{bay beach}

My child has been to Bay Beach countless times in his short seven (almost eight) years so far and yet none of those times happened to be with his momma or daddy! Can you believe it?!

Well, we remedied that this week and Ayden and I joined some of Jay's family members on a day trip to Bay Beach. For those of you reading this not familiar with Wisconsin or what Bay Beach is... it is a small amusement park in the Green Bay area. The majority of it is geared towards younger kids, but there is definitely a fair share of rides for the older kids as well... plus a new wooden rollercoaster.

Little man and I went with Jay's mom, his grandma and grandpa, two aunts, and their three kiddos and we had a great time! Jay's grandparents paid for the tickets and I think they only spent $20. We are talking 25 cents per ticket, with most rides costing only 1 ticket. I mean, we got to ride on the Scrambler for 50 cents. Who can beat that? Like really!

The last time that Ayden was at Bay Beach he didn't go on the Zippin' Pippin' which is the new rollercoaster, but I told him that he needed to go on it with me this time and as we were waiting in line he was getting pretty nervous. I was anxious about him enjoying it as well because he really hasn't grown to love rollercoasters as much as his mom and dad just yet (we are working on that, hehe). He had previously gone on a metal rollercoaster down in Wisconsin Dells that was smaller and he seemed to enjoy that one so I thought he might like this one... plus it was a ride that I could enjoy too. Most of the rides at Bay Beach just go around in a circle and my stomach can only take so much of that. 

During our first ride on the coaster I couldn't tell if Ayden was laughing or crying through the whole thing. I was hoping for the first and was excited to hear him say 'that was awesome, let's do that again' as soon as the ride stopped! He may take after his momma and daddy more than we think! We rode the coaster once more and during the second time we sat in the second row. We could have sat in the first, but Ayden wasn't quite that brave. He loved it just as much the second time as the first! I cannot wait for him to get older and for all of us to get to go to Great America together!

Jay's younger cousin, Quinn, was my best buddy yesterday. I think it was mainly because I was the only one willing to give him a piggy back ride, but that's okay. I'll take what I can get, hehe! It's so great to see him and Ayden play together now. There is a four year age difference between them, but the older they get the smaller that gap actually is and it is so refreshing. We don't get to see Quinn, his mom, dad, or brothers too often because they live in Iowa, but when we do it is always a treat! They came over to our house last night for a while after we got home from Bay Beach and the boys played together. I love watching Ayden play with his cousins!

It is no different when Ayden and his cousin Baden get together. We saw him and his family a couple of weeks ago (they live in Madison, so we don't get to see them all that often either) and Ayden and Baden picked up like they had just seen each other the day before when in fact they probably hadn't seen each other since Christmas time. They are too cute together. Baden is actually exactly two months older than Ayden. And I love that their names are so close together. Ah, family... guess I picked a mighty good one to marry into! I hope Jay feels the same way about mine, although we tend to see his family a lot more than mine... which for the most part I am okay with.

I have to say that sometime last week we went out to my grandma and grandpa's house for a fish fry supper and a lot of my aunts and uncles were there and I really had a great time. That is something I definitely missed living in Stevens Point, those spur of the minute family get togethers... the ones that never seem to happen on my mom's side of the family, but are always occurring on my dad's and both of Jay's sides of the family. Not that it means my mom's side of the family loves each other any less, but I think anyone who is reading this that actually knows me in real life will get what I am saying. It's just kind of how it is. 

I am having a Lia Sophia party tonight and the number of people in attendance is going to be quite low, but I suppose that that is okay. I tried to invite a lot of people, but apparently everyone has something going on tonight, lol! I love when 'sorry I cannot attend' really means you don't want to attend. I get that they are being polite and I'm okay with them not coming, really I am, because there have definitely been times where family members have had parties that I didn't want to go to and thus didn't. For the majority of it though, I had an easy out because most parties were held during the week and were an hour and a half away from me, so it was harder for me to go... not to mention costly gas wise. I'm just excited to be helping my friend start her business and to see a friend and classmate that I haven't in a while! And to buy some jewelry too!

This weekend I am helping photograph a wedding with the lady who is going to be photographing our wedding and who does our family pictures. I am in LOVE with her style of photography and am over the moon excited for her to take our wedding pictures. I am also excited to be helping her out with a few wedding this summer and one in the winter as well. Then on Sunday I have a family photoshoot to do as well. Actually, I have photoshoots this weekend, next weekend, and the weekend after that. Pretty excited! I have one booked in August right now and then another wedding on September. I don't know that I will book anymore in August, just because the other weekends are already pretty booked with fun things, like camping, more camping, and then Ayden's 8th birthday party. Eight years old, ugh, don't want to think about that right now.

I'm still try to get some pictures uploaded from camping and our Bay Beach trip, just like with boating, hopefully soon!

CIAO! LOVE ME!