Northeastern PA Summer 2018 Trip #2

If you're keeping up with us, we spent the first week of July at Pinebrook. The second week Evan and Esther stayed with grandparents in NE PA while Meghan attended jewelry camp. The third week of July we were all home. I think it was a fairly quiet week.

The last week of July I attended a writing conference in NE PA...in Montrose. So I stayed with Derek's parents and the children stayed with the various grandparents during the week.

I think Monday through Thursday was nothing but rain. On Monday Evan and Esther spent the day making dams in the driveway. They loved it. 

 In fact, the next morning it was raining and we had to ask the kids to wait a little bit before going outside to play in the rain. Later on, I heard they got chilly pretty fast in the rain since they went out so early.

Uncle Tom and Aunt Phyllis were in town for a brief visit, so I extended our stay to be able to see them. I planned to see them Sunday evening. As it turned out, Sunday afternoon my sister Amy and Aunt Pat planned an impromptu family gathering. It was perfect!

 Four of the eight siblings were there for an event planned that afternoon! Not bad!

 Cousins!

 Cousins' kids! This was my favorite part! Meghan and Brynn became fast friends. The boys had fun together and so did the younger girls. AND They all played together, too!

 When these girls were running around, we had to look carefully to see which was which.

Philadelphia 2018

On Friday, the children had an in-service day and Derek had the day off. So, we took advantage and took the children to Philadelphia for the day.

Philly is just over an hour away. We began at the Visitors' Center. There, we learned the children could collect trading cards from the National Park Rangers. The girls were also interested in earning a Junior Ranger badge by completing some activities in a workbook.

Not surprising, we started the day at the Liberty Bell.

 From there we headed over to Independence Hall. It was rainy and windy.

The West Wing of Independence Hall contains 18th century documents. We stopped by briefly before our tour of Independence Hall.

While Philadelphia served as our nation's capitol, Congress met in Congress Hall.

 We made our way to Old City Hall.

 And then it was time for lunch. One of the rangers suggested Sonny's for a good cheese steak. The five of us ate two cheese steaks, two burgers, and an order of fries. It was delicious.

We were glad we arrived before noon. By the time we left (maybe 12:15), it was really busy.

Next we went to the Benjamin Franklin Museum. 

(Meghan had fun taking pictures and selfies with my cell phone.)

The rain had already changed to snow on our way to lunch...

 Next up, we returned to the Visitors' Center so the girls could show their work and get their badges.

 Then we walked to the Mint. The wind was really blowing. You can see how the snow really stuck to the back of Evan's legs. Of course, sometimes we had to walk into the snow and wind, too.

 This is why we didn't have photos from the Mint. It was interesting to learn a bit of how they make coins.

 And some silly pictures...

As you can see, they were still in good spirits.

After the Mint it was time to head home. Because of the snow and slush, the traffic was awful. It took 2.5 hours to get home. This was the last photo before heading out.

All the children agreed their favorite part of the trip was getting trading cards. If they went up to a ranger or volunteer and asked them if s/he had trading cards, they earned a card (or several) by answering a question. Even Evan, who can be shy at times, did it happily. 

A Park, a Wedding, and a Whole Lot of Driving

We made a long weekend of our trip to northeastern PA and upstate NY.

Our shoe basket had boots, sneakers, dress, and flip flops in it. We had to be prepared.

Thursday night we drove to the home of Derek's parents. We made it in record-breaking four hours. However, by 7:10 the next morning we were in the van for another three hours as we drove out near Buffalo, NY to Darien Lake.

So much for being prepared. I forgot my bathing suit bottoms. I was sopping wet or damp ALL day.

 I didn't take a lot of pictures at Darien Lake, but this shows Meghan and Evan pulling themselves to the top. Esther and Derek were on the back side.

 This was taken at the end of our day. It might be our first family selfie.

 The drive through upstate NY was lovely. Lots of rolling hills and farmland.

Saturday my dad picked Evan and Esther up. (Derek and I couldn't bear to drive the hour there and another back again.) Meghan attended her first wedding. I took some pictures of her before we left.

 She had fun! So did we.

 Meghan took this picture of us dancing.

Sunday we had dinner with Derek's family at his grandparents' home. It was lovely to see those we saw, but with the park and wedding (and exhaustion) we really didn't get around to see my family like usual.

If you're curious what our first trip to Darien Lake looked like, this is a photo my friend shared with me recently. Derek and I weren't even dating then (but were within the month). This is from August 2000, Kingdom Bound!

Pinebrook 2017

It wasn't long after we arrived that a bit of rain began. Evan and Esther may have gotten a little wet and dirty riding bikes in the rain. 

 But the rain didn't last. Soon enough we were enjoying the pool.

And friends!

 Meghan spent a lot of time with these friends.

Derek and I relaxed a good bit this year with the children needing less attention.

 Meghan had to borrow Esther's bike to catch Derek when he took her bike for a spin.

 One night Esther and I went for a little walk to the pond. We didn't see frogs, but we caught some fireflies.

 Wednesday was a "hillbilly invasion." This is Pastor Bill in his finest.

 There had been a doughnut on that string. I took it off in one giant bite.

 Evan enjoyed this little cricket. He even took bunches and bunches of pictures of it since it didn't get away. Eventually, it was put in the grass...but unfortunately didn't overcome its injury.

 This is one of Evan's best buds at camp. We love C and his family.

 A fun ribbon...

 Before the banquet dinner.

 And all of us.

 We also had visitors on my birthday. Derek's mom and aunt came to share the day with us.