the bases.  He probably kept himself occupied like this for close to an hour.

We only stayed on the beach for just a little over 2 hours.  It seemed to get colder as we were sitting there and the sky started to get darker looking.  So we packed up and went back to the house.  The best thing about this day trip to the beach was being able to rinse off in the outdoor shower and then going inside to change clothes.  Zach was probably the only one that really needed it since he was covered from head to toe with sand!

After changing we then say our goodbyes to everyone and head out.  Since it was still kind of early we decide to stop and check out the boardwalk for a little while.

Zach immediately was drawn to the hermit crabs that they have at the stores.  I told him that if he could be good and listen the entire time we were there that at the end of our time (we had an hour on our meter) that I would let him pick out a hermit crab to take home.  He achieved his goal so voila!  Meet Hermie...

Zach got a hermit crab but Kristin and I wanted Thrasher's fries for the car ride home.  She talked me into buying a large.  Let's just say that ended up being our dinner because it was so huge.  Then the fudge we bought at the Candy Kitchen was our dessert.  A very healthy dinner wasn't it?

On the car ride home Zach insisted on holding Hermie's cage but he started falling asleep so the cage was passed to Kristin to keep Hermie safe.  Once we get home Zach checks out his new pet.  

He has carried that cage everywhere with him.  If Zach goes to the basement, Hermie goes with him.  If Zach goes to his room, Hermie is right there.  It's cute.  Hopefully his enthusiasm continues and hopefully the next time we go to the beach the weather is much better.

Megan's Graduation

8th grade graduation that is.  I've got to say that I am the worst mom ever because I forgot to bring my camera.  Thankfully I did have my phone but it sucks at far away pictures.  They announced the graduates alphabetically, here's my blurry picture of Megan shaking hands and receiving her "diploma".  

Good thing my phone takes decent pictures close-up.  Each graduate got two tickets and since Paul couldn't make it I asked Lauren if she would want to go.  Do you notice the medal that Megan is wearing around her neck?  That's a silver medal and signified an overall GPA for her entire middle school years.  I believe it represents a 3.5 - 3.8.  Wow Megan!  That's awesome.

Megan and Lauren

Megan and Holly

Megan, Holly and Jaide

Jaide, Megan and Holly redoing their "Charlie's Angel's" pose that they did before the dinner dance.

Megan, Karlie and Holly.  Ask Megan about the chips! 

I think we were one of the last ones there in the parking lot!  I have lots more pictures that I took and we talked to lots of different people, some that I haven't seen in awhile so that was nice.  Megan has one more day of 8th grade to go and that's going to be a fun one because it's the Hersheypark trip.  

Field Day, Kristin Driving and Lauren Moving (Whew! That's a lot.)

What a beautiful day for all the events in my title!  The weather was just perfect, not too hot and not too cold.  The first event for the day was Paul and I stopping by to see the little man play some of the games at Field Day.  The challenge was trying to find him!  We spotted him at the volleyball game but stopped to chat with someone during that.  When Zach moved to the 3-legged race we caught up to him.  He was paired with his buddy Aidann.

 Next was the sack race.  His team sure did hop fast.

We saw them play a large game of Twister that was spray painted on the grass.  This picture was at the end of the game right before they left for their next event.

Onto the water relay.  This is probably the most popular game of field day and is done every year.  A teammate passes you a cup...

...you fill it with water...

 

...run to the other side but be careful, the cup has holes in it...

 ...and pour it into a bucket.

 The team with the most water at the end is the winner.

Zach's team tied with another team as the winner.

Paul and I had to leave after that game and got home with about 10 minutes to spare before we got to see Kristin drive home by herself for the first time.

I guess she did okay since she made it home in one piece!

So much excitement for the day already but no, it's not over yet.  It's move out day for Lauren.  She and 3 other girls are moving into an apartment, today.  She didn't have a lot to move but she did want to take her desk which was heavy.  I was the official door holder and picture taker.  :)

I don't think my car could have held anything else.  Every little nook and cranny was packed with something.

Paul's car was packed with odds and ends that didn't fit into my car and then there was Papaw's truck that had her bed and mattress in it.   So we drove our little caravan down the road to her new place, a whole 10 minutes away and unloaded it...up 3 flights of stairs!  We surprisingly got everything up there faster than I thought we would.  I meant to take more pictures but got caught up with carrying things.  My official picture taker status was gone!

So we get her moved in and you would think I would go home and relax after all of that.  No, not in our house.  Either we do nothing during the day or we have multiple things planned for the day.  There's hardly ever an in between for us.  Today was one of those busy as anything days.  That evening I took Kristin, Megan and a friend of each of them to the movies to see A Fault in Our Stars.  Kristin had been talking about it for months so we had to go on opening day.  I'll admit I was looking forward to it too and it was an awesome movie.  A perfect ending to a perfect day.