Playing Catch Up Part I

Today I finally finished loading all of my photos from both of my cameras onto our computer and can finally share some of the precious moments from our 9 days spent at Lake Erie {Point Retreat}. We stayed there from Friday August 7th until Sunday August 16th. Our last day at the lake was the day that we took the girls to South Bass Island (Put-In-Bay as it's sometimes called) and I posted photos from that day here.

The original plan was to have Scott and his dad up at the lakehouse on the weekends, and my sisters there for one weekend and the weekdays, although some issues prevented my sisters from being able to stay past Tuesday. Jaden, Sienna and I had an absolute blast despite the change in plans, and I can honestly say that the days we spent just the three of us were much-needed mommy-daughter days! They had ALL of my undivided attention to themselves since there was no internet, no TV worth watching, and no "to-do" lists for the entire time we were there. Instead our days were filled with plenty of jet-skiing, pool time, water slides and amusement park rides. It was truly a retreat and we plan to do it again next summer!

On our first full day at the lake {Saturday} it was pretty rainy. We didn't mind though; it gave us a chance to get settled in, buy a few groceries, and read plenty of stories snuggled up on the couch :)

The second day {Sunday} was BEAUTIFUL! Scott took Sienna on her first jet-ski ride...

and she had such a good time, just her and her daddy!

We also swam that day and the girls took a great nap while we relaxed.

The next day {Monday} I treated everyone to a jaunt to this wildlife "safari" we'd been to before. I don't recommend this place necessarily because I saw them treat the animals cruely while we were there, but we still had a nice time looking at the wildlife and feeding them carrots and grain.

At the "safari" you drive your car along a path and there are well over 100 different animals who come right up to you to eat the food you offer them.

Some of them are quite mannerly like this little deer...

and others are pretty greedy like this crazy longhorn / steer!

Later that day after naps we took the girls swimming. Jaden received this cute little hippo to swim with at a birthday party and loved using it in the pool.

And we couldn't resist rounding out the fun day with another jetski ride. We took Jaden and my nephew Parker each for a ride, and we were surprised that the kids let us go up to 25 miles per hour! That's fast for these little ones, but they were enjoying it and laughing the whole while!

On Tuesday we went to Cedar Point for the first time that week. It was Jaden and Sienna's first trip to Cedar Point this year and Sienna was very excited to see Snoopy when we arrived there!

All that Jaden talked about was how she wanted to ride a roller coaster. She absolutely refused to ride anything until she could get on a coaster. Knowing that she really doesn't like fast rides, I was doubtful that a roller coaster was a good idea, but she insisted. So we hopped into the front row on this snoopy express...

...and Jaden cried the whole way down the hill :-( The roller coaster completely backfired and made Jaden afraid to ride anything else for a little while! So while we waited for her to build back up her courage, Sienna rode a few rides with Aunt Kim (my sister) and I. One of her favorites was the swings:

Then both girls enjoyed a leisurely boat ride. Well, they enjoyed it that is until a fake gun fired and scared them to pieces! At this point in the day Jaden was quite shaken up from her roller coaster experience and the loud noises during the boat ride {oops!}

...but we were more than able to make up for it with a peaceful, calm ride on the kiddie bumper boats! Let's just say that these boats MADE HER DAY! She didn't want to get out, and nobody was in line waiting, so I actually had to ask the ride operator to get her out after 15 minutes because poor little Sienna was too short to ride and she was bored!

Happy-go-lucky after driving the bumper boat, Jaden accompanied Sienna on a few more rides like this helecopter one. Then we went home for naps and later that evening, my sister Kim and I returned to Cedar Point with enough time to squeeze in 5 roller coaster rides and another swinging pendulum ride--fun! I've mentioned on here before how much I LOVE Cedar Point, so going on some adult rides that night was a great time!

On Wednesday we actually took a little drive towards home and Jaden got to attend her friend Abbey's birthday party. Abbey is pictured on one of our buttons on the side and I encourage you to check out her family's blog. Abbey is fighting {and CONQUERING I might add!!} leukemia so we haven't gotten to see her as much in the past year as we would've liked to. Going to her party was so wonderful, and we wouldn't have missed it for the world!

The party began at Abbey's house, and wrapped up with a trip to Build-A-Bear...

Jaden chose to make a dark brown bear which she named "Chocolate Chip"

and Sienna pumped fluffy stuffing into a light brown bear we helped her name "Vanilla Bean!"

Jaden loved her bear from the start, and especially enjoyed the part of the store where they could "bathe" and fluff their bears. She spent more time at that station than anyone else, and later asked me if she could go back to do that part again!

Here are Abbey and Jaden together :) Abbey's hair is just starting to grow back after three intense phases of chemo. She looks so cute with her little blond pixie-style 'do!

We drove back to the lakehouse Wednesday after the party and pretty much went right to bed. The girls had a big day going to the birthday party and mama was tired too :)



On Thursday morning we got up early, packed up lunches and all of our swimming gear for a trip to Soak City, Cedar Point's premier water park! The girls were being so cute at breakfast that morning, so I couldn't help but share a few pics...




At Soak City we loved that there were three different areas for Jaden and Sienna to play. We started out at a place that had sand like a beach and a train shaped water play zone. Then we moved to an area that didn't have sand and was just a zero-depth entry into a water playground.

The girls and I had a great time in the water. Jaden played on the entire playground area while Sienna mostly stuck by my side in the shallow water around it. We took a break from that area briefly and rode innertubes around the lazy river which I loved! Then we went back to the house for naptime.

After naps, we ate a quick dinner and headed to Cedar Point to ride some rides. Can you tell we were trying to get the most out of our season passes during our stay up there?!? Jaden and Sienna didn't hesitate at all during this trip to CP to ride anything and everything! They enjoyed being backseat drivers of the sports cars...

Sienna piloted a helicopter all by herself...

And they drove a purple sports car together.

I couldn't help but take this photo of them from behind as they waited in line for a ride because Sienna's outfit is just too cute with the flowers on her bottom!

We ended our night running around snoopy and then the girls got fussy so I knew it was time to head home for bedtime.

On Friday we headed to Soak City for a second time. Once again we started out in the sandy area, and this time we took a bunch of sand toys so the girls had a blast as if we were at the beach!

Jaden carried her boat around

and Sienna mostly hung by the little water fountains.

Then they took about a dozen trips down the little slides, and it was so cute because Jaden really played up her big sister role and helped Sienna down the slides! We finished up our day there and went home for naps during which Scott came up to meet us for the second weekend of our trip.

All in all, it was such a great time together. My heart is so full of love and joy after spending a week focusing just on my family and I hope that we can continue to take these times away for many years to come!

TOMORROW: Watch for some photos as we send Jaden off to her first day of {montessori} preschool!!!

LATER THIS WEEK: I'll be Playing Catch Up again and will follow this up with Part II which will show our week in Columbus :) Woohoo!