Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Erin's Eighth Birthday
On Saturday, Erin turned eight! I got up that morning and she and I went to Starbucks for a treat. Erin really likes Starbucks, but doesn't often get anything from there so it was quite a treat. She chose a cream cheese danish (my personal favorite) and an Izze juice drink. When we got back from Starbucks, Erin opened her presents from us.
After she had opened all of her presents, this was her favorite.
Erin told Jeff that she wanted a Starbucks bear. She insisted that they had them in the stores, but we did not find any. Jeff checked online and found that a lot of people have bought them as collector's items and are selling them for exorbitant sums. He happened upon one lady who had a set of bears from Valentine's Day and was selling them for about what they would cost at the store. Obviously, Jeff got them and Erin was thrilled!
Here is a shot of all of Erin's pink loot.
Erin is most definitely our "girly-girl." Whenever I ask Sarah if something pink belongs to her or Erin, she reminds me, "Mom, Erin is your girly-girl, I am your tomboy." So when Jeff asked Erin what she wanted for her birthday, she announced "pink stuff." Well, pink she got! Here is the birthday girl wearing her new, favorite necklace.
After she opened all her gifts and we played a couple hands of go fish with her new pink playing cards, we went to the Build-a-Bear Workshop. I checked my email Saturday morning and found that Erin's bear, Purple, also had a birthday, and her gift was a $5 accessory coupon. So Purple went to the store and got 2 new pairs of socks.
Next, it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's for gift opening, round 2. Notice all the pink again?
See the cute pinata? Not for long...
We were going to hang the thing in our backyard in the newly cleared area, but the kids had other ideas...
Kyle demonstrates pinata hat fashion...
...and Sarah demonstrates her boxing skills with pinata donkey legs.
After opening her gifts at Grandma's, we went out for birthday dinner at Castaways.
Here's the back of the restaurant. We were on the deck, right near the water.
Looking out over the water. It was one of those sort of hazy days, but it was really bright. There was a lot of activity on the lake, so the scene was constantly changing, and the breeze was wonderful.
Nice face Erin!
When we got back from Castaways, it was time for cake. Erin's pretty pink cake with a bear, like she asked for.
Here is Erin stuffing her face with cake.
By the time we had finished the cake, we were exhausted. Both girls spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's, per Erin's request. Erin seems to have had a good time. One birthday down, 4 more to go...
After she had opened all of her presents, this was her favorite.
Erin told Jeff that she wanted a Starbucks bear. She insisted that they had them in the stores, but we did not find any. Jeff checked online and found that a lot of people have bought them as collector's items and are selling them for exorbitant sums. He happened upon one lady who had a set of bears from Valentine's Day and was selling them for about what they would cost at the store. Obviously, Jeff got them and Erin was thrilled!
Here is a shot of all of Erin's pink loot.
Erin is most definitely our "girly-girl." Whenever I ask Sarah if something pink belongs to her or Erin, she reminds me, "Mom, Erin is your girly-girl, I am your tomboy." So when Jeff asked Erin what she wanted for her birthday, she announced "pink stuff." Well, pink she got! Here is the birthday girl wearing her new, favorite necklace.
After she opened all her gifts and we played a couple hands of go fish with her new pink playing cards, we went to the Build-a-Bear Workshop. I checked my email Saturday morning and found that Erin's bear, Purple, also had a birthday, and her gift was a $5 accessory coupon. So Purple went to the store and got 2 new pairs of socks.
Next, it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's for gift opening, round 2. Notice all the pink again?
See the cute pinata? Not for long...
We were going to hang the thing in our backyard in the newly cleared area, but the kids had other ideas...
Kyle demonstrates pinata hat fashion...
...and Sarah demonstrates her boxing skills with pinata donkey legs.
After opening her gifts at Grandma's, we went out for birthday dinner at Castaways.
Here's the back of the restaurant. We were on the deck, right near the water.
Looking out over the water. It was one of those sort of hazy days, but it was really bright. There was a lot of activity on the lake, so the scene was constantly changing, and the breeze was wonderful.
Nice face Erin!
When we got back from Castaways, it was time for cake. Erin's pretty pink cake with a bear, like she asked for.
Here is Erin stuffing her face with cake.
By the time we had finished the cake, we were exhausted. Both girls spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's, per Erin's request. Erin seems to have had a good time. One birthday down, 4 more to go...
Monday, July 30, 2007
Darien Lake
On Friday the kids and I went to Darien Lake Theme Park with my Mom, Mark, Michelle, and Ben. The kids rode a couple of rides...
...then the sky opened up. If you click to enlarge this photo, you can see the rain.
