Knoebels

July 1, Heather and I took the kids to Knoebels for the day.  I had only been there once about 11 years ago.  We took out then 12 year old nephew Jason and Eddy who was about a year old.  It is a wonderful pay as you ride park about an hour and half drive from my house.  We spent eight hours there and were never bored.  They have a lot of kiddie rides and Connor was tall enough to be the big kid to take Baylor on some rides.  We bought the boys all day passes and tickets for Brigid.  It worked out really well that way. 

The boys ran from ride to ride and we directed and followed them putting Brigid on rides she could do alone or with the boys.  

Baylor did not quite get the hang of the bumper cars and ended up stuck on the wall or in circles.  He will get better once he goes more often. 

Any ride that the boys could control the height, Baylor was flying high the whole time.  I am not sure if it was because he did not get the whole idea of coming down and going back up or if he just liked it high up.  He is an adrenalin junkie I think. 

He loved the giant bounce house.  They went on it three times throughout the day.

The creek was running fast, high and muddy.  It had rained all day the day before.  We were lucky and only had spotty short showers all day interspersed with blue skies.  

He also hated these motorboats and cried the whole time on the ride.  He wanted to steer them and they were hard to work.  I accidentally twisted his arm trying to steer the boat and he was done with the ride after that.  We had only just started so it was a pretty long ride after that. 

The pole was ice and was very fun to play with. 

The giant diggers were super fun with three controls. 

The blacksmith had many items for sale and I bought Baylor a horse and had his name stamped on it.  He will never be able to buy any personalized items off the rack so when I can get something made with his name on it, and it is not too tacky or bizarre, I get it.  

The water fountain was fun for the boys.  They said they were drinking lion spit.  Boys will be boys and that would be fun for them. 

Getting ready for another crazy ride. 

Baylor usually will walk up the stairs for a huge slide and then chicken out at the top.  It was a long time between Connor and Baylor and I was not sure I would see him coming down but he did!  And he really loved it. 

This is one ride Baylor claimed he hated. It was too slow he said.  

It really looks like he hated it.  

This small coaster went around three times on the ride.  Baylor loved it but he said he kept bumping his ears. Looking at the photo I can see why.  

This is one ride he needed an adult to ride with, Connor was not able to be the adult for him.  He walked away crying.  Heather stepped up to the Mommy plate and took him even though it freaked her out more than it did him.  

At least he did not ask to go again and afterward he was more accepting of him not being tall enough for rides.  We pretty much stayed away from big rides after that just to be safe.  

Heather's husband is from Ireland originally and they call this the chairplane. Baylor remembered it from Hershey last year and was excited to ride it again.  

I think they rode this one three times.  

Two years ago the park flooded in heavy spring rains.  They reopened two days later.  As you can see from the sign they have been there, done that.  

By far their favorite ride was the flume ride. We rode it four times with various combinations of children. Every time their feet hit the deck they asked if they could do it again.  I took the last ride with all three kids because the ride freaked Heather out. It was my turn at the Mommy plate and I like the ride anyway.

We ride a few more rides.  

And bought a pizza for dinner so they would have full bellies for the ride home.  

Heather loves photo booths so we all had a turn.  

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Somewhere I have a photo of Jason and Eddy with this same clown. 

We got in the car punched in the return home on the Garmin and said our eta was 9:15.  We forgot about the hour and a half ride to my house and then Heather had another 35 minute drive after that.  We hoped the boys would fall asleep but they kept each other entertained the whole way home.  Brigid did fall asleep but woke up when we stopped for a coffee about 45 minutes down the road.  While she moved Brigid's car seat the boys did a sparklers. 

We had such a good time with the boys we are already planning on going back before Connor starts school in August.  

Hurry Up, I am Behind Again

A few weekends ago Steph and the kids came over on Friday evening to swim with Baylor.  They had a good time together and were in and out several times throughout the evening.  We also made fresh chocolate ice cream but tasted the others that we have in the freezer.  Robin really liked the lemon poppy seed. Gavin thought he would like the mint chocolate chip but since I used fresh mint he was not much of a fan.  

Before they left we did some sparklers.  All I had were the short sparklers from the grocery store and they were quite disappointing.  They were about four inches long and by the time I lit one and handed it to a child it was nearly out.  Which lead to a personal mission to find longer sparklers.  But that is another story.  

In the mean time, the kids enjoyed them anyway.  They did not know sparklers used to be about twice as long.  

We set off only a few fireworks just for fun.  They were not big ones but were enjoyed just the same.  

It was also the night of the super moon.  All week had been a bit off and the super moon completely explained all the off temper and short attitudes we all had.  I know scientists do not think the moon has any bearing on these things but the rest of us know better.  It was a beautiful sight for many days as it was still up early in the morning for us to enjoy some more.  

