Third of July at Oglebay

We had a great time on our second annual Independence Day at Oglebay. First, we had to go to the lodge to get our activities pass for the day.  We had a little time to spare before we had to be at the environmental center, so we went to the park.

 Playing tag with Daddy

Trying so hard to get a good picture

 of all of us

Then we went on the Journey to the Center of the Earth, a geological tour with the Oglebay naturalist.  The kids go to touch lots of fossils and learn some things about rocks, then we went for our hike.

We saw the small sandstone waterfall, and the huge chunk that had broken off during a hurricane in the 80's.  

Paul got to chisel out a piece of shale.  He was very excited.

We watched the naturalist demonstrate that hydrochloric acid will effervesce on limestone but not sandstone because of the carbon stored in it.  

Then we checked into the hotel and had a picnic in our awesome room.

 We stopped at the inflatables on the way down to the zoo.  We learned last year that they were crazy expensive, so the kids got to choose their one free bounce and then we moved on to the zoo.

The kids were complaining about being hot, and Paul had just gotten over a fever, so we stuck to the inside activities...

and the train.

Then it was time for our "fancy dinner" at the lodge.  The kids played in the mirror while we waited outside for a couple minutes.

Mmm, chocolate milk.

And, Joy passed out in my lap at dinner.  And hardly ate any of her mac and cheese.

After dinner, we went to the pool.  The kids made friends and had fun.

Then, it was time for fireworks.  Joy was calling for the fireworks to start.  Joy was afraid of them again this year and watched them inside with Shawn while Paul and I watched from the balcony.  We all enjoyed them.

The kids were so delirious during their night time movie.  Their heads were bobbing and weaving about.

Daddy, the twp handed tooth brusher.

We had our free breakfast at the lodge and then we decided to take the nature hike again on our own this morning.  

Shawn and Paul walked down to explore the big falls.  Paul got his hair wet under them.  

We played in the rocks above the waterfall.

Then, we went swimming at the lodge again and ate pizza at the grill.  

This was the state of the children when we arrived home:)