A FUN FAMILY LABOR DAY WEEKEND

As part of the sabbatical, we spent Labor Day weekend with children and grandchildren. Our generous friends offered the use of their condo in Hidden Valley and so we were able to be together Friday evening through Monday noon. For folks scattered geographically and tugged every which way by family and job responsibilities this time together was a rare and precious treat. The group included Lee and Deb; Jason, Lisa, Leah and Caitlyn, from New Wilmington, PA; and Rob, Alexa and Connor from St. Louis. Here’s an overview.

On Saturday we enjoyed Idlewild and SoakZone. Idlewild is billed as the best kids’ amusement park in the country and we had fun riding all the great rides. Here’s a pic of Caitlyn on the Merry Go Round and Deb and Caitlyn at Mac 2 on the Scrambler with Rob and Lisa in the background. Heretofore Caitlyn has been a little skeptical of amusement park rides, but no longer!  She wanted to do even the scary ones again and again.

We had a picnic lunch then part of our group went to SoakZone and the others stayed riding the rides at Idlewild.

Sunday was a rainy day so we played games, read, talked, got into the hot tub between the raindrops, watched movies and enjoyed a mystifying magic show by Leah that evening. Left to right in the hot tub pic are Connor, Leah, Lisa and Lee. Caitlyn and Alexa are in the second pic watching safely from the side.

Monday we went to Caddie Shak and rode the go carts, shot paintball, tried our hand at the batting cage, played in the arcade, got soaked on the bumper boats and finished up with a great game of putt putt golf. Fun was had by all! Here’s a pic of Lisa and Connor and one of Rob and Connor playing a game back at home base.

We ate in every night and that was part of the fun, with everyone pitching in. It was wonderful to be together and great to experience the wilderness beauty of Western Pennsylvania.

Monday after returning from Caddie Shak we cleaned the condo, packed up and everyone headed home, greatly fulfilled and more than a little tired. What fun!