Memorial Day weekend is always heralded as the beginning of summer. This year it feels like it is also the beginning of our return to normalcy. Covid cases continue to decline and vaccines continue to increase and all mask and distance mandates end in the state of Ohio on Wednesday. Ready or not, here we go...
What better place to celebrate reopening and summertime than Waldameer? Our annual start-of-summer trip was cancelled last year like everything else, so we were ON it this year, getting our trip in before school has even ended for half of our group. We also brought along twice as many children. Ivy was thrilled to have Lillian and Naomi for company for the day, and we thought Jack would have more fun with friends, too. We opened up the invite to the Ski Club crew and had three takers to ride along with us, plus another friend who would be in Erie at his grandparents and could meet the boys there. It was so much fun to have the van full of kiddos. I enjoyed the chance to get to know Jack's friends a little more (I still like them!) and they had SO much fun together.
To add a little more adventure to our day (how can you top a van-full of middle schoolers, right?) we managed to get a flat tire one mile from the exit where we were going to meet Melinda and Will (and transfer Ivy into the "girls" van). Nothing like dealing with changing a tire on a new-to-us vehicle on the side of the highway with 5 eager kiddos sitting in the van... Thankfully our friend pulled up behind us a few minutes later and helped. As did Adam, the guy we called at Firestone who helped us locate our lug-nut-lock unlocking device (in the glovebox, of course) and saved the day. While we waited for our new tire, the boys wandered about, looking for "hooliganery" as Jack termed it. They were pleased to find a nonworking oil rig and some bamboo sticks they could sword fight with, so it wasn't the worst detour. We were at Waldameer by 12:45 and all was well with the world.
The parents hardly knew what to do with themselves all day, with ALLL the kiddos off on their own at the park. We rode the swings and the Ferris Wheel, had funnel cake and french fries, walked from one appointed kid meet-up time and location to another, and spent a surprising amount of time camped out on a strip of grass next to the parking lot, enjoying food and adult beverages from our cooler, talking, and enjoying the sun. Who could ask for more?
Dinner at Sara's of course, and then a quick stop at Presque Isle beach in the slanting evening light while the girls rode the coasters two more times.
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