My sister-in-law, Alice, has been giving me a lot of grief lately for the lack of new entries on the Kreitzer Kids blog. So, for her...
A few moments later...
Ahhhh, retribution!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
The Madness Begins
Saturday was time trials for the swim team. We definitely wanted our kids to do swim team to get water safe. I never learned to swim strokes, and I wish that I were more confident in the water. So, it is a requirement that the kids swim for a little while. Rachel is not a big fan (despite being one of the best girls her age on our team), so I had promised her that last year was the last year she had to do it. But, as the season approached, I wanted her to really think about it. First off, she has some natural talent for it. Second, she's going to be at the meets anyway. But, she wanted none of it. Until, on the first day of practice, Dave had the kids at the pool. Matthew fell on the way to his "tryout" for the real team. To get him in the pool, Dave promised him a treat if he would try hard. Rachel claimed this was unfair because she didn't have a way to earn a treat. So, Dave said that she could earn treats for the entire family if she joined the team. Apparently, that's all it took. Who knew? She had regrets the next day, though, as she headed to her first practice. Ha ha ha - she's committed now.
Saturday was the beginning of this craziness of the summer. We tend to get into swim team, but it takes every day of the week, except Sunday. But, we like it. Last year, the kids started off time trials very strong and struggled to meet those times the rest of the season. I'm hoping the reverse will be true this season.
Matthew had the very first swim of the day. I was worried a little about it. I thought he might be nervous about jumping in the pool. When I went up to him to wish him luck as he was sitting in the chair , he turned to me and said, "I can beat them." I cracked up and knew that I no longer had to worry. He is competitive and will fight hard for what he wants. As it turned out, he came in the middle of the two 5-year olds on our team in Freestyle. He was not happy! But, I'm hoping that just sparks him to try harder. I see big successes in his future.
Alex definitely has some swimming talent. He did very well, even though he moved up to swimming 50's as a 9 year old. I wasn't sure how he would do right out the blocks, but he did great. He told me early in the meet that breaststroke was his stroke. I don't know where he got that. He has done it well, but his form needed a little work last year. I told him that I thought he had a pretty stroke in freestyle and his butterfly was good, too. But, he insisted that breaststroke was his stroke. Well, he was at least right that he is doing well in that stroke. He surprised me with a much longer stroke this year, and it looked beautiful. There are plenty of 10-year olds on the team that will score ahead of him, but he should do well this year.
Saturday was the beginning of this craziness of the summer. We tend to get into swim team, but it takes every day of the week, except Sunday. But, we like it. Last year, the kids started off time trials very strong and struggled to meet those times the rest of the season. I'm hoping the reverse will be true this season.
Matthew had the very first swim of the day. I was worried a little about it. I thought he might be nervous about jumping in the pool. When I went up to him to wish him luck as he was sitting in the chair , he turned to me and said, "I can beat them." I cracked up and knew that I no longer had to worry. He is competitive and will fight hard for what he wants. As it turned out, he came in the middle of the two 5-year olds on our team in Freestyle. He was not happy! But, I'm hoping that just sparks him to try harder. I see big successes in his future.
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| Grumpy after coming in 2nd on his freestyle |
Zack has a little work to do. I told him it's good to throw time trials so he can set himself up to win his heats during the actual meets. We're hoping that he will get legal in breaststroke and/or butterfly this year. As a 6 and under, he will get plenty of ribbons and awards. But, his team is hurting for 8 and under boys, so he has the potential to score for the team this year if he can get a little bit faster or legal in the hard strokes.
 |
| Goggle face |
 |
| Intense, as always |
Rachel did unexpectedly well last year at time trials and the first meet in backstroke. She swam a great race - super straight with beautifully extended arms. She was then always seeded in the top heat and had a hard time swimming that fast. She has such long arms and legs and feet that she can look really pretty when she swims. I think that she could do really well if she worked on all the little things that make good swimmers into great swimmers. She did well at the meet. She was really nervous about having to do a 50m butterfly. I don't blame her. That stroke is hard. But, she went out and fought through that thing without DQing. I was proud of her because she did not want to do it, but she did well. I'm hoping that more than doing well this year, she can learn to enjoy it. I hope she can find a couple friends on the team that help her want to come to practice and the meets.
