Cedar Point Trip

The Koomens (in addition to Jade, Josie, and Dani) and the Swaneys ventured up to Sandusky to take on some of the best rides on the planet. It was a great time at Cedar Point with plenty of stories to share.

We went without babies (thank you Aunt Lauri and Uncle Jeff for a long day with Carly) to test a new set of parental skills, thrill rides with children. We went with the intention that Caitlin and Olivia were tall enough to tackle a lot of the big rides. I was good with Jason taking her on whatever she wanted to go on, and she LOVED the place. I then panicked at the fact that Jade, Dani, Josie, and CAITLIN left to go on the Millennium Force.... which had an 1 1/2 hour wait (you know it is good when the wait for that is as long as the Dragster). Thank goodness for cell phone communication throughout the wait and immediately after the ride. SHE IS A TRUE THRILL SEEKER....

The best story of the day comes from the Maverick line. The most phenomenal ride I have ever been on, and yes I have been on the Dragster. You should take a virtual ride at cedarpoint.com to see what I mean. Angie, Jade, Dani, Josie, and I went to the ride thinking we would be back in two hours, however, we ran into a slight weather problem... okay, MAJOR weather problem.
It started to rain, and I made cell phone communication to Lisa to find out what was coming... well it came immediately and it was HAIL, LIGHTNING, THUNDER, and POURING rain for 30 minutes. We looked fabulous with blue lips, running mascara, and ruined cell phones. However, we waited it out and made it to the ride and low and behold it was WORTH IT!

The guys dealt with their own issues as they were waiting for the Dragster, two hours of waiting and BOOM, it malfunctions and has to be shut down for 1/2 hour.... they eventually rode it and you can reference their picture below. You don't get the full effect of them since they were covered in bugs from riding in the front at night. You had to be there!

Good times, good times!

Jason and Josh coming from the Top Thrill Dragster
Carson chauffeuring his mom around in the back of his monster truck.
As close as Carson will get to his own motorcycle.
Carson and Mom riding the Himalaya
Angie and Sophia riding the Woodstock Express
Carson and Mom riding the Junior Gemini
Josh and Sophia hitting the rides together!
Olivia and Caitlin on the FrogHopper!
Carson's driving skills at work again on the boats.
Sophia looking to bump into Carson
Carson and Sophia on the FrogHopper
Carson driving again... and again...
Caitlin and Mom taking a break from the big rides.
This ride is called Chaos and it is exactly that!
The kids hanging out with Snoopy...
A glimpse of Caitlin and Olivia riding together!
Jason and Carson... driving??? again???
Mom and Caitlin on the SkyRide
Daddy and Carson on the SkyRide
The Swaney family photographing the Koomen family.
Carson flying this time...
The Cedar Point kids!
Dani and Carson, my favorite picture!
the ICEE gang with multicolored tongues
Jade, Josie, and Dani getting their nerves racked up for the Dragster!
Sophia and Angie driving.... we did a lot of driving yesterday!

Carson loving the Scrambler

Carson loving the Himalaya again!

Angie and Sophie on the swings in Camp Snoopy

Carson and Mom on the swings too!

Carly's First Birthday

Here is the birthday girl! Happy First Birthday!



Carly's personal ball pit, accompanied by her brother, and friends Joe and Noah.



Carly enjoying a pretzel in her new bathing suit from the Ackermans.



Aunt Cindy and Grandi thanking goodness that they don't have to take any of these crazy kids home!




The Koomen kids take a swing at the pinata!






The yummy cake from Aunt Lauri!




The birthday girl getting ready to "sample" her birthday cake, as the onlookers wait and see what she is going to do.





Carly's hair blowing in the wind on her big day!












Jade's chalk drawing! WOW!






Mary, Lisa, and Lani enjoying the birthday festivities.






Jade and Celeste are taking it all in.




Thanks to Megan and Stephanie for organizing the children for the birthday pinata!



Well, it is official Carly is now one! We hosted a barbeque in honor of her big day. Many of our friends, and a handful of family came to celebrate with her. In between raindrops we ate, batted the pinata, swam, had sack races, and ate some more. Thanks to all who made her birthday so special. We are so fortunate to have such great friends here!


