August part 1: Staycation and prepping for homeshcool

 Sean took the first week of August off and it was so nice to have a whole week together. We didn't go anywhere which felt lame, but we got a lot done at home. Especially since we were planning to start homeschool and I wanted the basement ready and Sean had lots of projects to help the space be ready.  His big project was to build shelves in the walk in closet. He also needed to assemble the air hockey table, and mount the tent swing on the ceiling. I decorated the walls with polka dot stickers and hung the art we had bought/framed. The basement space has turned out to be a fantastic homeschool area and a great play space for the kids. We decided to go ahead and finish the bedroom down there, we hired Van to do the framing, sheetrock, insulation,HVAC  and texture. We will do the rest. Right now it has the framing, electrical, and HVAC complete. 

Although we worked super hard during our vacation week, we also had some fun! We got take out from kneaders, ate out at pizza pie cafe, and went to Cherry Hill and Boondocks. 

When I was younger I always heard Cherry Hill water park being advertised on the radio. I finally looked it up this year and it looked like a ton of fun! We made a reservation (since they only let a certain number of people in because of Covid). It was a hot day and we got there right at 10 when the park opened. We put on sunscreen and started swimming. We loved the pirate splash pad pool, the normal pool, the water slides, and especially the lazy river! We swam till noon and then paused to get some lunch. The park had some great options. The kids and I got pizza, Sean got a burger and fries, and we had huge snow cones! We ate on the grass and rested for a bit. We reapplied sunscreen and then went back to swimming. We spent most of the afternoon in the lazy river and Alana felt really brave and went off with Brett for a while. We were all in the lazy river together, just floating at different speeds. We were getting tired and feeling done so we went to the pirate pool and then the regular pool one last time. I was feeling like I was burning on my back and figured it was just a really hot day and we would be done soon. By the time I went to change, my skin was so so so red! I was the last to reapply sunscreen at lunch time and I think the spray was gone. My poor white back was crispy red! We let the kids pick a toy in the gift shop and then bought some cold lemonades for the ride home. What a fun day it was. My burn kept getting worse over the next few days. Like blisters and peeling and having to take 4 motrin every 8 hours just so I could move without being in excruciating pain! I made sure to show the kids how bad the burn was to help them understand the importance of sunscreen. I think I will have the tan line of my swimsuit on my back forever now! We plan to go next year again since we had such a great time. Next year I will plan to bring a cooler with lots of cold drinks, and I will put sunscreen lotion on every inch of my skin! 

We also went to boondocks and played lots of games. We ate a yummy lunch there and then did some fun mini golf! 

Other fun things from the first part of August included watching Lily be baptized through zoom, attending Lincoln Saffrons baby blessing, playing with new school manipulatives, getting so many mail packages with school stuff, watching lots of movies and shows, and trying to stay cool in the 100 degree weather.