Boys Night Out at Hershey Park!!!

Since the girls were having a Girls Night Out at the Women's Session of General Conference the boys decided to go to Hershey Park.  I know what you're thinking.  "Those boys sure got the raw end of the bargain!"  But that's life and then you die.  My coworker, Jocelyn, got us some tickets for a great price.  Thanks, Jocelyn!!!

When we got to the parking lot, Charlie announced that he was all done and wanted to go home.  I tried my best to explain that this might be the most fun he's had in his short little life and he should hang in there.  He was a sport, and before you know it, we were on the "tram" which is a train of oversized golf cars strung together that wind their way through the parking lot to the park entrance so people don't have to walk across the largest parking lot in existence and poop themselves out before they even get to the park.

Here's the first ride of the evening.  They were a little hesitant on the first ride and feared for their lives, but they didn't cry.

Some of the little kiddie rides were robust enough to handle adults, too, but you were only allowed on if you had children.  I joined them a few times.

This is the Bizzy Bee.  This one made obnoxious noises, but the kids perceived it to be the buzzing of bees so it was fun.

This was the only ride that didn't have a definite beginning or ending.  You could just find an available whatever-you-want-to-call-those-things and hop on.  Both of the boys didn't understand how they worked so they ended up against a wall and didn't know how to turn around.

This is us doing a ride that will make you want to puke.

This is the same ride, but apparently our boys are getting over what motion sickness they had when we first got to Pennsylvania.  I'm guessing that since the roads here are every bit as stomach-turning as a hardcore roller coaster, they aren't phased anymore, 

These dinosaurs have a handle in the middle of the boys and if you yank hard enough the head of the dinosaur pivots back and forth.

One of their favorite rides was the fire engine because that just happens to be the vehicle they're enamored with the most at the moment.

This ride allowed them to control how high they flew.  If you pull that bar across your lap toward you, you still travel in a circle, but really high.  If you leave the bar where it is in the picture, it will just go in a circle near the ground.  I tried to tell them that the bar was hooked up to hydraulic lines that would make them go high in the sky, but they didn't get it, so the first time they only flew high (they were scared and held the bar down for safety) and the second time they only flew low.

More cars or something.  All of these little kid rides are variations on a theme.  The theme is going around in circles.  

This was their VERY favorite ride, because they go to ride horses.

But then they wouldn't let us have two boys on one horse so I split them up.  I was quite surprised at how fast this got going and I was actually afraid that the rotational velocity of our horses on the edge might actually throw Charlie off and he could have been seriously hurt.  But he hung in there like a trooper.

I helped hold Henry on.

More cars.  At 9:30 (at least an hour and a half past their normal bedtime), I asked if they wanted to go home and go to bed or keep riding rides.  The answer from both was an emphatic KEEP RIDING!  But they were okay when we left.  I changed them into their PJs at the truck so that when I got home we could carry their little worn out bodies up to bed.

Annette's addition:  They must have had the most fun they had ever had in their life because they were still awake when they got home.  Charlie was excitedly telling me every ride that he went on and how much fun they were.  He never gives good reports on what he does when I'm not around, but this was an amazing report.  Charlie, "There was horsies, fire engine, helicopter, cars, and they have a potty!"  The next day Charlie told me more and couldn't stop talking about it.

Philly

Philadelphia!  After exploring much of the rest of the east coast we finally got around to exploring our own backyard of Philadelphia.  We met up with Charles' coworker, Doug, who we have done other things with in the past.

We visited Independence Hall.  We had to wait around until we could go in for our tour.

It was very interesting and neat to see.

It was fairly awe inspiring to be where the founding fathers of our nation began the whole thing.

 Here it is from the outside.

This is the 2nd Bank of the United States. 

I don't remember what building this is, sorry.

We ate at the City Tavern.  I had rabbit.  It kind of reminded me of the Lion House where I used to work, especially the fact that the staff had to dress up.

We went and saw Penn's Landing on the Delaware River.  The boys' favorite part was chasing the pigeons.  It began to rain and didn't let up for a few hours.  We hopped on the subway and hoped the rain wouldn't last too long.

It just kept raining and so the camera stayed in the backpack.  We went to see the construction of the Philadelphia Temple.  We stopped at the little temporary Visitor Center.  We stopped at Doug's apartment to dry off a little from the downpour of rain.  The boys loved running around and Elizabeth decided she wanted to join in and scream whenever the boys screamed.  We then went to the Catholic Basilica where Doug goes to church.  We attended Mass which was a little hard with three tired, cranky kiddos; but it was interesting.  It was a fun trip and there is a lot more that we want to see still.

http://youtu.be/Ew8nKXUGEX0

The Simple Part of Life (aka, the non vacation, fun-ness of being a parent)

Elizabeth is almost always filled with smiles.  Oh, and there is our gun safe we bought on our 5 year anniversary.  It looks pretty nice in the kitchen :)

The boys love the rain no matter how they are clothed. 

More Elizabeth smiles.  We were having some fun park time. 

The boys always like to come say hi to Elizabeth when they haven't seen her for a few minutes. 

What a cute little smile! 

Milk bubbles!

Just so much cuteness, it is hard to capture it all.

Ever since we had our photos taken professionally Charlie will sometimes tell me that he wants his picture taken and then he will totally give an awesome pose.

Henry is getting into it, too.

And Elizabeth was just born wanting her photo taken.

Here we are again, Elizabeth had too much space so the boys had to join her. 

Charlie wanted to model his awesome outfit that he put together.

Charlie is using a rusted trowel, rocks, and a frisbee as his fork, pizza, and plate.  He is blowing on it since it is very hot.

Angus, Henry's little dog (named after the dog in the book Henry the Explorer) just looked so cute.  Henry loves to carry him around everywhere!  They are about as inseparable as Calvin and Hobbes.  Angus has traveled as far as Henry has, heck, he even came to the movies with Henry.  Angus is continually filthy and I try to sneak him away from Henry on laundry day.  

Now that the basement is much emptier with the Drakes gone we have been going out the basement door to play outside in the backyard.

And finally, once again the boys are in Elizabeth's space since they love her so much.  And yes, Elizabeth now fits into the three pairs of Christmas pj's so that is what she gets to wear.

I surely enjoy being a mom.  It is really the greatest thing in the world!  Just this morning, when all three kids were on our bed, I just sighed and took it all in of how much I love my kids, Charles, and just life in general.

Little Trips: Camping and Fair

We went camping with our ward and had lots of fun.

Elizabeth and her two month younger contemporary.  There are two other babies younger than these girls in our ward and all four babies are approximately the same size.  Elizabeth was the youngest one spending the night camping.  She is professional now that she has gone camping twice.

Our super fun missionaries!

Henry pretends to bite people.  He thinks it is hilarious!

I love my dirty little boys.

Charlie tries to stay clean, but is still dirty on his leg.

We played at the lake the next morning.

I love Henry's little tan lines :)

They had lots of fun!

We went to the York County Fair (1st fair in America, or something like that).  Elizabeth enjoyed the front of the stroller again.

Ducks!

Sheep!  There were little brand new lambs.  They also had new baby piglets and baby calf.

This pig was super loud and it scared the boys a bit.

We watched a little informative things about cleaning horses.

And then petted a horse.

We watched a little 9/11 parade of firetrucks, ambulances, police cars, and other emergency vehicles. The boys liked it and had fun waving to everyone.