Her Aunt Lauri's cake was a first birthday hit, but not until the day after did she find interest.


The favorite decoration was the chalk drawing Jade made on the basement door. See photo:)

Her favorite birthday gift arrived with the Sallisburys, a baby pool filled with plastic balls. We had our very own Chuckie Cheese ball pit :).

The best moment was watching Carly sleep through the kids opening HER birthday gifts.

The scariest moment was seeing Dave's face when he realized he had to jump into the pool with his clothes on because Connor forgot his to put his arm floaties on.

The kids had a wonderful time. We have more video than pictures, but enjoy the photos!

Vancouver Island Trip

After taking 380 pictures on the trip, here are just a few for you to enjoy! The details of our trip can be found after the pictures.

Sister-in-law Sandy and I at the beach... pretending to be babes :)
Cutest BABE on the beach!
Okay... maybe this is the cutest BABE with her Opa!
Carly enjoying a Mr. Freeze pop for the first time.
Carly and Auntie Sandy "cheesin" for the camera!

Cousins Casey and Carson Swimming at the lake!!

The cousins, minus Carly!
Carly in her favorite chair, that used to be her daddy's chair when he was little.
Ellie and Caitlin with their faces painted up.
The Family at Elk Falls, minus Dawn and Taryn (they were shopping for Taryn's camp week).
The boys and Dad!

Carson riding with Daddy and Opa on Betsy at Marine Harvest.
Looking at the Salmon at Marine Harvest where Opa works.
Hanging out at the ocean checking out the starfish.
Watching the cruise ships come by the pier, which is not far from Opa and Oma's house.
Carson as pleased as can be after riding the water taxi.

Ahhh, vacation...
Let's bury Auntie Chrissy and leave her here!
Opa and Oma with the Ohio Koomen grandchildren.
The adults enjoying a nice dinner together.
Opa and Carson at the pier.

Carson waiting for the ferry to leave the dock.
More Koomen kids!
Putt-putt golfing before going to the beach.
Oma and Opa in the Canada Day parade, on their tandem with the bike club.
Carson and Caitlin pose on Miracle Beach.

This is it! We made a 10 day journey to visit Jason's parents, brothers, sister-in-laws, and neices and nephews on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. In order to get there, we drove 3 hours, took two planes, had one Minneapolis layover, one overnight stay in Seattle, a car ride, a BC Ferry ride, and a final car ride once we got on the Island.

So for the travels we took to get there... we did the following:

- Surprised Oma (since she did not even know we were coming)

- Celebrated Oma's 60th birthday with quite a bash.

- We went to the lake to swim and play in the sand.

- Visited Opa at Marine Harvest, which is where he works. They raise Salmon there, and it is quite an operation.

- Went to the ocean to play in the sand a little more... getting sand in places you did not know existed more than one time was just not enough. Besides, Carly did not eat the sand until we got to the ocean, and we must experience that once in our lives.

- Celebrated Canada Day on July 1st, with a festival and watching Opa and Oma bike on their tandem in the parade.

- Walked on the pier and watched the cruise ships sail past.

- Went on a water taxi to Quadra Island to eat lunch at April Point Resort. We saw a seaplane land, seals in the water, and giant starfish.

- We went to Elk Falls and hiked through the forest, which made Auntie Sandy very nervous since heights are not her thing.

- We celebrated cousin Sam's birthday with a pinata, scavenger hunt, and cake.

- Caitlin spent countless hours playing and sleeping over with her favorite cousin, Ellie.

- Carson got to see and experience so many modes of transportation, that he thought heaven was right there on the Island.

- Carly fell in love with her OPA!

- We took a family picture of all 15 of us together for the first time in 8 years!! Since our last time together we have added 6 grandchildren, for a total of 7.

We had an awesome time there and we will not wait so long to go back. Caitlin, Carson, and Carly were awesome travelers and had a fun time with their cousins.

We took the same adventure home, minus the hotel stay... so you can only imagine the tired group that we were arriving back in Findlay.