Vacationing In Lorain

Who knew? We were one of the vacation destinations for my niece JoBeth and her two boys, Isaiah and Noah. We had to steal some one's fun this week because we just had waaaay too much fun together!

They came in on Monday evening. Now, I'm not around kids very much so I really don't know much about them. Before they arrived, I was worried that we didn't have many toys here and how would we occupy them and keep them entertained? Ron assured me that first of all, JoBeth was probably not coming unprepared. And, second, kids don't need much to entertain themselves. Seeing as how he's raised his family already, I had to hope he knew what he was talking about.

Sure enough, feeding the fish and whooshing on the air mattress were more than enough entertainment!

Feeding the fish needs no explanation. As for whooshing the air mattress, well . . . let me tell you. We have an aero bed. It plugs in, and a motor fills it up with air in about 30 seconds, even with two little boys laying on it! Once inflated, there is a whoosh valve at the top of the bed that will empty the bed of air in seconds, hence the "whoosh". Yes, even with two little boys on the bed! That was most definitely the fun part! My poor thumb gave out eventually though hitting the whoosh button, so JoBeth took over the whooshing. Whew. Good thing I had backup.

Then, with a garden tub, the boys got to swim in the tub as well. I dare say, that was a huge success! Being the great guests they are, they even cleaned my tub while they were in there! I'm telling you, I couldn't ask for more!

We all stayed up late giggling, then when Jo started to get the kids settled down for camping out on our living room floor, I headed upstairs.

Young Noah is not a morning person. In the mornings, while we were waiting for him to wake up, Isaiah and I had our little time together. I'd drink my coffee, he'd drink his juice and we'd sit together at the dining room table and color together. Here are some of the fruits of our labor!

Once Noah was up and the boys fed the fish, Uncle Phil took us all out for breakfast. We about ate Eat 'n Park out of their breakfast buffet!

After breakfast, Ron and Phil headed back home while the rest of us headed out for adventures. We started at a park by us on the Black River. We were close to where the Black River empties into Lake Erie, right by the singing bridge that opens to let big boats through. I was SOOOO hoping we'd get a chance to see the bridge go up and watch a boat go through, but our timing wasn't good. No boats today. So, Isaiah took over the camera duty for awhile and snapped a picture of Noah and I squeezing poor JoBeth in the middle!

I make a perfect shoe tying stand, don't I?

One of the best finds of the day: Noah found a lady bug on a fallen leaf!

We took a break and went home for a bit so I could pee AND so we could warm up a bit. The morning was a little chilly, at least for us older people. After a little break, the sun came back out so we headed out to another park. This park was right down on the beach.

Isaiah and I were working hard scouring the beach looking for seashells.

Here was a good start in his bucket!

Aside from looking for shells, there was sand to be dug in and explored.

A boy with dirty hands is a happy boy!

A treasure trove of sea shells washed up on shore made this little boy happy!

Of course, even the big kids should play at the playground! With Isaiah hanging from her leg and Noah and I watching, JoBeth went zipping on the zip line! I can't tell you how many times the two of them went zipping!

We finally headed back home to get dinner started. In case any one was interested, we made orange spaghetti squash for dinner and it was the bomb! (That was spaghetti squash with orange spaghetti sauce on it.) I even learned there was an easier way to get the squash out of the shell and into the bowl. Who knew? I always seem to want to do things the hard way! Thanks for the easier tip, Jo! That will really come in handy for the next time!

More art time at the dining room table, this time, making posters for Papa! Papa (my brother Michael) came home from China yesterday, and Jo and the boys were going to meet up with him at the Erie airport.

So, Tuesday night, after swimming in the bathtub time, we hunkered down with some kettle corn popcorn for a nice movie night. But, it was a long day, we had a later dinner than we had originally planned, and the evening just got away from us. We had to cut the movie short since it was late, and boys need their sleep. Especially since Jo wanted to get on the road earlier so she could meet Papa at the airport on her way home to Rochester.

As a side note, if anyone knows what happens in the movie Charlotte's Web, after Wilbur gets to the fair, I'd really appreciate if you'd pass me that information! I'd like to know how the movie ended!

Wednesday morning, JoBeth packed up, hugs were passed around, and I had to watch them drive out of the driveway. We packed a lot of fun into those few days, and I thoroughly enjoyed the visit! Thanks again, Jo, for bringing your family's love all the way to Lorain! It was an awesome visit!

The fun has continued though. A few hours after JoBeth and the boys left, my brother Jim came to town from Erie for a visit! There will be another blog on that soon!

It's been a great week in my world!