Six Flags



Lucky us...we got to go to Six Flags with our friends the Ashdowns.  They have season passes and were nice enough to give us 4 buddy passes so we only had to buy tickets for me and Jeff.  It was a fun day!  There were 14 of us all together.  When we went on the safari and told them there were 14 in our party and they saw all the kids they thought we were crazy. :)  Jeff took Christopher and Michael on a roller coaster right when we go there and that might not have been the best idea, especially since they had never been on anything like that before.  They both cried/screamed!  It was a while before we got them on anything else after that.  We finally got them to do the log flume ride and they loved that.  Afterwards they mostly did the kiddie rides, but that's okay...roller coasters are scary.  Just ask Jeff.  He did Kingda Ka!  Tallest ride in the world!  I didn't brave that one, but I did go on El Torro twice which was pretty intense.  It was a long day.  10am till 10pm....and the kids did great.  They didn't beg for stuff, they were patient waiting for the rides they wanted and they had fun with their friends.  Even Daniel was great and he was stuck in his stroller most of the day.  We had a great time!

 

Highlights

1.  Annie wanted to do everything...but wasn't tall enough for hardly anything.  Poor thing.  I have a feeling that will be the story of her life. :)

2.  Jacob having to go potty in the line for the safari and there wasn't any way to get out of line and take him and get back in line.  So, I just pulled his pants down...put a diaper on him...pulled his underwear and pants back up.  He thought I was crazy, but it worked.  Everyone called me MacGyver for the rest of the day.

3.  Jeff bought this huge roasted turkey leg and we all ate on it like a bunch of vultures....you had to be there.  It was really yummy.   Jeff's new knickname is Turkey Leg Sutherland...or Brother Turkey Leg is we're at church.

4.  The safari was really fun.  Up close to wild animals is always fun.

5.  Getting to go on a roller coaster just Jeff and me.  We screamed our heads off.

 

 

Annie and Addy

Mapping out our day

First ride...parachutes!

Going up!...or maybe it was down.

Anne was so upset she couldn't go on the roller coaster.  Brinley is giving her the look like,
"Come on girl...it's not a big deal."

Jacob loved everything he went on.

Part of the crew

Asleep in line for safari

I think I should put this sign on the front door of our house. :)

Splash!  Anne was in the front but you can't see her

Luke, his grandma and Michael were on this one.

Log Flume riders

The 4 Musketeers

Anne was hilarious and would scream and laugh on every ride.

Jeff was a good sport and went on all the spining rides...they make me sick.

Too many free refills on the soda.

Little Gabe is so cute

That's all folks! ....tired kids

Camping....locally

So, who would have known we could go camping within 10 minutes of our house.  Up here in northern Bergen county there are quite a few large county or state parks with lots of lakes and hiking and camping.  We decided to go to Campgaw mountain for a quick Friday night camp out.  It's funny because there is actually skiing there in the winter and I'm still skeptical at how people could ski there....there is no mountain....I'd consider it a hill.  But I guess it's all relative.  Mountains to someone like me who grew up in Utah are different than mountains to someone in New Jersey. :)

Anyway, we were planning on getting there earlier on Friday but it turned out that Michael's friend was getting baptized that night so we went to the church for that and didn't get to the camp site until like 9pm.  Why is it that we always end up pitching our tent and starting our fire in the dark??  Oh well...tradition I guess. :)  But we had a really fun time.  Jeff was up all night convinced there was a bear outside our tent (black bears are pretty prevalent in northern NJ).  I wasn't worried since I knew he would take care of it with the 2 metal baseball bats he had in the tent, just in case. ;)

It started raining during the night and drizzled all morning.  Sounds no fun, but it wasn't that bad.  Our site had a lean-to so we cooked on our stove underneath that and even got the fire going enough to do some s'mores in the morning. 

Making trail mix for hiking- It passed off a Bear requirement for Cub scouts

Our fire finally started at like 10pm

We had hot dogs while we waited for the tin foil dinners to cook...we were hungry!!

"Mom...get the camera flash out of my face!"

 Daniel looks nice and rested.  You wouldn't know he wiggled and whined all night long keeping me awake. :)

Yummy hot chocolate, pancakes and omelets.  Breakfast while camping is the  best!

Starting a fire in the rain isn't easy.

S'more goodness

When we got home we set the tent up in the yard since it was wet and we wanted it to dry out.  Jeff and the kids slept in it that night.  I guess we don't need to go any further than our backyard to go camping.  The kids were so cute in there with the lantern reading to each other.  It was hard to get a picture of it but it sure was sweet.

Lazy Days of Summer

We've been having a laid back summer.  Nothing big happening, just a few fun things here and there mixed in with lots of East coast rainy days and fun days playing at home.  I always have grand plans for summer and then when it actually happens I realize I prefer to let the kids be kids and plan out their own fun, with some fun mom planned things along the way.


Daniel has started standing up to things a month ago and crawling up the stairs.  Not a fan of the stair thing....it's too hard to keep him contained now. :)  He loves standing at the sliding glass window and looking outside. 

"Let me out !!"

 

 

The kids just love to be outside.  They make up all kinds of fun things to play and hide out in the trees and bushes.  They come in smelling like dirt and sweat, which should just be called "summer kid smell" because it is such a distinctive smell.  Kind of gross, but it means they were having fun. :)

 

I looked out one day and they were all sitting there together talking about something.  I had to take a picture because it was a much better scene than if they had been fighting or something.  They don't look too thrilled in this picture, but at the moment they said they were planning the rules of their club.

 Picnics on the deck

Funny story.  Jacob came running in saying he got stung by a bee.  He told me it was on his neck but I didn't see anything that looked like a bee sting.  I cleaned him up and he was about to go back outside when he started screaming, "It's in my shirt !!!"  I pulled up his shirt and there was a yellow jacket crawling around on his chest.  I screamed and smacked it and it started flying around the room.  We were all yelling and trying to get it out or smash it.  We finally got rid of it and looking back it was really funny.  It stung him 4 times, but he didn't have much of a reaction.  It was red and swollen for a little while but went away.  Later, Jeff was asking him how his bee stings were doing.  Jacob said, "It was a yellow jacket dad.  But I not see its jacket?  I think it not wear it's jacket.  I just see it's butt where it stung me."  :)

Learning about and making African masks at the library.

Anne's "stay up late with mom" night.  We painted nails and watched "Tangled"

Summer chores....gotta keep those windows clean.