I'm going to apologize up front for the number of swim pictures I'll post over the next few weeks. It really does take over our lives.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Trip Summary
OK, I have been a slacker on blogging. Adjusting to regular life was a challenge. We came back to ridiculously hot temperatures, flower beds that were out of control, a filthy car, an empty refrigerator, swim team, end of school madness, etc. And, Dave and I are trying to get the most out of his last few days of freedom. We've had a couple dates, played a little tennis, and did some minor projects. I'm pretty much just not worrying about getting back on track until Dave goes back to work and school ends. Then, we can get back to some kind of normalcy. Right now, I'm just taking it day by day and trying to enjoy things without worrying about tomorrow.
But, that means very little gets done, including the blog. All 3 of the older kids did a presentation in class about their trip. Rachel needed to talk about science and social studies so the teachers could grade in those subjects. Alex and Zack just needed to do something informative. We spent all weekend working on these projects. I had the kids put together some charts and numbers about our trip for the class. These are all interesting, so I'll share here.
First, the map of where we went...
Here are some slides from the presentations:
This slides shows which states we spent the night in. We just counted that way for an easy way to figure it out. We hit Ohio both on the way out and the way in. It was definitely one of the favorite states - a visit with good friends and Cedar Point. How can you go wrong?
We kept track of where we ate everywhere along the trip. I counted sandwiches in the car at the National Parks as homemade, even though it hardly seems homemade since we bought it in the morning and then threw them together standing beside the car. But, that seemed the best category. I think it kind of threw off our statistics, though.
Of the fast food places we ate at, here are the ones that we ate at more than once. McDonald's was a big winner due both to it's prevalence and it's breakfast variety. Chick-fil-A was affected by the lack of restaurants nationwide. We searched for one often, only to be disappointed. I really looked forward to eating out on this trip, but I have to say that so many times we were forced to eat somewhere sub-par only because there were no other choices.
Based on asking the whole family, I would say the top places were Ape Cave, Cedar Point, and the parks in Utah. People ask me, but I can't really pick. I loved it all. It was full of so many different things to do. If you ever get the chance, I totally recommend this kind of trip.
But, that means very little gets done, including the blog. All 3 of the older kids did a presentation in class about their trip. Rachel needed to talk about science and social studies so the teachers could grade in those subjects. Alex and Zack just needed to do something informative. We spent all weekend working on these projects. I had the kids put together some charts and numbers about our trip for the class. These are all interesting, so I'll share here.
First, the map of where we went...
Here are some slides from the presentations:
This slides shows which states we spent the night in. We just counted that way for an easy way to figure it out. We hit Ohio both on the way out and the way in. It was definitely one of the favorite states - a visit with good friends and Cedar Point. How can you go wrong?
We kept track of where we ate everywhere along the trip. I counted sandwiches in the car at the National Parks as homemade, even though it hardly seems homemade since we bought it in the morning and then threw them together standing beside the car. But, that seemed the best category. I think it kind of threw off our statistics, though.
Of the fast food places we ate at, here are the ones that we ate at more than once. McDonald's was a big winner due both to it's prevalence and it's breakfast variety. Chick-fil-A was affected by the lack of restaurants nationwide. We searched for one often, only to be disappointed. I really looked forward to eating out on this trip, but I have to say that so many times we were forced to eat somewhere sub-par only because there were no other choices.
Based on asking the whole family, I would say the top places were Ape Cave, Cedar Point, and the parks in Utah. People ask me, but I can't really pick. I loved it all. It was full of so many different things to do. If you ever get the chance, I totally recommend this kind of trip.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Ramblings by Jes, Part 6 - The Kids
So many things I could say about the kids. I had hoped that having all this togetherness would help fix some of the negative behaviors of the kids. I don't really think it worked. Even though I am well aware that consistency is the key to getting the behaviors you want from kids, it is hard to have some consistency on a trip like this. We had tried a couple punishment techniques early on and finally settled on video game restrictions (or restrictments as Matthew said) in the car. The kids would get 10 minutes for each infraction, unless we deemed it worth more. They did not have free access to games or movies in the car, so their restrictions would start when playtime was allowed. That worked pretty well, although, if they were next to someone without restriction, they would just watch whatever that person was doing.
