Splash Country is possibly our new favorite place. We have been twice this summer and FROZE both times. This outing included Noni and she did not bring warmth, but she did provide the season passes and a pretty fun co-rider.
When I say it was cold, I mean...it was 70 degrees with no sun, so that is not really water park weather. But, you know that our Garzoli blood only knows one way and that is to make it work, so that we did. And, after the first 4 hours or so, the sun came out a little bit! We ended up staying the entire day and had a blast.
This picture is so deceptive because it makes it look like we were warm. I was so cold that every time the giant bucket dumped out water, I would run away so that the tiny amount of mist that drifted toward me could not land on me. The lifeguards had jackets on-it was that cold.
I cannot stress this enough.
But, I also cannot stress enough how much fun we had that day!
We stayed 8 hours and rode every ride that they could ride many, many times. Good times.
We have had some big adventures, but a lot of my favorite summer events have been the random events like trying to fill this jar up with lightning bugs. Our record so far is 10, but we still have a lot of summer left. And, a lot of mosquitos....they are the main obstacle in our attempts.
Also, we have had quite a few mornings of this, which is just good for Max's soul.
** You will never, ever see Anderson in a situation like this.**
We got to spend quite a bit of time with Jack one week and we loved it! I tired to do fun things with them and this rocket was actually cool, even though I ended up completely covered in vinegar multiple times.
We also went to Menchie's where the boys chose alarming combinations of yogurt flavors and toppings. They had 17 different toppings, most of which ended up in the trash. I think the building/creating is more fun than the eating.
More Science-this time I roped Brandon into the fun.
I am TRYING to somehow fit exercise into my life. To be clear, I manage to get 10,000 steps in every day by noon, but I just do not think that chasing the boys, cleaning my house and running around like a crazy person count as actual exercise, so I am trying to make actual exercise a habit. We have these random trails near our house and I occasionally manage to run (...walk) on them. I am often in awe that we have managed to snag a house in the middle of a neighborhood that still provides random nature like this.
What. is. happening.
The few moments where they co-exist always make me stop dead in my tracks.
IJAMS IS MY FAVORITE, but anyone who ever reads this already knows that, of course. We have only been once so far this summer, but we spent 6 hours there so we got our fill for now.
(Anderson does not agree & asks to go back every day.)
Their favorite thing of all is "catching stuff" and we take it very seriously.
Max was the finder & Anderson was the catcher.
It was some kind of "International Mud Day," which has to be fake, but we totally participated. Anderson had zero interest in this and was so mad at me because we had to leave the pond to play in the mud, but then he really enjoyed it. If you know anything about Anderson, you only need 1 guess why he suddenly changed his tune...they announced that there was a competition for the muddiest kid.
He won; my laundry pile lost.
We found 3 turtles!
I love my mom just tagging along with us everywhere we go and am so grateful that she is such a willing participant.
Also, at this point we had just arrived at the quarry and it started raining.
Poor Max. It is really hard being Anderson's brother because nobody has anywhere close to his endurance level.
It rained off and on, but we really did have a great time. Mom & I decided that this summer has tried to curse our plans with the rain (camping, Dollywood, Ijams,) but we will not let the weather win!
We make lots of compromises with Max to get him to stick out the adventures.
Love his dirty little fingers with this frog.
Despite all of my time "off," I am still doing some degree of work every day, including actually going in for random things that I cannot complete via internet. The boys LOVE going to work with me and were excited to see my new office.
Since we were close to downtown, we hit up Safety City! I cannot emphasize enough how much I love this place. It is just so adorable.
There is even a car wash that sprays you with water!
Also, ANDERSON IS RIDING HIS BIKE! This particular skill has alluded him for quite some time and through much blood, sweat and tears, he finally got the hang of it. Now, he is obsessed and wants to ride it all of the time.
I do love the Safety City playground, as well.
We made an entire day of our outing and hit up McClung Museum and Max was actually semi interested in a few of the exhibits.
Anderson realized that all of these had his birthday on them! Well, the year was 1862, but the date was the same and he was so excited!
Another stop on our day of activities.
And, we ended that particular day with giant cones of goodness at Brusters.
We made it to the zoo to see the new Tiger exhibit, which is really awesome and you can see the tigers so close up! We ended up only being able to stay at the zoo for a few hours because it started pouring rain (#Summer2017,) but we did have a fun time while we were there.
There is a statue of a mama tiger and 2 baby tigers so I made them pose with me on it for a high quality photo op.
The real highlight of the day was when they fed a giant tortoise! This guy seriously just wandered over to us and we, of course, started trying to feed it. There were signs that said not to climb in with the tortoises, but technically they didn't say not to feed them. This one is named Big Al and he is 150 years old and weighs 500 lbs! Feeding him was seriously so cool and one of the highlights of summer, for sure.
I include this picture that captures Anderson's love of reptiles to showcase Max's outfit in the corner. This kid marches to his own beat, for sure.
Some videos of the tortoise feeding (it was really, really cool):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsHDHBL4tbQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYancFgc97s
Thank you for parenting my child that week. I know he secretly wishes he was a Glover - as do I at times!!! :)
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