The aftermath and some hiking

Sunday after church Martin ,Jennie, anf Kelten left for home. After the testimony eggs, Grandma B left with Mima and PopPop. Tonya's family stayed the evening because she wasn't feeling well and stayed to rest. Dustin had to stay back to work so she had to drive by herself. The excitement and craziness of the weekend hit us and we were all struggling to keep our eyes open.
Grandma didn't know the consequences of falling asleep. Anything's fair game if you try to nap on a couch!

She eventually gave up trying to rest.  We left the kids under Katy's care while Tonya rested and Jared and I took his parents on a driving tour of the area.  The next day we decided to go to Oglebay to explore.  It started to drizzle as we were leaving and by the time we went a couple miles up the mountain the light drizzle of rain turned to blowing huge snowflake.  We almost turned back but decided to persevere.  We found a nature center and stopped but unfortunately it didn't open for another hour.  We decided to go on some of the trails near the center.  We hiked for about 2 hours on 3 different trails.  We didn't see anyone else until the very end.  I guess we were the only crazies hiking during the snow.  But actually, the snow stopped shortly after we started and it turned out to be a decent day.

Grandpa pretending to find water with sticks

Grandpa getting his arms torn off while helping kids across the mud



Grandma with Bella who against all odds was the most calm of the kids that day

Grandpa and Jacob at the waterfall

We explored the nature center for awhile.  It was really nice.  The kids favroite part was the puppet theater with animals of all types.  Xandy did a great job at an impromptu narration for their show.

 

After the hike the kids played on the playground for awhile.  Poor Katy is at that hard stage where the playground just isn't as fun as it used to be, but she still kinda wants to play and have fun.  Then Grandma and I checked out the gift shops.  By that point we had missed lunch by several hours and we were all famished but Jared wanted to try a famous local pizza place when he got home for work.  We ended up stopping at Wendy's for Jr cheeseburgers, small frosties, and shared fries. 
Our next stop was Cabela's or as Jacob calls it the "Boy Store".  We enjoyed seeing animals both alive and stuffed.   I think Jacob could spend all day in their and not get bored.  There were kayaks in the front in all of the kids favorite colors. Xandy said it was meant to be and I should buy them each one.  Yeah right, I wish!

We got home just in time to make some fudge and start the mandarin cake frosted with whipped pineapple topping.  It was a copycat recipe for the delicious cake we had for Katy's bday.  We ate it before it chilled and it was just ok.  I had some leftover the next day and it was MUCH better.  Maybe not quite as good as Marilyn's bakery but pretty darn close.  When Jared came home we headed to the pizza place only to find out it is closed on Mondays so we ended up at pizza hut.  It was a fun but exhausting day. 

Before Grandpa and Grandma left the next morning, Jacob and I went to Coleman's Fish market with them to try their sandwiches.  I was not super impressed.  Maybe I'll have to give them another chance and try something else but so far, I'm not sure what all the hype is about.