Six Flags!

We got to a do a pretty fun thing this weekend. Dad's company rented out the Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio for a whole day, so we drove down there to spend the day in the amusement park.

All of us were very excited. This was Turner's first trip to Six Flags, and it had been several years since Hazel and I had been. We were excited about all of the rides.

When we first got to the park, we saw HUGE roller coasters that were loud and went really fast and upside down. We weren't so sure about that, but Mom assured us that those weren't the rides we were going on.

The first small ride we encountered was the Tea Cups. Dad rode with Hazel Turner rode with Mom, and I decided to watch. Turner, Mom, and Hazel had a great time. Dad didn't feel so great afterwards. I guess he doesn't like being dizzy.

After that, we headed further into the park and went on a few more rides. We went on some swings (see picture above) and a school bus that went into the air. Dad took us kids on the ferris wheel, which Mom skipped because it went up pretty high. Them Mom took Hazel and Turner on another dizzy ride while Dad and I watched. They laughed the whole time. Mom said that was her favorite ride of the day, and she was surprised Hazel and Turner liked such a wild ride.

We did a few more kids rides before going to a lunch picnic. The food was pretty good but we were ready to get back to the rides.

After lunch, we went on the Bugs Bunny water log ride. Hazel was a little scared but in the end she decided to ride with us. She really didn't like the drop at the end. I wasn't crazy about it either. Turner thought it was pretty fun, and he loved getting wet. Mom screamed her head off during the drop.

After that we all wanted to go on the bumper cars, but Turner wasn't tall enough to do it. He was really mad. Dad took me and Turner on a bunch more kids rides, including airplanes and a kid-size roller coaster, while Mom and Hazel rode on the bumper cars. Mom let Hazel drive, which apparently she wasn't allowed to do. They stopped the whole ride to tell Mom to cut it out. Way to go Hazel!

We did another water ride in which all of us boys got really wet, while Hazel and Mom stayed relatively dry. Dad pretended to be annoyed that he was wet, and Hazel was annoyed that she stayed dry.

Hazel got pretty excited to realize that she was tall enough to go on some of the adult rides. Dad was super excited to take her on the SkyScreamer and the Roadrunner Express. (Clicking on the links will let you see videos of what it feels like to be on the rides). Hazel loved them, and even rode on the RoadRunner Express twice, once with Dad, then with Mom. Mom wasn't so crazy about the roller coaster. She said she's never trusting Hazel about rides again, and roller coasters are Dad's job from now on.

We finished the day at the park by riding on the train around the park. Turner was practically asleep at that point, and all of us were pretty tired. It had been a really fun day.

We drove home, but on the way we stopped at Buc-ee's and picked up some dinner and a few treats. Mom really likes that place.

Splitting Up For the Weekend

A couple weeks ago, our family split up for the long Labor Day weekend. Dad took Hazel to Atlanta while Turner and I stayed in Austin with Mom.

In Atlanta, we went to a baby naming ceremony for my cousin Lizzie, Aunt Laurie and Uncle Jonathan's daughter. Dad didn't think we could all go to Atlanta for the weekend, so he just took Hazel to help represent us there.

Dad and Hazel had a good time. They got to ride on an airplane to Atlanta. Hazel did great on the plane, even after her unicorn got Coke spilled on it and the plane was stuck on the runway for almost an hour after landing. Hazel especially liked riding on the "plane train" that took them to get their luggage. Bubbe and Aunt Laurie greeted them at the airport and whisked them away to Bubbe's house.

Over the weekend, they had lots of fun at Bubbe's house. They went to lots of yummy restaurants, played games at Bubbe's house (Hazel taught Bubbe how to play Battleship), ran through sprinklers in Bubbe's yard, and watched lots of animals through the window of Bubbe's house. Hazel also tried teaching Bubbe to do cartwheels.

But the main event was the baby naming ceremony. Dad got to say a speech while Lizzie got her name. She was named after Papa and Grandmas Millie, Mary, and Frieda. After the ceremony, there was a party and Hazel met a friend and played with her a lot. Dad thought it was funny that Hazel was playing with the daughter of one of his old friends.

It was a pretty quick weekend, but Dad and Hazel weren't too sad to leave since Bubbe was coming to visit them in Austin later in the week.

Cones in a cave!

Meanwhile, back in Austin, we stayed pretty busy and had a lot of fun with Mom. After we took Dad and Hazel to the airport Friday, we came home and had dinner, then Turner and Mom had a sleepover in her room. I opted out of the party, thinking I'd get a better night's sleep in my own room.

