July is quickly passing by...

Another catch up post. I hate doing it this way, but it saves my sanity a bit. I knew July would go quickly, but I'm sad to see it go. August means school mode and it's all too close.

We were able to have a mini vacation with Mark's family a week or so ago. The kids had a great time with their cousins (minus a fever and sore throat from Conner right before our King's Island trip).

Here's the overview of our time together...

We started our weekend by watching our nieces perform in a drama camp play, then the next day we watched Jacob and Hannah play in their miracle league baseball game. The league is for any child with disabilities that would like to participate. The kids all enjoyed watching the game and then they headed to chick-fil-a for lunch (I do love that place!!).

The girls were able to get away for some shopping and out to dinner at Brio. I love Italian food and it was a real treat!

On Sunday we went to church and then headed off to a friend's house (a friend of Mark's brother) who graciously allowed us to swim in their indoor pool (it was very cool outside) and fish in their pond. I wish I had some pictures, but unfortunately Conner developed a fever and was coming down with something, so I was trying to deal with that. I was really worried because King's Island was planned for the next day and he was not looking so great.

Sunday evening we celebrated some recent and upcoming birthdays. Here the kids are awaiting their birthday cookies that Mark's mom picked up.

Conner ended up with a very bad sore throat and fever...the fever broke in the middle of the night and he was well enough to go to King's Island. He wasn't 100% for sure, so he didn't enjoy the rides quite as much (I think they made him more dizzy since he was rebounding from not eating much the day before etc.)

I do have some pictures of our time there. Thankfully it was a great weather day...not too hot...and the kids had a blast. I have many pictures of Millie since we had to divide up a bit with all the age ranges of the kids.


Conner has been talking about riding the bumper cars since before we went to Disney. He really liked them!We ended up staying until the park closed. Several kids were asleep before we left the parking lot.

You'd think after such a full day that we'd have a 'low key' day on Tuesday. That was the plan, but the weather called for rain on Wednesday, so we headed to the zoo and water park.

I wish we had more time at the zoo, but we didn't arrive until about 11:30 (recovering from the day before) and we wanted to make sure we had time at the water park. I didn't take one picture that the water park...ugh!, but when you have that many kids around water, more specifically a crowded water park, I go into mom/aunt/lifeguard mode. It became more relaxing as the day progressed, but it does take a lot of energy to keep your eye on everyone. The kids loved the lazy river and wave pool and finally braved Dolphin dash in the end and loved it so much the rode it 3x's in a row (wishing they had started earlier). Here's a photo of us on the train ride at the zoo...

In the aquarium area...
Finally on Wednesday it rained so we headed to Game Works for some indoor fun. Steve and Lisa found some gift cards from there and were so gracious to let us all play. The kids ran around riding things, playing on games and earning tickets. Two hours and 4,100 tickets later (that's a long story) the kids headed over to the prize area to pick something out. It was fun to see them pick and choose...we had some many tickets they had a lot to choose from.

Thanks to Mark's parents and the whole gang for making our mini vacation so much fun. What great memories...

And I can't believe it's almost August...I think I'm in denial...