Shaylin's Visit

Well, this post is only two months past due. LOL! I have gotten really bad about this, but I am bound and determined to continue to blog the events in our life, even if they are WAY past due.

My beautiful niece, Shaylin, turned 16 in May and for her birthday I gave her the option of either taking three of her friends to Warp[ed Tour in Denver or flying out to Ohio and going to Warped Tour with Scott and I. For some unknown reason, she picked coming to Ohio over her friends. I think it must mean she loves us!

Anyhow, her visit happened the first week of August, and it was so great to get to spend some time with her. Since I moved to PA in 2005 I haven't seen my family as much as I used to, and I really miss them, especially the kids.

Shay got in during the wee hours of the morning on a Monday, so while I was at work, she spent the day sleeping.

Tuesday rolled around and Scott and I made good on our promise to take her to Warped Tour and after getting stuck in traffic for forever, we finally made it to the show just in time to see one of the bands she wanted to see, Attack Attack! The main bands we saw included August Burns Red (way too hard for my taste), Reliant K (I was stocked to see them, but the set up of the stage was horrible), and A Day to Remember (Shay's favorite band). It was super hot and I have sadly realized that I am WAY too old to go to Warped Tour. However, it was nice to share the experience with my Shady Sides.

The first part of her visit was chalk full of activities, so on Wednesday we went to Zoombezi Bay with Scott's mom and step dad. It was a perfect day for it. It wasn't too hot and there weren't too many people there. Scott and Shaylin pretty much were slide buddies for the day while I hang out with Zoey and Bev. I did get to go on a couple slides with Shay. I think the consensus was that the bowl slide was the best. I took Zoey in the lazy river and the shallow end of the wave pool. She really didn't know what to think of either, and wasn't a big fan. She especially hated the wave pool after a big wave took us out!

Other adventures during her time with use included going to a book signing for one of the indie authors that Scott did a review for on his blog. Shay and I had a fun time giving him a hard time, but it was actually pretty nice for him to be able to go meet one of the authors he reviewed.

Of course we also made a trip to the zoo, because well that's what I do. LOL!

Shaylin also had her first taste of Chipotle!

We also went to COSI for the Dinosaur exhibit, which I must say was very disappointing. However, we at least got a cute picture of Shay and Zoey as dinosaurs.

While Shay was out, I took the opportunity to get her pictures taken. I think they turned out really nice.

It was really great to have Shay out for 10 days. Zoey enjoyed hanging out with her cousin, but was very sad to see her go.