Six Flags 2008

Monday we loaded up the van and headed to Illinois. Grandma Shirley watched Hudson for us overnight, then Stephanie spent the day with him on Tuesday.

We spent the night in Waukeegan, IL on Monday. We were at the park at 9:45 am and got and excellent parking place.


It was a bit overcast, but the temperature was bearable, and it didn't rain. We spent the first few hours riding roller coasters and seeing what there was to see. The big boys took off on their own, and Shannon and I escorted the littles. They are fearless around the rides, but Naomi and Colton wanted nothing to do with Batman and Robin.
The food inside the park is incredibly expensive. When we first entered, we purchased a refillable cup for $14.00. This made it possible for us to have FREE REFILLS of diet Coke all day long. We packed a cooler with sandwich fixings to eat for lunch. We had enough bread and cold cuts for a snack on the way home, too.

Because we saved so much money packing our own lunch, we were able to purchase a bottomless bucket of cotton candy. I found it rather ironic that we had to reschedule our dentist appointment in order to go on vacation, and then ended up eating 8 or 9 buckets of cotton candy. Somehow I think our dentist will get the last laugh.


We spent about 4 hours at the water park. The girls loved Skull Island, and the big boys enjoyed the water slides. Again, Katie knew no fear when going down the slides, until we went through one that was completely black inside save for a tiny string of lights. She came out laughing and smiling, but chose not to go on it again! Alex, Jack and Chase lost miserably to me on the water slide race...at least that's my version of the story, and I'm sticking to it!

Colton and Bryce kept right up with the big kids and went on as many 'big" roller coasters as they possibly could. Chase claims he went on the most, because he rode some of the 'little" roller coasters with Katie and Naomi.

We stayed and played at the park until about 9:20pm, then loaded up again and headed home. Shannon broke down and deigned to take some toll roads home, something I've not known him to do in 20 years. Although we only shaved about 20 minutes off of our total trip time, the roads were a lot easier to travel on, and the tolls only cost about $3.20. That's chump change after paying $25.00 to park and $6.99 for an order of french fries! Gas prices topped out at $4.35/gallon in Illinois. We arrived home at about 3:00am and caught a few hours sleep before Shannon had to get up and go to work.

Here are a few more pictures from our day away.






"The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil." Proverbs 19:23

Hud Bud's Eye

Last week the boys and I all worked hard in the morning to get the house cleaned up and all of our chores done, with the intent that we would take the afternoon off and relax. The boys had just settled down in the family room to watch some TV, but were arguing over what to watch. One boy,(who will remain nameless), smacked the remote control out of another boy's (who also will remain nameless) hand, and it bonked Hudson in the corner of his eye.

It swelled up right away and bled a fair amount. The cut was right in the crease of his eyelid. I called the family doctor and he said we needed to take Hudson to the ER to have it checked out because they generally will stitch a wound in this area. So much for my relaxing afternoon. Alex, Chase and I loaded Hudson up and drove to the ER in Marshalltown. Hudson had his first opportunity, after and 1 hour and 45 minute wait, to have his picture taken with the octopus in the examining room. You can revisit one of Chase's experiences here.


The doctor spent all of 3 minutes with us, and decided that it really wasn't bad enough to put a stitch in, and would probably scar worse if he did. So, we loaded back up and went home.

We're thankful that Hudson didn't have to have stitches. It's no fun at all at that age. He ended up with a pretty good shiner, although it wasn't his first. Alex and Bryce were especially relieved that he came out okay.

"My son, let them not depart from your eyes--Keep sound wisdom and discretion;" Proverbs 3:21

Flying Rocks

Last week as Alex finished up mowing the lawn, the tractor kicked up a rock and it hit the van window. Ugh. I just wanted to kick myself, because it had occurred to me earlier to pull the car and van into the garage, but I had to run into town later that afternoon so I didn't do it.

We had the front window replaced as well, since it had had a rock chip that had continued to crack across the entire windshield. There are so many other things I'd rather spend money on than replacing van windows.

The moral of this story: Always put the vehicles in the garage prior to mowing, and don't use a bungee cord to hold the flap thingy on the mower deck up (sorry Papa Joe). I'm thankful the rock hit the van and not a little child running around the yard.

"I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me." Proverbs 8:17

All I Want for Christmas...

is my two front teeth. Actually, I really hope they come in before then! Colton lost both front top teeth within a week of each other. The first had been loose for the LONGEST time. I can recall him wiggling it during a soccer game. It was dangling by a thread for so long, and it was shifted off to the side. He looked like a hillbilly. He finally jiggled it enough that it fell out.

A couple days later we had some friends over for lunch. He was showing Charlie how loose his tooth was as I was serving the spaghetti. Half way through the meal, we looked at him and the tooth was gone. Apparently he ate it along with the spaghetti. Ick.

"As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the lazy man to those who send him." Proverbs 10:26