The Vacation Part 1

So, the vacation for the boys went great!  They had a blast spending a week with their grandparents in PA!  Chris and I had a nice time spending quality time with Xander- just the three of us.  I had an opportunity to get a lot of cleaning, organizing and a little bit of decorating done while they were gone too.  :)  It was nice.  I missed them like crazy though!

We did so many fun things!  I was a bit worried that we wouldn't get motivated and would end up hanging out around their house the whole week we were out there.  I made it known to Chris that it was important to me that this be a vacation and not just visiting relatives again.  So, we did a bunch of things.  It was great. 

Our first full day out there was Sunday, August 28th - my 32nd birthday.  It was a cold, rainy, windy and gloomy day outside because of Irene's affects on the area.  We didn't do much outside that day.  I did get a great gift on that day:  a NAP!  I never get to take a nap anymore.... unless I'm sick and usually not even then.  That was awesome!  Then, we went out to dinner at the California Grill in Shillington, PA.  It was a nice and casual dinner.  I had Chicken Parmesan and some corn chowder fore dinner.  Daniel ate most of my spaghetti after trying a bite and discovering he DOES like it.  I went to the restroom to change Xander's diaper and when I came back, he had cleaned my plate!  Too funny!  When we got back to the house, Chris's parents surprised me with a chocolate peanut butter birthday cake!  mmMMmmm  In the picture to the left, Nathan is sampling the frosting:

The second day was Monday, August 29th.  We went to Dutch Wonderland in Lancaster, PA.  What a good time we had!  The boys loved it there!  Daniel was able to ride every ride in the park but didn't want to.  Nathan wanted to ride everything but he was too little for a few rides.  We rode a bunch of things - even the log flume!  Nathan LOVED the log flume.  Daniel liked it but said his face got too wet ( and we barely got wet at all ).   Even Xander got in on the action on the Lady Gay boat ride and the Crazy Plane ride.   Who knew babies could go on rides?!?!  It was a fun day.  The only thing I didn't like about the park was the bees.  There were a lot of them where we sat down to eat and they were swarming us but otherwise it was a lot of fun.  The boys even got to see Thomas the Train there in a little theatre  (not the full sized train ).   That night we had Dad's pork chops for dinner.  Oh.  My. Goodness.  Those were some GOOOD pork chops! So tender and juicy!  LOVED THEM!  Favorite I've ever had!  Kuddos to Chris's Dad!   In the photo to the left you can see Nathan and Chris on the Kite ride.  It's basically like a flying ride.  They had to lay down and get caged in and then flew around in a circle a bunch of times.  Our Nathan is FEARLESS!

Here you can see Nathan and Chris riding the merry go round . Nathan loved getting to ride the horses.  I think this might have been his first time because Daniel usually prefers the seats that don't move.

Here is Daniel on the Monster Truck ride.  I was in the back seat.