Potty Party

Last night, Kaelyn and I had a potty party!!!!

She tends to enjoy being naked in the evenings and I tend to let her. This can be a problem when she has to go potty, however. Last night, I took her diaper off at like 6pm. So I decided to follow her around EVERYWHERE with the potty chair. If she needed to go, I was GOING to catch her! :) Or so I hoped.

So, at about 7:45, we were in the playroom and she tinkled. I didn't catch her. She gave no indication she had to go and it happened fast and that was that. Bummer, the potty chair was RIGHT there.

Then we moved into the family room and she was poking around down there again and I said, "Kaelyn, do you need to go potty again?" She said yes so I told her to sit right down on her potty chair and go...and she DID!! I couldn't BELIEVE IT! It was a small little turd, but it was a poop ON the potty and I was SO excited.

We had quite the little potty party. We got up and danced and jumped and shouted. Kaelyn was pretty excited by the little party. I also gave her a few pieces of candy and then we partied some more. You have to start somewhere!! Can't wait for our next potty party!

Branson Complete

We didn't make it out the door by 8am as we'd hoped, but we didn't do too bad! Kaelyn didn't even get up until well after 8. Both Sean and I showered and we even did two loads of laundry. The shower and laundry room are RIGHT by the closet where she slept, but nothing seemed to bother her that morning! I woke her from a dead sleep but she was excited to see me since I brought her her breakfast.

We made it on the road by 9 and had an uneventful drive. I have no idea where we stopped, but Sean dropped us at McDonald's for lunch and then went to get gas and drive through Arby's. Kaelyn dragged her diaper bag ALL the way around the restaurant...twice. Just for fun, I guess.

She only slept about 45 minutes of the drive, so that made it seem long, but she was pretty good. She watched some videos, looked at every book we brought, and played anything else we gave her. She ate her lunch in the car so that gave her something to do too. We got home at 4:30 or so after 7 1/2 hours in the car with one 20 minute break. It was worth the drive, we had a blast.

And now...we wait. 2 years until another big trip. Wisconsin Dells here we come! 2013!!!

Branson Trip-Friday

Our last full day of vacation that doesn't involve driving a looong distance. What a bummer! After we got up and ready this morning, Sean Kaelyn and I went to a few t-shirt shops to do a little shopping. We didn't find much in the short amount of time we had, but we got a pretty red shirt for Kaelyn that has Branson written in sparkly rhinestones or something. She liked it. After that short outing we had a quick lunch and everyone but my parents and Kaelyn headed to the theater for the Noah show. I had heard it was 2 1/2 hours long and there was no way I wanted to pay that much for a ticket and not get to see it so I figured it was best to leave Kaelyn behind. My parents are staying an extra day anyways so they can see it on their own then.

We arrived early at 12:15 for the behind the scenes tour, which started at 1. It was a really interesting tour that took us, well, behind the scenes. We got to see some of the sets and learn a little about how they built them. We got to stand on the stage and see some of their marks and we even got to see inside the turtle costume. The show uses live, animatronic, and costumed-people animals. The information we got on the tour made us curious to see the show. It takes them 3-5 years to build the sets, get the script and songs written etc. It's quite a production. After seeing it, we can understand why. And we also understand why it is the most expensive show in the area!

After the back stage tour, we had an hour before the show so we went to a nearby craft mall to shop around. It was lame so we didn't do much shopping, but at least it was something to do and somewhere to go for a little while.

Then, it was time for the show. The sets were simply amazing. We couldn't take pictures, of course, because it's all copywrited. But they were SO neat. They had live animals running around on stage from time to time and they led them up and down the aisles at times too. The very end of the first act was Noah and his family loading the ark so there were a lot of animals involved in that. Then, at the beginning of the first act, the revealed the set for the interior of the ark. It had stuff all the way around us on both sides. It was the coolest thing I've ever seen, set wise. The main level was real animals like camels, sheep, goats, ducks, pigs. The second and third levels were animatroinic like elephants, giraffes, penguins, etc. There were also real people in gorilla and monkey costumes. There was so much to see it was hard to know where to look.

The play itself was pretty cool and the music was nice as well, but the sets really stole the show. The theater group itself is really neat, it's all Christian based and their mission is just to spread the word of God. On the backstage tour the guide said that they have understudies and back ups for every role but it's not a competitive thing. The understudies get to go on at least once a week and be on stage because it's not about who's better, it's a higher purpose. I thought that was really neat. The whole atmosphere was very cohesive with a single purpose and it was obvious they had their stuff together and their aim in the right place. It was called Sight and Sound Theatre and I would love to see more of their plays in the future.

