The Wilds

Jon's Father's Day present this year was a trip to The Wilds.  I had reserved a yurt for us to spend the night, and we were going to get a safari tour, and in the morning Jon was going to go on a fishing trip while I sat on the deck and read a book.  It was fantastic.  First, I was surprised by the quality of the food.  Having been to a party at the zoo, I was nervous about the catering that was included since this place is owned by the Columbus Zoo, but it was FANTASTIC.  Organic and local food prepared by a chef.  We ate well.  We were some of the youngest people at the yurts, but we enjoyed meeting and talking to the others around a campfire that overlooked a big lake at night.  The yurts weren't air conditioned and we had great weather for a July weekend - it wasn't too hot - but we were told they are vented and have heaters, so they are good from May to September or October, when they are open.  Our safari tour on Friday evening was a ton of fun - I got a lot of great pictures, and Jon loved fishing on Saturday morning.  Meanwhile, I had a leisurely breakfast and then read a book in the peace and quiet...I almost didn't know what to do with myself : )  This little getaway was fantastic for us to hang out and have fun together.

 

 

Camel

Rhino



On Safari!

Giraffes

Catfish - lots and lots of catfish

 

Lots of lakes - filled in after coal miners finished with the area.

Jon is planning his next fishing trip.

Cheetah

More Giraffes

 

Zebra



 

Ostrich

Our Yurt

Sunset campfire overlooking The Wilds



The Yurts Wooded Area



Last Day @ the Beach

We had such a wonderful trip to the beach.  Mom and Dad got tee-shirts for them and the kids for some fun pictures.

Peyton did not want to be in the picture

Hannah & Liam are such good buddies

Lauren wanted to be buddies with Peyton, but Peyton wanted her mommy

 

 

Hannah finally got comfortable in the water

Hanging out in the basement on the last day.  The fun experience of the trip was the A/C breaking on Friday - at first we thought it was a little problem, but after workers came, we discovered one of the units went totally out -- the unit for the upstairs, with the bedrooms.  So they put small window units in the bedrooms for the overnight, but the house had such an open floor plan, it really didn't do much.  It was SO HOT.  Ugh.  But, at least we had a pool in the backyard.

Jon decided that rather than spend an entire day driving home, he'd rather just drive all night, so Saturday evening after dinner we packed the car and hit the road.  12 hours later, we arrived home.  Lauren was only cranky for a little bit....we missed one exit and ended up driving through downtown Norfolk....and around Williamsburg Hannah insisted she had to pee, so we got off at the next exit, which was the Busch Gardens Exit, which meant that we had to drive forever to get to Williamsburg, and then Hannah decided she wanted a snack more than to go potty.....after that, we didn't stop until Beckley, WV.  Jon did a great job getting us home and letting everyone else sleep.  I'm so glad he is a night owl.  I fall asleep as soon as I stop moving : )

Mini Golf

Jon, Karen & I took Liam, Hannah & Peyton mini-golfing for the first time.  Liam was a pro -- but his dad loves to golf and got him started early : )  Hannah required a little bit of assistance to get the hang of things, but we actually made it through a shady course....and we got there right when they opened in the morning before it got crowded -- otherwise people would definitely have complained about the amount of time we spent per hole!

Clearly Uncle Brian didn't teach this girl how to hold her clubs.....

Daddy tires to work with Hannah on her stance...

Peyton was not a fan of the kiddie club that they offered her....so she didn't make it very far into the course.  Her dad has some more work to do to make her a golfer!