Lagoon!

 This last week, we had a mini family vacation and spent two days at Lagoon. My brother Jared, his wife, and their two kids joined us. It was hot (highs around 100 both days), but we had a lot of fun.

 We did do a lot of dividing and conquering, however. Mostly Andrew hung out with my brother's family, because they're much more adventurous than I am! And I spent a lot of time with Oliver on kiddie rides, so that's what you'll get the most pictures of. The first morning, Evelyn rode a bunch of rides with us, but then she got braver and went on a bunch of roller coasters with Brielle (including Colossus!)

I think my favorite part was seeing my kids  have so much fun with their cousins. Evelyn and Brielle spent a lot of time hand-in-hand. Since I don't have that relationship with most of my cousins, I'm especially glad my kids are good friends with theirs.

 This is Oliver at the end of the first day, no nap.

He was pretty exhausted, can you tell?

We spent the night in a hotel near the park. Two queen beds, a pull-out couch, and lots of room for everyone. It was great. Oliver even slept until six (well, after waking up at 4:45). Oliver liked it so much that when we were driving back to grandma's house, he kept wanting to go back to the hotel.

We went swimming in the hotel pool the next morning waiting for the park to open, and then we were back at it. Oliver was a bit cranky the second day and refused to go on a lot of rides. Luckily, he did like the carousel--especially the puppy.

In the heat, one of the favorite rides was Rattlesnake Rapids, which gets you soaked as you go through (of course) rapids and then a waterfall. We went a couple of times the first day. On Thursday (day two), we went once--and that was enough for Oliver. So he and I sat and watched--and I got a great picture of Jared and Mitcee getting *soaked.*

 

We've got a season pass so we'll probably go at least one more time this summer. Andrew and Evelyn loved the roller coasters; I liked anything I could ride on with Oliver, and the swings.

We drove back home on Friday, with a brief detour so Dan could drop me off at a mini-writing retreat. I spent the night at a friend's family cabin Friday night and wrote. I couldn't maintain that all the time--not just the pace, but I'd miss my family! But for twenty-four hours it was blissful. And I wrote nearly forty pages--more than I've written in quite some time. I'm feeling a little more confident I might get book 2 written, and it might not stink.

Of course, we ran into this on our way back--an entire herd of sheep crossing the highway.