Tyler got a week break before school really started and we decided we had better live it up in anticipation of never seeing him again.
Monday was almost wasted. We slept in and I got caught up jumping through hoops for Alex's online school. Tyler snapped me out of it when he came downstairs with a map of covered bridges in our area!
Drive through the countryside looking for covered bridges with my family? Yes please!
There were supposedly 5 within 8 miles of each other so off we went!
We got to see and hear lots of the crazy wildlife that abounds out here. The Utah, Montana, Wyoming bugs seem rather drab and ordinary compared to the random beetles and flying things we come across here. In our 5 weeks here I've yet to see a spider though, so Pennsylvania wins this round!
The covered bridge tour was another reminder not to point things out to the girls that they may not be able to see out their windows. It doesn't matter how close or obvious an object may be, if the children don't see it on their own- it's not worth the tantrums when they miss it.
What was suppose to be an hour long adventure soon turned into 5.
We may have accidentally ended up in West Virgina and decided a map would be our next purchase. I was secretly giddy that we could accidentally end up in a different state in less than an hour.
Of the 5 bridges attempted we successfully found 1.
But we got to see lots of trees.
We sung songs and goofed off and enjoyed the nice day. Quinn was happy.
This was the point where we stopped looking for covered bridges.
This is the sob squad. Unfortunately for Tyler when one of us starts crying, the rest soon follow suit.
Heidi performs better for the camera when no one is behind it. It maybe be the curiosity of watching Mom sprawled on a bridge trying to line up the family, and then run frantically towards the kids shouting "LOOK AT THE CAMERA AND SMILE." It works every time.
A Pennsylvania mile is equal to about 3 Utah miles, and so a 'quick trip' to check out an antique shop turned into 45 minutes stuck in bridge traffic and windy roads, ending up at a shop that closed 20 minutes ago. But our Shake and Twist dinner was totally worth it.
I can't say enough how much we adore Quinn and LOVE having her in our family. I can't imagine going back to 4 now that we have her! It was a great way to spend a Monday afternoon. Thanks Pops!
I'm not sure if our house has a thermostat, I usually just glance at the butter when I want to know where we stand on temperature. Here it is reading "You foolish woman, it's a thousand degree's outside and you decided to use the stove AND the oven to make dinner. tisk tisk."
The next couple days were pretty full. We went to the Children's Museum which is AMAZING. I forgot my camera so next time we go I'll post on that.
My Grandma Asay also passed away from complications due to a broken hip. It was very sad, and hard to be away from family. I wish we could have made it back for the funeral but there wasn't really any way.
Alex also stepped on a bee and got her first sting. "I'm never, ever going outside again" she bawled. I'm just hoping a lesson was learned about wearing shoes.
Thursday we took an impromptu, sorta planned trip to Philadelphia! I got some special treats for the road and discovered that the skill of eating a Fruit by the Foot is not inherited, but learned. I didn't bother checking to see if Heidi could actually eat the treat until she tried to hand me a sopping wet crinkled up 2 food section of wrapper. What a terrible mother I am.
Our first stop along the way was Gettysburg! It was beautiful and foggy and hot and humid with LOTS of tourists. Think Yellowstone and then double it. Abe was kind enough to pose for a picture.
Tyler wanted to hurry on to the bookstore, but Quinn wanted to just chill for a minute.
I wanted a family picture by the sign.
Heidi just wanted to trace letters.
After talking to a nice lady at the visitors center (who assumed that if I'd made the pilgrimage then I must know all the details about the battle and specific places and names) we were told the 1 place to stop if we were only willing to make 1 stop.
The kids just wanted to run around and collect acorns anyway, so Tyler and I vowed to try meaningful vacations again in 20 years.
After Gettysburg we made it to Lancaster just in time for all the Amish shops to close! I tried not to be devastated and Tyler promised we would come back through on the way home. We pushed onward to the hotel and swimming!!!
The girls LOVE hotels. The word 'hotel' excites more emotion than 'Christmas' or 'present'. So when we checked in they were bouncing balls of ecstatic energy.
We swam, went to dinner and then put them to bed with the TV. The combination of TV in bed and Mom and Dad trapped in the same sleeping room with them made for sound sleeping and sweet dreams.
Day 2 started off a bit wrong. Turns out there are two 525 Market Street's in Philadelphia. One is a lumbar yard on the wrong side of the tracks, and the other is the Liberty bell. I'll let you guess which one I programed into the GPS and spent an hour driving the wrong way to.
We did eventually make it to the Liberty Bell! Alex has been talking about it since we learned we were moving here, and she was excited enough to take a picture of it with her camera! She usually saves that privilege for the carpet, the wall and Quinn in her car seat. If the place hadn't been full of pushy tourists she may have enjoyed it a bit more.
