What day is it?

We're having a great summer. My toilets, floors, and overall dust collection has never looked so...interesting. That's how I know. We've grilled at picnics, picked some vegetables, camped in the back yard, hung out at Irish festivals, hit the drive-in movie for a double feature...and just got back from our first camping trip of the summer. It was only one night, but the location was Knoebel's Amusement Resort. So there was a lot happening. (I'm exhausted.)

Next year, we'll probably plan to stay a couple nights so we can actually sit by the campfire at night...instead of dragging our tired bodies from the amusement park back to our camper at closing time and dropping like flies, not even aware or caring who has clean feet or teeth.

Today, I have so much dirty laundry...I can't even completely open the laundry room door. But it's Friday, so that worked out nicely :) Someday, I may have a thought to share or a completed project to show you...but for now, I'm in full force summer mode. We're busy bees...working and playing...but as long as the plants are green and we're making memories, I'll hold on tight and go with it.

 Me and My Man

 My mom and dad joined us for part of the day.

 The Tilt-a-Whirl is a favorite of my Chaos-makers. 

Unfortunately, this mama cannot do circles or spinning, so Dad and Nana each took a turn.

 We ate yummy, bad things. 

It's good to be the one holding the camera :)

 I only managed to get shots of the mellow rides, but the only thing stopping that little princess of ours from climbing onto all those major roller coasters was the height requirement. We took her on the craziest coasters she could ride, and she LOVED it. She wanted to go again and again. I have a bruise on my thigh from being thrown around on those things. Seriously. 

Speaking of crazy...

A Green Weekend

We spent the weekend at our favorite fall kick-off event...The Montgomery County Scottish-Irish Festival at the beautiful Green Lane Park. This is the fifth year we've gone to the festival, and we look forward to it every year. In the past, we would arrive Saturday morning and leave Saturday night. But this year, we took the pop-up and stayed at the park Saturday and Sunday. It was so much fun. The weekend is full of great shopping, music, Irish dancing, sheep dog demonstrations, and  highland games.

 These freshly fried potato chips are amazing. Seriously. The picture through the glass does not make your mouth water like the true thing. (But the picture lady was so busy shoveling these babies in that the photo was an afterthought.)

My Knight, Goober

Nessie and the kiddos

Dutch and his snazzy new hat

Tootsie loved her blue snow cone...

...and shared some with Mommy.

Pipe band practicing before a performance

One of many dance performances

 It was a great weekend. We had a special after-hours performance by a marching pipe band when they marched up into the campground and played for a while right outside our camper. So cool. These are the memories I'll always cherish.

"Big Ol' Rolling Turd"...

Bet that title got your attention, huh? So, have you seen the movie RV? If you have seen the movie, let me just assure you that we do not have a toilet of any kind in our pop-up camper, so at least we didn't have that to deal with last weekend! Yeah, I'm talking about our camping trip.

So Friday came and due to the craziness of our week that is referred to as life, we were not packed. We did it all. Friday. Lesson learned there.

We finally hit the road around 6 pm, only to discover that our electric brake hookup (that was just installed Thursday) does not work. We call the garage from the road, but the service dept is closed. So, we figure we'll just have it checked when we get back. Pressing onward.

Previously in the week, I called to prepay the campsite so we could take advantage of express check-in and avoid having to go into the registration building, wait in line, and get instructions and paperwork. This way, we could drive right through the gate and head to our lot. (Keep in mind that I'm trying desperately to avoid setting up in the dark.) We pull in at 8:04 pm. No express check-in. Evidently, it ends at 8 pm. Okay. I put on my smile and head in to registration.

After waiting in line for our paperwork and info, we drive around the campground a few times (with a captive audience sitting around campfires everywhere we look) and finally find our lot and hubby backs in. We set up the camper, trying to act like we are completely confident in our camping know-how, still with a captive audience watching our every move.

{our pad for the weekend}

The next 15 minutes are kind of fuzzy and include the following:
~empty propane tanks
~leaking spraying water pump in the camper
~refrigerator that doesn't refrigerate
~drain line that doesn't drain
~fire that doesn't burn (for crying out loud!)

During the 90 degree weather, one of us musters up the courage to turn the AC dial...Hallelujah! The AC works. It's Heaven. We relax for a little while...

 {Okay, so the kids were ready to jump into everything, but we needed a quick recharge.}

and then we head out to the arcade, play area, gift shop, carousel, ice cream shop, and start to really enjoy our camping experience.

{my breakfast}

{trouble really does find this boy}

{this was by far her favorite thing to do!}

{Dutch even did the dishes! I love camping!}

BTW...just to keep us humble...when we were ready to leave...feeling like we conquered this camping thing...our van wouldn't start. 

Still, I'm looking forward to our next camping trip. Bring it on!