Much Ado about a Castle and a Tournament

JT had a travel soccer tournament this weekend in the Poconos. We used it as an opportunity for some guy time and Tad took the three eldest boys on a weekend camping outing, to include 3 soccer games, sleeping in tents and a white water rafting trip for JT with his team. Whilst they were away, I planned some adventures for the rest of the gang beginning with a day at Dutch Wonderland. The kids had proffered their birthday money for the outing and had been looking forward to it for a month. It turned out great for all parties.

On the ride into PA Dutch country we passed a couple of horse and buggy rigs like this one. Fortunately, I had Adora along to help and Nate and Miah were able to get on nearly as many rides as their older counterparts. The park is designed for the younger set with the biggest two rides being a couple of rather small scale coasters. While my camera is still on the fritz, I did manage to get some pretty good shots with my cell phone. As a bonus, Tad phoned in his pics to my cell phone as well. There are some perks to living in the 21st century...

JT's team played their first game as we headed up the road listening to Beowulf on CD. They won that first game, hung out for an hour and were on to their next game. Just about the time we were wandering into the park and getting our bearings, JT's team was tying up the score of their second game. Meanwhile, we got to meet the Princess, jump around like frogs (Miriam has the best ribbit!) whip around in circles and live the Monster Truck dream while Tad and the boys wandered the mall in between games.

Things got pretty hot and, while I was hoping to avoid it, I did concede to going to the water park portion of the park. Adora and I even had a chance to go down the big water slides. Nate especially loved the fountains but Miah wasn't too sure what to make of it all.
We ran around to a few last rides and then piled into the van to head home. Somewhere in there, JT's team played their final game and lost to the 3rd place team in a close match. They went home to start a fire with wet wood while we drove a few miles down the road to our dinner destination....which was quite a bit more...civilized than theirs.