One of the great things about a trip like this is the lack to chores. There is no lawn to take care of, no dishes to do, no meals to cook, no animals to feed, no dog poop to pick up, but the kids still managed to complain about the small tasks that we asked them to do. Every morning, we needed to pack up our clothes and our sleeping bags, if we used them. We needed to wash and fill the water bottles that I had bought (great purchase, by the way) with ice and water. And, then we needed to carry the stuff to the car. Real difficult stuff! Whines all around, most mornings. It really drove us crazy.
But, I have to say that the kids were very good overall. They were great in the car. They could watch movies or play for hours, if necessary. And, they were good even when we were listening to a book on tape. When we headed into a national park or city, we would require the kids to turn everything off to look around. This usually got some objections, but then they were fine.
They were amazing about hiking. I can't believe how well they did. Occasionally, we would get a little whine about hiking from Matthew, but we'd just tell him we were just walking. Then, he would be fine and head off to lead the pack. There were times when we were hiking a lot, but no one really complained. I was impressed with the kids over and over.
They also never complained about food. Buying the water bottles and filling them every morning really allowed us to always have cold, fresh water in the car. This saved us a lot of money in buying water, and it kept the kids hydrated and from complaining about being thirsty. But, I didn't do a good job of buying snacks for the car. So, we all had to wait until we could find a place to eat. But, the kids just never complained. It was amazing to me because at home we get lots of complaints about hunger. But, it made the trip much better than it could have been.
I think that the kids really enjoyed all these adventures. There were moments when Alex would walk up to me and put his hand in mine. I know that those days are probably short-lived, so I was cherishing every chance I got to walk hand-in-hand with him. Rachel, too. She and Dave have a great relationship, and they had many opportunities on this trip to head off together to check out something. I know it makes her feel special and as much of that as possible at this stage of her life must be good.
Stay tuned for Dave's post on Cedar Point and the final update with all statistics about our trip.
One of the great things about a trip like this is the lack to chores. There is no lawn to take care of, no dishes to do, no meals to cook, no animals to feed, no dog poop to pick up, but the kids still managed to complain about the small tasks that we asked them to do. Every morning, we needed to pack up our clothes and our sleeping bags, if we used them. We needed to wash and fill the water bottles that I had bought (great purchase, by the way) with ice and water. And, then we needed to carry the stuff to the car. Real difficult stuff! Whines all around, most mornings. It really drove us crazy.
But, I have to say that the kids were very good overall. They were great in the car. They could watch movies or play for hours, if necessary. And, they were good even when we were listening to a book on tape. When we headed into a national park or city, we would require the kids to turn everything off to look around. This usually got some objections, but then they were fine.
They were amazing about hiking. I can't believe how well they did. Occasionally, we would get a little whine about hiking from Matthew, but we'd just tell him we were just walking. Then, he would be fine and head off to lead the pack. There were times when we were hiking a lot, but no one really complained. I was impressed with the kids over and over.
They also never complained about food. Buying the water bottles and filling them every morning really allowed us to always have cold, fresh water in the car. This saved us a lot of money in buying water, and it kept the kids hydrated and from complaining about being thirsty. But, I didn't do a good job of buying snacks for the car. So, we all had to wait until we could find a place to eat. But, the kids just never complained. It was amazing to me because at home we get lots of complaints about hunger. But, it made the trip much better than it could have been.
I think that the kids really enjoyed all these adventures. There were moments when Alex would walk up to me and put his hand in mine. I know that those days are probably short-lived, so I was cherishing every chance I got to walk hand-in-hand with him. Rachel, too. She and Dave have a great relationship, and they had many opportunities on this trip to head off together to check out something. I know it makes her feel special and as much of that as possible at this stage of her life must be good.
Stay tuned for Dave's post on Cedar Point and the final update with all statistics about our trip.
