Today's Fav Foto Friday is from our recent Vacation to Altoona, PA!
To see other Fav Foto's go Here!
About two years or so ago, I received an email from the Yahoo Guatemalan Siblings Group... It was asking about my kids' mom and her last names (on the list you give First, Middle, Initial, Initial)... the first names didnt match, but the last names did. The departments matched, as did the village... so, we were both pretty sure we had a match of first cousins!
It was confirmed while in Guatemala to meet our Little Lady! We had found our sibs' cousin!
Now... to meet! That would be the more difficult part... Z (cousin) lives in Puerto Rico with his mom S and his two sisters B and K (both of his sisters are Russian!). Z is only about 3 weeks younger than our oldest son E. (They are both 4 right now).
We finally had the opportunity to meet this past weekend as Z's family, along with their Aunt V, flew up here to visit family in NY, NJ, and Florida! We decided to meet in the middle of NY and MI... and ended up going to Altoona PA. Now... a couple of months ago... I had never heard of Altoona...but it's a neat little town that is surrounded by little, but fun, amusement parks.
Both families ended up reaching the hotel within 30 mins of each other... Once all the kids saw each other though... the fun was on!!!!!
After eating, all kids hit the pool... time to eat after the pool, and everyone slept very well that night!
Our 2nd day took us to Lakemont Amusement park!
We were in line when the park opened at 11am! This park (as well as the other one) was wonderful because it is very inexpensive ($10) and has a lot of rides plus a water park! They had little kid rides for our kids... and bigger rides for dh and the older girls! Lakemont is also home to the oldest roller coaster still running! It was a lot of fun to see the kids on the rides and how much they enjoyed them.
We had lunch and then we were off to the water park side. The water was kinda cool but that didnt stop the kiddo's fun! There were three distinct parts to the water park... a HUGE area for little kids.... a very large pool for bigger kids... and waterslides for the bigger kids!
The kids area was great... they had things to climb on... water cannons to shoot, and us adults got to sit around an talk while still watching the kids. So, the kids had a great time... and us adults had a great time also! We stayed around till closing time... and then dragged ourselves to Ponderosa for dinner. Our kids needed NO prompting whatsoever that evening to go to sleep!
Sunday was Father's Day... and we went to DelGrosso's Amusement Park! Dh, since he was a dad, got to ride free for the entire day!!! Once again, this park had little rides for the little ones... and bigger rides for the bigger ones! Dh took the older girls B and K to ride the large rides while S, V, and myself kept all the little ones to go on the little rides! Our little ones all had a blast and rode some rides multiple times!
We then went to find everyone else, and we ended up having a great lunch and then headed to their water park!
This water park was a little bit different, but still very good. The waterslides for the adults at DG's looked like a LOT of fun! According to dh, B, and K, they were a TON of fun! Once again, us ladies hung around the kids pool, chatted, and helped the little ones warm up with ice cream and soda in between swimming jaunts!
We left a tad earlier than closing... and headed to Outback Steakhouse to have a great dinner. We have always had great dinners at Outback...and this one was great also! We did head to an ice cream shop on our way to the hotel...and then sat by the pool enjoying our ice cream in the dark!
The kids were exhausted (as us adults were) but Sunday night, they didnt seem to want to sleep... they knew we would have to leave in the morning...and they didnt want the night to end... I think our kids fell asleep finally at 11pm...
We were all up early Monday morning as Z's family had to drive to NY...and we had to drive home. No one really wanted to say goodbye! The kids especially... they seem to bond so quick and the bond is so tight that it is very difficult to say goodbye.
We had breakfast, finished packing up the van, and headed for home.
Half way home, we also stopped in Cleveland and visited with dh's cousin and had a great meal at their house... while turning our toddlers loose in their house!
The weekend was almost perfect.
The only bad part of our weekend???
We are now without a camera.... dh had our camera...cuz he wasnt going swimming due to the cold water... well... he forgot bout the camera as he went watersliding for a few hours! *oops*
Thankfully, we still had our pictures!!!!!!! Yea for the sd card!!!!!! It saved our pics!!!!!!
The camera will be replaced...but as we all know... priceless pics cannot!
So.... here are those pics of our wonderful weekend!!!!
It was confirmed while in Guatemala to meet our Little Lady! We had found our sibs' cousin!
Now... to meet! That would be the more difficult part... Z (cousin) lives in Puerto Rico with his mom S and his two sisters B and K (both of his sisters are Russian!). Z is only about 3 weeks younger than our oldest son E. (They are both 4 right now).
We finally had the opportunity to meet this past weekend as Z's family, along with their Aunt V, flew up here to visit family in NY, NJ, and Florida! We decided to meet in the middle of NY and MI... and ended up going to Altoona PA. Now... a couple of months ago... I had never heard of Altoona...but it's a neat little town that is surrounded by little, but fun, amusement parks.
