sitting on the patio

it's after dinner sunday night and the hubs and i are sitting on the patio w/ our laptops, which, btw, are our birthday presents to each other : )

yesterday we took the kids to carowinds. it's an amusement park here that straddles the nc/sc border. we've been once, years ago, i think before we had kids. we tried to take the girl there either before kindergarten started or when it ended and had a total chevy chase wallyword moment because we drove all the way there (almost 2 hours) and the damn thing was closed.

when we left saturday morning we kept it as a surprise for the kids. though the day could have been much, much better, i think we all had fun despite the park. the lines for rides were atrocious. we didn't get to ride any of the big roller coasters--the lines for those had to be at least two hours long. we rode two or three rides, waiting as long as an hour at those. the park also has a huge water park and i think that's really where we had most fun. there's a wave pool, lots of water slides (lines too long there as well) water parks with flowers or things shooting water all over the place and one in particular that had a little water slide and a factory type set up w/ pipes shooting water, buckets dropping water, etc. we all enjoyed it. just as that part of the park was starting to close it starting clouding up to rain. we left the park around 7 or 7:30 and actually got out of the parking lot and on our way home about an hour later. it was a giant parking lot cluster fuck. we got home around 11 last night, totally wiped out.

i don't know if it's because it's the only park around here or because it's older or what, but the service and amenities were horrible. seriously, the people who work in the park could not have been less friendly or helpful. i expected over-priced food and was ready for that, but we ate lunch in the park and for the four of us it was $50. for crap! you can't bring in outside food/drinks of course so you are a hostage. i just wonder if all amusement parks are such a total rip off?

anyway, they had fun, we had fun and overall it was a good day. not too hot or humid or anything.

today the hubs and i slept in. normally i'm up on the weekends by 10 but i actually slept until 12:30. i woke up sore though--don't know if it was from being thrashed around in the wave pool, each of us trying to hold on to a kid on an inner tube, or what, but i felt each of my almost 40 years : )

this afternoon we went to my grandma's house and my folk's house in a (vain) attempt to collect more information for the family tree the hubs is working on.

lord---maw-maw couldn't remember diddly squat, and the information she did remember wasn't correct. she tried to tell us that my grandpa was going to volunteer for the navy and then after going on a cruise (uh, really? a cruise?) the FBI came to get him because they thought he was a deserter. unkay. she also tried to tell us that her great grandparents were the ones who immigrated from ireland and england (when the funeral home records we found say otherwise).

she also is concerned that houses are going to burn down because they don't have enough insulation in the attics so we need to put asbestos in them.

i can only assume this is dementia since she's never been diagnosed with alzheimer's, but my other grandma did have alzheimer's (as did a great grandma) so i'm fairly certain there's no hope for me in this regard.

in 11 days i will be 40 years old. i'm working on a post for that auspiscious occassion. things i've learned in 40 years : )