Knoebels Trip

Saturday was our trip to Knoebels. We had our little friend Lauren with us, and we went with Tim's family on the trip.

Lauren was an excellent girl. She didn't whine or cry about anything, she wasn't pushy about anything, she was really just a perfect lady. I'm really proud of her. Her mom should also be really proud of her. :n) It was the easiest "babysitting" I've ever done. :n)

Corbin and Brooke, really, did a great job, too. And Brooke, for being only 3, did a great job. She had her moments, don't get me wrong. But taking into account that she's still a very young girl, she really did great.

All the kids had a quick bath on Friday night. I had just gotten a toothbrush from the dentist when I went, but of course I already have a toothbrush, and I only use an electric toothbrush. Call it trauma; my mom and dad would never buy me one, and now it's all I'll buy. ;n) Anyway, so I gave Lauren the new one to use. She informed me that she'd like Santa Claus to bring her an electric Cinderella toothbrush. Just in case he's reading this. ;n)

As soon as Micky left on Friday, in fact, it was naptime for my kids. I told them that they had to go lay down upstairs in Corbin's room and watch TV, but that Brooke could also lay in there, because we had a guest. (I really just need that time to get my yoga workout in.) It was nice and quiet in there, although I found out later that, "When Lauren ever took a nap, she only ever had to take a one minute nap and then she could get up again." lol Corbin is very gullible. I told him that sometimes other kids lie because they want to sound cool, and that I'm sure Lauren took longer naps than one minute. He still believes her though. lol

After nap, we went to "Ihawk" (aka IHOP) for dinner. The kids ate well. I took a picture on my phone, but I don't feel like unloading it at this moment in time. It involves cords and junk. lol

I ended up going to Walmart after everyone was in bed to get the rest of the stuff we needed for the trip, like ice for the cooler and a large beach bag. (Which we never ended up using, btw. It just wasn't hot enough for swimming, IMO.)

So I got to bed after 10:30, and had to get up at 5. Blah, that's a lot less sleep than I ordinarily get.

I got myself showered and around, then got the kids around, and it was off to Tim's grandma's house to pick them up.

Brooke, Lauren, Corbin, on our way to pick up the grandmas

After we picked them up, it was off to Shari's house, to meet up with everyone else. Andrew was impressed that Lauren's name is "Lauren", just like his sister. Later, he was also impressed that her last name is "Andrews", just like... well, you get the point.

Andrew, Brooke, Lauren and Corbin, running around the yard, screaming, "We're going to Knoebels! We're going to Knoebels!"

We stopped somewhere... I can't remember the name of the town, but apparently it's somewhere that Becky and Bill always stop when they go to Pittsburgh for her surgeries/emergency care/etc. We went to the Friendly's there. It was cold inside of that place!

At Friendly's. Top left down: Bill, Audrey, Jill, my empty seat, Lauren, Corbin

Top right down: Becky, Bob, Shari, Andrew, Brooke, Tim.

FYI, I gave us girls all two braids for the day. ;n)

The ride there was fine. I bought 2 new Scooby Doo DVD's for the ride, and we used them up. The GPS did right by us once again, although it gave us different directions than it gave Becky and Bill. But we all got there, so that's what matters I s'pose.

Once we arrived, you could see how packed it was. The last time we went, when I was pregnant for Brooke, it was Gay Pride week. Guess what? LOL it was Gay Pride week again this time! Which was fine, except that, along with a few company picnics and reunions made for REALLY crowded park time!

Corbin, Lauren and Brooke, being measured for rides. The bigger kids were able to go on more rides alone, but Brooke was only able to ride many with an adult.

The very first thing the kids wanted to go on was the hot air balloon ride. It looked fun enough.

Guess what?

Corbin and Brooke HATED it. They both were freaking out. It had a lot more G-Force than it looked. I enjoyed it, and Lauren loved it. LOL Andrew also enjoyed it. But my kids were not amused. It nearly turned them off to going on ANY other rides.

Luckily I convinced them to go on this easy ride. Corbin went on with Lauren after a bit of coaxing, but Brooke would only go on with Daddy.

Luckily, all of the kids had a good time on this ride. We made our way over to the kiddie area, and there was an airplane ride that "looked" fun. Apparently, though, for the Swindler children, looks are deceiving.

Both of my kids came off saying that they hated it. Lauren was okay with it, but she was more on the unimpressed side. Andrew didn't seem to care either.

So we went to this boat ride. This is what Corbin said his favorite ride of the day was. It's a very laid back ride, and you get to ding a bell.

We watched a magic show after that. It had a bunch of okay tricks; you know, like, you know how to do all of them, but the kids enjoyed it. At one point they asked for a volunteer who's brave, and Corbin perked right up and said to me, "I'm brave!" And they said, "A volunteer who's willing to come up here," and Corbin said, "I want to go up there!" and they said, "A volunteer who can fit inside of the box", and Corbin had his hand up. I told him to stand on his chair, and he did, and he was yelling, "ME! Me! Me! ME!"