Monday, May 30, 2011
America's Rockin' Roller Coast
Jes asked me (Dave) to guest blog about our day at Cedar Point. Before I get to that, I wanted to comment on something that happened earlier in our trip. We were driving along U.S. 195 through eastern Washington on a beautiful sunny day. I got pulled over for speeding (shame, shame). Fortunately for us, the nice lady police officer seemed more interested in our license plates than the fact that I was doing 72 mph in a 60 mph zone.
She lamented the fact that Washington was too politically correct to allow such a plate, she asked us whether we were a Catholic home schooling family, and she said that we were brave to be doing the cross country trip in a minivan. (Apparently, she is planning a similar trip but is planning to rent an RV.) She let me off with a warning in spite of Matthew urging her to write me a ticket. I credit the license plates, though I'm sure the 4 kids in the back of the van helped.
Back to the regularly scheduled blog post ...
Cedar Point was truly the perfect exclamation point for our trip. It has a scenic location on the shore of Lake Erie in Sandusky, Ohio and is aptly called the roller coaster capital of the world. About the only thing that could have improved upon the day was for Matthew to have been about an inch taller in order to make him eligible for the slew of rides with a 48" height requirement.
We got up bright and early, had a quick breakfast of zone bars and fruit snacks, and were at the park gate before 9am. Because we were staying at a Cedar Point resort hotel, we got to enter the park an hour before the general public. We raced around in order to ride as many rides as possible while the lines were short. When Jes and I were at Cedar Point in 1996, we waited over an hour to ride the Raptor, an inverted coaster with 6 loops. This time, we rode it twice in 10 minutes. Running around frantically in order to do as many rides as possible was one theme of the day. Rachel managed to squeeze in about 30 of the best rides the park had to offer. Matthew rode 40-50 since he was riding smaller rides with shorter lines. We squeezed in two quick meals but were otherwise on the go from 9am to 10pm, often running from ride to ride. We did have a couple casualities from the frantic pace. When racing to get in one last ride before 10pm, Alex banged his mouth on a steel railing and split his lip. We also ended up sacrificing the traditional end-of-the-day funnel cake treat in favor of a few extra rides.
The other theme was brave kids. I guess after risking life and limb on the edge of 300' cliffs, the tallest and fastest roller coasters in the world were not so intimidating. Zack was initially pretty nervous and even spent a restless night tossing and turning worrying about riding the Magnum, a great coaster that Jes and I talked up in advance. But after seeing the biggest hill of the Magnum, a 200' drop that accelerates riders to 72mph, he exclaimed, "I was worrying about that?!?". By the end of the day he had ridden the Millenium Force twice. That coaster features an 80 degree 310' drop and reaches speeds of up to 93 mph. It was also voted the best steel coaster in the world, something he likes to tell people when talking about the trip. Alex and Rachel rode the Top Thrill Dragster twice. This coaster was intense enough to even make Jes and me nervous. It launches riders from 0 to 120 mph in 4 seconds before climbing 420' at a 90 degree angle and then descending an equally steep drop. Check out the point-of-view video. It is a pretty amazing ride.
http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/coasters/top_thrill_dragster/
The other point-of-view videos on the site are worth watching too if you are a roller coaster fan.
One of my favorite parts of the day was listening to other riders make comments like "look at them, they're so little" (refering to Zack and Alex sitting in the front seat on the Magnum) or "wow, you're going to ride this?" (refering to Alex on the Top Thrill Dragster).
At the end of the day, I was really tempted to suggest that we stay for another day. But I knew that (a) Saturday was bound to be more crowded and (b) there was no way to improve upon our great day. As a family, we love visiting amusement parks, and at least from the perspective of the thrill rides, this day stands out as the best visit yet.
Back to the regularly scheduled blog post ...
Cedar Point was truly the perfect exclamation point for our trip. It has a scenic location on the shore of Lake Erie in Sandusky, Ohio and is aptly called the roller coaster capital of the world. About the only thing that could have improved upon the day was for Matthew to have been about an inch taller in order to make him eligible for the slew of rides with a 48" height requirement.
