Family vacation

Tuesday we made a day trip to Adventureland with the Cahalans and Grandma and Grandpa Jensen.  The girls all had a great time!  Alena was feeling very brave this year and decided her favorite ride was the Galleon.  She also enjoyed the Falling Star multiple times and even rode the Tornado 2 times with Daddy.  She was laughing with excitement the whole time she was on the Falling Star!  Now that she can sneak on as 48" she can ride almost anything. Nora thought the Galleon was a little too much but loved the Underground.  The Carousel was another of her favorites.  Everyone had fun on the Raging River except for Aunt Melissa and Sadie, who was brave enough but too short to ride.  Daddy got soaked on each turn!  All of the adults other than Grandma rode the new roller coaster the Monster.  It was very scary and they take a picture of you going down the first hill so everyone could laugh at your terrified face at the end of the ride.  My old friend Ben Ulin was the magical act as always, and all of the big kids got to watch it from the front row.  At 7 we had experienced enough fun for one day, so we headed home to rescue Grandma Dee from a day with Edith (she was a good girl for Grandma.)

 A couple of kids wanted to ride Infant Ocean.  Alena declared it was lame.  Well, it is called Infant Ocean!

You would think the kids would be exhausted from a whole day at Adventureland, but that was not the case.  Wednesday morning we took Edith to Connie's and headed to Monticello for a canoe trip down the Maquoketa River.  We got a canoe and tied a kid kayak to the back.  It was a really fun float and very pretty.  The girls took turns on the kayak, though neither one really wanted to paddle.  Part of the time they both rode on it together and named dragonflies.  They were all named "Canoe."  Their favorite part of the trip was floating in the river with their life jackets and playing in the sand.  A lot of the river is sand bottom and most isn't more than 2 feet deep.  We found a lot of clams and caught a crayfish.  We were on the water for 5 hours and packed a picnic lunch.  And the girls still were not tired!

The Beanie Boo collection is increasing thanks to Grandma Dee bringing two new ones on Monday, a blue leopard for Alena and a pink koala for Nora.  Every second we haven't been on a trip the girls have been playing with them.