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- Happy Labor Day weekend – wait what?! I literally don’t know how it’s Labor Day already – it definitely does not feel late enough in the year to be the “end” of summer. I’m a bit in denial. Everyone seems to be cheering about the arrival of “fall” – but I’m definitely over here firmly in the “it’s still summer” camp. You can keep all of your pumpkins & sweaters & soups for a few more weeks.
- But, just to come around & firmly state that summer is over – this weekend is Kennywood’s last weekend of operation this year. And not just “regular” ops – this is it! They are not hosting any sort of Halloween events or their annual Christmas event. Normally, we’d visit Kennywood during their last regular operation weekend & say, “It’s okay – we’ll be back at least a few more times this year.” But we can’t say that this year. It’s super strange & weird & sad. Because of the things we have planned this weekend – we took our last trip to Kennywood last night. The park was packed (as we expected it to be). The kids rode a few rides, we grabbed some food, and that was it. You all are going to think I’ve lost my mind – but I found myself kind of emotional riding our last ride on the carousel & leaving the park. It will be at least 6 months before Kennywood opens back up again & I for one am going to miss it terribly. We have gone to Kennywood at least once a week since the park opened this year – it has been so much fun to watch the kids having fun & riding rides (plus, since we got the meal plan – it’s been delightful to know I didn’t have to cook those nights!) Leander knows what it means if you say: “Do you want to go to Kennywood?” – it has been literally a delight. And now it’s over. Is it spring yet?
- Kennywood seems to be one of the only parks closing down “early” though – a lot of other parks around us are limiting their operations, but they’re still open thru September & October. The amusement park industry got such a late start to their season this year that it just makes sense for them to continue to stay open on the weekends in an attempt to re-coup some of the money they lost by being closed in April, May, and June. We decided to take another spontaneous roller coaster trip last weekend (I mean, it wasn’t super spontaneous, we had been talking about it for a while – but we didn’t actually book anything until about 48 hours out). We drove out to Cedar Point on Friday, spent Saturday & Sunday at Kings Island, and then kept a huge secret from the kids & surprised them by going to the Great Wolf Lodge on Monday & Tuesday! I took video the whole weekend to create vlogs – Braelynn’s reaction to pulling into the Great Wolf Lodge is my favorite! We had a wonderful time – the days were hot (but not oppressively hot like when we traveled in July) & the parks were busy (but we were still able to get on all of the rides that we wanted to) – it was great.
- Derrick & I actually sat down & watched a movie last night (gasp). We haven’t watched a movie together in ages. (Just in case you’re wondering: we watched Ford V Ferrari & it was very good.)
- So, I killed a giant spider in Leander’s bedroom this week. He was hanging in a web up in the corner & the trick was: I couldn’t quite reach him. So, my options were: either run downstairs & get the big step-ladder we have in our kitchen – or do what I did – I grabbed the vacuum. I put all of the extensions on the hose, turned it on, and sucked that spider right up. Of course, then I was too scared to turn the vacuum off or take the extensions off the hose – so I proceeded to sweep the whole upstairs – just to make sure he was good & dead inside the dust. WHEW – it still is giving me all the chills just thinking about it!
- We went & visited my Grandma yesterday. While I was pregnant with Leander, we would take my Grandma on weekly library dates – she would go & pick out new books while Braelynn & I participated in storytime. Then, we’d all go out to lunch afterward. We did that weekly for almost a whole year. But then Leander was born & winter hit, and I just couldn’t make those trips to the library as regularly as we had been. We’ve missed our lunch dates with “G.G.” though, so we picked up lunch yesterday & went over to her house for a picnic in her living room. It was delightful.
- Speaking of lunch dates – Braelynn had a lunch date with her Auntie Amy this week & she couldn’t have been happier.
- One evening this week, while I was sitting at my computer working away, I suddenly began hearing something drip. The kids were in bed & Derrick was up in his man-cave, so after hearing it a few more times, I got up to investigate. Turns out, our A/C unit in our living room (we have a mini-split system) was dripping – yikes. I sent a video to my Dad & brother and Steve Facetimed me back so I could show him exactly what was happening (technology is wonderful). He figured that the drain must be clogged, said to turn it off for the night, and he’d be over the next day to fix it. Sure enough – that was exactly what was wrong (and the kids loved having “Uncle Cheese” over for dinner & ice cream!)