We got up bright and early, had a quick breakfast of zone bars and fruit snacks, and were at the park gate before 9am. Because we were staying at a Cedar Point resort hotel, we got to enter the park an hour before the general public. We raced around in order to ride as many rides as possible while the lines were short. When Jes and I were at Cedar Point in 1996, we waited over an hour to ride the Raptor, an inverted coaster with 6 loops. This time, we rode it twice in 10 minutes. Running around frantically in order to do as many rides as possible was one theme of the day. Rachel managed to squeeze in about 30 of the best rides the park had to offer. Matthew rode 40-50 since he was riding smaller rides with shorter lines. We squeezed in two quick meals but were otherwise on the go from 9am to 10pm, often running from ride to ride. We did have a couple casualities from the frantic pace. When racing to get in one last ride before 10pm, Alex banged his mouth on a steel railing and split his lip. We also ended up sacrificing the traditional end-of-the-day funnel cake treat in favor of a few extra rides.
The other theme was brave kids. I guess after risking life and limb on the edge of 300' cliffs, the tallest and fastest roller coasters in the world were not so intimidating. Zack was initially pretty nervous and even spent a restless night tossing and turning worrying about riding the Magnum, a great coaster that Jes and I talked up in advance. But after seeing the biggest hill of the Magnum, a 200' drop that accelerates riders to 72mph, he exclaimed, "I was worrying about that?!?". By the end of the day he had ridden the Millenium Force twice. That coaster features an 80 degree 310' drop and reaches speeds of up to 93 mph. It was also voted the best steel coaster in the world, something he likes to tell people when talking about the trip. Alex and Rachel rode the Top Thrill Dragster twice. This coaster was intense enough to even make Jes and me nervous. It launches riders from 0 to 120 mph in 4 seconds before climbing 420' at a 90 degree angle and then descending an equally steep drop. Check out the point-of-view video. It is a pretty amazing ride.
http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/coasters/top_thrill_dragster/
The other point-of-view videos on the site are worth watching too if you are a roller coaster fan.
The Iron Dragon was the biggest coaster that Matthew could ride. He rode it 6 times.
"See, I'm tall enough to ride the Raptor!" (He was 2" short.)
Matthew venting some of his frustration about not being able to ride the big coasters.
One of my favorite parts of the day was listening to other riders make comments like "look at them, they're so little" (refering to Zack and Alex sitting in the front seat on the Magnum) or "wow, you're going to ride this?" (refering to Alex on the Top Thrill Dragster).
"They're so little!"
At the end of the day, I was really tempted to suggest that we stay for another day. But I knew that (a) Saturday was bound to be more crowded and (b) there was no way to improve upon our great day. As a family, we love visiting amusement parks, and at least from the perspective of the thrill rides, this day stands out as the best visit yet.
Ramblings by Jes, Part 5 - Weather
I spent a lot of time looking at average weathers for all the places that we were headed. I was planning on snow and cold temperatures in Yellowstone, 50’s and rainy in Oregon, hot and sunny in Utah and Vegas, and varying temperatures at most of the other places. As it got later in April and in to May, I was planning on wearing short-sleeve shirts with jeans or shorts with a sweatshirt. So, I brought layers – a lot of short-sleeve shirts with a couple sweatshirts. This year proved not to be average for anyone. We had way below average temperatures in Niagara, suffered through flooding rain and tornadoes as we headed through the plains, got caught in a freak snowstorm in Colorado, warm but not hot temperatures in Utah and Arizona, a windstorm in Death Valley, some actual sunshine in Oregon, relatively mild temperatures in Yellowstone, and thunderstorms and tornado warnings again back through the Plains.
All along the way, except for Vegas, we had lower than normal temperatures. As a result, we were hurting for clothes. I wore shorts in Vegas and that is all. The others braved the cooler temperatures in shorts a few times. But, we all wore the same sweatshirts over and over, day after day. And, given the boys’ propensity for climbing and sliding down rocks, we ruined at least 5 pieces of clothing. I tried to find extra pants at Target, but they don’t really sell pants this time of year. I’m so sick of all the clothes that I brought. I think many of them will not make it back into our drawers. If only I had known the actual temperatures, we would have been equipped with a much better selection of clothes.
