Goodbye Wannado City

We had so much fun at Wannado City we hated to leave. This will be something that we will definitely do again. Before we left we put all Nick's wangas in his Wannado bank account. He has an ATM card with a pin number for when he comes back. He worked hard and earned lots of money, he now has over $600 wangas in his account. Next time he comes he will get another paycheck at the door and he will still have his money from the bank.

Wannado City is connected to the Saw Grass outlets. This is the fun parent part. This outlet mall is bigger than anyone I have ever seen. Steven and I walked what seem like forever and we didn't even get through half of it. People rent what looks like mesh shopping carts to hold all their purchases, there is even a seat of the cart, so you have some where to sit and take a rest. I saw people pulling their cart with their spouse sitting on the seat because the mall is so big.

Nick's Wannado Gold ATM card, never leave home without it.

Conquered Fears

Today we went to Sea World to see animals, walk around, and do a few shows. Nicholas however went with a mission. He told himself that he was going to ride Shamu Express (a children's roller coaster). He went to get on, but changed his mind again. I really thought that we were going to leave today and he was still going to be wishing he rode it. Finally with some gentle nudging he finally rode it. I was so happy and proud that Nick faced his fear and rode it because in his heart that is what he really wanted to do.
I know he is very proud of himself as well.

Monkey Joe's

Today we went to Monkey Joe's with my friend Tracey and her son Trenton. Monkey Joe's is a kids dream. It is a large indoor air conditioned room with many different types of inflatable slides and jump areas. It didn't take long until Nick found a few kids his age to hang out with. The kids had fun running wild and jumping on everything. I guess it was better that Nick jumped there rather than on my sofa.

Fun with Grandpa

While mom was at her class for National Boards Nick spent a few days at the shop with grandpa. As you can tell he is really dirty and having a great time.

They are working on a hot rod tractor for one of Grandpa's friends.

Swimming

This Sunday we went to Grandma and Grandpa Herod's house swimming. The boys had a great time splashing around in the pool. I ended up having to take a bunch of group pictures of the boys because Ashe kept splashing them and they couldn't see with him doing that.
That Ashe is a little Stinker.


Ashe loved the water, we thought he would have so much fun floating around in the inflatable turtle. This turtle has where you put the child's legs through to hold them up, not just a ring. The only thing that Ashe didn't like about the turtle was that he couldn't reach the water. So Steven just held him and got splashed.

I have to say that Nicholas is getting more confident about swimming. He is now swimming under water. I never pushed him to try it, I wanted him to do it when he was ready and now he really likes going under. He wears the goggles that Aunt Lisa and Uncle Tim got him, this makes him feel better about the whole under water experience.

What would a day of swimming be without a rowdy game of squirting each other. Nick had a water cannon shaped like one of those water noodles. Steven, the big kid, was squirting him back with another water cannon. Even Ashe had a water gun, he couldn't work it, but boy did he have fun.

Busy Reading

Today the new and final Harry Potter book came out in stores. I know I am a big kid but I am excited to read the final book. I actually starting reading these books many years ago when a class of my students were discussing the books. I was interested in knowing more about the books back then and got hooked. Unfortunately, this book could have come out earlier this summer because now I am trying to get 759 pages read in the next two weeks before school starts.

Yum!

You never forget your first ice cream cone.

Thanks cousin Sarah!

This was a picture from vacation I found on Steve's phone and I just had to share with you.

Kiss, Kiss

This Hershey Kiss was something my chocolate lover, Nicholas just had to have. He is quite excited to dig into this huge solid milk chocolate Hershey Kiss. I had him hold it so you can tell just how big it is, it nearly filled his whole hand. Then I put the huge Hershey Kiss right next to real one so you could see the difference. The Kiss weighs almost a half pound, and is a tummy ache waiting to happen.

WOW that thing is big!

Walking Soon ?????

Ashe makes me so nervous when he gets up and walks around the furniture. I just know it won't be long until he lets go and walks on his own. The other day Ashe hit his mouth on the coffee table, bit his tongue, and was bleeding all over. He was screaming from pain and Nick was freaking out from all the blood. So now now his cute partner in crime, Abby, follows him everywhere. No matter what he does to her, and no matter how much hair he pulls out of her, she loves the attention from the boys.

Vacation to PA

We had a wonderful time in PA. We visited family, Hershey, and Bushkill Falls. We relaxed by swimming and shopping. Check out the fun below...

