Day 2....Wally World and Noah's Arc

So after much rest (or at least as much as you can get when sleeping on an air mattress in a tent in a garage.) We were off early in the morning to go to Geauga Lake. For my non-Ohio friends this is one of the oldest amusement parks in the country. A few years ago 6 Flags bought them out and added a bunch of neat coasters to it, and then changed their minds about being there. Now it is owned by Cedar Point, which is big on having the biggest, longest, fastest, tallest....whatever "est" in the world. This was to be an exciting day today as we were getting together with a lot of family for the day. Also this was to be Scott and Michaela's first roller coaster rides! We had a group of 17 joining in on the fun, so we made t-shirts for everyone with all our names across the back of them. We arrived at the park not long after the gates open. The weather as I stated in the last entry had been stormy the day before, so a lot of people stayed away from the park, and we had front row parking. It was almost as if we had rented the place out for the day as there was but a few hand fulls of people walking around. The vote was cast, and our first ride was the to be what was once known as "The Batman". Scott was excited and pulled us up to the front row (no wait for it either). Michaela was getting ready to change her mind and was protesting the idea of being on the ride. Scott and I strapped in the seat couldn't see anything behind us and just enjoyed the ride....as we hit the first hill I could hear a female screaming, and could only assume that it was Michaela. After the ride was over I saw that I had been right. Asking what she thought of it I was told..."OH MY GOD THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!" After the ride we went and bought the kids their pict

ure from the stand. Then we ventured off for our next roller coaster. After a few more rides it was about lunch time, so plans were made for the get together and off we went. It was a pretty humid day so everyone changed and headed to the water park. Wouldn't you know it though, before we could get on even one water ride it started to rain and they closed them all down. We found an overhang to sit under and wait it out. After about 30 minutes or so the sky cleared all up and rides opened again. We were able to get in 1 and a half more before it started raining again, and rides closed down. I say a half of a ride because about 3 people got onto the second one, the rest of us had to take the stairs back down. We headed back to the over hang to wait it out again, as it was just one little black cloud in the sky. After about an hour and a half we realized that it wasn't going to "just pass us by" and we were going to have to make a dash for the front of the park. Now mind you we are way in the far back of the park, it is raining bucket of water, lightening is going off all around us, and we need to cross a lake to get to the other side of the park, and then still have to get to the entry/exit area. It was raining so much that I swear I saw Noah on the lake just waiting for the moment to be right to set afloat.
The decision was made to leave the park to get some dinner in the hopes that the rain would stop and we would be able to ride a few more rides. We left and luckily a WalMart has open across the street from the park, so we stopped their first for some dry clothes. Then had dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. Well this took us about 2 hours to accomplish, and it was still raining cats and dogs, so with heavy hearts we headed out of there for home, only to find that many of the ways we could use to get out of the area were flooded out! After a few detours and some back country roads we made our way to Mentor for some custard style ice cream and then back home, with a car full of tired kids and parents. If you would like to see more of our pictures from Geauga Lake, go to:

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/annsmore/album?.dir=/

100bre2&.src=ph&.tok=ph77uGFBK.VsmVLy

Then just click on the folder titled "Geauga Lake". If you run into trouble viewing them, just email me and I'll send you the invite by email. The ones that were take in the car were us, after running through the downpour.

DING! You are now welcome to climb aboard.

So this summer we were off to the mother land of Ohio. After much searching for tickets we could afford for a group of 7 we had to settle for a less then perfect travel itinerary. We left AZ around 7:30 at night to fly into Chicago landing there at 1am their time. We had a rental van there, however the company closed at 1am. So Tim grabbed a spot near the front of the plan and pushed his way to the front of the line when we landed. The rest of us headed for baggage claim to grab our mountain of luggage, and met Tim out front. Needless to say with 7 people and luggage for all we were a bit tight in there! We drove a bit then stopped to arrange things more comfy, and get a bite to eat. And then I started driving. As I neared the Ohio boarder there was a beautiful light show going on all around me. The sky was full of lightning, and the sun was rising. The two combined made for a fascinating drive. However with lightening usually comes rain (at least out East), and as I neared Toledo it started to POUR! I don't mean a light sprinkle...This was the kind of rain that made your ears ring it was so loud...wipers on high didn't stand a chance of clearing it off. I couldn't believe the the kids were able to sleep through it. The rain lasted probably for the next 100 or so miles before it finally started to clear up a bit.
We were supposed to have breakfast with Tim's parents and mine out in Madison. We called as we hit the East side of Cleveland only to be told that Dot had already started cooking breakfast at home. So with a quick change of plans we went ahead and met up with my parents at Eat n' Park. For those that don't know, this is the best resteraunt around...well at least as far as dinner styles go. It's kind of like a Denny's, but better, and they have the neatest smile face cookies. After breakfast there, we headed out to Madison. When we got to the house we walked in to surprise Tim's parents. Dot, you have no idea how hard it was to keep this secret! Sleeping arrangements were made and while a few took a nap, Tim worked on starting up his old 3 wheeler. Eventually I took a short nap also (seeing that I had been up since the day before). Tim tells me that he did get it to run for a bit and drove it down the street and back, but since I was napping I can neither confirm or deny this.

Stay tuned for more updates on our trip. Read about Scott and Michaela's first roller coaster rides. How we actually saw Noah and his Arc. Our BBQ's for Bill and Dot's 50th wedding anniversary, and get togethers with friends!

Updates coming soon!

I know that it has been a bit for an update here, but I wanted to add a quick post to let you know that I haven't forgotten about this site. In fact I'm here most days seeing if anyone has been by to say hello! We are getting ready to head out of here tomorrow for a vacation with the kids. They are all really excited about this! I also have lots to tell about Scott and school and BoyScouts. Don't forget pictures!!! I hope that all is well with everyone and look forward to hearing from you.