Saturday, July 16, 2011

ADVENTURELAND 2011

I love that Lee's company decides to do their 'Company Outing' to Adventureland every summer! It's a great family trip and since we get to do it as a company outing, it's free for us, which makes it even more great! Last summer, Lee and I took Tyler, while my mom stayed back at our house with Brady, since he was only 9 months old. Last year, Tyler had a blast on all the rides, and Lee and I enjoyed the time with Tyler and seeing the excitement on his face on each ride that he went on. This year, we took both boys and my mom. Tyler and Brady had so much fun on everything that they did, Grandma had a great time watching them have fun, and Lee and I really enjoyed the day! One of the best things about being a parent is to watch the happiness on the faces of your kids. Adventureland brings many smiles, giggles, excitement, and happiness! It is just so much fun for Lee and I to watch Tyler and Brady have fun. We arrived at Adventureland at opening, 10:00 a.m. We went on rides until 12:00, which is when Lee's company fed us some great lunch! After lunch we went to the new addition to Adventureland, which is the water park. What a great addition! We got changed into swim suits and joined in on the madness and chaos of the water park! It is a fun water park, but it does have so many kids in what seems like such a small area. It was a bit stressful with Brady, who likes to wander and is fearless of anything! On any typical day, I need to be one step behind Brady, as I never know what he is going to do next! So, going to a water park with so many other kids, was pretty chaotic. For Brady, it was heaven, for me, it was extremely stressful! Since I was following Brady around, Lee was following Tyler and going down slides, and my mom was sitting, relaxing, and looking out for our belongings. After slides, we went to less stressful parts of the water park, which were the splashpark, the lazy river, and the swimming pool. We had such a great day and were all exhausted by the end of it. Brady actually crashed on the train ride, which was the last ride we did before going home. Tyler crashed in his carseat the second we left the parking lot. Tyler says his favorite ride was this Frog Hopper ride. It was the first ride that he went on and was actually the only ride that Tyler rode that Brady was unable to. Thankfully that was the only ride, because Brady didn't handle that very well! Tyler went on this ride last year as well, but I think that he enjoyed it more this year. The second favorite of Tyler's was probably the train ride, which was the last thing that we did. I'm not so sure what Brady's favorite from the day was, but I do know that he loved every ride that he went on and had an amazing day at Adventureland!

Here's Tyler on the Frog Hopper, which was his favorite ride at Adventureland.
Lee told him to put his arms up in the air, so he did and he kept them up the entire ride.

Tyler in the front and Brady in the back. This ride does have different types of vehicles, however both last year and this year, Tyler chose to ride the fire truck, which was no surprise to us!

The four of us did the log ride. Tyler and I got soaked, Brady and Lee did not. Fun!

Brady and Tyler riding the semi-truck. This was before the ride started. Brady was a bit anxious and ready for it to begin.





The four of us also did the bumper cars. Tyler drove my car, which was a bit scary at times, but we survived!

Brady and Tyler on the airplane.

Flying high!

Ladybug Rollercoaster.

Last summer, Lee won Tyler a baseball hat. Tyler told Lee that he wanted him to win him one again. However, this year, Lee had to win two! Everything's in two these days! If Tyler gets something, Brady needs it too!

Grandma took the boys on the carousel ride.

Tyler going down a small slide at the water park. He got to go down some other bigger ones as well.

Brady loved this slide! He went down it over and over again!

The splash park was great!

This picture of Tyler cracks me up! He was so excited!

Tyler waited for the bucket to dump on himself.

Brady had a blast!


Tyler and I on the train ride.

He's got his arm up, saying, "choo, choo."

Brady and Grandma on the train ride. He did actually enjoy the ride for ahile, but then his eyes got extremely heavy! ...And then we went home!

