We’ve spent a lot of time in Pennsylvania this summer.

I’ve had a lot of fun while we’ve been here, even though there were some sad times too.  It was sad shortly after we got here and Aunt Cheryl earner her wings.  Then I had a lot of work to do to help everyone heal, but I did a really good job with that.

I know it’s been a while since I’ve written anything, but that really isn’t my fault, it’s my daddy’s fault.  I’ve been telling him that I have stuff to write, but he has been so busy doing his podcast stuff that he hasn’t written for me or himself in a long time.  Finally, I had to sit him down and have a talk with him.

I told him that his podcast stuff is really important, but so is his writing.  That I told him that my writing is really important!  But I can’t write without my daddy.  My paws are too big for the keyboard, so I have to tell him what I am saying so that he clicks it into the computer.

I think that I have finally convinced daddy that he needs to find a balance with his writing and his podcasting.  He can’t just concentrate on one and completely neglect the other.  Hopefully he understands now.  He did one of his blogs earlier this week to celebrate us living in our house on wheels for two years and now he finally got all of my notes together from the summer and is typing them up for me too.  I hope he keeps the balance going because I love telling people about my adventures!

Here’s what I’ve been up to all summer long…

We went to Knoebel’s again!  I love Knoebel’s!  Last year was my first time there and didn’t have any idea what we going to when mommy and daddy started telling me about it, but this year I knew, and I was really excited to go again!  It wasn’t nearly as hot as it was last year, so that was awesome!  I got to walk every morning down to the amusement park and greet all of the workers.  I would walk up to them with a big smile and they’d start petting me and then they would smile big too.  I know that I made their day brighter.  I went swimming in the creek again and one day daddy and I walked all the way out to the big parking lot area before all of the cars started to show up.  We walked like three miles that morning, it was so awesome!

The other thing that made our Knoebel’s trip really splendid this year is because more people came up and visited with me.  We had everyone that came last year, even though Aunt Cheryl was just there in spirit with us, but then we also had Eric, Stephen, Sherry, Alex, and Lizze too!

We built a campfire and made hamburgers, hot dogs and s’mores over the fire.  Matthew made sure that I got a hot dog!  It didn’t take me long at all to get him trained.  He gives me all kinds of snacks and we keep it our little secret because sometimes mommy says that I get too many snacks.  I don’t think that there is such a thing as too many snacks, so I guess that me and mommy will just agree to disagree on that one.  I really love going to Knoebel’s.  One day I want daddy to take me on the merry-go-round.  I think that would be a blast!

After Knoebel’s, we went to Stephie and Eric’s house for a little over a week.  That was fun too.  Eric put in 30-amp service just for me!  That way I could stay cool in the air conditioning on the days that it got really hot.  And let me tell you, it got really hot on some of those days!  Daddy and I would have to get up at like 5 o’clock in the morning so that we could get our walks in before it was too hot.  We went on some long walks too.  One day, we walked over eight miles.  Daddy was tired, but I could have kept walking.  Me and daddy are training to do the Mammoth March in New Jersey on October 2.  That’s a 20-mile hike that we have to do in eight hours.  Rebecca is going to meet us there and hike with us.  Mommy is volunteering and helping the organizers run the event.  I’m so excited about that.  Sometimes I really have to stay on daddy to keep up our training.  He’ll want to sleep in, but I’m right there to nudge him with my cold nose so that he gets his lazy butt out of bed and we can train for the Mammoth March.

After we left Stephie’s house, mommy and daddy took me to get a bath and haircut.  The chicks really dig me after I get a bath and a haircut.  To be honest, the chicks really dig me all the time.  I’m a pretty handsome guy, I have to admit.

Once we got back to Aunt Cheryl’s old house, which is now Matthew and Rebecca’s house, daddy started taking all kinds of stuff out of our house on wheels.  I don’t mean like socks and underwear and shirts either.  He was taking our kitchen table and bunk beds out!  I didn’t understand what was going on at first.  Daddy said that he and Donnie were going to be renovating our house on wheels.  I don’t know what renovating means, so that explanation did absolutely no good in helping me to understand the situation.  However, I’ve come to discover that renovating means daddy is going to get all sweaty, cuss a little, take some stuff out of the house on wheels and put different stuff that Donnie cuts up and puts back together into the house on wheels.

I got to tell you; I love the renovation thing!  I have so much more room for me to lay and walk around now.  Even when the house on wheels is driving down the road and the slides are in, there is a lot more room for me.  I still pretty much sit in between mommy and daddy, but at least I have more options now if I need them.

The only bad thing about the renovation thing is that it cut into our training for our Mammoth March a little.  Some days it was so hot that daddy had to renovate in the morning before it got unbearable, so those days we couldn’t train, but we’ll still be ready for October for sure.

We were back at Matthew and Rebecca’s house about a month and then we went to spend 10 days at Willow Hill Homestead (that’s what Stephen and Sherry call their house).  We were only there with Lizze though.  The rest of the Croft family went to Florida, but Lizze couldn’t miss cross-country practice.  I like going to Willow Hill except for those two dogs, Apollo and Percy who always want to play with me.  I’m always telling them that I don’t like other dogs, but they seem to want to play anyway.  Generally, I chase them away.

We had fun with Lizze.  We walked and trained just about everyday and wouldn’t you know, Stephen put that 30-amp service stuff in for me too.  So, when I wasn’t walking or yelling at Apollo and Percy, I could just hang out and stay cool in the A/C.

When we left Willow Hill, we went to church so that I could see Deb, but Deb wasn’t there.  I got to see her sister Jan instead.  Jan wanted a picture with me so that she could rub it into Deb that she got to pet me.

After church, we went back to Rebecca and Matthew’s house.  Mommy and daddy and Lizze weren’t there very long.  They just ate lunch and then took Lizze to Camp Cadet.  I stayed back and made sure that everything in the house was ok.  It was.

Mommy and daddy were going nonstop on Sunday.  After they got back from taking Lizze to Camp Cadet they were with me for just a couple more hours and then went to see Zac Brown in concert.  I was ok with that though; I know that mommy and daddy need that time together.  I got a really good nap in while they were at the concert.

We were only back at Matthew and Rebecca’s house for a few days and this morning we left for the Philadelphia Folk Festival.  Daddy is really excited for this festival because he’s going to get to see his favorite band in concert again, Michael Franti and Spearhead.

After the festival, we’ll head back to Matthew and Rebecca’s house for just a couple of weeks before we start to hit the road again to head to Antigo, Wisconsin so that mommy and daddy can do another volunteer project with A Year to Volunteer.

I can’t believe how fast this summer went.  I’m going to be sad when we leave, but we’ll only be gone for about six weeks.  We’re coming back to Pennsylvania after we do the Mammoth March in October.