During a pause in the downpour, all the kids, except for Erin, decided to go ride a couple of rides. I went with them, while Mom, Mark, and Erin waited for the rain to stop completely. As the kids got onto the Scrambler for a second time, the sky opened up again. I hightailed it to an overhang to watch while they stayed on the ride. Just as the ride was about to begin, the ride operators had a shift change, or something. While the kids are sitting in pouring rain, waiting for the ride to start, the girl who had been running the ride, gathered her belongings, and ran to an overhang. The guy coming to take her place got under the awning protecting him from the rain, told a guy who was under the awning inside the ride fence that he had to leave the fenced area and he could stand under the awning outside the fence. Then he put on his rain slicker...under the awning...before announcing the safety rules for the ride. He finally started the ride. Here's the guy running to the ride.
Ben, Michelle, and Sarah posed for a picture after getting drenched on the Scrambler.
Okay, always a sucker for a pretty flower, I couldn't pass this up with the water droplets on the flowers! As I was taking this picture, the woman running the store that this flower was outside of, appeared and said "Oh, you are taking pictures of my flowers." When she said "oh," I had the camera to my eye and didn't see her, so I jumped about a mile. I am amazed the picture came out!
Since it was raining and they were already soaked, the kids decided it was a good time to go to Hook's Lagoon, a water park within the park. When we got there, the area was closed due to a storm cell passing overhead. As we were waiting for it to reopen, my mom happened to look inside a metal cylinder acting as a support for the fence. It was full of garbage, and of course, wasps! I took this picture blindly, as the post was nearly 5 feet tall and I am only 5'3". I thought it turned out rather decent for a blind shot.
Once Hook's reopened, the kids had a good time playing and splashing in the water, until the power went out for the entire park. Here they are coming out of the water. They look like they belong at the beginning of a television show or something.
We spent a few hours at the park, then went out to get some grub. We went to a local pizza shop and got a sheet pizza and drinks. While we waited for the pizza, the kids played on this really cool pirate ship.
The kids took my camera and got some great shots as they played.
Mom and I had a nice visit while we awaited our food.
Here is Ben, who had enough energy for all of us, enjoying a Red Bull.
While waiting for food, Sarah commandeered the camera and took a shot of Erin, sporting her crown from Michelle, and...
a self portrait. There is another one that shows her whole face, but I really like the concentration on her face in this one.
Once we ate, we went back to the park for a couple more hours. Mark was tired of wheeling around the park so he sat in the truck. Mom and I were tired of carrying around "stuff," so we left everything with Mark, cameras included. We didn't leave the park until about 9:30. I did ride one ride with Erin. We went on the Lasso, which is a swing ride. I enjoyed the ride until it stopped and my equilibrium got temporarily lost. UGH! I don't recover like I used to! Another fun day! That makes 3 in a row. I am getting tired!
...then the sky opened up. If you click to enlarge this photo, you can see the rain.
During a pause in the downpour, all the kids, except for Erin, decided to go ride a couple of rides. I went with them, while Mom, Mark, and Erin waited for the rain to stop completely. As the kids got onto the Scrambler for a second time, the sky opened up again. I hightailed it to an overhang to watch while they stayed on the ride. Just as the ride was about to begin, the ride operators had a shift change, or something. While the kids are sitting in pouring rain, waiting for the ride to start, the girl who had been running the ride, gathered her belongings, and ran to an overhang. The guy coming to take her place got under the awning protecting him from the rain, told a guy who was under the awning inside the ride fence that he had to leave the fenced area and he could stand under the awning outside the fence. Then he put on his rain slicker...under the awning...before announcing the safety rules for the ride. He finally started the ride. Here's the guy running to the ride.
Ben, Michelle, and Sarah posed for a picture after getting drenched on the Scrambler.
Okay, always a sucker for a pretty flower, I couldn't pass this up with the water droplets on the flowers! As I was taking this picture, the woman running the store that this flower was outside of, appeared and said "Oh, you are taking pictures of my flowers." When she said "oh," I had the camera to my eye and didn't see her, so I jumped about a mile. I am amazed the picture came out!
Since it was raining and they were already soaked, the kids decided it was a good time to go to Hook's Lagoon, a water park within the park. When we got there, the area was closed due to a storm cell passing overhead. As we were waiting for it to reopen, my mom happened to look inside a metal cylinder acting as a support for the fence. It was full of garbage, and of course, wasps! I took this picture blindly, as the post was nearly 5 feet tall and I am only 5'3". I thought it turned out rather decent for a blind shot.
Once Hook's reopened, the kids had a good time playing and splashing in the water, until the power went out for the entire park. Here they are coming out of the water. They look like they belong at the beginning of a television show or something.
We spent a few hours at the park, then went out to get some grub. We went to a local pizza shop and got a sheet pizza and drinks. While we waited for the pizza, the kids played on this really cool pirate ship.
The kids took my camera and got some great shots as they played.
Mom and I had a nice visit while we awaited our food.
Here is Ben, who had enough energy for all of us, enjoying a Red Bull.
