Epic Fail

The day started out so promising!!!  Mike and I surprised the kids this morning with a trip to Valley Fair, kinda like Six Flags for all of you back home :-)  It's always fun when the kids wake in the morning and they see Mike still at home. Griff was very confused...."is it a weekend?" he asked.  Mike told him he was working at home. That satisfied him for a bit, until he saw me packing up a beach bag and making lunches.  He was onto us, but couldn't figure out where we were headed. Finally the girls woke and all three of them were peppering us with 20 questions. I think Abby figured it out, but she didn't let on to the twinners.

Lots of excited screaming when we pulled in. We were off for some FUN.  First stop, the Scrambler. Abby's favorite ride, based upon the one time she's been to Valley Fair :-)  After looking at it Mike and I decided there was no way H&G would ride on it without one of us. Taking one for the team, I volunteered, figuring that left a roller coaster for Mike.

Before I go any further, you need to know I had a partial root canal last Thursday.  Partial because it was so bad the doc needed to medicate it and have me come back in 2 weeks to finish up. BUT....it was feeling fine and no reason to believe anything weird would happen..... so anyway.... off to Valley Fair we go.

I get on the Scrambler with Hanny ready for some fun.  It starts, and the first whip to the side I felt like my mouth had been shot. Intense pain, gotta sit down now b/c I'm going to faint pain, find a medical building pain, let's call the dentist pain, gotta go home pain.  According to the dentist I had a pressure pocket due to the quick change of pressure I experienced on the ride.  I wanted to tell the dentist that staying away from amusement parks should have been on the little "how to care for your tooth after a root canal" sheet......

Luckily, the nice people at Valley Fair gave us rain checks to come back another day, so we didn't lose all our cash-o-la.

Anyway, here are some pictures to prove we were there for 1/2 an hour, and that we were all ready for some fun.  We'll be back, hopefully before school starts!


Just got there.....ready for fun!

 Proving to you I was there ready for a good time....waiting in line at the Scrambler....

 Getting ready for take off!

 I think my tooth was already killing me by this point......

 Griff didn't really like the ride, either.

 I was just waiting for the ride to end at this point

 Thought I might be able to rally, so we walked over to Planet Snoopy.

 After one flying Linus ride, I had had it....time to go home.

We'll be back.....and Mike will be riding ALL the rides :-)

Girl Detective

Abby had her friend birthday party tonight. We did a "girl detective" theme, and somehow Mike and I pulled it off. We created a mystery for the girls to solve and had them going all over the neighborhood solving clues to find the missing items (family jewels, priceless oil painting by hannah newman, and the family stash of candy, formulated by griffin newman).  I think they thought it was fun.  If you can judge how fun something is by the level of NOISE, then they had a great time!!  Mike and I are just glad all the parties are over :-)  They are a great bunch of girls and some of them we've known since we moved here. It's fun to watch them grow up together.  We really are lucky with all the great friends we have here. Enjoy the pictures. Mike and I are enjoying a drink :-)


The Girl Detectives :-)

Finding the second clue at our neighbors.....first clue was on my iphone. They figured it out lickedy split...those tech savvy tweens :-)

 And now they are off to find the jewels!

 Found the jewels....but the oil painting is still missing!

 Bubba, the neighbor's dog has it!

 No, he doesn't, but there is another clue tied to his collar :-)

 Trying to solve the clue. It was in code, so took them a bit.

 Figured it out and off to find the painting!

 Found the painting. Now reading the clue to find the candy.

 They think they found the candy....racing to it!

 Got it! Mystery solved!

Enjoying some pizza after all that hard work...........

 And cake!

 Happy Birthday, Miss Abby

ARRRRR Matey!

The kiddos and I, along with a group of friends, spent the day at the Science Museum.  There is a fantastic Pirate Exhibition currently there, and we all really wanted to see it. It was great fun, and the kids enjoyed the exhibit, along with the entire museum.  Fun, fun day!!

Besties.......

Meeting our first pirate!

This was part of the science museum. It's a tv anchor chair with a teleprompter. The kids can see themselves on tv as they are "broadcasting". They loved this and spent a long time kidding around with each other on tv.

Leaving the pirate exhibition.....and giving their best pirate impression!

Figure Skating Exhibition

Abby had her ice skating club skating exhibition tonight. She's been practicing her routine for the last month and a half.  She did great! She doesn't normally get nervous about stuff like this, but she had butterflies all day.  As we were leaving for the rink, she was telling us how scared she felt....Griff turned to her and told her not to worry, that she "would rock it!"  And she did :-)

Below are pictures of her warming up before the exhibition started.  The video is her performance.  Enjoy!

VIDEO

Mini Photo Shoot

And when I say mini, I mean 7 minutes, first click to last. And I had to bribe them with a trip to a park and the library. They have no patience for my wanting to take their pictures. Drives me mad :-)

Olympic Birthday Pictures

Pictures from H&G's party this afternoon. Now I'm off to plan Abby's Secret Agent Party!!!


Coloring their country flags while waiting for everyone to arrive.....

Getting ready for the Olympic parade into the "stadium"

 Hannah and Griff carrying the torches as everyone else waves their flags, parading around the backyard!

 1st Event: Torch Relay!

 2nd Even: Discus Throw!

 Hi-fives after Eli won!

 Even 3: Hula Hoop!

 These two could have hula hooped all day!  We called it a tie!

 Cute group shot :-)

 Even 4: Long Jump

 Event 5: Balloon Volley

 Even 6: 30 yard dash!

 I love this picture. It's blurry, but it's Hanny, Griff and one of their best friends, Eli.

 Award Ceremony. Getting their gold medal and Olympic Cerficate

 Cupcakes!!!!!

 Presents!!!!

Fun day for everyone! G'night!!