Happy Summer everyone!! We Nathlichs are on a quest this summer for the ultimate adventure - thrill seekers that we are... so here's what we've tried so far.
Memorial Day weekend at Viva Vienna - we started out nice and slow. We met Auntie Em and Nana and tried the Ferris Wheel. As you can see I took it in stride and tried to find the joy in the sheer height - but Hayley was generally not impressed...
The fam went for a race down the slide.
Because it was nothing short of 95 degrees that weekend - we took a timeout to refuel with a little frozen custard from our all time favorite custard shop. This was my first ice cream cone experience and while it was a tad challenging, I didn't let much of that thing go to waste (or - for that matter - I didn't let much of that thing go to mom!)
Also: here's a new Abby trick - giving you the thumbs up while saying "Yeah, DUDE!"
We'll blow this picture up nice and large so you're sure to see the THRILL SEEKING look on Hayley's face. And so you can deduce that there is nothing "mom" about this photo. This is a 100% Daddy idea. Here's the back story. Dad had the morning off. Mom went for a run. In a way that only dad's can do it was decided that Abby should be outside (in her pajamas) and that she should run behind the car pushing me at top speeds while I giggled hysterically. (In fairness to our father, he is in front of the car, ready to bring it to a safe stop).
Now - Mom gets home, sees this scene and all she can picture are the 100's of safety concerns: Abby tripping and busting open her chin. Hayley falling out or crashing at the bottom of the hill. But no. We continue to have the time of our life. Mom's a worrier. Dad's a hero.
Sidebar from Mom: WHHYYYY is that ALWAYS the case?!?!
We went back to the fair with our friends Cassie and Erika. Look at my thrill seeking face. Even my horse can't believe the wild ride. Cassie's cool as a cucumber... she must do this thrill seeking stuff a lot.
Erika and I didn't feel this was much of a thrill seeking event. I mean, I've been on a hundred of these horse rides. No big thing. So we practiced my super model wave. And Erika helped me take it to the next step: she taught me the paparazzi block. See how you block your face with your wave? Such skill. I'm still working on it...
This girl is pure genius. She now blocks her face with the rail of the carousal. Pure. GENIUS.
So then school got out for summer and we were able to commit more fully to our thrill seeking missions. Gabby, Mom, Hayley and I went with our buddies Tucker and Evan to their grandparents house in Williamsburg and spent two glorious mornings at Busch Gardens! Since they go there all the time they knew all the secret ins and outs of the park. The Sesame part of the park was geared for pre-schoolers, and I ruled that place. Here's Gabby and me getting ready to ride the Tower of TERROR - actually - they call it Prince Elmo's Spire so as not to scare off the little kids.
Gabby looks a little nervous - and that Grandma lady we don't know looks terrified -so I am giving everyone a calming Thumbs Up DUDE!
When a lot of people saw the picture Mom put on Facebook of our adventure in these crazy harnesses they thought it was just a place to go pose - you know - fake. You know. Calm. You know - NOT thrill seeking. So here's a picture to prove that this ride was legit. It went up - and down - and I was not scared one bit - I hung my head over the edge just for an extra THRILL.
Day 2. We'd get to the park so early there wouldn't be any lines. So the ride would stop and I'd call out my most famous sentence right now, "ONE MORE!" and without even having to get off - we'd do ONE MORE.
Sure the harness is pretty much the size of my body - but I LOVED it. I'm getting to be a big signer now too - and when the ride would finish I'd look at Mom and Gabby and start furiously signing "MORE!"
All through the Sesame section they played Sesame tunes. So I took many opportunities to stop, sing and dance. Often when standing in line and everyone else would move forward. I would not move forward. I can't be bothered to follow societal norms when I am overtaken by the need to groove to a little "C is for Cookie".
Then SUDDENLY, what to my wondering eyes should appear - but Elmo!! Grover! Abby Cadabby!
I was pretty much stunned. As was Gabby. This was the ultimate thrill for both of us.
I was generally unimpressed. Or at least I had to act that way.
When we'd ridden every Sesame ride a minimum of 6 times each - we were off to explore the rest of the park. That's the back of my head and Tucker flying balloon #7 - ALONE!
Do Abby and I look bored here? That's because we were. This was seriously the SLOWEST swing ride EVER. Our mom pushes us faster at the park. This ride is so boring the ride operator would call out "WEEEEE" each time we went by just to keep himself awake and try to pretend that he doesn't run the least thrilling ride at the park.
So our next adventure was up to Connecticut to visit Grandma and Grandpa. I took Hayley off to my favorite "Playground by the Sound" and tried to show her the THRILL of my favorite slide.
I was okay with it - but I just don't love it like Abby does. Abby would go up and down 150 times if they let her...
Talk about thrill seeking - I like to ride the big girl swing now!!
Swinging is my favorite thing at any park.
I love climbing. And maybe you can't tell in the picture - but this thing moves around a great deal AND it was super high - taller than mom. And after trying it catiously once or twice I'd scoot right up that thing.
While we were in Connecticut we got to spend a lot of time with our good friends Emma, Matthew, Johnny and Lila. Emma and Matthew took us for a ride on their big raft.
I like to lean back and live on the edge. You know. Wild Child.
Abby looks a little partied out to me.
I'm not partied out, Hayley - it's just that running and jumping are more my style...
Emma would go underwater and then pop up and spit water at me. It was the MOST fantastic game EVER!
CUTE!!
So as you can see we've had a pretty thrilling start to our summer - and there's just more and more fun to come!
Abby started Extended School Year (aka: Summer school) this week - it meets in the mornings and runs for 4 weeks. Since she's a social butterfly she is loving it. She finishes up in August and then a week later we're off to Michigan.
Just after our last blog post, within 48 hour Hayley went from "I don't really move at all on my own" to crawling, sitting herself up, standing herself up and cruising around at the speed of light. She now needs 3 seconds max to make it to a flight of stairs OR the dog's water dish. I taught her well. For right now - she's not walking on her own- but we're guessing that will work the same way... "Nothing" to "All in" before Mom and Dad can even figure out what hit 'em!
We hope you're enjoying your summers too!