While waiting for food, Sarah commandeered the camera and took a shot of Erin, sporting her crown from Michelle, and...
a self portrait. There is another one that shows her whole face, but I really like the concentration on her face in this one.
Once we ate, we went back to the park for a couple more hours. Mark was tired of wheeling around the park so he sat in the truck. Mom and I were tired of carrying around "stuff," so we left everything with Mark, cameras included. We didn't leave the park until about 9:30. I did ride one ride with Erin. We went on the Lasso, which is a swing ride. I enjoyed the ride until it stopped and my equilibrium got temporarily lost. UGH! I don't recover like I used to! Another fun day! That makes 3 in a row. I am getting tired!
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Ellison Park
On Thursday I took the kids, and their friend Kelly, to Ellison Park. There we took a mile-and-a-half hike. We stopped a couple times for the kids to play, but it was so hot that we took the whole thing at a very leisurely pace.
The obligatory flower photos. I am too tired to look these up, so suffice it to say that they were pretty.
This picture doesn't do the contrast in colors justice. In reality the red was really red and the green very green. It's still a decent picture though.
As we crossed a bridge over Irondequoit Creek, we thought we say a snake in the water, so Sarah got a big stick to throw in to see if it would move...her mean old mother however, would not allow her to throw it. Instead, she decided to strike a pose for me while Erin and Kelly looked on.
Meanwhile, a monkey, er, Kyle, was climbing the tree. I pointed out to him that the tree was over the water and he doesn't like being in water, and that perhaps this was a bad idea, but I'm just the mother...what do I know? Oh, well...he didn't fall in (I would have laughed if he had...and taken picutres!).
The roots on this tree were primarily in the water, which I thought was quite neat.
More dragonflies. This one was very cooperative, and I love its coloring.
If you look closely, there are 2 dragonflies flying around just above the surface of the water almost in the center of the picture.
The branch sticking straight up on this tree struck me as quite odd. I'm not sure on the type of tree, but it has this great camouflage looking bark. This type of tree is all throughout the park. We really enjoyed looking at them, and the kids even enjoyed climbing in one.
I like these pretty pink flowers, but this bee looks like it must be the mother of all bumble bees! It is HUGE! The picture is a bit fuzzy, but you can get a good idea of the size of it anyway.
Here is a picture of the path that we took through the park. This park is much more "developed" than Black Creek Park. The trails and the shelters are all mixed in together, whereas at Black Creek, the shelters were in a central, more developed area of the park, while the trails were on the perimeter and the land around them was largely left alone.
One cool thing about Ellison Park is that there is a riding stable nearby and they have a trail specifically for horse back riding. This picture shows where the riding trail and one of the walking trails intersect. I like the stone wall.
One of the places we stopped had some inviting "climbing" trees. Kyle went up the tree, then Sarah joined him with a little help from me. Here's Sarah contemplating how to get back down...
Finally, Erin got a boost into the tree. She is my original monkey! Kelly opted not to climb this particular tree. The first step was a tough one so she decided watching from the ground was just as good.
Kyle climbed a bit higher in the tree and actually posed for me. I was so proud of him! For anyone who doesn't know, Kyle does not like to pose for pictures. If you happen to catch him in a photo that's okay, but he likes to make a game of avoiding the camera.
As we continued on our journey, we came to this great "trail" that led up a hill...er, mountain.
There was a wonderful bench at the bottom of the hill under a nice shade tree. I sent the kids exploring while I plopped down on the bench to enjoy the beautiful blue sky and puffy, white clouds. In the picture below, the kids are about 1/2 way up the hill.
Kyle took the camera and got a picture of me, way down at the bottom.
The sandy soil at the top was very soft, so the kids could draw in it, which they thought was pretty cool.
Kelly and Sarah sat in a bit of shade to rest after the long, tedious climb. The soil was so sandy that it made climbing difficult. Their feet kept sliding and of course Sarah decided to wear her Crocs instead of sneakers that I had requested she wear.
As the kids finished their exploration and descended upon my calm reverie, Kyle said it was a good thing I had waited, because the climb was difficult and I would have had a hard time. WRONG thing to say!!! I responded with something along the lines of "Oh, really?" and proceeded to run up the hill. Upon running back down (more challenging in my opinion, and perhaps a bit foolhardy) I reminded him that I am old (in his estimation), not dead, thank you very much!!! Somehow I don't think mid-thirties is all that old, but I guess when you are not quite 15, everyone over 25 is old.
Here is the picture I took from the top of the hill. You can see the bench I had been enjoying.
This one Kyle took from up above the "drawing" spot. Apparently there is a bench up there to enjoy the view. I opted not to climb up there as the soil turned almost totally to sand, and I am a baby about sand in my sneakers.
Sarah coming down the hill after I had run up and then down. She was far more cautious about her descent than I was.
