On Thursday, we drove to Newburgh for the night to see family and get ready for our first family trip to Holiday World. We got to meet Trent's fiance and her son, who ended up joining us for Holiday World as well.
This week the boys and I have been exploring a couple of new playgrounds and riding bikes as we enjoy the cool weather. As you can see, climbing activities are a huge favorite around here, hehe. Riding bikes on a gravel surface was a new experience though, and the boys did really well! On Thursday, we drove to Newburgh for the night to see family and get ready for our first family trip to Holiday World. We got to meet Trent's fiance and her son, who ended up joining us for Holiday World as well. We spent the morning exploring Holiday World, and then headed to Splashin' Safari for a few hours to cool off in the water. As we headed out of the park, we managed to squeeze in another hour of rides (because apparently the boys weren't tuckered out yet). Dada and Grandma even managed to squeeze in a couple of roller coaster rides since the lines were pretty short. Let's just say the boys outdid every expectation I had for how the day was going to go: they were really well behaved ALL day, they had a blast from opening at 9 AM to closing at 5 PM, and, after a rough first ride in which the Old Time Cars were too loud, they loved the rides. Ezra even took it in stride that he wasn't tall enough to ride many of the rides and would just chat to me about riding them next time we came and he was bigger. We made sure to give him extra time with the rides he could do though! Definitely a successful and fun day for everyone!
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It has been a whirlwind since arriving home from Colorado! While we have taken some fun days to go to Russ Nature Reserve (above), the Farm Babies Fest at Aullwood Farm (below), and many playgrounds/lots of backyard time, it has been A LOT of work time too (packing and organizing work time that is). Nana and Grandad have been in and out to help (because lets face it, I get little done with both boys around by myself). I have spent a lot of time working after the boys are in bed for the night too. The results are a house ready to go on the market in the next week or two (meeting with realtors this week!) and a disgruntled family wondering where everything is, lol!
In between packing and playground sessions, we have checked in on Baby Rodgers who is healthy and well and VERY active. Baby kicks off and on all day (and night, though I've been too tired to let it keep me up) and enjoys making my belly appear to move in all different directions. Micah and Ezra have taken all the changes around the house and moving talk pretty well overall. There is definitely some more whining/anxiety but with Matt having been home a lot more in the last few weeks, I think that has helped keep things running more smoothly (the boys always seem more relaxed and even-tempered when Matt is around more). Only 5 weeks of residency left! This is going to be a long one! We dedicated the first week of May to a vacation and scouting trip to our future Colorado home. We packed up the boys (and Nana and Grandad), drove to Cincinnati, parked and took the shuttle bus to the airport, rode a tram to the terminal, flew to Denver, rode a tram to our luggage, rode a shuttle bus to the car rental location, rented our car and drove to Beulah (with a grocery store stop on the way), and at last found our rental house for the week and settled in. It was a LONG day with a 2 hour time change to boot, but the boys were great. Of course the various transportation modes throughout the day were a huge hit, because really nothing is better than airplanes, trams, and buses. The time change was a bit rough because of course the boys thought that 4 AM made perfect sense to wake up (despite not getting to bed until 8 PM the previous night), but we gradually got the wake up time to move back as the week went on. It was a bit chilly and rainy our first few days, so we took care of most of our business (looking at rental homes, opening up a bank account, scouting the different areas of the city) and made several fires to keep warm in the evening. The boys of course loved that. We had to have fun on our trip too, so we took a day trip to Canon City and hiked along the Tunnel Drive Trail one morning (named for the tunnels carved in the rock that we hike through). The Royal Gorge Railroad takes trains through the gorge that Tunnel Drive trail follows, so we got to watch for the train as we hiked. The boys can't wait to ride it for themselves one day! On Friday we checked out the Beulah Valley Mountain Park that was just up the road from our rental house. It was a beautiful place and we spent the afternoon hiking, playing in the creek, and finally cooking out at a picnic site. The boys had a blast in the water especially. We will definitely be back for more play here, and the toddler hikes that are hosted here monthly. Saturday we decided to hike in Lake Pueblo State Park, but choosing a trail was a bit daunting due to the insane number of choices available. The one we chose turned out to be a good one, with the boys hiking the beginning and end but getting carried for the steeper middle sections. Ezra is in LOVE with his backpack and insists on wearing it pretty much everywhere right now (including in the house) so Micah has to join in the fun too of course. I mean, they are really cute (the boys and the backpacks, hehe). We decided that I could easily just bring the boys to this park in the future, and settle down with a book while they play with the rocks and dirt all day, because that's what they really wanted to do, lol. Our final day in Colorado we decided to cram in as much as we could with visits to the Pueblo Zoo, Bishop's Castle, and a hike around Lake Isabel. It was an exciting and exhausting day and the boys were troopers! They are very excited to move and were quite reluctant to go back to Ohio ("Why can't we just stay?"). Monday, however, brought the same LONG travel day home with all of our various modes of transportation. And if you want to hear about all the ways we traveled to get home again, just ask Ezra. He loves to tell anyone who will listen about all the ways we traveled; in fact, I'm pretty sure that's what he remembers best from the trip, lol. We are happy to report that we have found a house to rent starting in July and are really excited for this next chapter! |
AuthorWe are a father and a mother doing our best to raise our children with God's guidance. Archives
April 2020
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