First Half of Our Summer Break, Part 3 - Playing with Instagram during our many trips to local parks

First Half of Our Summer Break, Part 2 - Lahaska/ Peddler's Village & Ella's Birthday Party

Boys watching the goldfish in one of the Peddler's Village ponds in Lahaska, PA

 Throwing stones in a fishing pond in Bear, DE

At our friend's, Mike and Annette, daughter, Ella's birthday party...park, fishing pond to throw rocks in, and water ice....I don't think it could have been better





Although, a water gun fight to end the day definitely would qualify as a party-picker-upper!

First Half of Our Summer Break, Part 1, Kid's Castle, Doylestown, PA

 In Doylestown, PA, there is a very cool playground called "Kids' Castle".  It is quite possibly the largest playground and playground structure I've ever seen.  The grounds itself has to be at least half the size of a football field completely filled to the hilt with monkey bars, swings, slides, zip lines, etc.  On top of that is the magnificent castle itself, a 3-story structure with two towers and is as deep as it is wide.  The ground level a composed of a maze that goes completely throughout with many exits out.  The level above, with the steps that lead to the castle.  This is an amazing structure that is a labyrinth of tunnels, net floors, gated windows, and more.  The two major features being the two slides.  The slide in the right tower is a winding spiraled slide that goes from the top level (below the right-side tower) to the ground, and on the left is a winding wooden slide that goes from the top of the left tower all the way to the ground...and, by the way, is the only way I was able to figure out a way to exit the structure. 

Both boys had a blast at the park even though the temperature that day was north of 95o with high humidity. Matthew climbed everything we would let him climb (there was a pretty large section designed specifically for toddlers, but, of course, Matthew wanted none of that aside from the swings).  He just climbed up and down some stairs repeatedly for the most part, but he seemed to have had a good time.

Christopher was completely beside himself...ran like a complete nut all over the playground and castle.  He even navigated the labyrinth castle without issue.  I tried to go in the castle and play with him, but many of the parts weren't made for adults...especially adults my size.  So I eventually had to leave him to his own fun with a periodic check-in.  

And not to worry, we made sure that both boys remained good and hydrated in this high heat.

....and thus starts Summer

School's out for summer out here in the Pennsylvania/New Jersey area....and was welcomed with open arms.  Colleen is fortunate enough to be able to take the summer off from school, but she is picking up some extra shifts in Philadelphia for some supplementary cash.  I, unfortunately, am working the ESY (Extended School Year), but, as a whole, it really isn't that bad at all.  I'm still off for almost 5 weeks this summer so I can't complain.  Since we both have some quality time off, we're trying to spend as much family time as possible.

Trains

Christopher and Matthew playing trains together...it was pretty cool to see.  The whole play-session lasted about an hour, but it was pretty much like this the whole time.  Good stuff

Kansas Trip 2012

One of my cousins celebrated a wedding last weekend.  This brought about a wonderful opportunity to get the family to Kansas and see the family and my friends in one fail swoop, which is rare.  We were able to take advantage of the opportunity and got down to Kansas City for a 5-day-weekend trip.

We had a couple of fears, least of which was the planning and packing and all that rigamoroo.  We were very concerned about Christopher and Matthew on the airplane, especially Matthew given that he has tubes in his ears.  I have to admit, aside from fatigue-based crying and occasional short "fits" and the fact that both boys were up since 3:00 am the day of our departure, the airplane ride to Kansas City and back to Philadelphia were both very successful.  Maybe the only snaffu, if you will, was when we were stuck on the tarmack at the Detriot airport, but they were able to fix that without much of an issue. (On a side-note, Matthew was able to catch about an hour or so of sleep (including the first leg of our flight to Kansas City and the drive from KCI to our hotel in Overland Park), and Christopher slept a total of 20-minutes between the KCI and the hotel....he was a complete wreck by the end of the day!)

Once at the hotel, we tried to rest, but were unable so we took a short trip to Lawrence to visit our friend Karen and her family (Nick and Zooey).  That was pretty fun, even though both boys were beyond tired.  We hung out for a couple of hours, grabbed a quick bite in Lawrence, then headed back to the hotel.  The boys got an early night in, and we all able to catch up on some sleep.

The remainder of our trip was basically swimming in the hotel swimming pool with other "events" sort of shoved in between swim times.  Karen and Zooey came to our hotel on Thursday morning and swam with us for a little while, joined later by my mom, step-dad, and niece, Isabella.  We all cleaned up and went to Winstead's for some old-time burgers and shakes.  Then we all separated, and the Kane's went to Baldwin City for my cousin's wedding rehearsal, then Lawrence for the rehearsal dinner.  All-in-all, I would say it was a very successful day.  Christopher and Matthew were beginning to adjust to, dare I say, "normalcy".

Friday, after lunch with my mother, step-dad, and Isabella, and....you guessed it....swimming, we headed back to Baldwin City for Jamie's wedding.  It was a very nice ceremony...and short...the best kind of ceremony.  We then headed up to Lawrence for the reception.  It was absolutely amazing to see almost everyone in my family....cousins...aunts...uncles...I was excited  beyond words to get to see everyone.  It almost seemed as if we talked all the time, not just once, maybe twice a year.

Saturday was packing day, but  I was able to squeeze in a short visit in the morning with a good friend of mine in Lenexa, get in some swimming (shocker, but this time with Matthew, who would normally be napping during swimming opportunities), quick naps, then off to Lawrence for a cookout with my college "crew" minus 1.  Susan had already planned a trip to see another good friend of ours, Mary Ann, in a graduation.  We would like to believe they both were there in spirit with us eating and reminiscing.  The food and the company was amazing...especially getting to watch our kids play with one another so well.   After this was over, we headed back to the hotel to finish packing, and get to sleep for our early flight the following day (thankfully not as early as our initial flight).

We all had a great time in Kansas and are already thinking of when and how we'll plan to get back to see everyone with a bit more time to spend then 5-days.  It was tough getting to see all the people we wanted to see, many of whom were left out of this trip due to the time and crazy schedule.  Sorry for that.  This just means we'll have to try to make it back and make more of a trip about it next time!