A Girl and Her Thumb

...are not soon parted.

Rain Greens Everything Up

Including little girls...

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.

Red Sky at Morning, Or, Millie Turns Sweet Sixteen

Knoebel's is only a hoppity-skip away from Pete and Sarah's house, so we planned to follow up camping at Knoebel's with state park camping near their place. We got there after dark, and setting up tents with exhausted children was all sweetness and roses  [no, really! (not really)]. The campsite was right next to the lake in a beautiful park, and the next morning held such promise.

Until this. The fiery sunrise would have alerted me even if the weather forecast on John's phone hadn't.

Sailors take warning.

All the children were still asleep at daylight (except for Skylark, but she likes to wake up early when camping). Peaceful, huh?

By the time I finished making egg and sausage sandwiches for breakfast, the rain had begun.

Here's our oldest child on the morning of her sixteenth birthday, all hunched over in the rain. BUT! I gave her that second sausage as a birthday gift, so that's something.

The happiest camper of the bunch, soaking wet and with smooth hair (SKYLARK, not John, but he was happier than he appears here, and is not bothered by rain).

A couple of hours later the rain stopped, and we packed up camp a day early, due to the forecast for that night and the following day including words like "high winds, frequent lightning, and thunderstorms." Nary a puppy, unicorn, or rainbow to be seen.

Thankfully, most of the day was sunny and hot, and thanks to a shark waterslide and hoses and cousins and cake, the day was not a letdown.

Don't worry about August here.

He paid her back. :)

They assured Annika that this was allowed. (I hope it is!)

Gary spied the camera and immediately rushed me.

He's a cute, little, wild man.

Simeon tried his luck against the girl cousins, too.

Pete and Sarah are preparing for a move to finer pastures, so this may be the last picture of that beautiful backyard I'll take. For good measure.

August and the Beatles go way back.

So do he and Skylark.

Even though they were in the thick of house-selling chores and had a showing the next day, Pete and Sarah fed our crew (and Mom and Joel and Debbie and Rundy), including pulling out a candle for Millie to wish on. If that's our final visit to that old house, it was a good one! Thanks for sharing your birthday, Haven, and thanks, Pete and Sarah, for one last hurrah. Bon voyage!