Mother/Son Trip

The Stefany girl cousins have started an annual girls trip to G and Poppop's house every summer.  They have a blast together playing dolls, requesting new doll gear from G the seamstress, and being without their pesky brothers for a few days.  Cole Bug has earned himself his own vacation to G's as well.  Braylen hasn't been invited for his visit yet; I think G prefer kids that do not need attention throughout the night ;)

Since sister was leaving town, I booked a special trip for just me and Braylen to see his other cousins in North Carolina.  I absolutely loved my mini vacation with Braylen; traveling with one kid is enjoyable!

Bray's 2nd Plane Ride to Raleigh.
Last time he was too little to remember

A row to ourselves on the trip down.

We hit the ground running on Tuesday afternoon.  Aunt Jen picked up Luke early from daycare so the moms and boys could have a special afternoon.  Lunch, ice cream, and play area at Chick-Fil-A following by bowling.

Almost exactly 1 year apart, yet the same size.
Looking stylish in bowling shoes!

 Our previous bowling experience with Braylen was filled with tears and lack of patience.  This time, my little boy was cheering on his cousin and pleasant 100% of the time.

Winning always helps ;)

Braylen and Luke were two peas in a pod.  We played many games of "Go Fish" as well as baseball outside.  The absence of a sibling was a blessing to me; Braylen's behavior was top notch.  (It also helped that I didnt't have a house to run and could give him my full attention)

On day 2 of our trip we went to the neighborhood pool.  No pictures of this fun morning.  Now that the boys can swim better, I got some quality time to chat with my lovely sister-in-law about life.

Day 3, our final day, was a trip my favorite museum, The Museum of Life and Science in Durham.  A trip to NC is not complete without it!  Even though we have been there two other times, we still had new areas to explore.

Uncle Matt engineered 3 car seats across in Aunt Jen's Rav-4

I had to pull Braylen away from this booth
after 10 minutes of watching weather videos.
He is my son. 

This museum has awesome indoor science exhibits PLUS acres and acres of outdoor fun.  The tree house was new on our last visit.  We loved exploring it when it wasn't raining this time

I don't take enough selfies.. I don't know where to look!

Fearless

Quick break after all that climbing

The kids searched for dinosaur bones in the dig area.  A 3 year old boy with a huge shovel and endless dirt... yep, we'll take that.

Heidi was around, I promise ;)

After 3 days of no naps and hours of boy playtime, Braylen was passed out before the plane even hit 10,000 feet.  Visiting Aunt Jen and Uncle Matt is always really chill and comfortable.  We are thankful they shift beds and rooms to accommodate us.  I'm also so, so thankful my kiddos have cousins close in age; they have lifetime buddies.

Massanutten 2016: Water Logged

I feel like we've been to Massanutten 15 times at this point, but I think I am confusing telling my friends about our ONE vacation there and their vacations I helped plan ;)  The original Stefany 4 went in 2000 (?) for a discounted stay to hear a presentation over breakfast... The one my mom swore she wasn't buying anything... The one that resulted in buying a timeshare... And here we are 16 years later actually USING the timeshare we bought...  All joking aside, it was a great move for my parents.  They have been on countless vacations using the trading option and Laura & I have benefited from the discounted vacation condos too!

But this isn't a timeshare promotion ad.

This trip to Massanutten can best be described as water logged.  The kids probably spent more time being wet than dry.  In the middle of August, that is really the best way to beat the heat.  However, in the middle of August, the pools were quite warm from baking in the summer sun, so it wasn't as refreshing as we hoped.  My kids were eager to show off their newly acquired swimming skills no matter the temperature of the water.

And with summer sun comes sunscreen and baths.  The tub at our condo was so big it was like another trip to the pool!

By far the highlight of this trip was the Waterpark.  This time of year both the indoor and outdoor areas are open.  All 9 of us had a blast riding slides, laying on tubes in the lazy river, and floating in the wave pool... for 5 straight hours.  

This crew got there promptly at 10 AM to be ahead of the crowds

Lazy River Rats

10 minutes after we got there, the fire alarm sounded and we all needed to evacuate.  So much for being ahead of the crowds... 20 minutes later we were back inside with many more people.  There are so many different slides and pools there that the lines did move quickly.

Wave Pool

The only point in the day when Bray had his goggles off.
The signs of them are still there though.

I was so proud of my little swimmers to try out all the body slides.  My kids weren't tall enough to ride any of the inner tube slides, which didn't seem to bother them too much.

100% Water logged

After a day filled with water shooting at us in every direction (my contacts where screaming at me), we calmed things down with a visit to one of the caverns in the area.  Laura and I took the 3 bigger kids with us to Grand Caverns to explore the amazing rock formations underground.  

I think they called this one a jellyfish

The kids topped off their night with one more activity to expend energy, some scootering.

The Stefany clam is accustomed to vacationing together at the beach.  This vacation was a bit more challenging since we are used to the routine of going to the beach all day to entertain the kids.  We had to be more adventurous with our planning on this "vacation".  Nevertheless, it was a fun way to finish off the summer!  Back to school next week for the Hettinger kids.