This is the view I was enjoying while lying on the bench at the bottom of the hill, before I was so rudely interrupted with an "old" comment.
This was the end of the photos on this journey. We spent the remaining 20 minutes or so thinking about ice cream and cold drinks. We had brought cold drinks along, but it was really hot and they were long gone by this point.
The kids sat outside and stuck their feet in a wading pool and ate ice cream bars once we got back to our house. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun, but next time we need a cooler day or somewhere with water to play in.
The obligatory flower photos. I am too tired to look these up, so suffice it to say that they were pretty.
This picture doesn't do the contrast in colors justice. In reality the red was really red and the green very green. It's still a decent picture though.
As we crossed a bridge over Irondequoit Creek, we thought we say a snake in the water, so Sarah got a big stick to throw in to see if it would move...her mean old mother however, would not allow her to throw it. Instead, she decided to strike a pose for me while Erin and Kelly looked on.
Meanwhile, a monkey, er, Kyle, was climbing the tree. I pointed out to him that the tree was over the water and he doesn't like being in water, and that perhaps this was a bad idea, but I'm just the mother...what do I know? Oh, well...he didn't fall in (I would have laughed if he had...and taken picutres!).
The roots on this tree were primarily in the water, which I thought was quite neat.
More dragonflies. This one was very cooperative, and I love its coloring.
If you look closely, there are 2 dragonflies flying around just above the surface of the water almost in the center of the picture.
The branch sticking straight up on this tree struck me as quite odd. I'm not sure on the type of tree, but it has this great camouflage looking bark. This type of tree is all throughout the park. We really enjoyed looking at them, and the kids even enjoyed climbing in one.
I like these pretty pink flowers, but this bee looks like it must be the mother of all bumble bees! It is HUGE! The picture is a bit fuzzy, but you can get a good idea of the size of it anyway.
Here is a picture of the path that we took through the park. This park is much more "developed" than Black Creek Park. The trails and the shelters are all mixed in together, whereas at Black Creek, the shelters were in a central, more developed area of the park, while the trails were on the perimeter and the land around them was largely left alone.
One cool thing about Ellison Park is that there is a riding stable nearby and they have a trail specifically for horse back riding. This picture shows where the riding trail and one of the walking trails intersect. I like the stone wall.
One of the places we stopped had some inviting "climbing" trees. Kyle went up the tree, then Sarah joined him with a little help from me. Here's Sarah contemplating how to get back down...
Finally, Erin got a boost into the tree. She is my original monkey! Kelly opted not to climb this particular tree. The first step was a tough one so she decided watching from the ground was just as good.
Kyle climbed a bit higher in the tree and actually posed for me. I was so proud of him! For anyone who doesn't know, Kyle does not like to pose for pictures. If you happen to catch him in a photo that's okay, but he likes to make a game of avoiding the camera.
As we continued on our journey, we came to this great "trail" that led up a hill...er, mountain.
There was a wonderful bench at the bottom of the hill under a nice shade tree. I sent the kids exploring while I plopped down on the bench to enjoy the beautiful blue sky and puffy, white clouds. In the picture below, the kids are about 1/2 way up the hill.
Kyle took the camera and got a picture of me, way down at the bottom.
The sandy soil at the top was very soft, so the kids could draw in it, which they thought was pretty cool.
Kelly and Sarah sat in a bit of shade to rest after the long, tedious climb. The soil was so sandy that it made climbing difficult. Their feet kept sliding and of course Sarah decided to wear her Crocs instead of sneakers that I had requested she wear.
As the kids finished their exploration and descended upon my calm reverie, Kyle said it was a good thing I had waited, because the climb was difficult and I would have had a hard time. WRONG thing to say!!! I responded with something along the lines of "Oh, really?" and proceeded to run up the hill. Upon running back down (more challenging in my opinion, and perhaps a bit foolhardy) I reminded him that I am old (in his estimation), not dead, thank you very much!!! Somehow I don't think mid-thirties is all that old, but I guess when you are not quite 15, everyone over 25 is old.
Here is the picture I took from the top of the hill. You can see the bench I had been enjoying.
This one Kyle took from up above the "drawing" spot. Apparently there is a bench up there to enjoy the view. I opted not to climb up there as the soil turned almost totally to sand, and I am a baby about sand in my sneakers.
Sarah coming down the hill after I had run up and then down. She was far more cautious about her descent than I was.
This is the view I was enjoying while lying on the bench at the bottom of the hill, before I was so rudely interrupted with an "old" comment.
This was the end of the photos on this journey. We spent the remaining 20 minutes or so thinking about ice cream and cold drinks. We had brought cold drinks along, but it was really hot and they were long gone by this point.
The kids sat outside and stuck their feet in a wading pool and ate ice cream bars once we got back to our house. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun, but next time we need a cooler day or somewhere with water to play in.
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