Saturday we headed to the gym. Mom worked out while Turner and I played together in the child center. After a nice lunch together in the cafe, we headed outside for a swim. Later in the day, we met up with Eli's family for a concert and gelato at Central Market. Eli was so sad when he realized Hazel wasn't with us! Even without Hazel, we managed to have a good time. Turner enjoyed dancing to the band and we had a good time playing on the playground. It was a pretty late night, and Turner camped out with Mom again.

Turner really knows how to party

Sunday was another very fun day. We headed to Boerne, Texas, to the Cave Without a Name. Mom and I really liked it. I thought the best things we saw were little ponds in the cave. The tour guide asked us to guess how deep one of the ponds was. It looked very shallow, and we were surprised when she said it was four feet deep. She said it created an illusion because the water is so clear.

After the tour, we drove home, where we hung out for a few hours, then ate dinner at Phil's Ice House and played on their playground. It was such a fun day, we didn't even mind when Mom told us we were skipping Amy's Ice Cream, which is right next to Phil's, because it was another late night and she knew she had another sleepover with Turner coming her way.

Monday we took it easy at home until it was time to go to the airport to get Dad and Hazel. We were very excited to see them after the long weekend, and it was nice hearing about their trip when they got back.

S-E-C! S-E-C!

This weekend, Dad took all of us to a really fun picnic. It was a picnic for all of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) alumni groups in Austin.

While technically none of us are alums of an SEC school, Dad is on the board of the University of Kentucky Alumni Association in Austin, thanks to our fandom passed on through Papa. Plus, Bubbe is a University of Florida alumna, and Aunt Laurie and Uncle Jonathan are University of Georgia alumni. So we have a lot of SEC family connections.

Hi Bubbe!

We got to the picnic nice and early, which was great since it wasn't quite as hot. The Kentucky tent was the first one set up, and they had delicious breakfast tacos. We also had the bounce house all to ourselves. Before too long, the other schools starting showing up as well, which meant lots of other kids to play with. We saw our friend Allison, who we watch basketball games with, and Turner made a new friend, Reid.

We also ate lots of food from the other tents. At first, Turner was afraid to ask for anything, because he thought he would then "be on the other team." But in the end, we remained Kentucky fans even though we got cookies from Alabama, donuts from Tennessee, and even got some cheese popcorn. But the best thing was Kona Ice, a snow-cone place, which is owned by a Kentucky alumnus. They were giving out free snow-cones!

Besides eating, we played a few games while we were there. Dad taught us how to play cornhole. We also played a game with some of our friends where dad would yell out a school name, and we had to run around to find their tents. It was pretty fun.

After about 3 hours, it started to get a lot more hot and crowded, so we decided to head home. But we all agreed that it was really fun and we can't wait to go back again next year.

Welcome to the new school year!

Swimming at Deep Eddy on our last day of summer break

Since our road trip, we had a fun-filled summer at home. We went to lots of birthday parties, Mom took us to the Austin Zoo (where we saw lots of animals, watched a guy feed an alligator, and rode a train), swam a LOT, had many squirt gun battles, and ate lots of fun summer treats (frozen bananas, anyone?).

Also, Hazel found a new love -- gymnastics. She went to a three-week camp in August, and signed up to continue classes in the fall. She and Turner say what they both want for Hanukkah are gymnastics classes.

Handstand Hazel

It's hard to believe it, but summer has come to an end and we already finished our first week of the new school year.

I started second grade. We all got a bit of a surprise when we found out the my teacher changed a few days before classes started. Fortunately, the new teacher seems to be great. She came from a nearby school, where she had tons of experience, lives in the neighborhood, and has a couple of kids at our school. So far, I'm really enjoying second grade.

Hazel started first grade and has the same teacher I had last year. She has been having a good time at school as well, though she did cry a little bit on the first couple of days because she missed Mom so much.

Turner's first day of his last year of preschool

Speaking of Mom, while she misses having us around all day, she has been enjoying getting more quality time with just Turner. And he seems to be enjoying having a bit more time to himself.

Meanwhile, Turner is now in his very last year at Nicholson. He moved up to the Woodpeckers class and is really enjoying his new teacher and all of the new things in his classroom.

Mitch's first day of second grade, Hazel's first day of first grade

We are excited about the start of the new school year!

Eight is Great!

By the time my 8^th birthday rolled around, I was pretty good at celebrating, thanks to all the fun parties my relatives threw for me on our road trip. Between that and my request not to have a huge party, Mom and Dad had some thinking to do when it came to figuring out a way to keep it small while still making the day special.

