My Birthday Weekend

Baylor had a half day Friday and off on Monday so Gloria and I took advantage of the long weekend and booked a few nights in a hotel in Lancaster, a whooping hour drive, with an indoor water park!  Gloria was not able to go on any of the vacations last year and this is more up her alley than any of my kind of vacations.  

We checked in at 4:00, unpacked a bit and went out for dinner at Manor Buffet which I thought would have something for everyone.  They certainly make money off of me but we were all happy for a yummy dinner.  And then we hit the water park because what else were we going to do?   It was an extra charge each day but we only went two days and it was worth it!  The hallway to the pool was three doors down from our room and very convenient.  There was a large pool area that was never more than four feet deep with a four sided basketball hoop, a seahorse float in the middle, a swirling-whirling pool,and an alligator walk.  

And a big splash pad with a jungle theme and the big dumping bucket at the top.   For an indoor park, it was quite nice.  

Especially the hot tub with the hot waterfall!  Very nice for the parents but made going into the other pool absolute freezing torture.  

But he and all the other kids had no problem going from the hot pool and jumping into the cold pool without even a shiver. 

My fish, it was not very long ago when he would not even put his head under water. 

This was the swirling whirlpool,  It had two underwater jets that kept the water swirling in there and if you were not careful, it was actually hard to get out of it at times!  You just got sucked backing to the swirling water.  

His first go was not a good one but he watched other kids and tried it again and was a big fan after that.  The floats are tethered so they moved but did not go too far away.  

We stayed for not quite two hours and then we were tired and ready for bed.  It was not crowded at all but it was a Friday night.  

Saturday morning we got up for breakfast at the hotel.  I woke up with an awful headache and Gloria let me lay down in the room for a while trying to get it to go away while her and Baylor went to the pool.  It was really the only plans we had so swimming after breakfast was just fine with him.  I laid down for about an hour and when it really did not get too much better I just sucked it up and went on with the day.  Thankfully it was a headache that is easy to forget once I get involved in something, not like last year's birthday migraine that left me on the couch all day.  Baylor had made friends with a girl about his age and they were playing well together.  I made the mistake of going in the hot tub first.  It felt so nice until Baylor wanted me to play with him in the other pool.  I had to turn around the first time. I am sure it was not as cold as it felt but it seriously felt like cold tap water, with ice.  

There were two slides that started inside, the tubes were outside and splashed down inside.  And since it was dark outside Friday night our first trip was dark tubes of water.  During the day it was completely different, the sun light made the tubes glow and was a bit let freaky.  But I figured the inevitable dunk at the end would get me used to the water pretty fast so I went down with Baylor. He won the races every time!  

The splash pad was much colder than I remembered from the night before.  I could not imagine they were trying to freeze children but they did not seem to mind it as much as I did. 

He found several kids to play with in the morning and he seemed to have a good time with them but as usual, Mommy was his favorite playmate.  

Around 11:30 we headed to the room to dry off for lunch.  Well, I needed to dry my hair, these two just swish and go.  We headed to Red Robin for lunch because I had my free birthday coupon.  Free lunch and on vacation, I am in!  I sent this to my mom to let her know where we were.  She sent back to eat an onion ring for her.  While I was reading her text, they delivered the onion rings (always my mom's favorite fried food).

So I responded with this.  

We went back to the hotel, right down RT 30 where we were staying, and Gloria said if I wanted to go shopping as a birthday treat, she would take Baylor to the pool again.  Well, I had my birthday money with me and in the next shopping mall was a Burlington and an Ollie's.  I did not even question her!! I dropped them off and headed over.  I had to go around the hotel and took pictures of the tubes to show Baylor what we went through.  He liked the yellow one which left me with the red.  I shopped for a bit, got a bit of this and that from here and there.  Then I went back to go swimming until supper time.  The splash pad felt warmer but the pool was just as cold!  

We played, Baylor and I did, Gloria took a nice long soak in the hot tub, until it was time to get ready for supper.  We went to a California Tortilla and had a nice light meal.  

Baylor could not eat too much because of his tooth flopping all over the place.  It was gross! It was just in there with one side holding on.  He let me give it a little tug and it was not sliding out so I did not pull it.  

We went back to the room and Baylor said he would rather not go swimming again.  I could see he was tired and I was proven right when he passed out around 7:30!  

When Baylor opened his eyes in the morning, he put his fingers to his tooth and out it came!  We ate at the hotel again and decided to just head home.  We were not planning on swimming and no one wanted to shop or sight see.  We were home by 9:30 and Grimm was happy to see us.  

See, he was peeking at me while I unpacked my bags in the bathroom.   Crazy cat!  

Since it was early we had the whole day ahead of us.  Ryder's mom asked us if Baylor wanted to come to their house and Baylor countered with can Ryder come over here?  I told her I could pick him up because I needed come into town for some groceries.  She offered to have Baylor over while I shopped which worked out well.  I picked them up and brought them home and while I was unpacking the van I noticed the laundry soap had leaked out, a half bottle of concentrated laundry soap was now leaking though the carpet and way back seat.  It was a mess to get out and I gave up a while.  The carpet cleaner kept foaming up and I would make two to four swipes with the hose and it would stop working.  Then I had to dump out the foam and start again.  At least the van smells nice!  

Gloria had to work OT on Monday, my birthday, so Baylor and I headed to my parents to go to Shady Maple for lunch.  It is free on your birthday only, unless your birthday falls on Sunday, then you can go on Monday.  I got to ride in the back seat with my little guy.  

We watched a hot air balloon float over the farmlands.  Which prompted many balloon memories from my childhood.  

