Tabitha won two free tickets to Seabreeze. Which is great. But that still leaves a lot of tickets to purchase, know what I mean? But, with the rest of us sort of moping around without Marie, it seemed like as good a time as any to use those tickets.
I had planned on taking all the kids, and we all hoped Nan could come. She had some repair person scheduled to come by her house, however, so she passed on the invite and instead offered to have Katriel hang out with her. She told us to bring some milk for the baby. Katriel took care of that. (Oh! She’s so cute!!)
Seabreeze is one of my most favorite places ever. We had a great time. The weather was incredible and the crowds were very modest. They’ve updated the Kiddie area and Johanna had a grand time there. We spent a long time on the water activities and even did water attractions two separate times of the day. Johanna was too small for any water slides (first time in a long time I’ve had a 4-year-old too small for water slides!) but she loved the lazy river. I think we did that 5 times over all. Maybe more?
We stayed until after 9 PM. Something we wouldn’t have done with Katriel with us. So THANKS NAN!
We had some treats…
And enjoyed ourselves as best we could without Marie.
I did something totally crazy, too… see my stroller in the back of that picture? I took the stroller even without a kid to push in it!! YES! I did!!! How else would I cart around all the food? We like to eat on the go. I. LOVE. STROLLERS!
Stewart turned 13 this year with a moderate amount of fanfare.
We started the morning with his requested birthday breakfast: spinach/artichoke pastries.
We followed that up with a few gifts. A new head for the drum set. TWO Adventures in Odyssey CD sets. A pair of pajamas. Three shirts…
Tabitha gave him a roll of tape. Marie and Nigel chipped in to buy him a Wii game.
They did a few minutes of tummy time with Katriel.
Then off to Seabreeze for our last trip of the summer. We’re growing tired of it, I’m sad to say…
Home for his dinner of choice: angel hair pasta with Alfredo sauce, broccoli, and grilled chicken.
And a half-baked (metaphorically) cake. (I’m slipping…) 😦
On 7/13, our sweet Skeezix turned 7. I still vividly remember when the doctor announced, “It’s a girl!” I was floored! I was looking forward to my third son. She has been a joy! A light! A jewel! She rains down sunshine into our family with her happy heart.
We had presents before Daddy left for work.
They included some Star Wars toys, circa 1978.
And a new dress!
Her breakfast choice was fruit-filled puff pastries.
At 2PM we picked Nanny up and headed to Seabreeze. The place was the most empty we have EVER seen it. We walked onto the rides. 
Scooter had her first train ride.
After Daddy arrived with pizza and wings we had a pool-side party and then headed into the all-but-abandoned waterpark.
Mommy and Skeezix rode every waterslide together. I had a BLAST!
We dried off around 7:30PM and sang Happy Birthday with her requested chocolate chip cookies.
We all went to bed tired, but happy, around 10PM. SUPER SUPER DAY.
Not to be outdone, we celebrated with friends on 7/14. Skeezix, Angel, and two of our friends went to mini-golf. Each of the girls had either never gone before, or it was so long ago they did not remember doing it. It went well. By the 5th hole I was thinking how much fun it would be to have another appendectomy… 😉
I gave them the rules off the bat. By the second hole we had abandoned all of them. If you are a mini-golf purist I apologize. I allowed them to cheat with reckless abandon all in the name of getting it done before my 40th birthday. They had a great time, I believe. They were just so sweet with one another and encouraged one another. We did not keep score. And what is great is not one of them asked, “Who won?” at the end of the game.
We scooted by Ella’s house to pick her up [she’d JUST gotten back in town] and we headed to Pizza Hut!
If you have never enjoyed a meal in the accompaniment of 5 young ladies, I highly recommend it!
Home for presents and cake. It was a splendid, splendid day.
Two birthday celebrations for my daughter who has enjoy energy to be counted as two girls!!!
I ♥ her.
We have Seabreeze season passes again this year. We haven’t used them as much as we normally would have by this time of July because of my surgery in early June. JB has had this week off and we planned to enjoy one full family day at Seabreeze.