After the big show, we came home and ate a quick supper, took a picture in front of the house, and went swimming! It was after 7 when we got there, but it was our last chance, so we went anyways. It sounded like Kaelyn had a great nap and ate a really good supper so I figured she'd be good to go for awhile. She had a blast at the pool again and it was hard to leave.

We hope to get things packed up and hit the road first thing in the morning. We'll see how that goes! I sure don't want to go home. It'll be nice to get things organized and back in place at home, but I don't really want vacation to end. It's nice not being alone and having lots of different things to entertain Kaelyn...and me. :) But what do you do, vacation only comes every so often! Take what you can get and enjoy it while it lasts! We sure have enjoyed this one!

Branson Trip-Thursday

Kaelyn woke up rough again on Thursday due to duck loss. I need to chain those things to her wrist or something! It was a bit before 7 and I wasn't quite ready to wake up myself, but what do you do! Once she had her duck and rolled around awhile all was well. She actually got ready before most people, but once everyone was ready, we headed back to Silver Dollar City for another fun-filled day!

This time, we went to the small kids area first with the little rides. Kaelyn actually rode the frog ride with me after watching my niece and nephew ride. She just sat there the whole time, totally expressionless. I think I had more fun than her, but she didn't hate it and wasn't scared, so that was nice! She didn't seem to want to go on again, but the one time we went was great. :)

We explored a little and then it was time for the big stunt dog show that my niece was REALLY looking forward to. We all attended that and Kaelyn, again, was rather afraid at first. Before the show started she had fun going up and down the stairs but they started the show with some strobe lights and the dogs had on costumes with lights so the stadium was mostly dark. You couldn't even really see that there were dogs and it was something TOTALLY new for Kaelyn and she was just afraid. The crowd was cheering loudly on and off too so that wasn't helping. She wasn't loud about her scared-ness, though, she just burrowed her head into me and cried a little bit. After they turned the lights up and we could SEE the dogs, she seemed to enjoy it more. She started moving around, quite a bit, really, and pointing at the dogs some. She giggles a few times. Those dogs could do some neat tricks! They rode tandum bikes, skateboards, did obstacle courses, all sorts of things.

After the dog show we had lunch and headed back out for more fun! Some of them rode a water shooting boat ride, which I got to ride later and got TOTALLY soaked on. It was a fun ride, though. Something different for a water ride and pretty fun. It was sure nice that Sean and Kaelyn had a good time wandering, playing, and exploring so I could go on a few rides here and there!

There was another kids area that we didn't hit the last day we were there. Part of it was Geyser Gulch, which had squirting water, but then there was a large treehouse with all sorts of entertaining things. There were stairs to climb and slides to go down and all these foam balls to shoot at targets. Kaelyn's favorite part, other than the slides, was the foam ball pit. It was actually a small box that was just corralling the balls. I think you were supposed to take balls FROM the box and shoot them etc. But Kaelyn wanted to get IN the box and why not! She had a great time rolling around in there. She also enjoyed shooting the balls with Sean, once she realized how that worked.

We ended up back at the area that had the slide and bounce place for littler kids eventually and Kaelyn had a GREAT time there again as well. She did a lot of bouncing and went down the slide a few times. Then we went to meet the rest of the group, who had gone BACK to the dog show. My niece got a wax figure made of her hand, something she was fascinated with the day before. Then most of the group went to some farm area while my dad and I rode Thunderation, a wooden roller coaster. I didn't want to go on one that went upside down and this one, from what we could tell on the map, didn't. It was a nice roller coaster, I liked it a lot. It didn't have any major big drops and didn't go upside down either. Just lots of crazy turns and fast speeds. It was just my style. We actually rode it twice, don't tell. The lines were short and my dad's a big kid. :)

Once we met up with the group again we headed out for the day, returned to the house for a steak dinner and some went swimming while Kaelyn simmered down for bed. I'm impressed with how well she did over those two days at the amusement park, really. The second day was even better than the first. The first day she was kind of having fits when I wouldn't carry her, but the second day, I think she realized where we were and that it was a fun place etc and she knew how things worked. She didn't sleep either time, though she seemed tired for many parts of the day. But she didn't do too bad having no nap. Probably because she was highly entertained the whole time. The not napping caught up with her the next day last time, so we'll see what tomorrow is like for her! It was a special event that I do NOT plan to let happen often! She WILL nap from here on out! :) I hope. She better not realize she can get away with it and still survive. I don't know that I could survive many days of THAT much action with her in a row. But for vacation, it worked.