They didn't pick him. I was sad for him. He really wanted to go up there.

After that, we had lunch. It was a long day already. Lauren's legs hurt. She wanted her new buddy, Tim, to carry her. :n)

Tim and the girls, with their balloon "swords" that they got from the magic show.

Andrew, Lauren, Brooke, and Corbin at lunch. (Not one of the latter three ate their sandwiches that they all asked for. LOL)

Following lunch, we went to the bathrooms, and just by the way, Brooke had to go SO BAD when we got there. She was dancing foot to foot, and holding herself, and it was a LONG line (for the women's room, that is). A woman let us go ahead of her.

Then Brooke and Corbin both said they wanted to go onto the ferris wheel. As it turns out, Corbin changed his mind when he heard his dad say that he, "won't go on that thing". So me, Jill and Brooke went to stand in line. It was about a 45 minute wait.

I don't know if it was worth the wait, but Brooke really did enjoy herself.

The view from the ferris wheel of the parking lot. All of the silver behind those trees are cars.

Audrey, Corbin, Becky, from the view of the ferris wheel

Apparently we were so long on the Ferris Wheel that everyone else got to do a couple of other rides. It took forever.

After that, we went on the "little" roller coaster. I have no pictures of that, because I was on it. I rode with Brooke. Lauren rode with Tim's Aunt Becky. Andrew rode with Shari.

That line took another 45 minutes. I didn't care about doing it, but the kids had their hearts set on it.

While we were in line, some a-hole lost one of his kids who was about 7 years old. He "sent" the kid to some other woman they were with, at the end of the line (did I mention it was a 45 minute wait? So you KNOW how long the line was!) and didn't tell the woman that the kid was coming. Did I mention that it was gay pride week and how packed it was there? So he was eventually yelling to the woman after like 10 minutes, trying to get her attention, because he wasn't about to lose his spot in line. Finally she heard him and he said, "I sent donovan to the bathroom and he hasn't come back yet." Did he get out of line to find him though? Hell no. 45 minute wait, ya know. He said, "Well his name's on the back of his hat, so he shouldn't be hard to find." That kid was gone for more than 20 minutes and the guy didn't go find him. I wanted to punch him in his face.

At any rate, the ride was VERY fierce... I screamed a lot, I encouraged Brooke to scream a lot. She was terrified but didn't cry until it was over. Then she looked at me and said, "That was NOT what I thought it was! I did NOT want to go on THAT kind of ride!" and she burst into tears. lol poor thing.

Lauren, OTOH, LOVED the ride. I think that was her favorite. She's a very thrill-seeking kind of girl. Look out, Mom! :n)

So we took it a bit easier and headed to the line for the train (once we finally found it).

Next to the (again, very LONG) line for the train, there was a very short line for the carousel. I took "my" three on the carousel while the rest of the family held our spots in line.

This was Brooke's favorite ride. She was happy that I rode next to her.

I was surprised that Corbin actually rode on a horse. He almost always chooses to sit on one of the benches instead. As you can see, he enjoyed this ride.

After another long wait in line, we finally got onto the train. Unfortunately, the family was split up into 2 separate train rides. Fortunately, the train just rode around the park and came back, so it was no big deal.

Andrew and his mom, Shari, enjoying the teensy train ride seats.

Bill, having no idea what's going on, apparently.

Lauren, Brooke and Corbin, ready to ride the rails

Tim and Amy, smushed together on the train

After that, the kids went into the bounce house. I didn't get any really good shots of that. They had a good time, though. Lauren was very adamant about letting me know that they, "were bouncing with the big kids!" :n)

Then, we had to take a ride on the boats. And, again, it was another 45 minute wait. Thankfully, it was our last ride of the day.

View from the line; the rest of the womenfolk wait patiently for us whilst we wait

(and wait, and wait) in line to ride the boats.

Bob and Andrew finally get into their boat

Tim and Lauren get a ride, and Lauren gets to drive

I rode with Brooke and tried to let her drive, although it was really difficult to steer. She cried most of the way because I had to keep taking the wheel because she just couldn't drive it. Corbin drove his Uncle Bill around, and boy oh boy, was that a ride! He got the boat turned all the way around backwards. The man that worked there had to jump onto the front of the boat to get it turned back around again, and rode the boat around the track. Then, I guess they got turned around again, and they had to push them around. Everyone cheered when Corbin and Bill finally did pull into the dock again, hauling the park employee on the front of the boat. :n)

That was the last ride of the day. It was 8PM by the time we FINALLY left. We stopped at Red Robin (yum!) for *cough* "dinner" at 10PM (none of the kids wanted to wake up and eat, but I guess it's what everyone else wanted), and we finally got poor Lauren home after midnight! I felt bad for her, the poor girl. She was such a trooper!

It's no big surprise that Tim had to go into work after we dropped everyone else off at home (!) to do something with spindle sheets (don't ask) before we went home. What is a surprise is that he went into work late the next morning!!

All in all, it was a good trip. The kids had fun. That's the important thing.