Lagoon

I have been dreading this for about 4 years now. I knew that it had to happen, and it eventually it did happen. The kids bugged us just enough that we said fine. We went to Lagoon. I know that some of you are just like whatever, whatever. But you have to know that I have never had a good time at Lagoon in my whole life. I have been known to say that I actually hate the place. So I took a deep breath and packed a gallon of and sanitizer and we left to go to Lagoon.

(Something about the place makes me feel dirty. Ewww.)

It was a beautiful day over the UEA break. We went up at about 2 in the afternoon and stayed almost until closing time. We rode the rides, walked the Haunted House, and we were having a great time until we got hungry and ate some food. That is when I started to feel sick. I knew that eating would not be a good idea. Everything there is fried and greasy. After we ate we went on the little Pirate Boat ride and I almost lost my dinner all over Lewis who was sitting in front of me. Luckily I was able to hold it down. Needless to say I will be bringing my dinner next time we go.

Oh well. Here are a few shots for proof that we went. This way we don't have to go for 4 more years :)

And no, I am not on that coaster.

Grandma Came To Play For The Day

We had a ton of fun when Grandma came to play. We played dress up:

Pretended to be farm animals:

Sat in ginormous chairs:

And dressed up like piggies:

Thanks for the day! We had a great time!!!

Haley's Birthday Party

So for Haley's 8th birthday party we had a combined party with another girl from her class, Hannah (which crazy enough was almost Haley's name!). We had 4 stations that the kids rotated through. One was decorating cupcakes. Here is Abigail with her cupcake:

We also had a donut eating contest... with no hands. Here is one of the groups:

We also had two pinatas. This was in case it was knocked out before they all had a chance to hit. Of course that was not the case. They all got to hit on the first one and then we knocked it out. Then on the second one I got to hit first with like two other people and we put holes in it immediately. Here is a picture of the line waiting to hit:


Finally here is the picture of the crazy amount of gifts for the two 8 year old girls. Next year we are doing a NO GIFTS party for sure.

It might seem strange that there are no pictures of the birthday girls together but somehow after taking 190 pictures at the party we did not manage to get some of them together.

Happy Birthday Haley!!!!!

Haley turned 8 today. She got a couple of great gifts that she loved. Here is a sneak peek for you all to see. Her official party is on Friday afternoon. She is having a joint party with her friend Hannah from school. It will be Halloween themed with games and costumes and everything. I will post all about it when we are done.

Happy Birthday my dear Haley! I love you more then you will ever know!

Plus here is one picture of Abigail with her doll on the horse too because well, Abigail always has to be in on whatever is happening. Thanks for sharing the horse with your sister Haley!!!

And P.S. I don't even know who took this picture. I found it on my camera after the girls went to bed.

Cornbelly's

Lewis got a great deal on a website for season passes to Cornbelly's for only $12 a person. It is $9 to get in for one day so we decided that it would be a great deal to get the pass for the whole month. this way we can take them on several occasions and not have to feel like we need to rush through all of the things in one day. So we took the kids to on Saturday for the first time. I made the kids take the picture below. Can you tell that Adam was not happy? Everyone is smiling except for him. When exactly did he get too old for this fun stuff anyways?

He must not be too old to have any fun though, because he had a blast bouncing on this thing. He can get really high.

And he can bounce other people really high too. It must be all of that time he spends on the trampoline out back.

The girls got a chance to sit in a carriage and to pretend to be princesses. Oh to be 6 & 8 again!

The kids raced down the slides, and each had an idea of the "fastest" way down.

And who could resist the giant rocker picture? Next time we go I am going to have them each individually sit in this when the sun is not shining in their face. I think it is one of those cheesy pictures that you have to take. Lewis was NOT into this. Still I might try to get him on there next time.

All in all a great day. Very hot but not very crowded. Next week we will tackle the giant corn maze!

Picture Day at School!!!!

Don't they all look great? Well, they are something to look at anyways!

Horrible

We came from Moab to see this from our front door. It was so sad and devastating. I did not sleep all night because I kept going out to watch the flames.

We Went To Moab

We went with my family. 7 adults, 2 twelve year olds, a preteen, 4 big kids, and 2 first graders. We left dogs, cats and the rest of the people at home and headed out for 3 days in the HOT Moab desert. It got up into the 100's and it was dusty and dry but we managed to have a great time. Here are the highlights from the Annual Balmanno Camping Trip:

Some of us looked good climbing trees...

Some of us had to smile for the traditional family photo...


Some of us climbed up cracks...

Some of us played in the mud...

Some of us learned how to play "Miss Mary Mack"...

Some of us had to salute before boarding the raft...

...and all of us had a ton of fun!!