But, despite the cooler than average temperatures and crazy storms that seemed to follow us, we were able to do almost everything that we had planned. The weather would let up for us to get in most of the cool stuff. We would have liked to explore Yellowstone better, but the snow possibilities kept us from venturing any further. But, we were still able to see much of the park. The only big miss for us was the fact that we did not see Mt. Hood when in Portland. The cloudy skies prevented it, and I am sad to have missed it because that is a beautiful mountain with an impressive presence.
I think, though, waiting a couple weeks would have been the best for the weather. But, it would have meant taking the kids out of school for the end of the year, and they really wanted to participate in the end of year festivities. And, the Boston Marathon really defined the beginning of our trip.
All along the way, except for Vegas, we had lower than normal temperatures. As a result, we were hurting for clothes. I wore shorts in Vegas and that is all. The others braved the cooler temperatures in shorts a few times. But, we all wore the same sweatshirts over and over, day after day. And, given the boys’ propensity for climbing and sliding down rocks, we ruined at least 5 pieces of clothing. I tried to find extra pants at Target, but they don’t really sell pants this time of year. I’m so sick of all the clothes that I brought. I think many of them will not make it back into our drawers. If only I had known the actual temperatures, we would have been equipped with a much better selection of clothes.
But, despite the cooler than average temperatures and crazy storms that seemed to follow us, we were able to do almost everything that we had planned. The weather would let up for us to get in most of the cool stuff. We would have liked to explore Yellowstone better, but the snow possibilities kept us from venturing any further. But, we were still able to see much of the park. The only big miss for us was the fact that we did not see Mt. Hood when in Portland. The cloudy skies prevented it, and I am sad to have missed it because that is a beautiful mountain with an impressive presence.
I think, though, waiting a couple weeks would have been the best for the weather. But, it would have meant taking the kids out of school for the end of the year, and they really wanted to participate in the end of year festivities. And, the Boston Marathon really defined the beginning of our trip.
Chicago and Alternate Plans
Chicago…the plan been to stop in Chicago, but I had not thought about what we would do there until we were driving there. The internet is a wonderful thing, but it is full of so much information that you can get bogged down with it all. I was trying to figure out what we were up for and where to stay accordingly. It took a lot of work to decide what to do and then find a hotel. Finding a hotel means checking Expedia and Hotwire and comparing it to where you want to go. It has taken hours for us to figure out where we are sleeping at night. Kind of a pain, really. But, as Dave was getting frustrated with the horrible traffic getting into the city around rush hour, I eventually picked a 4-star hotel for $81 on hotwire. It was a weird price, so I was nervous. But, the hotel was truly a 4-star with a great location. It was a spectacular deal!
With the traffic, we got in later than we had hoped. So, we planned on just going to dinner. We walked to a pizza place that urbanspoon had recommended because you have to have Chicago-style pizza when in Chicago. The place was nice and had the Bulls basketball game on to entertain us. It took a really long time for our dinner (apparently they had lost our pizza ticket), so they gave us some cheesy garlic bread, our pizza for free, and a free cookie pizza dessert. It was one of those days, too, where the kids were pretty well-behaved (maybe that was the 2 beers that Dave and I had each had), so we didn’t mind the wait so much. And, we liked the final bill. Afterwards, around 10 PM now, we figured we would go check out the famous “bean” in the Millennium Park. It was quite fun for the kids. They had a really good time running around it, “teleporting” from one side to the other. We were pretty tired, though, by the time we made it back to the hotel. Thankfully, the hotel did not offer breakfast, so we slept in awhile.
The next morning, we woke up to severe thunderstorms and crazy rain. I was glad that the car was under cover at the hotel. We decided to head to the science museum. I wish we had had a couple days to go to that place. It was enormous and full of so many things. The kids had a good time there for a few hours, but we wanted to make it to Ohio that night for a reasonable bedtime, so we had to leave before seeing it all.
