kitsune

Last week we spent the week at Timberline Resort in WV.  Here's a day-by-day breakdown:

Friday
Got up relatively early to finish getting ready.  Dropped off Nanaki the puppy with Matt.  Dropped off Mitsu the cat with my parents.  Started along route to resort office thanks to new GPS.  Stopped for lunch at a nice diner.  Met up with my in-laws and took on Ben so that the rest of the family could have a little more room in the CRV.  Arrived at resort HQ around 3.  Checked in, got keys, unpacked.  Relaxed around house while Elyse and her dad cleaned out the local grocery store.  $300 worth of groceries!  The fridge could barely hold it all.

Saturday
Justin and Tamara had arrived late the previous night.  Greeted them in the morning.  Went out with father-in-law to find first geocaches.  First one was directly off a maintenance road whose sign also had a Gecocaching marker on it.  Took us less than 5 minutes.  Second one was off Deer Run trail.  Started out 0.3 miles away from it, but had to walk around a marsh and ended up walking 1.25 miles total before arriving at it.  Waypoint was off by at least 75ft, but my father-in-law found it.

Sunday
Skipped church.  General relaxing around house.  Lia and Glenn arrived at some point (either Saturday night or Sunday night, I can't remember) and Justin and Tamara got on the road around noon because she had to be somewhere at 8.

Monday-Friday
(to be continued)

Yesterday the heat wave finally broke enough that Elyse and I decided we could take Sebastian and Emma (who's visiting this week) to Hershey Park. 

We left almost immediately after I got home and had an uneventful drive into the park.  I knew it wasn't going to be too crowded based on how far I was able to drive past the ticket booth (free parking! another benefit of being a season pass holder) before being directed into the parking lot.

We got on the tram (driven by an impatient operator; I would've been fine taking the next one, but he wanted us to run and catch his for some reason) and rode to the gate.  The tram might be Sebastian's favorite ride.  No car seat, open air, not too fast or slow, etc.

Emma and I went to buy her sunset special ticket ($25 vs. standard $48) while Elyse took Sebastian through the gate.  Emma and I followed shortly thereafter, and immediately Emma wanted to ride Fahrenheit (the new coaster with the 97 degree drop).  Elyse said we could run ahead, so we did.

Fahrenheit looks even more impressive up close while you're in line.  Emma said it didn't look all that tall to her.  While we were in line, Emma realized she had lost her necklace, which was a gift from a good friend.  I told her we could retrace our steps quickly after the ride and try to find it.

We didn't have too long of a wait before getting on in row 5 of 6.  The train pulls out of the station and drifts up to the main attraction of the coaster: a straight-up climb followed by the 97-degrees-from-horizontal drop.  Even Emma had to admit it looked much taller from this angle.  The train got pulled straight up into the air, and from our perspective near the back, we couldn't see the track anymore.  THAT was disconcerting, but cool.

At the top we had half a moment to look over the park before the big drop.  After that it's a big blur.  There's a lot of rising and dropping, a loop or two, a corkscrew, and a downhill stop towards the end (similar to Storm Runner).  The picture is taken fairly early in the ride.

When we got off, we met up with Elyse and let her know we were going to look for the necklace.  She was a little annoyed to be stuck with Sebastian for a while longer and therefore unable to do anything, but by the time we got back (having no luck in our search) she had changed into her swimsuit and taken Sebastian into the kiddie pool area in the new Boardwalk.

Emma and I followed suit (no pun intended) and I took over Sebastian while they went to get on some water rides.  Sebastian wasn't all that impressed with the water, but he was willing to try playing with some of the drips and spouts after his daddy did.  He was also flirting up a storm with every cute little girl (and cute lifeguard) he spotted.  And by flirting, I of course mean staring.

Eventually the girls got back and Emma took over the babysitting responsibilities for us while we went on a couple slides.  There's a funnel ride that has the typical tube stuff before emptying out in the side of a big funnel and throwing you around for a while before you land in the pool.  There's also Vortex which has the same concept with the added awesome of a steep drop towards the end and the fact that instead of a funnel it's basically a big toilet bowl you swirl around in for a while before dropping through a drain into the pool.

