Holy shirt you guys, this is the longest month of my life. I am trying to catch up on the photos I have to edit because this blog is basically just a photo album of my children’s lives now and I feel very guilty when I don’t keep it up. I mean, none of them have baby books, so hopefully, the internet still exists when they get old enough to want to see photos of their childhood. I thought I was two full months behind with updates. but then I realized our trip to Pennsylvania was actually the first weekend of September. AND IT’S STILL SEPTEMBER.

We spent a weekend with my freshman year college roommate and her family in PA. For most of the time, the kids absolutely DESTROYED her basement playroom while the adults ignored them, but once the kids started driving each other crazy we decided to take them out in public somewhere loud and crazy. Knobels is…hard to describe. It’s a free amusement park, in that there is no actual entrance and nothing to keep you from just wandering in (also no security checks which felt suuuuuuper weird). They have HUGE pavillions people rent for company picnics or family reunions. The rides all cost between $1 and $3 to ride. Most of them are legitimate rides, not the scary carnival kind from the fair, although a few of them are actual carnival rides. A lot of things are very old, but in a charming way. The food was shockingly good (get the pulled pork nachos). Sometimes they offer wristbands for unlimited rides, but most weekends they don’t. Luckily they did on Labor Day weekend so we got the unlimited bands for the kids and husbands. They offer free packets of tickets for military and vets though, so my friend and I both had $40 worth of ride tickets for ourselves. We didn’t even use half of them.

The kids had a blast. There was no height minimum for the kid rides, so little Finnegan got to ride a bunch of stuff. We split up so the big kids could ride roller coasters with the dads, and then met up later for food and so we could do some rides as a family. We were there ALL day and didn’t even see a single show or visit the water park side. I think next year we might rent a cabin and stay overnight. Mostly so the grown-ups could enjoy the no-rules nature of bringing in our own beverages while the kids ride.

I’m missing half my photos from our trip, but since I still have almost 300 I’m not too upset. You’ll just never see the pictures of the giant ice cream or the Ferris wheel or the kids soaking wet from the Viking boat log flume. I think you’ll probably survive.

p.s. You pronounce the “K” in Knobels, which is VERY HARD to remember.

I have a pain in my right side that I don’t THINK is an internal organ exploding, but if it could be. What I’m saying is, if you don’t see me on Facebook or Instagram at all tomorrow, maybe text me?

Sunday:

Devil’s Hopyard – either it was named after the time the devil was seen jumping around in the pools at the bottom of the falls or after a landowner named Dobble who had a farm near there.

It’s very warm.

A two photo shoot kind of day

Monday:

He takes his Christmas gift list circling very seriously.

CUDDLE TIME

Tuesday:

MOMMY THERE’S A MAN IN THE TANK WITH THE FISHES

Aquarium date with some of our favorite people

Bacon, caramelized onions, tomato, blue cheese on sour dough. JEALOUS?

Wednesday:

I can’t remember WHY I put the kitchen stools in our bedroom but the gingers enjoy them.

Special Helper Day

I like pretending that is my house.

Thursday:

GOODNIGHT CAROLINE

We have a train table he never plays with at home. But the one at the library is THE BEST.

The cat found her spot on the new couch

Friday:

I think she has her princesses mixed up.

Showing off his art at my parent-teacher conference

My kids are weird.

Saturday:

They spent the full length of a movie like this. Unfortunately the movie was Equestria Girls.

TV, screaming toddler, Facebook…and I wonder why it takes me FOREVER to get things done.

Fall in a cookie – pumpkin, hazelnut spread, butterscotch chips. Unfortunately I don’t really like butterscotch and E doesn’t like pumpkin, so we can’t tell if these are actually delicious.

I secretly just want to sleep all day tomorrow, but we’re doing more fun stuff instead. Maybe I can sleep all day on the second of never. I’ve got a date with the elliptical trainer on Tuesday and that’s almost as good as napping. Especially because of the massage bed afterwards.