Bellefonte KOA weekend; other fun stuff this week

Time to catch up here!  I have lots of pictures to share from our annual weekend at the local KOA campground.  Believe it or not, there should have been even more pictures, but I guess I was busy and never thought of taking pictures during some of our good times.  But that's how it goes.  Unfortunately, it's easy to forget things if there aren't pictures.

Friday

Last Friday afternoon I went to pick up Sammy and Bianca.  We stopped at Sheetz after I picked them up to "fuel up" - in more ways than one, haha!

When we got back to our house, Dick was there getting ready to hook up the camper.  I got all the food packed into coolers, etc, we loaded everything up, and off we went!  Just 15-20 minutes to the campground.  

When we got there, the very first place they wanted to go to was the jumping pillow, which Sammy insisted was called "the beanbag."   Whoever invented this was a genius.  Such a GREAT way for kids to work off their excitement and energy!

Meanwhile Dick was setting up the camper.  The campground offers pizza and wings on Friday evenings, so we took advantage of that.  The kids especially loved the garlic and butter wings.  I think Bianca ate most of them!  

When Anthony and Lori and the boys arrived, Austin had only one thing on his mind.  Panning for gems!  In the camp store they sell bags of sand that include various gems and fossils, etc.  Bianca was eager to do that with Austin.  

More jumping pillow as it started to get dark.

Then we went over to Anthony and Lori's cabin.  It was a lovely evening to sit on their deck.  Sammy and Bianca were having fun with some letter puzzles.  Austin and Anthony were playing Scrabble on their phones.  And Hunter, of course, was sitting on my lap reading to me.  Book and after book after book!

Then we walked across to our camper.  We love it!

Saturday

We had a nice, slow start to our Saturday morning.  Sammy and Bianca watched Grandpa start the fire.  Sammy said,  "This is better than TV!  It's real life!"  How profound is that??

I decided that if we were going swimming later, I wasn't going to try to get "pretty."  So I sported my best redneck look as I made scrambled eggs and hash browns in my cast iron skillet on the camp stove.  Dick fried the bacon on a cast iron griddle, then toasted English muffins on the grate.  

Anthony and Lori and the boys came over for breakfast,  but I didn't get any pictures of that.  

In fact, I didn't get any pictures the rest of the morning.  I'm sure the kids did more panning and jumping.  I was cleaning up and organizing.  At some point I sent lunch stuff (sandwich makings, cherries, rice krispie treats) over to Anthony and Lori's cabin.  Some of their friends (Tiffany and her kids, Nana and her kids) had arrived for the day.  

The next big looked-forward-to event was the bubble machine!  Half an hour of swimming, splashing, and sliding in bubbles!  I was told they use a gallon of Palmolive detergent!  

No better place to go after that than the nearby pool!  We were there a long time and had so much fun.  The water felt PERFECT for such a hot day.  I totally forgot to take any pictures and actually got this one later.  

Back at the campground I very slowly started getting things ready for our evening meal.  I had already made chili earlier in the week, and it just needed to be reheated in my electric kettle.  I cooked rice on the camp stove.  

Meanwhile Lori and Hunter came over to our campsite with play doh.  Hunter and Bianca played with it for a long time.  They mixed all the colors together to make beautiful designs.  

Dick got this adorable video of them humming as they worked.  

Then they decided they wanted to relax in the camper.  Sammy started a video on his tablet and I propped it up on my suitcase at the end of the bed.  Hunter lay between Sammy and Bianca watching the video.  Just adorable!  Anthony took this picture of them through the screen.  

More jumping pillow!

Sammy and Bianca were so excited when Sam arrived!  He had worked until 3 and came up here after he got off.  Just in time for the hayride!  I was thankful he was here to take them on it.  My experience on that hayride last year cured me from ever going on it again.  They take you in the HILLS, let me tell you.  Muddy, steep hills.  I was scared to death!

Then everyone (seven adults and eight kids!) came to our campsite for dinner - Mexican Pile-up.  I wasn't sure I would have enough, but there was actually some leftover.  I got NO pictures!  Anthony took these pictures as they were walking toward our campsite from their cabin.  That's their cabin in the background.  Look at Hunter carrying his big bag of books, haha!  

Our dinner had to be rushed to an end, unfortunately.  A storm was coming.  Everybody pitched in and helped to put things under the canopy and into our van and truck and camper.  Just in time we made it to the pavilion where they were serving delicious Berkey Creamery ice cream.  NO PICTURES!!  Ugh!!!  