It was the usual busy at Shady Maple and the food was just a good as always.  I am glad it was free for me, Mom and Dad got the senior discount and Baylor was the children's price, it was still over $40.00.  

After lunch we went to Good's, the Mennonite Kmart.  They give you coupons at the restaurant and one is 20% off one item at Good's.  I bought a new broom and a few other things.  Baylor picked out a baby seal.  

Then we went to the Shady Maple grocery store, the Amish Wegman's.  I had a coupon for free whoopie pies with a $10.00 purchase.  Which was not hard to do. 

 

When we headed to my parent's house, stopping for an ice cream cake.  Which are crazy expensive and next time I want one, I will make it!  

But it was good and we all enjoyed it.  Happy 46th birthday to me!  

When Baylor and I arrived earlier in the day I parked behind this car of Dad's so I could not have to ride around in it.  The other car is not so hateful, I just cannot be see in this one.  But we had a nice day and Baylor and I headed home to celebrate again with Gloria. 

Who bought me an ice cream cake!! Yum and more singing and more candles and more ice cream cake.  

Tuesday I went back to work and my desk was decorated for my birthday. I felt like I had to break into my own desk pinata!   We had cake in the afternoon as well, but not ice cream cake this time.   

After picking up Baylor and taking him home, I left for another Paint Nite.  I had asked two friends to join me but neither of them signed up so I ended up making new friends there.  Any idea what we were working on?  

The finished piece.  My bird is so upright and uptight looking.  Like a cardinal soldier!  And I never like my fine tree branches, they always look weird.  But overall I like it and it looks good up on the shelf at home now.  It was a good weekend birthday, lots of celebrating and family fun.  

But now I feel like I am staring down 50.  

A Few Little Things

Like an eight year old's well child visit.  Height 4 ' 4.25'' (75%), weight 71 lbs 8 oz (89%) and doing well all around.  

Glorious sunrise 

An aloe plant that needs to be trimmed because the stems are leaning out all over the place.  My co-workers will be happy.  

I bought a new Thirty-One bag and Grimm loved it right off.  

Molly and I loved to mail each other fun cards and I found this gem when I was cleaning out my dresser. 

I love collecting Box Tops from work product but cutting them out can be a bit of a bother, especially the plastic film! 

101st PA Farm Show

We invited Greeva and Kartikey to join us at the Farm Show this year because I did not want to go alone and I am sure they would not go by themselves either.  The boys just wanted to play around and were only mildly interested in the exhibits.  We saw the goats. 

And the piggies 

And the sheep in leopard print snuggies. 

We bought the boys milk shakes because that became their chant as we were trying to look at the different vendors.  Baylor drank almost all of ours.   I bought them fries as they are delicious!  

At 1:00 we went back to the Wildlife area for a Raptor show.  Baylor loves the birds of prey and this was not disappointing.  And they could eat the fries while seated.  The first bird was a banded hawk.  She was in a car accident and lost an eye so they kept her and take care of her.  

She was small and apparently liked chicken hearts.  The presenter gave her something to eat so we could see how she tears it with her talons and beak.  

This bared owl had lost a wing in a car accident.  She was very amazing with her big dark eyes.  

The last bird was a peregrine falcon which is one of Baylor's favorite birds.  She was also hurt in a car accident and while she can fly, she cannot fly enough to survive in the wild.  

Baylor really paid attention to the talk and even asked Kartikey once to shush because he was listening!  It was really neat to see they birds so close.  

They wanted a photo with the big bee and I asked the Honey Queen to join them because the bee should not get all the attention. 

I made them look at the butter sculpture.  They were not impressed but at least they can say they saw it.  They really wanted to go to the corn bin which we headed to next only to find out it was no longer there.  Which made Baylor quite sad.  

I shushed them into the WIC booth because it had kid activities and they played the three games there learning about healthy food and drink choices.  

I herded them to the gingerbread displays.   I think Heather's camper could definitely win. There were certainly some really nice gingerbread houses but there was also an entry that was a put together kit.  

We moved around the craft vendors and this nice wood burner had tiny pieces off wood he put the kid's names on.  Which is nice because neither of the boys can buy personalized items off the rack.  

Since they are vegetarians, I did not get a beef sandwich!  I did get the boys a funnel cake which was delicious and I bought some pierogies for Greeva and I to share. 

Then we headed down to the other side of the farm show.  We stopped to pet the horse.  She was very tolerant, just standing there while hundreds of hands were on her.  

We stopped to see Diesl, a girl, who was 17.2 hands tall.  

I was telling Greeva about one year when I had Baylor on my shoulders and the horse was still taller than him.  The next day it popped up in my FB memories.  It is Farm Show week after all.  

We walked through the cow barn.  They asked to pet the long horn. He was more of a pet the girl said.  

Across from him was a calf born on Friday at the Farm Show.  Her name is Kiss, and her mom's name is Hershey. 

The boys wanted these paper pig hats they were seeing everywhere so we found them at the Ag stand.  They had to do the Ag hopscotch and answer the questions to earn their hat.  

Very pleased with their piggy hats.  These two....

And then they played on the farm equipment.  Just like the old days for Baylor.  

One of my customers at work is Weis.  I sent my contacts a picture of their two new drivers.  They loved it!  

They boys ruled the tractors, at least in their minds.  

And this pretty much sums up these two together. It was a good farm show and Kartikey was able to come to our house to play for a few hours so they were happy as pigs in a mud hole!  Greeva brought us samosas for supper and a bag of new new favorite Indian snack, black pepper banana chips. OMG!