We're looking forward to tomorrow because it's our big Noah's Ark show day. Everyone but my parents and Kaelyn are going. I didn't want to take her to a show THAT long she may or may not like. So my parents will go Saturday on their own after we all leave. The show will take up much of the day, but we'll have the morning to do some other things.

This week is going really fast, I must say. I look forward to catching up on things at home, but after that, I think Kaelyn and I will be bored being all alone again next week with just our normal things to do! What do you do! Back to the real world!

Branson Trip-Wednesday

Wednesday we decided to take a break from the big Branson stuff and go swimming again in the morning. However, we woke up to rain. It rained and thundered overnight but I had hoped it would go away. It didn't. After awhile it let up and we checked to see if the indoor pool was open. It wasn't. The rain lightened so we went to the outdoor pool anyways and after we were in for a few minutes the rain stopped. It was cloudy and cooler, but the water was still nice and warm. Kaelyn played a little bit in the baby pool and floated with me in the big pool some, but this time, her favorite thing was the steps that went into the big pool. She would jump down the first step then walk down the next three. Then turn around and go back up again! Over and over again. There are only 4 steps so she was almost completely in the pool on her own. But going down the 4th step would have put the water over her mouth so I'm glad she never tried because I think that would have scared her. She stumbled a few times here and there and wasn't pleased so she was happy with the way things were. My dad squirted her with a water gun in the back and she thought that was funny. Maybe she's starting to get over her fear of sprinklers and shooting water. It's just unexpected to her, I guess, so she doesn't always appreciate it.

After our rainy swim we had lunch at the house and the guys were supposed to go golfing, but the rain started up again so that got put on the back burner. Poor them! :) However, an hour later, they were able to get out and go. Kaelyn woke up from her nap majorly grumpy and did a lot of screaming throughout the afternoon. That was not pleasant. She was probably tired from the big day before and she didn't nap long enough to make up for it. We had a nice time while the boys were golfing and my mom went to pick up my sister and niece (they had gone to see the Dixie Stampede). We blew bubbles and rode scooters and bowled, but mostly she yelled. We had spagetti for supper and that perked her up for the evening hours.

It was a nice evening, Sean and I actually got to go out and go mini-golfing! Sean had picked up a few brochures of places we were pretty sure we had been so we looked through our coupon book for the area and found a place we hadn't been before. They had two courses, a knight/castle type course and a jungle type course. We played the knight course and Sean beat my by 3 or 4. It was pretty even but I choked in the end. Then we decided to play the other course too and Sean only beat my by 1. So he won both, but it was a close one! It was a good time. We haven't mini-golfed in forever. And the course was PMGA certified! Did you know there was pro mini golf? I hadn't ever really thought about it, but I guess there's probably pro everything!

I was able to make my own ice cream treat when we got home. Nicole has been making a smore creation for me every night. It's awesome. Vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, gram crackers crumbs. Totally awesome and tasty and all that good stuff. She's a great chef.

After all the kids went to bed we played some poker for awhile. I, once again, succeeded in ridding of all my chips first so I could go to bed. Apparently, it came down to my mom and Sean and Sean ended up winning. Even though my mom is conservative with her chips and not a great bluffer from what I hear.

Branson Trip-Tuesday

We decided Tuesday was the day for Silver Dollar City. I planned to go in the morning, then take Kaelyn back to the house for her nap after lunch and return in the afternoon. Once we got there and saw how far the parking was from the park and how far deep into the park we were going to be around that time, I changed my mind. I decided we'd stay and hope for the best. Kaelyn used to sleep in her stroller at the zoo for her morning nap really well so with any luck... :)

We didn't have that luck and she was awake all day but she did surprisingly well. It was tough at first because we were in a new place and she wanted me to carry her. In order to set the precident for the day, I told her she had to walk or ride in her stroller. She did not appreciate this idea. Poor thing. After a few crying fits she got the idea. I didn't want to START the day carrying her in this huge amusement park or I knew I would never make it!