We rejoined Emma, who took Sebastian for a walk in the stroller after deciding to try to eat his life jacket in the wave pool.  She and I tried out the body boarding attraction.  She went first and was doing well until I went to take my turn on the wave next to hers.  I managed to do well and stay on the board the whole time, but she wiped out at one point and slammed her face into a pole.  No permanent damage, though.  Out of respect for her pain, I refrained from responding to her "my face hurts" comment with the usually obligatory "yeah, it's killing me."

Chicken tenders, hot dogs, french fries, and sugary drinks for dinner, then a change back into our normal clothes and off we went to the rest of the park.  Emma and I got on Storm Runner, since Elyse didn't feel digested enough to go instead.  Afterwards we made our way towards Great Bear for the girls to ride, and I got in line for the Classic Cars.

They were on and off the ride before I even got to the cars, so they joined up with me and we all went together.  Emma drove.  I fear for her in a couple years when it's learner's permit time.  We swung by SooperDooperLooper for Emma and Elyse and then headed for the gate.

Lost+Found didn't have her necklace, so she filled out a form and we crossed our fingers.  We checked the car and the driveway/yard at home as well, but no luck.  Unfortunately for her, I think it's lost for good at this point.  Possibly picked up by some other guest at the park, but more likely swept up and discarded as trash.

It was a late night by the time we went to bed, totally exhausted.  But it was totally worth it.

We just had a busy weekend.  Went to Baltimore's National Aquarium with my parents for a joint Mother's/Father's Day present.  We had loads of fun and took a bunch of pictures.  Sebastian and I really liked the dolphin show.

I had to wrestle the check away from my dad at dinner, despite this being part of our gift to them.  After saying I was insulted, he let up.  I guess I finally got through to him.

Saturday was the suckiest wedding ever.  It was hot, the food sucked, the caterers were rude, and the bridge and groom left their own party to hang around outside in the heat and smoke.  At least it was an open bar.

That put me in a bad mood for Sunday, which continued until I got to talk to my wife a bit in the afternoon.  Thus cheered, we got on the road for home around 9pm.  The house was insanely warm since the AC had been off while we were gone.  I turned on the permanent wall-mounted unit and renewed my search for the block of wood I knew I needed for the window unit in our bedroom.  I found it, couldn't figure out how to work it, finally remembered there was a second block, found it, and got the unit installed.

Emma came down to visit with us, and she opted to sleep in the living room to stay cool.  Her room and Sebastian's room were not cool enough to sleep in, so Sebastian slept with us in our room.  Hopefully things will be much cooler tonight since the units will be on all day.

It could stand to be cooler here at work, that's for sure.  I don't know if their air conditioners can handle this kind of weather.

Oh, and there was a first in Sebastian history yesterday. I was playing with him by running back and forth in the family room before we left Elyse's parents' house. When it was time to load the car, I gave him to Elyse, and he cried because he was having fun with me. It's the first time I can recall him preferring me to Mommy. :-)

We managed to get tickets for the Redwoods tour bus for Wednesday afternoon.  Some good pictures of the Golden Gate bridge were taken at our rest stops, as well.  They should be on my wife's online photo album.

Thursday sucked.  We got to the airport okay (extra early because of fears that the tourists who came for the torch run on Wednesday would all be flocking home the same time we were).  Flight into Chicago was rough because of bad weather, which resulted in a delayed landing.  After running full tilt thinking the departures board showed our next plane running on time, we discovered it was instead delayed a few hours.

Eventually, our plane was able to take off after a 5 hour delay.  They also had to TIGHTEN SOMETHING ON THE WING first.  That didn't inspire confidence.  Bumpy take off and start to the flight, then pretty smooth into Harrisburg at 3am.  Managed to get home somewhere around 4.

Work was rather difficult to deal with in getting proper comp time for the layover, but eventually it all worked out.

Sebastian took his first step on Saturday.  Elyse and I had just gotten back from Friendly's.  I went to put him down on the living room floor and he did his usual routine of keeping his legs stiff instead of sitting, so he was standing there holding onto me.

I gently pulled my hands free of his so he was standing on his own (which he's been able to do for a while) and backed up a bit.  I held out my hands and said, "Come on, you can do it.  Right now, let's go."  He took one step forward and then grabbed onto my hand as if to say, "That was scary!"

Elyse and I are very excited.  We haven't managed to get him to take more than one step at a time since then, but it's only a matter of time, now.