DAN WARDELL VISIT

If you have kids and they watch any cartoons on IPTV, you more than likely have heard of Dan Wardell in the yellow cape. Well, we were able to go see Dan Wardell at our Public Library last Friday. I took the boys' lawn chairs and a blanket for myself. I was so impressed with how well the boys were paying attention and following along with what Dan had to tell them. If they were supposed to be sitting down listening, they were, and if they were supposed to be standing up doing some silly actions, they were! It was a great thing to watch!!! Dan did an excellent job with the kids and I'm very glad that we went, as Tyler and Brady really enjoyed it! We have taken a few trips to the Library already this summer to check out books for the boys. They like to go and they love to read their "new" books at home. This event just made the Library a more fun place to visit for the boys than what it already was!


THE MOTORCYCLE

We were able to get the motorcycle back up and running this past week! The past two summers have been filled with time that Tyler has spent riding this motorcycle that we received from a neighbor of ours. I have a million pictures of Tyler riding this motorcycle, as he started riding it when he was just a little over a year and a half. Well, this summer started, we pulled the motorcycle out from the shed and the battery was pretty dead. We were ready for Brady to start riding the motorcycle this summer, but were unable to since we needed to purchase another battery. We finally had gotten around to getting a new battery and there have been many motorcycle rides since. Brady was a little hesitant at first, but now he's got the hang of it and loves to spend time on it just as Tyler did when he was Brady's age. Since Tyler still loves to ride the motorcyle, they are having to take turns and share the motorcycle. It was a pleasant surprise to see them actually doing a great job at this! They have the system down pretty well, actually. I am so thankful for this awesome toy that we were given from our neighbors. It brings great joy to Tyler and Brady's outdoor play!

Tyler was so excited to have the motorcycle back!
This was the first day that we got the motorcycle running. Tyler was teaching Brady how to ride it.



He even gets brave enough to stand up and ride now.







You think he's having fun???


Tuesday, July 5, 2011

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

4th of July, 2011

St. Charles, IL Our road trip for the 4th of July weekend was to St. Charles, IL to stay with our friends, Luke, Jessica, and Dylan. We arrived Saturday afternoon and were able to hang out and watch the boys play. The boys made their own dinner that night! They worked as a team and made their very own pepperoni pizza. Dylan, Tyler, and Brady ready to make their very own pizza!

#1. Sauce.

#2. Cheese.

#3. Pepperoni.

"All Done!"

And they even ate the dinner that they made. :)

Splash Park

Sunday morning we took the kids to a splash park, which was awesome! We all had a blast!


At the splash park. So much fun!!!

Here's Brady, contemplating on whether or not he wants to go through the same sprinklers that Tyler just did....

And he did! Every time he went through, he closed his eyes, but he kept doing it over and over again, so he must have liked it!









Tyler and Brady squirting each other with the squirt guns.

We brought our own lunch in a cooler. Here's the boys taking a quick break to eat and then went quickly back to the sprinklers.

All three boys waiting for the bucket to dump water on them.





Party and Games

Sunday evening we went to a surprise b-day party for one of Lee's friends that he went to highschool with. The boys enjoyed playing pool and arcade games.


Dylan and Brady enjoyed hanging out at the pool table and rolling (throwing for Brady) the pool ball on the table.



This is Tyler trying to give his brother a hug.

Tyler, Brady, Dylan, and Luke in the arcade room. Tyler loved these games!

4th of July Parade

Monday, 4th of July, we took the kids to a parade. We left that parade with tons of candy! It was a very hot morning and I think we were all glad when the parade was finally over, even though the boys had a great time eating candy, freeze pops, seeing the floats, and seeing all the firetrucks. By the time we got back to the McCabe house, it was time for lunch and then time for us to head back home.


Tyler, Brady, and Dylan waiting for the parade to begin.

My amazing kids!

Tyler and Brady had their fair share of candy, suckers, and freeze pops!






We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! Thank you to Luke, Jessica, and Dylan for making it so much fun!

Now we wait for Baby Boy #2 for the McCabe family. Coming this September! Can't wait to meet him!