The Jar of Fun takes us to...

... Knoebels Amusement Park in Elysburg, PA.  

If you've followed my adventurous summer from the start, you may be having a sense of deja vu right now.  After all, I've already been to Knoebels this summer, back on Day 3 of summer vacation. 

A (gasp) working phone booth

That trip was pretty brief though - just a few hours.  And, it did not include the kids.  But now, thanks to Matt's reach into the Jar of Fun, that's all changed; The kids have, happily, had their day of fun there too.

One of the things that I love about Knoebels is that there's free admission to the park.  If you have kids under the age of (maybe) eight, you know as well as I do that adult park admission is wasted money.  For example, I've been to Hershey Park a number of times with the kids, but I have yet to get on any of their steel coasters.  I look longingly at Fahrenheit, with its 97 degree first drop, but haven't touched it in its nearly four years of operation.  Instead, I ride the Kissing Tower, the Monorail, and the Twin Turnpike.  And while I have fun with the kids, there's no way those rides justify the $54.95 gate price (although I can't remember the last time I actually paid a summer gate price). 

At Knoebels, that's not an issue.  It's a pay as you go system, with most rides priced between $0.75 and $1.50 (though the Twister and Phoenix cost $2.25 each).  During the week, you can get a ride-all-day bracelet with two pricing levels for kids either under or over 48".  Because Matt is right at 48" and because he was spending the day with his much shorter little sister (who measured just above the 42" line!!!) we purchased under 48" passes for each of the kids through the Centre Region Parks & Recreation office for $16 each (they're $20 at the park).  We added $30 in tickets at the park to cover roller coasters, which are not included in the ride-all-day option (though you can add that feature to your pass for another $5), and other rides the kids might need a grown-up to accompany them.  And then we were off to have fun!

One coming, one going!

It's always interesting to me which rides will draw the kids back, over and over again... and this time it was the Hand Cars.  And the Kiddie Whip.  And the Ribbit.  And the Panther Cars.  And the... well, you get the idea. 

My passenger on the Antique Cars

While we spent plenty of time enjoying rides meant for the younger set, we also rode roller coasters... the first time since kids entered our lives that we've easily been able to do that while they were with us.  First up, the Phoenix.  Matt and I hopped in line while Rich and Cathy went over to ride the Antique Cars.  Not surprisingly, Matt asked lots of questions - how high is the hill, how fast does it go, will it be scary?  While I couldn't remember the specifics, I told him I'd be right next to him and I'd hold him tight and that's all it really took to put him at ease.  I hope my 'Mommy Power' always works that well!  Later, we swapped... Rich and Matt rode the Phoenix while Cathy and I rode the Cars.

We are in red shirts, arms in the air!

The Phoenix was great (it is one of my favorite wooden coasters), though Matt tells me he could have done without the dark tunnel that comes after you pull out of the station and before you climb that first hill.  But otherwise, the smile on his face was a mile wide, his laugh the best sound I've ever heard.  We also rode Twister together and Matt had a great time on that ride as well. 

My newly minted thrill-junkie also managed to get both Rich and I onto Galleon, a pirate ship swing ride.  Rich came off looking about as green as I've ever seen him.  And, while I expected to be equally green, I can happily say that it wasn't bad... maybe it was even a little fun.  Sometimes your memory of something is much worse than the reality of it.   

This summer has definitely been a transition for Matt at the amusement park.  He'll still ride the things that Cathy wants to go on and he even enjoys some of them, but he's clearly moving toward more of the high-thrill rides and I am so excited by that; it will completely change our amusement park experience going forward.  The little girl will be more of a challenge... rides are too high, too fast, too scary.  And for now, I am still ok with that because even though she's meeting the height requirement for some of these more grown-up rides, I just wouldn't feel comfortable with her on rides like the Phoenix just yet.  

We always close out a trip to Knoebels with a ride on the Pioneer Train, and this trip was no exception.  The ride is much longer than it looks from the train station, covering roughly three miles round-trip.  It passes under the Twister roller coaster, past the campground and into the woods where we've often seen deer (though not on this trip).  Once it pulled back into the station, we grabbed some ice cream before hopping on the tram car for the ride out to the parking lot.

When we finally made it back to the car, much later than I ever thought, we all agreed that it was a fun day.  I keep forgetting to ask the kids to rate things (they really haven't caught on to the rating scale anyway, so that's probably not a bad thing) but did ask what they liked best.  For Matt?  The Phoenix... no surprise there.  For Cathy?  It was the bumper cars, even though she only rode them twice. 

With summer winding down, I am a little sad to think that these great trips with the kids will be coming to an end.  At the same time, I am pretty excited to start focusing on what comes next.  Most importantly, my little girl will be starting kindergarten before the month is over... tomorrow we have bus orientation and Tuesday morning, her kindergarten assessment.  I've never been so proud, excited, and scared all at the same time... I am sure you'll hear all about it soon enough. 

For now, I promise I will back-pedal to last week's trip to Discovery Space of Central Pennsylvania in the next day or two before focusing on how we spend the rest of our summer vacation...

Stay tuned!