Kings Dominion With the Cousins

Our neice and nephews all have summer birthdays, so we decided to treat them to a day at KD with us. They were all so well behaved and entertaining the whole day. I worried about what we might have gotten ourselves into spending a day at an amusement park with our little ones plus two pre-teens and a teenager, but it turned out to be a great (though hot) day. We even had someone to ride the roller coasters with that Kenzi's not yet tall enough for, so we had fun rediscovering some of our old favorite rides, plus trying out new ones.

Waiting while the others enjoy a ride he's too short for.

The Ricochet has hairpin turns that give me nausea and a headache, so Jonmark always takes Kenzi on this one! There they are in the front seat going down the little 50-foot drop.


Nap time

Kenzi's checking out the newest roller coaster, the Intimidator 305, the tallest and fastest roller coaster on the East Coast. I wouldn't try it (on this day) because of the first hill and because of claims that many riders were suffering black outs due to the speed (supposedly over 90 mph), so Jonmark took our neice and nephews on it. He'd been dying to ride it all summer, but it was always so crowded at the entrance and there was hardly any wait this time.

There's the first hill at 305 feet tall. The view from up there is amazing! I know because our next trip to Kings Dominion a week or two later, I rode it for the first time, and they were all right, it's an awesome ride. No crazy side effects for any of us either.

Giving the new Snoopy a hug. This was the first year for the Peanuts gang at KD.

Junior Turnpike, where the kids drive these cars around a little town, complete with stoplights and gas stations.

Catching a ride on the oldest cousin's shoulders.

Camping

This was our first camping trip as a family, and since tent camping with 3 kids worried me a little, we decided to rent a camper (travel trailer). With a lot of excitement from the kids, we drove up to Northern VA on a Thursday evening to pick it up, and left Friday to meet several college friends and their families for a weekend of fun at Douthat State Park (what a beautiful place!).

After hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, the sun was setting and it was time for our first Smores experience. Mykenzi really enjoyed roasting the marshmallows.

Cohen enjoyed plain graham crackers.

Camden ended up with an unexplained fever that night, so I took him back to the camper to rest that night, hoping he'd be good to go in the morning. He was fine the next morning.

Cereal at the picnic table ended with the kids sliding down this pole.

He was pretty proud and excited that he did it!

We spent the morning on a beach playing in the sand and the lake. A rainstorm shortly after we arrived delayed those plans a little bit, and we left to get ice cream, then came back for a few hours of playing.

The kids loved this playground in the middle of the beach just as much as they loved playing in the sand and swimming.

Back at the camp site to ride bikes and run and play while waiting for dinner.

I have no idea what he was looking at or what caused this expression.

On the way home, we stopped along I-64 to stretch our legs and enjoy the view.

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We all enjoyed our first camping experience, and we'll be doing it again!

4th of July Fireworks in Colonial Beach

We tried to sit along the side of the road on the golf cart to watch the fireworks. I even set up my tripod there to shoot the fireworks over the water (really pretty), but Cohen was really unhappy about something so we went back to watch them from my parents backyard.

Cohen's 1st Birthday

1 year old, already

Apparently he didn't want to go swimming on his first birthday.

Mykenzi's idea of jumping into the pool is holding onto the side and hopping in.

More makeup

Her daddy says she looks like Mimi from the Drew Carey show.