We went to a kids area first that had a big slide and some rope courses that were good for jumping and climbing. Kaelyn LOVED it there and didn't really want to leave when we moved on. In fact, she kept looking for it after we left! We went back a couple of times as we went past. My sister's kids and their dad as well as my dad rode a boat ride that had water squirters. The riders could squirt other boats and people watching could squirt the riders. They got pretty wet.

We had lunch at a small cafe that had a big wagon you could sit in. We didn't, but it was still neat. :) Kaelyn started her lunch much earlier so she wasn't all that hungry when the rest of us ate. After that, I was kind of hoping she'd drift off in her stroller. My dad, sister, her husband and kids and I went on the log ride. We all got pretty wet! It was only a 20 minute wait which wasn't too bad for that hot of a day. There was only one big hill and drop, which is where we got the most wet, of course.

When we got off that ride, Kaelyn was still wide awake and enjoying watching the boats come down the hill. We explored a few other places including watching the giant swing ride over and over. No one rode it, but Kaelyn liked watching that too. My niece Nicole really liked a rope ride where two people sit in a seat and hoist themselves up a rope and then drop. She went on that with almost everyone in our group! So she was an expert.

My niece and dad got involved in a water balloon toss and won the first round. They had some pretty close calls when the balloon would hit the ground and bounce instead of break or when they would catch just a small corner of it and it would stretch out. Their reward for the win was to get placed in the next game instead of being out. Not much of a prize. And their balloon popped that time after a bad throw.

Then we went on a raging river type ride. It was impossible to see how long the line was, but it took almost 45 minutes to get through it. For a ride that lasted maybe 90 seconds, maybe not all that worth it, but it was fun! Kaelyn was STILL awake when we got done with that. That time Sean had found a splash park area that she had fun in.

The group wanted to catch the circus show and we headed over to that theater. Kaelyn was obviously tired so I carried her and she was almost asleep when we got there. But, in a circus, with drumming people and bright lights, it's not really an easy place to fall asleep. She watched for awhile and seemed fine and then started acting scared and crying. I figured she was just tired so I took her out and we walked awhile while she cuddled and rested. She was almost asleep again when the darn train went by and tooted its horn, scaring and jolting her awake! At that point I gave up. I changed her diaper and she laid on the blanket on the ground for awhile resting. Then she wanted to ride in the stroller again so I let her eat her body weight in fish crackers and walked her around until the circus let out.

By that time we were all pretty tired. We visited another little kids area and then headed back to the house to eat. Most of us ate our leftovers from the throwed roll place. I was surprised that Kaelyn got a second wind and was running around like a crazy person. I had trouble pinning her down long enough to get her pajamas on that night, but once I did, she went to bed nicely and slept well overnight. Actually, she slept 12 hours and I didn't really hear too much from her.

I learned that she doesn't WANT to ride the carousel. Which is kind of nice. :) She's always been fascinated with them and LOVES sitting and watching. But at Silver Dollar City, since it was no extra charge or anything and since she likes to ride any horse she can find, I thought she might like going ON it. Well, we got into the ring and she would NOT let me put her on any of those horses! So we just walked around it and went on our merry way. Now I know! She just likes to watch! Fine by me! Probably would have made me dizzy anyways!

We plan to go back to Silver Dollar City on Thursday with our two day pass to see and do more. We only did the one show and there's a dog show my niece wants to see. We'll see if Kaelyn likes that one better than the circus. Probably will depend on the time of day we see it!

Brason Trip-Monday

I'm getting lazy! Kaelyn woke me up for the second day in a row at 7:15am. I usually get up hours before her. Oh well, that's what vacation is for! She had lost a duck so she started the day a bit rough but she was up and playing in no time. Actually, she played hard for over 2 hours! The neighborhood pool opened at 10 so we decided to go there this morning since it was SO hot outside. I gave Kaelyn a quick bath before hand just to keep our routine going and then we all threw on suits and headed over there.

