New Jersey Vacation - Part 2

We spent a day at the Great Adventure theme park. Jonas was a little daredevil, and he was disappointed that he wasn't tall enough to go on the big roller coasters. Even so, he had a great time going on the rides that he was big enough for, and we were all good and exhausted by the end of the day!

Ready for the day!

This was Jonas' favorite ride, but I'm not sure Bethany appreciated getting all wet! Jonas and I were soaked!

Aunt Lisa was terrified of the ferris wheel, which was not a good thing, because Bethany loved it and wanted to ride over and over!

How is it possible to go from this:

to this, in less than 1 minute?

Meeting Bugs Bunny and Tweety Bird!

The teacups were tons of fun and Bethany and Jonas loved spinning super fast!

Sweet little Abby being her usual good-natured self

According to my pictures, all grandma did was talk on the phone all day!

New Jersey Vacation

A couple of weeks ago our whole family went on a vacation to the ocean in New Jersey.

Here are the kids giving me their "I'm ready for the beach!" poses:





It turns out that only Jonas was really ready for the beach...the girls didn't so much enjoy it. Jonas got right in there, and let the waves knock right into him!


We went to see the Barnegat Lighthouse, where grandma went when she was a little girl. Jonas was a trooper climbing up the 217 steps, but he needed Uncle Mike to carry him down! We also got Syrup, the newest addition to our hermit crab family, at the gift shop (where grandma got her first hermit crab!) We even fit in some letter boxing while we were there!


We spent some time looking at in all the shops on the boardwalk and checking out the goofy games and attractions.

Visit to "Aunt" Beth's

Before we went on vacation, we visiting Aunt Beth. When Jonas fell asleep on the couch, Baxter decided to join him!

Tee Ball

Jonas loved his new tee ball set, even though he had a little trouble actually hitting the ball! Unfortunately, every time he missed and hit the tee, it all fell apart. There was a lot of rebuilding going on!

Vacation Bible School

Singing songs and giving high fives

Swabbing the deck before Captain Steve comes and finds out it's dirty!

Being goofy!

Jonas helping lead the Bible verse

A couple weeks ago we held our VBS program at church, "High Seas Expedition". Jonas and Bethany learned lots of Bible stories that took place out on the sea, and had a great time with Captain Steve and Sailor Jackie! I was leading the crafts most of the time, so I wasn't able to get too many pictures, but here's what I have.

Jonas got a new tee ball set. We have 1 hit so far out of about 20 tries, but it was a good one!

Summerfest

We had another great year out at Pioneer's Summerfest. The kids had a great time swimming in the lake, although Lisa and I were in the lake too, so unfortunately, no pictures. New this year - We got to ride in a paddle boat! Bethany was not a huge fan, to the point that there was no time to take her picture on the boat because the ride was too short! Jonas enjoyed "driving" it around. He was about as good as me (not very good!). Jonas had a lot of bounce house fun too, especially when Uncle Mike bounced him all around!

Swimming Pictures

"Why did you sit me up like this??"

Happy swimmers - Even Bethany!

Sleeping Beauty

Sailing the boat

This post is largely centered on the Lafferty girls, but they were the stars of swimming last week!

Bethany, Jonas, and Rebekah were acting out the Three Little Pigs today, but instead of the pigs being afraid of the wolf, they were thanking him for blowing their houses down. Strange kids!

We are having some sprinkler fun today. It is hot!!

Swimming is still going on! All 3 Lafferty girls are in the pool! Bethany is a water fish today. You won't believe the pictures!

Jonas is swimming in Uncle Larry's pool and he can touch the bottom!

Who's the Driver?

Jonas told me to get in the car seat and buckle up! Sometimes I do wish I could sit in the backseat and relax.

Silly Bath Time

Jonas is home from a fun weekend with his daddy full of swimming and fireworks. Now he is catching up with his cousins with some pool time!

Outside Fun

Jonas pulled the girls in the wagon for a good 25 minutes without stopping! At least he's getting good exercise!

"Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal"!

Jonas doing "something cool"

Bethany doing "something cool"

I think Jonas thought the crane was more impressive than the locks.

On Tuesday, Matt and I took the kids to the Erie Canal for some ship watching. It turned out Jonas thought we were going to see rocket ships, so he wasn't too impressed. It was still a fun time!

Community Days

Waiting for the parade - nice picture, right?

You knew that couldn't last for too long!

Jonas loved this!

This was Jonas' favorite ride because it went really fast around the turns!

Last weekend West Seneca had their "Community Days" event, which includes a parade and carnival rides. The parade was easily and hour and 45 minutes, so I figure this year we've seen the world's longest parade and the world's shortest parade (see post here). After that we headed over to the rides, and Jonas was psyched to go on the Ferris Wheel. Mommy was a little nervous, but we made it through. After going on a bunch of fun rides, Jonas won a giant inflatable hammer in the ducky pond, and it was time to head home!