After the ice cream was Bingo.  Sammy and Austin wanted to play too.  One time Sammy was just two moves away from Bingo and he would have gotten $8.00.  He was really disappointed when someone else said Bingo first.   

Hunter was playing a game on Dick's phone.  He was totally oblivious to the Bingo game.  Occasionally he would shout, "Yea!  I did it!!"  People would look to see if this little guy meant Bingo, hahaha!  

When we went back to the campsite we realized we only had one log left for a fire for s'mores.  The camp store had just closed!!  Noooo!!  We considered going to a Walmart to get some.  Then Lori went to the pavilion to pick up Austin, who had gone on their flashlight scavenger hunt, and one of the camp workers told her that he would let us buy some wood if we hurried down to the office for it right away.  Whew!!!  Saved the day!  So we had our s'mores.  But again, no pictures.  

Bed felt REALLY good that night!

Sunday
On Sunday mornings the campground offers a pancake, sausage, and bacon breakfast in the pavilion.  It was SO delicious.  Again, NO PICTURES!  

We relaxed at our campsite later.  Hunter and Bianca are best buddies.  

Sammy and Austin spent a really long time at this big sandbox near our campsite.  We couldn't believe how long they were there.  I finally went to see what they were doing.  They were creating a whole system of mines in which to hide gems, etc.  They decided that Sammy was an architect and Austin was an archaeologist!  

The adults actually had time for uninterrupted conversations!  That is RARE!  I got this "gazebo" at Ollie's last week for $40!  It was perfect, providing shade from the sun and protection from rain.  

Dick made one last fire and he and Anthony roasted hot dogs over it for our lunch.  There was also some fried chicken that Anthony's friend Emil had brought the evening before.  That made some good sandwiches.   I noticed that, totally oblivious to all the craziness of everyone talking and eating,  Hunter was sitting at the table with this little book, singing a verse of "Old McDonald Had a Farm" with each page of the book.  

It was a REALLY hot, humid day.  Absolutely miserable for cleaning up.  But perfect for playing in the pool.  It felt so good to get in there after everything was packed up.  

After a while a storm chased us out of the pool.  We waited around in the pavilion for a while, hoping it would clear up, but no such luck.  

Sammy was determined to get one more time on the jumping pillow.  So after the storm was over, but it was still raining a bit, Sam and the kids got their last jumps in!  Sam is such a kid at heart!  (No, I did not go out in the rain to take this video!  I took it from the pavilion!)

Then we all hit the road for our respective homes.  I spent the evening putting stuff away and starting laundry.  I was SO tired, but there was no way I wanted to face the mess in the morning.  

Dick actually made a trip to Bedford (an hour-and-a-half away!) that evening.  Ever since he got the new pickup truck last week he has been searching for a cap for it.  We had to use the old truck for camping because of not yet having a cap for the new one.  So there was one in Bedford that was a good deal, and Sunday evening was his first chance to pick it up. He was a very happy "camper" when he got home around 9 PM.  Unfortunately the cap is red.  But it's at the body shop this week getting painted to match the truck.  Then we'll be able to get rid of the old truck.  

On Monday when I picked Austin up from Ninja camp he was crocheting - finger crocheting!  I never knew it was possible!  One of the Ninja instructors showed them how to do it.  It's his new passion!  

On Wednesday evening after I picked him up we went to the Music Boosters Family Fun Night at the State College Area High School.  It was a first-time event geared toward 4th and 5th graders, the age at which they typically choose an instrument.  It was a fantastic event.  High school musicians demonstrated their instruments, their vocal talents, etc.  There were games and prizes.  

This 5th grader preferred crocheting in the shade, haha!

They finished with a demonstration of the marching band.  We LOVED it!!  Then it got even better.  They asked kids to go out and stand next to a band member.  We were amazed that Austin was willing to do that.  (If you look closely you can see him in a red shirt holding a big horn in the lower pictures.)

They showed the kids how to march in time to the beat while holding the instrument, even marching backward!  I just loved this so much!!  What better way to get kids interested???

Last evening I decided to check in on Lisa to see how they're doing with a week of school under their belt.  That began a ridiculous Snapchat conversation between her and Sophie and me.  Sophie showed me a filter in which you can use one of your photos as a background.  How hilarious are these???  The one on the left is a picture of Lori when she and Austin were hiking last weekend.  The one on the right is a picture of the silly meerkat that Lisa always uses as her filter.  

I got this picture from them and could not stop laughing!!!!  I HAD those glasses back in the day!!!

Well, that's all for this week!  Have a great weekend!  I know one thing.  It's time to stay home and clean this house!!