The pool area is very nice. There's a big outdoor pool with a baby wading pool next to it. There's also an indoor pool but it was closed for maintenance today. Kaelyn started out in the wading pool and was screaming in delight. She had her two ducks with her so she'd throw them in, wade in, get them, wade out, repeat. Eventually she had a little interest in the bigger pool and would wander over there, go down one step, and then go back to the baby pool. After awhile, she'd go down two steps, then three. This all took over an hour. Then, when I was completely IN the big pool once and Sean was with her in the baby pool, she came over and just wanted to jump off the side onto me. So I bounced her around the big pool for quite some time. I now wish we were in water at ALL times. It's SO much easier to carry an approximately 30 pound kid in water! She continued to go back and forth between the two pools the whole time...as her diaper got bigger and bigger. :)

At one point, I was pulled into a chicken fight with my niece. It was me and my dad vs. my niece Nicole and her dad. I had her completely knocked over but her legs were still clinging so I'm not sure if she was all the way out. I don't know how she held on that way. It was pretty funny. I couldn't stop laughing.

After Kaelyn's diaper was bigger than the rest of her and she was starting to get hungry and crabby, we headed back to the house for lunch. She enjoyed "sharing" a freezer pop with Sean after, though she ate way more of it than him. We played a bit, then naptime! She's doing really well with her talking. She still mostly points and grunts at things, but if you tell her to say something, she'll say it back to you, or something that sounds somewhat similar. She's getting the idea. Her word for "swim" is pretty cute. It's more of just an s sound, actually, it kind of sounds like suess or something. Her favorite phrase right now, though, is daddy stinky. I have to admit, I taught her that. :) Only because SHE was stinky one time and I wanted HIM to change her so I told her to go say that to him. She did and now she says it ALL the time! Oops...

While Kaelyn was napping we had some crafting to do. I made Sean a camoflage duct tape bag for his ipad. It's very manly. Okay, so it still kind of looks like a purse. The duct tape was very sticky and ended up all over my hands, which then stuck to everything else!

After Kaelyn's nap and everyone else's showers we played for awhile and then packed up to go to supper. Our 95 year old grandpa has told a story for as long as we can remember about the home of the throwed roll, a restaurant in the area that throws rolls to you when you raise your hand up. He tells it over and over again and we thought he would be really tickeled if we went there. It was a 45 min drive but the wait once we got there was short and the service was fast. The rolls were good...hot too! And very throwed. :) Most of us brought food home because the portions were huge. We may not have to cook again the rest of the week! We took some pictures and videos of the experience and called grandpa to tell him we were there JUST for him! And it was fun for us too.

By the time we got home it was time to pack it in for the day and Kaelyn returned once again to her bed in the closet. Poor thing. :) After all of the kids were in bed we played Texas Hold Em poker. I have beat Sean and his dad and brothers at that game before, but that night, I didn't do so well. After awhile I started betting on everything so I could get rid of my chips and go to bed. I succeeded in being the first one out. :) Tomorrow...Silver Dollar City.

Brason Trip-Sunday

On Sunday, I actually outslept everyone but Sean and Kaelyn! That never happens. I'm ususally up by 5:30 or 6:30 at the latest. But since Kaelyn had duck issues all night long, I guess I was worn out and didn't get up until she woke me at 7:30! We did some playing and had breakfast and we all got ready. The only tub in the house is the big jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom. Kaelyn didn't really appreciate her bath, so hopefully she'll get used to it as the week goes by. But the good news about the morning was that she let me do her hair without screaming at me. Normally, she wants to hold ALL of the combs in the entire house during the process. I'm not kidding, the kid ends up with 4 combs. I just need ONE to get her hair up! So it's an ordeal to wrestly a comb from her in order to actually DO that. Today, however, she was mesmerized by a shark bath toy they had in the bathroom (there were plenty of other bath toys too!) so I got to use the comb without getting yelled at! That was nice!

Once she was ready, we rode the statues across the street and wandered a bit while everyone else got ready. It was HOT and STICKY even before 9am. After all were beautified, we went to the visitor's center, asked some questions, and took a few brochures. I saw signs on the way in for a restaurant that is known for being "the home of the throwed roll." This is somewhere I feel my family HAS to go while we are here. My 95 year old grandpa tells a story about going to that restaurant CONSTANTLY and I think he would be really tickled if we go there in his honor. We'll have to try to take lots of pictures to show him and maybe even call him from there. So we asked about that restaurant and hopefully we can go there later in the week.

The next stop was the world famous...Wal-mart. :) We needed a few more supplies and we thought to buy Kaelyn a little baby pool to play in for the week. Then we came back to the house, set up the pool, played, and had lunch. The guys headed out to golf on the course that the house is on and Kaelyn, since she had a rough night, was majorly grumpy so she was ready to nap by 12:30. Pretty early for her, but what do you do! I napped too.

