Penn State Chics Dig Nerds

 Every summer, we go to the lake with friends. This summer was no different. Us eating lunch..... ......that they cooked for us. This year, the water trampoline was back up. The ladder system that was attached was a little sketchy, but it didn't fail when we were on it. And then to finish off the day, we made s'mores.

 After the swim meet, we had a fire pit meal with the Ruckers.  Even though the swim meet was so cold, it was a few degrees warmer here, and perfect for playing outside.  It was so wonderful to visit with them again.  Everyone had so much fun and it was very apparent in the kids play.  They joyfully played soccer, four square, and basketball (multiple times).  After I took a few pictures and videos, I played basketball, too.

We didn't really have much time in the leaves this year.  But, they did get out and enjoy them a little bit.  I have quite a few pictures here, because I liked all of the character I could see in the photos. Skippy just observed all of the happenings.  Some of the pictures are blurry because of the time of night it was.  Blame it on the time change! Lets try to get a nice smiling picture....

Last Saturday we surprised the kids by taking them to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum for Amie's 4th birthday.  We had been to the museum a little over a year ago, so we knew they would all love it.  We didn't tell them that we were going.  Even when we got them up early to go, we told them it was a surprise.  When we got to Monroeville, they started to see signs for Pittsburgh.  Then, they knew where they were going.  (Later, Natalee told me she knew we had driven through Blairsville, so she knew we were going in that direction)  They were very excited. I know this first picture is blurry, but the girls enjoyed fan activity.  The fan blew the scarves through the cylinder and then they could catch the scarves. Next was the ball machine.  They pulled the pulleys to send the ball up to the ceiling.  After it got to the ceiling it followed a track around the room.  After it got to the ceiling it followed a track around the...

After Saturday's soccer game, we decided to go to Delgrosso's Amusement Park for the afternoon.  We took advantage of the $11 carload sale.  You can't beat getting a family of 5 into an amusement park for $11!  Of course, there were some longer lines, but it was still okay, especially after dinner. Kiddie land was very crowded, so we only went on the "big" rides.  There are 4 big rides plus the train that Amie is allowed on. She didn't mind riding those rides over and over again one bit!  In fact, she was always upset when the ride was over!  We had to assure her that we would ride again. The tilt-a-whirl is one of our favorites.  Jesse can't handle this one, so it is up to me!  The older two did ride other big rides, too.  There's no way Brady would miss riding Freefall or the Crazy Mouse roller coaster.  One of us just continued to ride these same 4 rides with Amie and then we met up again. The paratrooper might be Amie's...

"Look Mom!  I'm peeing out my shirt!"

Saturday, we went to Lake Tobias with the Daisy Girl Scouts.  Lake Tobias is always such a fun time.  I know Natalee was really looking forward to it.  This time just the girls went to Lake Tobias and we invited Aunt Lois along.  Brady stayed with Jesse to go fishing and to go to camp to shoot soda cans and ride the 4 wheeler. First, we went on the safari bus ride. Amie was really eager to feed the elk. Can I have another cracker? Natalee was a little braver this year.  She fed the zebra!  However, there was no way that Amie was going to feed him. We found a goat in the petting zoo who was hungry enough to eat our crackers.  This pleased Amie immensely. This video shows the girls feeding the goat. One of the things that Natalee talks about the most about this trip is that this little goat tried to eat the pants Aunt Lois had on! It was a fun day!

Since it finally didn't rain for a spell, we traveled to Lake Tobias Wildlife Park.  We've been trying to go for the past three weeks but kept delaying because of rain or high chances of thunderstorms. Since Amie now can legally turn forward in her car seat, we turned her around!  Now, the kids can watch movies again in the car on long trips!  She was quite in awe of all of the things she could see.  Of course, she can't put her foot on Brady to annoy him anymore-- but she discovered her hand can still annoy him! First, we went on the safari bus, which I think is the best part.  I tried to pare down the pictures, but I just liked too many of them.   :) Amie fed the llama the cracker that is in his mouth.  After he took it, she let out a squeal.  I'm not sure if it was a squeal of delight that he took it or if she was perplexed as to why this animal stole her cracker.  After this, though, she really got into feeding the anima...