Our Very Long Drive

I now remember why it has been so long since we have been to PA. The trip is sooo long. We drove for 17 long hours. Nick entertained himself with Gameboy, PSP, the portable DVD player with 20 packed movies, books, a boys only journal, and a million snacks. Ashe on the other hand was not as easy to entertain. He basically napped, ate, and screamed (in all fairness he did get four teeth on this trip, for a total of six).
On the way there we made the trip in one straight shot, the trip back was pretty rough. We got stuck in traffic, which added an additional two hours to an already long trip. So we ended up having to stop and stay over in SC on the way home.


We finally got to PA after 1am. Here Nick, Shelbea, and Tony are all bunked together. They waited up until we got in... so everyone was exhausted.



To help pass the time we played a license plate game. We ended up finding 40 out of the 50 states. We even saw two from Canada. Nick made the colored map below to show what state plates we saw.

First Day

On Sunday we spent time visiting family and catching up.


Here are Tony, Nick and Shelbea getting ready to go to Aunt Michelle's house. The kids played together in her big yard on the trampoline, swings, and with the water rocket Nick had to bring. Today was the first time Ashe met the family.

Later we went to back to the condo swimming.

Ashe with his teenage cousin Sarah.

Aunt Shelly loves smooching the baby. He loved all the attention.

Swimming

Today we cooled off in the indoor pool. We played a pretty intense game of water volleyball where it was the big kids (aka Aunt Lisa, Aunt Shelly (Michelle), Uncle Tim, and Sarah) against the little kids (Nick, Tony, and Shelbea). The little kids were actually kicking the old folks butts.

Steven was helping Ashe in the water. Today was the first time he was ever swimming. He loved it until his little teeth started to chatter.

Instead of showing everyone how bad I am at volley ball, I enjoyed a tame game of ball with Stephanie.

She is so cute in her water wings.

Second Day

On Monday I went to Lisa and Tim's new house. The kids had a good time swimming in their pool, having a cook out for lunch, and playing in the yard. The big yards are one thing I miss about PA. She has a pool in her yard, a deck, a garden, a swing set, a hammock, and still more yard then she knows what to do with.

She has a beautiful house, but like any home she has so many things she wants to do to it. It all takes time... and a ton of money.

Third Day- Visiting Family in NJ

This is my Nana and my mom, just look at the two of them you can so tell they are related.

This is my Uncle Hank, Nana, and Mom... The Oliver's.

Ashe with his Nana!

Me and my little (by 15 months) sister Lisa

Ashe loved meeting his Great Aunt Sharon.
He hugged her until he fell right to sleep.

This is the best lady on the planet, my Nana. She is looking good for her 80s.

There were a ton of kids... all cousins.

Today we travel to NJ to see my Grandma, Aunt Sharon, Uncle Hank, Ciotka Carol (ciotka means aunt in polish, she does not like to be referred to as a bug... ant). We love spending time with my mom's family. We always get to hear all the good stories, like that my mom wasn't an angel.

Day Four- Hershey

Our memories at Hershey, PA...

This was a real candy bar that they put our picture on the wrapper.

Today we went to Hershey, PA. For all the years that I have lived in PA I have never been to the chocolate Mecca of the world. I being all about chocolate was in my glory. The kids were excited but I think I might have been a little crazier then them.

Here we took a chocolate tour. You got to see all the chocolate on the assembly line.

It was SO cool.

Later we went to this neat show about chocolate. It had effects such as water spraying and snow falling on you. It went along with the animation from the screen.






When we came out of the show we saw this huge Hershey kiss. This was a real Hershey kiss for the 100 years of Hershey. The kids then got to be factory workers and get Hershey kisses off the assembly line.

Lisa and I even got in on the fun... two big kids.

Then you can't forget about all the chocolate shopping. We found some of the coolest chocolate there at Hershey. They had the World's largest candy bar. Teenagers hate when their aunt makes them pose with huge candy bars. HAHA...

Wow!! that is a huge bottle of Hershey syrup. It could really give you a belly ache.

Some of the other cool things we found was every type of Hershey kiss under the sun, like the army limited edition. We saw Elvis Peanut butter and banana Reese's cups, we also saw rainbow fruit flavored Twizzlers, Carmel KitKat's, any many more strange new flavors.