The biggest problem I foresee about this week is that it's nasty sticky hot. The forecast is saying upper 90s for the entire week with no real break. We have plans to go to Silver Dollar City and even the neighborhood pool has NO shade, so we could be in for a lot of sweating this week.

After Kaelyn got up from her nap, she played in the blow up pool we bought and put on the back deck for her, then we went to a few stores. Since it was Sunday there weren't all that many open and the ones we went to didn't have much to see so we were only gone an hour. We came back and played more, waited for the golfers, who returned very hot and sticky, then had chicken for supper. My sister and her crew arrived about 7 for the REAL fun to begin! :) They unpacked and the ice cream treats flowed. We made some general plans for the rest of the week and called it a night. Kaelyn went to bed easily again and, thankfully, didn't lose her ducks all night...until 7:15 the next morning.

Branson Trip-Before, Driving, Arrival

The time finally arrived, the family trip to Branson! It was a very good deal, really. We hadn't planned on coming to Branson. Quite awhile back we attended our church auction and one of the couple's at church was auctioning off a week at the house they owned in Branson. We bid but the bids went higher than we wanted so we stopped. The next day, the guy emailed me and said that they had given the house away later in the auction a second time, after we had left. That time it went for $300. Would we be interested in making a $300 donation to the church and having a week also? Um, yes! So that was how our vacation ended up being in Branson. Everything we had heard about the house was great, it had four bedrooms, three bathrooms, access to a neighborhood pool and anything else we could ever want.

So we planned our trip for July 9-16, 2011. The packing frenzy began earlier in the week and my parents came down on Friday the 8th to see a show and get groceries. Sean, Kaelyn and I headed out first thing Saturday morning, July 9th. It was a miracle, really. When Kaelyn got up in the morning I talked to her about our trip and said, hey, you want to go take your bath NOW and go?! She did, so we did! We were able to leave just a little after 8am. She usually likes to play for an hour...or two...in the morning before getting ready. The drive took us 8 hours so that was kind of a bummer but what do you do. We couldn't catch I-29 down because of flooding so we had to go a longer away around until we could join the larger interstate. We knew that would take longer. Kaelyn did pretty well, but there were a few times she got pretty bored and antsy. We stopped for lunch outside Kansas City at Wendy's (Kaelyn had mostly eaten her stuff in the car) and she just ran laps around the table. She was excited to be out! Once we got going again she napped for an hour and 15 minutes. I wished it had been longer! We got to the house a little after 4, and wow, what a house!

This house, from the outside, is just gorgeous. The inside is even better. The main floor is pretty big and has a large, two story family room with huge windows in the back overlooking the river. There's also a nice kitchen and dining room and an enormous master bedroom and bath and closets. Sean and I actually got assigned that master bedroom, somehow! The basement has three other bedrooms including one with two sets of nice bunk beds, two full bathrooms, a game room, a big screen TV room and probably more I'm not thinking about.

As we unpacked and settled in we decided Kaelyn would be best off sleeping in the closet. That may seem mean, but it's a big closet! :) And she doesn't do well in the same room as Sean and I because she sees us and just wants to play. We needed a spot where she could be alone so she would know it was time to sleep. The crib was in the basement and my dad and Sean had to take it apart to get it in the closet, but it's in there now! And last night she did semi-okay. She only woke up scared once. Her main problem was losing her ducks! She sleeps with a small rubber duck in each hand and last night, she lost track of them several times. I know she woke me at least 6 times. The difference in the beds might be that we have a bumper around ours and this one does not. Therefore, there is nothing to stop the ducks from taking flight. :) Hopefully tonight will be better. But she went to bed really easily and didn't seem afraid or anything, so that was good.

They also have every kid thing you need here including a high chair, stroller, toys, cups, all sorts of things. It's just awesome. After we got situated we had hamburgers and corn on the cob for supper and just played around the house. There's a screened in porch on the back that has a nice swing and Kaelyn had the most fun going in and out of the screened in part the open deck part. The door is lightweight and she can open it alone. There are also elephant and giraffe statues across the street that she enjoyed riding several times. After she went to bed, we just sat around and looked at brochures etc. My sister and her crew are set to arrive Sunday late evening, and that's when the REAL entertainment begins! :)