Vacation

The boys and I are on vacation this week. On Sunday we went to a lake resort. Upon arrival, both boys exclaimed repeatedly about how nice the hotel was, how nice the room was, etc. I am not certain if they really believed it was an incredibly nice hotel or if they were trying to make me feel good. We were a little late arriving on Sunday due to a long, unexpected detour. While I checked in, the boys checked out the flatscreen tv which was hanging in the lobby and showing film of the water park. Although it was nearly dinner time, neither boy was hungry (or so they both claimed), and so we went directly to the waterpark.

The waterpark was good. Both the air temperature and the water temperature were comfortable. The park was not terribly crowded and was of a manageable size. There was an area for smaller kids and an area with three big slides. The three slides were at the top of what seemed to be five flights of stairs. One slide required the rider to go down feet first while seated on an inner tube. The other two slides were feet-first body slides. All three slides went very fast and contained tunnels which made it impossible to know which way you were going to be thrown. It turns out that I may be a bit of a wimp. But the boys are not. They did not think the slides were too fast or too scary.

The weather on Monday was not particularly warm, but we spent some time out by the pool and inside at the indoor pool and playing pingpong. Both boys have improved their pingpong skills since last summer. After lunch we decided we would rent jetskis. I have never ridden one, but it was very fun. Michael rode with me for most of an hour. He was a little dismayed that I opted not to drive super fast. He kept encouraging me to "crush it" and asking me "are you going to crush it?" and complaining "you should have crushed it." I'm not sure if that is a new term that means "to go really fast." Or if it was a reference to the action of "crushing" the throttle with my hand. At any rate, it was fun. And I did crush it a few times.

At dinner the first night, Spencer ordered a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I'm not sure why the kitchen does not make the sandwiches themselves, but they do not. Instead they buy these (I'll call them) sandwiches which are made by Smuckers and come in a cellophane package. This is how Spencer's dinner was brought to the table. In a cellophane bag on top of a plate. Spencer was not sure what to make of it. It did not look like they used real bread. In the end he thought it was disgusting. I don't blame him. The next morning at breakfast I read the breakfast menu aloud to Spencer. One of the options was silver dollar pancakes. He said that was what he wanted, but asked if I could first check to make sure that the pancakes did not come in a bag. Again, I do not blame him.

We spent the day yesterday at my mom's house with their cousins. All four boys spent some time in the pool. After swimming, everyone except Spencer played guitar hero. Cole asked me at one point, "Are you even trying?" I was.

Today was a lovely day. We did not have any particularly interesting activities planned for the day. We slept in a little. Or at least I did. The boys got up at 6:47 and 6:52 (they are very exact) and started playing with legos. I want to take a picture of the lego room, but I know it will not do it justice. Every lego is on the floor. They do not want anything moved. They have a system. We went to an indoor play park after breakfast. This was nice for me as it allowed me to read my book for nearly an hour. The boys enjoyed it too.

In the afternoon we went down to the river. We brought a sifter and looked for gems. We did not find any, but we found a lot of other rocks which we brought home for their rock collection.

Later in the afternoon, Spencer came in from playing outside with Michael and announced "We have an injury." Of course I thought it was Michael. But it was not. It was a young bunny. It looked like a part of it had been bitten (perhaps off/away). Anyway, the poor bunny was in our yard and not moving like a rabbit should. I made some calls and it was determined that we should bring the bunny in for care. Mom arrived (she and Patty were coming over for dinner) and we put the bunny in the box. Actually my mom put the bunny in the box. I had a notion that it might bite me. I'm not sure where that idea came from, and it was certainly unfounded. The injured young bunny was completely docile. Weird. Not at all what one would expect from an injured young bunny. At any rate, we got into the car and took the bunny in while dinner cooked away on the stove. When we returned home 40 minutes later, dinner (at least the vegetables) was a little worse for the wear. The meal was nevertheless enjoyable. After dinner we played games. The boys are now upstairs asleep. Lovely.