Driving to Ohio, I was rechecking the weather for the next day, our amusement park day. The weather report was grim – severe thunderstorms with downpours, near 100% they said. We had decided that we were going to stay at the resorts at Cedar Point to get discounted tickets and an early entrance to the park. But, it was a little expensive and silly if we weren’t going to the park the next day. And, what would we do the next day if it indeed stormed all day. After searching Expedia, I found good rates at Great Wolf Lodge. We went back and forth on this. We had to commit to our plans for the next day. If we stayed at Great Wolf Lodge, we were swimming, even if the weather ended up nice. If we stayed at the other hotel, we would miss out on swimming if the weather was bad. Finally, we sided with the weatherman. Since we checked in around 11 (so much for a reasonable bedtime), Dave was able to negotiate a very nice rate for the big suite.
The next morning, it was overcast but not raining. It was sprinkling as I checked out of the hotel and ran a few errands, but then the clouds went away. The sun came out a little, and I was starting to get angry. We were giving up a good day at park when only the few crazies would have been there. Even though the kids were enjoying the waterpark, I was worried that Friday would still have bad weather and/or crowds. It did eventually thunderstorm around 6 for a short while. But, we had committed and were hoping for a good day on Friday.
While I was running the errands, I was thinking about what a crazy trip this was - like an endless party. Here, we had planned on an expensive day at Cedar Point, but that couldn't happen. Rather than just hanging out at the hotel and doing homework or some other mundane tasks, we go to Great Wolf Lodge, a real treat at any other time.
With the traffic, we got in later than we had hoped. So, we planned on just going to dinner. We walked to a pizza place that urbanspoon had recommended because you have to have Chicago-style pizza when in Chicago. The place was nice and had the Bulls basketball game on to entertain us. It took a really long time for our dinner (apparently they had lost our pizza ticket), so they gave us some cheesy garlic bread, our pizza for free, and a free cookie pizza dessert. It was one of those days, too, where the kids were pretty well-behaved (maybe that was the 2 beers that Dave and I had each had), so we didn’t mind the wait so much. And, we liked the final bill. Afterwards, around 10 PM now, we figured we would go check out the famous “bean” in the Millennium Park. It was quite fun for the kids. They had a really good time running around it, “teleporting” from one side to the other. We were pretty tired, though, by the time we made it back to the hotel. Thankfully, the hotel did not offer breakfast, so we slept in awhile.
The next morning, we woke up to severe thunderstorms and crazy rain. I was glad that the car was under cover at the hotel. We decided to head to the science museum. I wish we had had a couple days to go to that place. It was enormous and full of so many things. The kids had a good time there for a few hours, but we wanted to make it to Ohio that night for a reasonable bedtime, so we had to leave before seeing it all.
Driving to Ohio, I was rechecking the weather for the next day, our amusement park day. The weather report was grim – severe thunderstorms with downpours, near 100% they said. We had decided that we were going to stay at the resorts at Cedar Point to get discounted tickets and an early entrance to the park. But, it was a little expensive and silly if we weren’t going to the park the next day. And, what would we do the next day if it indeed stormed all day. After searching Expedia, I found good rates at Great Wolf Lodge. We went back and forth on this. We had to commit to our plans for the next day. If we stayed at Great Wolf Lodge, we were swimming, even if the weather ended up nice. If we stayed at the other hotel, we would miss out on swimming if the weather was bad. Finally, we sided with the weatherman. Since we checked in around 11 (so much for a reasonable bedtime), Dave was able to negotiate a very nice rate for the big suite.
The next morning, it was overcast but not raining. It was sprinkling as I checked out of the hotel and ran a few errands, but then the clouds went away. The sun came out a little, and I was starting to get angry. We were giving up a good day at park when only the few crazies would have been there. Even though the kids were enjoying the waterpark, I was worried that Friday would still have bad weather and/or crowds. It did eventually thunderstorm around 6 for a short while. But, we had committed and were hoping for a good day on Friday.
While I was running the errands, I was thinking about what a crazy trip this was - like an endless party. Here, we had planned on an expensive day at Cedar Point, but that couldn't happen. Rather than just hanging out at the hotel and doing homework or some other mundane tasks, we go to Great Wolf Lodge, a real treat at any other time.
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