Countdown to Knoebel's

For a month straight, a countdown on our chalkboard tracked how many days remained until KNOEBEL'S!!!!!!  (Exclamation marks needed.) A family from our church floored us a few months back by offering to pay for campsites and admittance costs for all the families in our church who would be able to spend some time at the park together. It's a good thing our local church is so small, because that's an offer that could bankrupt someone pretty quickly, and we like these folks far too much to wish that. Even with the small size of our church, their generosity was staggering, especially given the numbers of our family alone.

Making it yet more meaningful, they poured out this gift on us all during a time of uncertainty and hardship for their family. I pray that God's blessing rests upon them, and that His protection and strength circle them fast.

I spent the entire day before we left getting IHIPs ready for the school district, and I called on the bigger girls to help make food and prepare for the trip. Poor Susannah stayed up too late. The others have no excuse other than having small, tired bodies.


That evening at Knoebel's was rushed and crazy. Once dark fell, the older five ran around with their pals and hopped on rides while I miscommunicated with as many people as possible, and didn't find the younger children and John until after dark. It all worked out, though, and since Cadence's favorite memory of Knoebel's was going on a "birthday date with Papa and gettin' chocolate milk and goin' to the playground," I'd call it a success.

The next morning as I unpacked breakfast, I heard a "Hullo, Mama!" from on top of the van.

After riding for a few hours the evening before, we all walked to the park in the morning for more of the same, and we squeezed as many rides into the day as we could. John took the four littlest around for the first half of the day, so I could go on rides with the bigger girls (because he dislikes crowds and amusement parks...also, he's a saint), and I had a blast.  I talked Luci into a roller coaster and zoomed and zipped on enough rides to whet my appetite for a week more. After lunch, John took the baby, and I took the littles and middles around. Since my camera was in the stroller, here are a few pictures from the tail end of the day.

Corynn and Millie joined us on the ferris wheel while their compatriots rode a roller coaster.

This roller coaster, to be precise. Hm. Wonder why they didn't go on it, too?

While Aidan and I were waiting near the top of the wheel,

I took these pictures of Annika, Adele', Andrew, and Susannah front and center on the roller coaster.

This was the second or third time for everyone but Adele', and as she was the youngest girl of the group to even attempt that 90-degree drop, she has my admiration.

I love that Susannah and Andrew are already bracing themselves for the fall. :)

Immediately after that, Luci shouted hello to me, and I took a picture of her sweet, little grin. Then she started moving from one side of the car to the other and peering over the edge, and I nearly had a heart attack and told her to SIT DOWN NEXT TO JUDAH NOW.

Other than that, it was a relaxing five minutes.






I was impressed by the atmosphere of Knoebel's. Lines were short for most of the rides, people were respectful, shade trees were scattered about, and children held hands everywhere I looked.

We had to wait in line a tedious amount of time for only two of the rides-- a boat and a train. Here are two happy boys on the train they'd wanted to ride. It was almost worth the wait.

Last ride of the day for me and the littles was the flying ladybugs. I thought the quiet thrill factor was just the right amount for Cadence, until the next day, that is, when Millie told me that she had taken Cadence on this one (*Skip the first third of the video when the ride is just beginning), and that, furthermore, Cadence had loved it. I guess I underestimated her capacity for fun.



My plan is to save up enough money in the next few years to take our family there again, and, if I do, Cadence will be four years old, which is plenty big enough to tackle the 90-degree drop of that roller coaster.