On Saturday morning my parents, who had spent the night, gave Baylor a bubble gun from Ute.  It worked really well and Baylor had fun making bubbles in the fountain.  Good thing there are no fish in there!  

We headed to Havre de Grace, MD for lunch to celebrate Father's Day.  It was my dad's idea and being a weekend traveler myself (this apple did not far fall from that tree) I said of course.  I do not think I have ever been there before and I found it to be a nice small, old town with a lot of charm and places to shop!  But we were not there to shop.  We parked and went to the restaurant of choice and found there was a wait.  I took Baylor down to the bay to wait it out.  As a water boy, he is drawn to water, all kinds of water.  He got his feet wet right away and then wanted to go barefoot.  Since there was many pieces of broken, sharp glass that was not an option.  He hated his shoes being wet and of course the sand bugged him to no end.  But the call of the water was too strong.  

There was a nice house right on its own point of land across the water.  I am sure they are glad the house was still in the family!  Other than the rushing trains that sped past all the time.  

What was there to do you ask?  There was a rotting fish to check out and wonder about.  

Rocks, driftwood, boards, and branches to throw into the water.  What else does a boy need? 

We had been waiting about 10 minutes and they started fussing about waiting and talking about going the bar restaurant next door.  I told them we just drove a hour and half to get there and waiting 10 to 15 more minuets was not going to kill anyone.  If the other place had been his first choice I may have gone along with it but he wanted to eat at the Tidewater Grille and we just waited until the buzzer thing went off.  Sometimes I don't understand them.  Like where else did we need to be and what was the huge hurry to eat again.  I made a big breakfast and we ate late anyway.  

Baylor would not wear his shoes yet because they were not dry so I had to carry him in.  At the table he played with the camera.  I am rarely on the other side and this one is not too bad.  

We had tiny crab cakes for a starter and I had a chicken sandwich with homemade chips. Mom ordered a shrimp sandwich and Dad had the crab cake dinner.  They were wonderful, crab filled cakes and worth the price.  After lunch we walked around a bit looking for a park that was on the map.  We hit a few shoppes, a sports shop, and an antique mall.   We ended up driving to the park at the end of town so Baylor could play at the play ground to burn off some energy.  He slept the whole way home.  

Meme and Pap came down for a day for some appointments.  Baylor received these skates at his second birthday and we finally let him try them out.  He needs a new helmet, but other than that he managed them well.  

We finally have black raspberries for the first time in two years.  My heart beats faster when they are near. It could be because it knows all the scratches I will get picking the berries but I like to think is it because of all the yummy berry goodness about to go in my mouth.  

Baylor and Meme are still tight but you can tell she has not been around much in the last year.  She still treats him like he is two and not four.  She kind of missed the three year and now four years.  

I found some longer Morning Glory sparklers that are longer but I was not really impressed with them.  They kind of just spit out of the end of the stick but Baylor did not care.  They were fire on a stick and he loves that.  

In fact they made nice torches for pretend play in the dirt.  

So what have I been baking from Pinterest finds?  These chocolate chip fudge toffee bars. Yum.  

And these Sparkler cookies for Baylor to take to school.  He really liked the cookie and has already asked when I can make more.  I think the recipe is a keeper. 

The garden is growing wild and crazy.  

A few bright spots: purple cone flower

White cone flower

Catmint and butterfly weed.  

Queen Anne's Lace and a lily. 

A bee on the Bee Balm. 

Ok, more catch up later, we have a Saturday to get on with!  

Happy Independence Day

We had planned on a big family lunch but it turned out to just be my parents.  Meme was not feeling well with a sinus infection. Dave and Laura decided to run around and do family stuff since Meme and Pap were not coming anyway.  Lori mowed the yard and the three of us ended up in the pool.  My parents went home and decided to come back over the weekend to join us in the pool.  I set up the salt system today and I am excited to get it going.  

My stash that I have been collecting from various stores and tents in the area.  I found one tent with really long, good sparklers for $4.99 buy one get THREE free.  I bought four boxes and got twelve free!  I was in sparkler heaven when I found them.  

Lori joined us for the show, which was really nice because it is a work night for her and she was up rather late to watch them. Her and Baylor had seats in the driveway while I did the lighting.  Well Baylor caught his pine cone on fire and various piles of grass.  

And then the show began.  Baylor loved it and I loved having them for him.  He picked out the next firework once the one on show was done.  He kept commenting on how much he enjoyed them.  

After we put off all the big and small, smoky and whistling works we played with the sparklers.  I put the camera on a one second exposure and took some really nice effect shots.  

Happy Fourth of July 2013!