Amazement Square

Today we drove to Lynchburg to go to the Amazement square.  You can tell by the pics, the kids had a blast!!!

 Aiden's first trip with no carseat!!

 I didn't think we needed the dvd players for a trip that took an hour and a half.  I was wrong.  Thankfully they were playing......sort of.......

 Me and Crista.

 I did crawl through the tunnels,

 and up into the observatory.  Yep, that's my big butt.  It's not like you haven't seen it before.....

 Maddie and Zoe snowboarding.

 They had this thing that would beat a drum to your pulse.  Mine did it twice and stopped.  Crista, Maddie and Zoe all drummed numerous times in a row, so I tried again.....still two beats and nothing!

 You were supposed to use the hair dryers to put a ping pong ball into a basketball net......

 This was Aiden's favorite part by far.  Canoes in water, with dams and diversions....it was great.

Who knew riding in an elevator was so much fun??

 The boys enjoyed painting for a few minutes,

 and then moved on to Rock Band.

Totally worth the trip!

Happy birthday Aiden!!!!

Eight years ago today, Tim and I were begging the doctor to induce me so that Tim wouldn't miss the birth of our 3rd child.  He was driving a route truck, and would sometimes be hours away from Salem.  We must have been pretty convincing, because they sent us over to Lewis Gale, and I had him by dinner time!!!!
Poor Aiden has strep throat today, so even though he feels fine, I felt like keeping him in, just to not expose other people.  They finally convinced me to go to sonic for cheap drinks and the duck pond to feed the ducks some stale bread.  What a birthday.  Stay tuned, Saturday is BAPTISM day!!!!!

 The birthday boy today!

 The boys called this a 'cow duck', because he was black and white....go figure!

 Maddie, Walker and Aiden 8/29/03.  (if Maddie wasn't in the picture, you may mistake that for Owen!)

Since we celebrated earlier in the  month at mom's with a crocodile cake, Aiden opted for green cupcakes tonight.  He got lots of action figures, and a snapping dinosaur he's been begging for.  Saturday at his baptism, he'll get his all important scriptures, also green, of course.

The Natural Bridge Zoo

This morning, after packing the car back up after less than 24 hours, we headed to the zoo.  I had intended on going to the 'drive thru' safari zoo, but after looking at both brochures, the kids thought the Natural Bridge Zoo looked like more fun.  It looks like they may have been right....

 Maddie and Walker trying to catch a chicken.

 Owen was convinced this zebra was dead, and not resting.....

 At first glance, this really looked like an alligator sun bathing in the middle of the zoo.

Note to self:

I'm not a fan of camping.  Never have been.  I have fond memories of camping as a child, swimming and riding my bike around Claytor lake with Joe, but that was a long time ago.  Fast forward--it is almost time for the kids to go back to school, and I wanted to do something fun before they went back.  I priced all kinds of quick outings.....visiting Kari at the beach, going to Washington DC, Wet 'n Wild, Carowinds.....they were either too expensive, too far, or not something everyone would enjoy.  I had a coupon from facebook for a free night of camping at jellystone park when you paid for one night, so I thought, "why not"??  Tim couldn't go, since he has no vacation time right now, but he told me before I left it would be the worst night of sleep I have ever gotten.  He was right. The camp site had not one tiny shred of shade, not even after we set the tent up. It was hot when we went to sleep, and cold when we woke up.I fell asleep sometime after midnight, and woke back up at 2am when my shoulder and hips were killing me.  I didn't go back to sleep until sometime after 4am.......when everyone got up, we decided to go to the zoo and head home.    On the plus side, it was super close to the game room, pool, store and bathroom. I even cooked "silver turtles" over a fire pit!  The "water park", was one double slide a couple of dumping buckets and a mushroom, and the pool was ice cold.   I'm not sleeping in a tent again until we invest in an air mattress.
All that being said, we actually did have a decent time, the short period of time we were there....

 We are going to have to get a car top carrier, this camping stuff takes up way too much room.

 I managed to set up the brand new 8 man tent.

 taaadaaaaaa!!!!

 Aiden and Owen supervised from a nearby tree, until the people using that site showed up.

 Maddie was taking pics....

 We went to the pool afterwards to cool off.

 We went on a 'hay ride' with Boo Boo.  There was no hay, you had to yell "HEY" to everyone we passed.

 Aiden playing bingo.  The fee was one candy bar from the store.

 Owen with his card.  Walker was taking pictures, so he isn't in them.....

 Aiden, Owen and Walker this morning.

 Maddie all bundled up....all you could see was her hair....

It was a pretty roomy tent, not that I'll ever use it again.......