We kicked my birthday off by opening a present the night before. Then we started my big day with a surprise – a huge Wild Kratts sign that said, “Have a Wild Birthday Mitch!” -- and more presents. Next, we headed to story time at the park. The librarian from our school read some books and we played with some friends. Then our friends Eli, Alex, Tessa and their mom came over for lunch, cupcakes and a water blaster battle. We chilled out in the afternoon, watching some of my favorite show, Wild Kratts.

Once dad came home, we headed to Rudy’s for dinner. Then we went home for apple crisp, ice cream, and more presents.

Saturday was my last celebration. We invited three of my friends over: Brody, Jacob and Hannah. We played with sidewalk chalk, water blasters, three big empty washing machine boxes we scored from Lowes, and our bounce house. Brody and I drew food chains – mine was a list with arrows pointing to the creatures that eat each other, and Brody’s was a picture of creatures eating the other creatures that prey on each other in real life.

We ate breakfast tacos and watermelon, then decorated big pieces of dirt cake with lots and lots of sprinkles.

It was a great way to celebrate. It was just enough fun, without being overwhelming.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Friday night Dad and I went with to the Round Rock Express baseball game.

It was a Cub Scout event, so we saw lots of my friends there as well. Dad and I had a good time watching the game. I was right on the left field railing when a ball came sailing toward me. Dad yelled "Watch out Mitch!" and then everyone else in our section yelled "Watch out Mitch!" Fortunately, it missed me by a few inches.

There was a teacher sitting in front of me, and she kept telling Dad how interesting I was. She kept asking me questions about roads, math, and other things that I like. It was a nice way to keep the game interesting.

After the game was over we watched a really great fireworks show. They had some different kinds of fireworks that even Dad had never seen before.

Then came the really interesting part. Once the fireworks were over, everyone started to leave. But the Cub Scouts got to stay! That's because we got to do an overnight campout inside the stadium!

First we brought down sleeping bags, blankets, and our stuff onto the field, and set up our camping areas. I ran all around the outfield, back and forth between the outfield walls. It was really fun to have such a large area to run around.

Then we all had pizza to eat. After eating a giant pretzel during the game, I wasn't even that hungry.

After pizza, we walked around the Fun Zone, looking at all the games, rides, and other activities. I told Dad I was too tired to do anything (after all, it was already after 11pm), but when I walked by the pool and saw all the kids swimming, I couldn't resist! I took off my shoes and shirt and jumped in. I swam around for about an hour, playing in the fountains, running between the pool and the hot tub, and floating on my back. Finally, after midnight, I was too tired to swim and we headed back down to the field.

They were showing a movie on the giant screen above the field - "The Sandlot" - which is about kids playing baseball. Dad and I watched the movie on the screen until we both fell asleep around 1am. 

We woke up around 6am and all got donuts and juice. Then we packed up and headed home. It was great fun, and a really neat baseball experience.

Go Wildcats!

Dad's death defying unicycle ride @ COSI

The next morning we were all sad to say goodbye to our Pennsylvania gang, but we were excited about our next big stop -- Lexington, Kentucky. 

On the way there, we stopped in Columbus, Ohio, where we had a pie picnic, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, with three different kinds of pie. Then we headed into COSI, Center of Science and Industry. We started with a section that was all about water, where we went into a submarine and shot water into large vases. Then we went to a section where we built with big blocks, then a history section that showed what life was like in the 1890s and 1962. We loved it. It showed grocery stores, phones, TVs, toys and all kinds of things. We thought the phones and TVs were especially funny. 

Next we saw the largest collection of Cracker Jack prizes, which Mom thought was interesting, and Dad rode a death defying high wire unicycle. It was two stories off the ground! Turner was very scared for him, and Dad was really brave. We were all relieved when he finished unscathed. When Dad got off the unicycle, Turner said, “I’m glad Dad is not dead!”

The best day of Dad's life

After COSI, we next stopped in Cincinnati for dinner. We first headed to Skyline Chili, where we tried a little bit of all the different varieties of delicious Cincinnati-style chili, then Graeter’s Ice Cream, which we ate by a huge fountain. We agreed it was all very good, and a great idea for a stop. I told Dad I really like that city. To make things even more fun, we rode over the river from Cincinnati to Kentucky in our car on a ferry. Turner was worried about alligators, but we were relieved to get out and look around and see that we were out of alligator country. We all agreed it was more fun than taking a bridge, and it was followed by a fun winding road back to the highway.

