now for the good stuff

We had a really good time visiting my family, despite the car woes. My folks rented a cabin at Oglebay Park The boys got to know their cousins again. We only see them once a year. The girls are each about 5 months younger than the boys. Plus they have an older brother who DS1 just adores. DS1 was shy at first but warmed up as time went on. I was able to mostly convince my family to just leave him alone & let him decide in his own time to say hi. They are all outgoing people & think the shy just need lots of 'encouragement'. I hated that as a child & am doing what I can to shield DS1 from it. Yes, Grandma thinks DS1 should give Uncle a big hug but Uncle is really a stranger to DS1. Would you encourage a child to hug a stranger? Grandma seemed to get the point, kinda. But left alone DS1 warmed up just fine to everyone within an hour.

We took all the kids to the Zoo on Saturday. They saw the new kangaroo exhibit, got up close to deer, pet the goats, saw the huge model train display and rode on the tour train. My brother & I talked about how empty the ride had become. When we were kids it circled the whole zoo and had these anamatronic Old West scenes in parts, in addition to going through or past most of the animal exhibits. Now it goes through the ostrich area, passes the wolf sanctary turns around, goes back through those areas, passes the station, goes off around the barnyard area, turns around & comes back to the station. But the toddlers loved it. They wer riding on a train after all. DS2 fell asleep in the middle of the ride & even the train whistle didn't wake him up. Dh & I also went to Gabes (a discount 'overstock' clothing place) to get stuff for DS1 for fall and some things for DH as well. I got a really cool pair of purple pants I later saw at Old Navy for $10 more than I paid. I think the sizing must have been off on the pair I bough at Gabes. They fit me fine, but the same size at ON was too small. I also got a dozen smiley cookies from Eat N park. These 2 stops were as much about nostalgia as shopping.

Sunday we took the kids to Cabella's. They loved the giant aquarium and the huge mountain animal display. DS2's favorite thing was the elephant. DS1's favorite thing was getting to shoot at the laser gallery. You use a laser rifle to hit various targets ina western farm setting& it makes the coffee pot dance, the snake hiss, the chickens cluck etc. DH sighted the rifle and DS1 pulled the trigger. We also took the opportunity to go over the Eddie Eagle warning about 'stop. don't touch, tell an adult' if you see a gun someplace. DH looked at camping stuff & I bought a long denim skirt I had been looking for. The cousins were over in the afternoon and we went to the Lebanese Picnic (SIL's father's family are Lebanese) & took a long walk together.

Monday we went boating on the lake. Peddle boats . I used to love those things as a kid. I remember speed peddling in races with my friends & feeling like hardly any time had passed when they called us in. OMG! it HURT to peddle those boats. Especially by yourself. (i had DS1 with me he is too short to reach the peddles) I pulled some muscle in my leg & could not believe how long 15 minutes could last! The boys loved it! I let DS1 steer & he had us going all over the lake. we spent some time at the playground & then since it was clouding up we went to the indoor pool rather than the outdoor one. The boys had a blast. They both were brave enough to jump off the side & be caught by one of us. They did it over & over. No kiddie pool for our boys. They wanted to be in teh big pool. But since neither can swim & we had no floaties that meant they had to hang on us the whole time. DS1 could stand in the 3ft area & I did get DS2 to do some kicking while I held him.

Tuesday morning we went back to the indoor pool. DS2 decided he was afraid of jumping & just wanted to be glided around by one of us. But DS1 evenually reached the point where he would jump into the 3ft end without needing one of us to catch him. He ended up underwater a few times but came up every time all excited "I went underwater!!!". We all went for another long walk in the afternon & spent some time watching road workers pave a section of road (the boys were thrilled to see machines up close).