Plan (A) – go all day Tuesday.
We had to scrap that because JB woke with a sore back on Monday and could barely move on Tuesday.
Plan (B) – be there at 11AM on Thursday to hit the waterpark before it was crowded.
We had to scrap that because the kids’ lackluster approach to chores and generally poor attitudes this morning lost them [and us!] the privilege of going.
Plan (C) – Try again to go Thursday afternoon if kids exhibit improved behavior and make great strides in deep cleaning the bedrooms and the game room.
We made it!
We arrived around 2:30PM and the park was perfect. Very low crowd. We did dry rides until about 4:30PM. I did MY first rides of the year. [Maybe the last ones, too. I rarely ever ride as I mostly take the kids solo.] I don’t really care if I do them or not, honestly. But the kids get a kick out of seeing me scream and laugh on the wilder ones. They like to see how brave I am. I like holding their hands in lines and hearing them share all the “secrets’” of how to have the best ride, such as “Sit in the back; it is faster,” and “Don’t hold on to the bar and you will feel like you are flying,” etc.
Scooter got to do lots of scooting-around as she practiced walking all along park benches, stone walls, and her favorite – the stroller.
Yup – that’s me with my hands in the air. I am such a rebel, aren’t I? 
We then headed to the waterpark for another two hours. Neither JB or I were up to getting in the water, but the kids had a blast. Only about 20 – 30 people in the wave pool. The girls had the waterslides to themselves and three of the kids enjoyed the lazy river. The late afternoon sun felt so good as JB and I sat with Scooter and watched the kids splash and play.
Check out the close up of their faces
just before the bucket dumps!
Finally, we enjoyed another 90 minutes of dry rides before heading home. We wanted to stay to see the lights, but it was 8PM and still too light out for lights and we couldn’t think of anything else to do!!! They’d done everything.
So we stopped at Wegman’s on the way home for a container of ice cream. It cost less than one cone at Seabreeze!
It was such a great day and totally worth having to go on to plan (C). I think God was blessing JB and I for NOT taking the kids when they hadn’t followed through in the morning. 
This summer was the best summer of my life. Hands down it was the best.
And the funny thing is I said that last summer, too. Yet this was even better.
I wonder if homeschooling all year adds to my love of summer. I have run into so many moms and dads who are anxiously counting down the days until they can send their kids back to school. That makes me sort of sad. But that is another line of thought I don’t mean to go down now. We loved our summer. I loved our summer together. The carefree days were a sharp contrast from our normal, disciplined, week-to-week school schedules. Of course discipline is a blessing when you are trying to maintain order and continually move ahead in your studies. But boy, oh boy, does that freedom taste so SWEET as summer rolls in.
Without question, one of the BEST parts of summer this year were our season passes to Seabreeze. God-willing and budget-able we will do this again next year, too. The passes allow 15 visits, but for some reason I keep counting 16 for us. No one at the ticket booth can explain, but we appreciated it. We are one of the few families I have talked with that actually used all of our visits. So – without further adieu – the top eleven reasons we will do Seabreeze season passes again next year.
And a phone call from Ba!
I’m so glad the boys still ride these little rides… you ever try taking photos of kids on the Whirlwind? These are far more photogenic rides!!!!!
A few acrobatic moves of their own??
Nene [my sister] joined us at 5:00 P.M.
You can only imagine how thrilled the kids were.
It was Louis-David’s last day so the kids asked for hugs.
Actually – Champ asked first [he has such a soft heart]
And a phone call from Ba!
I’m so glad the boys still ride these little rides… you ever try taking photos of kids on the Whirlwind? These are far more photogenic rides!!!!! A few acrobatic moves of their own??
Nene [my sister] joined us at 5:00 P.M.
You can only imagine how thrilled the kids were.
It was Louis-David’s last day so the kids asked for hugs.
Actually – Champ asked first [he has such a soft heart]
The athletes were surprised and SO kind to my kids.
Because their 4pm show had been rained out, it put them on the Midway – in an easy place to deliver the drawings and capture pictures.
Dayspring Disciples 