Mom and me at the Pepper Distillery

A couple hours later, we arrived at our apartment in Lexington. Dad’s friend grew up in Lexington but now lives in Austin, and she generously let us stay in her beautiful apartment for a few nights. We were all very happy to shower and go to bed once we got there.

The next morning we headed to one of Dad’s favorite places on Earth, the University of Kentucky. We went to the Joe Craft Center, which is where the school’s men’s and women’s basketball teams practice. Dad had arranged a tour, which he was very excited about. It was summer, so the place was being used by volleyball camps and we didn’t get to see any players. But we did get to see lots of trophies, pictures on the walls, and descriptions of players and teams that Dad remembered from his childhood. Dad also loved talking about basketball with the tour guide. Mom noticed no one in Lexington wears anything that’s not blue.

We next found a farmer’s market and gear store that were right next to each other, where we stocked up on produce and Kentucky shirts, then went back to the apartment so Mom and Dad could nap. 

That afternoon, we met up with Dad’s friend. She and her sister own the building that was probably the first bourbon distillery. It hadn’t been used for anything in 40 years and fell into total disrepair and they are fixing it up so places like a distillery, brewery and restaurants can use it. It was really amazing. First we went to the finished part, which is a brewery and bar, restaurant and ice cream lounge. It was gorgeous and busy. Then we went into the unfinished section. It was CRAZY! It was raining, and there are huge holes in the roof, so it rained right into the building. There was graffiti that said, “A monster,” and puddles and debris everywhere. It was very fun hearing about all their plans while looking at what they started out with and a finished section.

I was super excited about this enormous duck we found
at the Kentucky Horse Park

We kicked off our last day there with a trolley ride around the city. The bus driver and other passengers were very nice and told us little tidbits about different things we passed. After that, we went to Kentucky Horse Park. We rode a horse-pulled trolley around the park, rode ponies, had a picnic, brushed a pony, watched a show where women rode horses from around the world and told us about their different breeds before letting us pet the horses and ask questions, and looked around a huge international horse museum. We all agreed the show was the best part.

Our last big stop was Mammoth Cave the next morning. We did the Domes and Dripstones tour, which was ¾ of a linear mile and took about two hours. We had to take a bus from the business center to the cave, then went down 280 stairs into the cave. The tour guide told us we were 25 stories under the surface. It was cool down there, 54 degrees. It felt very nice. We saw all kinds of limestone formations – stalagmites, stalactites, columns, straws and layers of stone. We also saw cave crickets, which look like huge spiders. We were very brave about them, even when they were right over our heads. At one point in the tour, the guide turned off all the lights and had everyone be quiet so we could experience total silence and total darkness. He said it only gets that dark two places in the world -– caves and deep in the sea. He told us how our brains played a trick on us. Even though our eyes couldn’t see our hands, our brains thought we could.

One funny thing about Kentucky was we met a lot of people from Germany. Dad talked with a guy who was from Munich. His family was doing a five-week road trip all around the country. It made our trip sound short and sweet.

We had a fun stop for lunch. In Nashville, there is a Krystal and White Castle across the street from each other. We got some of each and had a taste test. Turner preferred White Castle, which Mom said was due to his Turner blood (the Turner family is from Indiana, which is a White Castle state). The rest of us like Krystal slightly better.

The rest of our trip was driving time. Our last overnight, we stayed at a nice hotel outside of Little Rock, where we got to swim.

One thing Mom did to make things interesting and to console Hazel, who had a headache, was to sit in the back with us. Mom showed us an app on her phone that she used on the trip, Waze. It’s like a game where you report things you see on the road, like obstacles on the road, police, and accidents. It makes the drive more interesting and helps you and other drivers anticipate what’s happening on the road. Hazel taught Mom about the app she and Turner like on their Kindles, Toca Mini, where they make funny little guys.

The last day of driving we stopped at a place called Buc-ee's to get gas. Mom and Dad were shocked at how big and busy it was. Mom said it was like a convenience store combined with a mall. They did have very clean restrooms, which apparently they are famous for.

Home sweet home

Also on that day, we listened to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for the second time on the trip. Dad downloaded the audiobook, along with a few others, before we left Austin, and we really enjoyed it. Earlier in the trip, we also listened to Pippi Longstocking. Listening to those audiobooks was a great way to pass time, and was a great idea.

We were sad to end our trip. It was nice spending so much time together, seeing lots of family, and doing so many fun new things. It was a great change of pace. But it was also nice to come home to our friends and lots of swimming and other fun we’ll have the rest of the summer.

To see the rest of our trip photos, click here.