Both families ended up reaching the hotel within 30 mins of each other... Once all the kids saw each other though... the fun was on!!!!!
After eating, all kids hit the pool... time to eat after the pool, and everyone slept very well that night!
Our 2nd day took us to Lakemont Amusement park!
We were in line when the park opened at 11am! This park (as well as the other one) was wonderful because it is very inexpensive ($10) and has a lot of rides plus a water park! They had little kid rides for our kids... and bigger rides for dh and the older girls! Lakemont is also home to the oldest roller coaster still running! It was a lot of fun to see the kids on the rides and how much they enjoyed them.
We had lunch and then we were off to the water park side. The water was kinda cool but that didnt stop the kiddo's fun! There were three distinct parts to the water park... a HUGE area for little kids.... a very large pool for bigger kids... and waterslides for the bigger kids!
The kids area was great... they had things to climb on... water cannons to shoot, and us adults got to sit around an talk while still watching the kids. So, the kids had a great time... and us adults had a great time also! We stayed around till closing time... and then dragged ourselves to Ponderosa for dinner. Our kids needed NO prompting whatsoever that evening to go to sleep!
Sunday was Father's Day... and we went to DelGrosso's Amusement Park! Dh, since he was a dad, got to ride free for the entire day!!! Once again, this park had little rides for the little ones... and bigger rides for the bigger ones! Dh took the older girls B and K to ride the large rides while S, V, and myself kept all the little ones to go on the little rides! Our little ones all had a blast and rode some rides multiple times!
We then went to find everyone else, and we ended up having a great lunch and then headed to their water park!
This water park was a little bit different, but still very good. The waterslides for the adults at DG's looked like a LOT of fun! According to dh, B, and K, they were a TON of fun! Once again, us ladies hung around the kids pool, chatted, and helped the little ones warm up with ice cream and soda in between swimming jaunts!
We left a tad earlier than closing... and headed to Outback Steakhouse to have a great dinner. We have always had great dinners at Outback...and this one was great also! We did head to an ice cream shop on our way to the hotel...and then sat by the pool enjoying our ice cream in the dark!
The kids were exhausted (as us adults were) but Sunday night, they didnt seem to want to sleep... they knew we would have to leave in the morning...and they didnt want the night to end... I think our kids fell asleep finally at 11pm...
We were all up early Monday morning as Z's family had to drive to NY...and we had to drive home. No one really wanted to say goodbye! The kids especially... they seem to bond so quick and the bond is so tight that it is very difficult to say goodbye.
We had breakfast, finished packing up the van, and headed for home.
Half way home, we also stopped in Cleveland and visited with dh's cousin and had a great meal at their house... while turning our toddlers loose in their house!
The weekend was almost perfect.
The only bad part of our weekend???
We are now without a camera.... dh had our camera...cuz he wasnt going swimming due to the cold water... well... he forgot bout the camera as he went watersliding for a few hours! *oops*
Thankfully, we still had our pictures!!!!!!! Yea for the sd card!!!!!! It saved our pics!!!!!!
The camera will be replaced...but as we all know... priceless pics cannot!
So.... here are those pics of our wonderful weekend!!!!
Our Three Boys ready for their road trip at 6am!
Our Little Lady not so ready for the 6am road trip!
F is driving solo in the back boat, while K allows E and Z to drive him!
Z and K wrestling around while waiting for lunch!
S, (Z, B, and K's mom) and V (their aunt) enjoying our conversations!
K, on a ride with F and E!
Z enjoying his flight!
K taking dad and F for a drive!
E causing K to really hold on while he drives!
Dad showing F how to drive while K and Z hold on tight!
K in his go-cart!
(as a side note here... if you want to see the FUNNIEST thing in the world...put a toddler into a go cart! I almost peed myself as these kids tried to drive these things! They would punch the gas and then go right into the darn wall... they just didnt understand that 1. you need to look where you are going... 2. that the wheel is there to turn the car...and 3. those walls are NOT there to bounce off of! Seriously... just thinking about watching these guys is still giving me laughing fits!!!!!!)
B taking E for a ride on the worm coaster!
Z enjoying his elephant ride!
Our Little Lady not quite sure bout her Elephant ride!
Z takin E for a spin!
All 4 of our boys in a car!
Wont be long and they may be on a street near you!
It was such a pleasure to meet all of you!
I hope you enjoyed our visit as much as we did!
We cannot wait to see all of you again!
3 comments:
What a lot of fun and such a special time. So happy for all of you. Great pictures and sorry about the camera.
Rhonda
OH wow you guys had a great time on vacation! i wil have to look up those amusement parks!!!
CUTE kids as always!
Wow!!! How cool to meet a cousin and start that relationship now! Love all the pics. Looks like everyone had a great time.
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