Knoebels Visit

This past Monday we decided to venture to Knoebels Amusement Park in Elysburg, PA.  It took us about 2 hours to drive there from our home and it was a beautiful drive up through the mountains and didn't seem like it took that long to get there.

We chose to purchase the Pay One Price all day wrist band ($36 for 48" and over and $23 for under 48").

Once we arrived at the park we sat down and looked at the map to figure out what the boys wanted to ride.  I love how family friendly this park is.  There are a ton of kids rides and also family type rides.  There are a few thrill seeker rides but the emphasis is definitely on families here which I appreciate.  The park is mostly shaded with mature trees all over.  The kids had a blast riding all the rides.  We got lunch after some rides and I was very pleased with the prices...it's standard amusement park food but the prices won't break the bank

The sun got really hot that day so we also decided to visit the Crystal Pool ($7 admission for adults, $5 for ages 11 and under).  We didn't take advantage of the slides that day just the kids splash ground and the big pool.  The water was COLD but the boys didn't seem to mind at all, what kid does right?  After playing around in the pool for an hour or so we decided to get dressed and do a few rides we had missed earlier.

All in All I really really enjoyed this park and will visit again next summer, or possibly for their Halloween Weekends (Who doesn't love the mountains in the fall?  Crisp air, beautiful leaves).  Next time we would love to check out the adjacent campground and stay for a day or two and just have a relaxed time at the park and pool.

Have you ever been to Knoebels?  What is your favorite free admission amusment park?

Officially a Princess in Training

Well it's official, I said in my first post I ever wrote on this blog that I was in training for my first half marathon in Disney World in 2015, well yesterday at 12:35pm that became a reality.  As I anxiously sat on the computer watching the minutes tick away to the registration opening at noon I sat there thinking about how this goal was going to become a reality.  I said a few years ago that I had a bucket list item of running in the Princess Half Marathon by the time I turned 40, well at the time of the race I will officially be 38.

The clock struck 12, I reloaded the runDisney website to be able to register and that is where the stress began.  When you sign up for a runDisney race they use active.com for the registration.  Well apparently active was not feeling very magical yesterday.  I, as I know many others did as well, had a heck of a time registering between error messages and having to refill out the same forms over and over again.  It took over half an hour to register for the half but it's finally done!

According the the runDisney twitter account the Glass Slipper Challenge (10K and Half Marathon) sold out in right around 2 hours and the Half Marathon Sold out in about 6 hours.  Crazy to think that these races have become so popular that you have to register as soon as it opens and it's become akin to the craziness of getting the latest concert tickets.

So my friends today was the first full day of my journey to Princess Half 2015, and how did I spend it?  Dropped the boys off at VBS camp from 9am - 12pm and went for a 30 min run.  Well according to the Runkeeper app on my phone I ran a total of 35 min and 21 seconds for a distance of 2.79 miles.  Not to shabby. I plan to follow the training programs they have on the runDisney website, 2 maintenance runs a week and a distance run on Saturday.

My next race is scheduled for October 18th at the Runner's World Festival.  I will be running the 10K so that I have an official time to submit for corral placement in the half.  Hopefully it will be a good race day and it will help me to not be in the last corral!

Till next time friends, Take Care

First Day of School 2013

We soaked up as much of the last weekend of summer that we could.  Am I the only one that has NO IDEA where this summer has gone?  I feel like we just got out of school and now I have a big first grader.  We sent off Cody this morning to his first day of first grade and I am not counting down the minutes (31 to be exact) until we go back to the bus stop.  I can't wait to hear about his day, who is in his class, how it was having lunch at school and being there all day.  Kyle and I spent the morning at the playground with our Mom's Group to pass the time.  Hope everyone's kids have a WONDERFUL first day of school, or had if you have already started.  Two more weeks and Kyle will be off to preschool 2 mornings a week.  What am I going to do with myself....never mind I already know....

Herr's Snack Factory Tour

With school starting for my big kid next week we are trying to squeeze out a fun last week of summer.  We decided to head down to Nottingham, PA (about an hours drive from us) to visit the Herr's Snack Factory Tour. Did I mention this tour is FREE!  Yes Free!

 

 

 

I went online last weekend and was easily able to reserve a spot for 3 on the 11am tour today.  Once my tour was confirmed back to me via email from Herr's I put it on the calendar.  We left our house and took the drive to Nottingham through some great country side.  It's very easy to find off of Route 1 and Route 272.  Once we exited Route 1 there was great directional signs to let us know that we were going the right way. 

Once inside we went to the tour check in desk to let them know that we were there.

 

 

 

We were then assigned to a tour group and was told to wait until we heard the "Restaurant Style Tortillas" group to be called. 

 

 

While we waited the boys love to get pressed pennies, and of course there was one of the machines in the main lobby.  So for $1.02 the boys got a souvenir to add to their collection. 

 

 

 

Once our group was called we entered a little theatre and were shown a 10 minute movie on the background of Herr's Snacks and then were informed of the rules of our tour.  No pictures or video for the privacy of their workers, no cell phones out of courtesy to the other guests (also in some parts of the tour it's loud and you wouldn't be able to hear on it anyway) and no food or drink. 

 

The first building we went into we were shown how pretzels where made, from there we went to see the tortilla chips being made, to the popcorn as well as the warehouse.  The last part of the tour was the potato chips.  It's amazing to see how many chips go through this factory in the short time we were there but they best part was our tour guide donned a hair net and gloves and went in to get a tray of fresh off the line potato chips for our group to try.  If you have never had a warm potato chip you are MISSING out.  That concluded out tour and on the way out we were each given two bags of chips to take home. 

 

They have a great little gift shop where you can buy Oops bags of chips and also some newer flavors they are trying out. 

 

 



 They also have a little snack bar in the visitor center.  We went and got a large drink that we can share and then we got the souvenir cup to bring home.  I took a picture of them menu so you could see what was offered there.

Welcome

Welcome!!  Glad you made it.  I want to introduce you to me, my family, and what this blog will be about.  Since it is a work in progress things probably will change here and there to fit our ever changing lives.  So here it goes.

 This is me, Christina and my hubby, Brandon.  We have been married going on 11 years and together going on 13....WOW!  I am a stay at home mom to the two guys pictured below.  Cody is 6, going on 7 and Kyle is 3 1/2. 

We love to travel and Road trips are our way to go.  Brandon and I road tripped to Vegas from Pennsylvania for our honeymoon. 

This blog ...  Well I have been thinking about getting into blogging for some time now.  My question was "What do I write about?".  I love my boys and all that being a boy mom means.  I am currently training for my first half marathon that I will do in February 2015 in Disney World.  I have been on a path to getting healthy with working out and running.  I also love food and cooking.  So why not make it all about this Momma's world.  There will be posts from time to time about my boys, running, health, products we've tried, and places we've been.  Also maybe some recipes I've tried.  So come along on our journey and let's have fun!