Our second Philly stop was for a cheesesteak. We ate it on the steps while Alex and Heidi pretended to be Rocky training for the big fight.
The place was dripping with history and with 3 little ones it was just impossible to see a fraction of it.
Heidi chose binoculars for her souvenir and then proceeded look through them constantly while taking tiny steps as we tried to make it places.
These two got along pretty well despite everything.
Quinn endured.
I thought everyone would enjoy a tour of the U.S. MINT! Right?! Unfortunately no, this may have been the low point of the trip.
What better way to follow a tour of a secure government building where you can't touch anything, than with a tour of an old cemetery!
Heidi just wanted to pick up the dirt and throw it in the grass. Yes, we were those people.
It may have been slightly more stressful than the Mint.
"Don't touch that, stay on the grass, don't throw that, DON'T SIT THERE!!"
We saw Benjamin Franklin's grave and then I glued Heidi to a bench while Tyler walked around.
What was suppose to big half a day and the return trip turned into hours of driving in traffic getting into the city and even more time spent in standstill traffic trying to get out. By the time we escaped Philadelphia we had to get another hotel and extend our trip by a day. We had forgotten to account for city traffic and children travel time when we planned our getaway (Add an extra 30 minutes to every hour of driving. I haven't perfected the formula, but it may simplify to 10 extra minutes per 60 minutes of driving, per child.)
Friday night was another glorious hotel complete with swimming pool and a slight drive out of town to an old fashioned Waffle house where we ate at the counter. I loved it.
The next morning we started off with Antique shops! If you weren't sure, this is a terrible idea with children.
"Don't touch, don't touch, don't touch, don't touch." "But Mom, YOU touched." "That's because I'm careful." 5 minutes later I dropped a doll house with a tremendous crash. It didn't break, but I learned my lesson.
Lancaster traffic is terrible. Not because of the buggies, but because it seems everyone in the world love the Amish and their cute towns and countryside as much as I do.
Someday I will return and take pictures from outside a stopped vehicle.
This will be after I've eaten my quaint Amish breakfast at the little Amish Inn and walked through the sleepy Amish town. It will not be in July or August when all the East coast descends on Lancaster county to get their buggy rides at Bird-in-hand.
I felt like that big white sunburnt tourist, eating icecream in 'Lilo and Stitch'. Once again, we were those tourists. The only reason I stooped to such a touristy low, was because it was the ONE thing the kids had been begging to do for 3 days.
Quinn was asleep and Tyler is allergic to horses and so I accompanied the girls on our 2 mile trek through Amish country. 1/2 of it was on the main road and I suddenly empathized with how awkward it must feel for the Amish to be gawked at and photographed as cars rudely zip by. It was a bit terrifying.
The driver interviewed me about Utah the entire time, speaking in a hard to understand accent. It wasn't until I was explaining some of his odd questions to Tyler, that I realized I must have painted a picture of 1850's Wild West Utah for him.
He asked things like "Do you have buggies there or just saddle horses? Do you have dirt roads or some hard ones like these?" " Do you grow corn or anything?" I was so confused and I answered, "Um, yeah, no buggies, but saddle horses. Yeah we do have dirt roads. Um, there isn't a lot of corn or tree's like this. It's pretty dry and there arn't as many people out West." Picture something out of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid' and that is what this random guy from Pennsylvania now thinks Utah is like.
Tyler sat in the shade drinking his Amish root beer until Quinn woke up.
And when we returned to the farm, the girls ran around playing and petting goats.
We couldn't leave Amish country without a stop at a kissing bridge! We drove over it 3 times.
Not far from Lancaster was Hershey!!!!!! You can only imagine my excitement on discovering the streetlights were Hershey Kisses.
We went to Chocolate world, (picture high tourist season in Yellowstone, now quadruple it.) Instead of shelling out $20-35 a person for the various activities (not including the amusement park) we went on the 'How chocolate is made' tour for free. This was substantially more entertaining than the 'how Quarters are made' tour at the U.S. Mint, and it dumped us out in the giant Hershey gift shop after bombarding us with not so subliminal messages about the wonderful, delicious, goodness of chocolate.
The girls each chose a kiss shaped box of kisses for their souvenir and then we hightailed it before they sucked anymore money out of our wallets.
The girls were astonished when I told them they could eat as many kisses as they wanted. And I was astonished when they stopped at like 5. Lightweights.
We headed West and discovered why it's worth $11 to drive on a toll road instead of blindly following GPS all over the state while set to the 'Avoid Tolls' setting. But we did finally make it home.
It turns out I think I was made for Pennsylvania. The sheer number of signs advertising Homemade Pie, hand dipped chocoate, Antique stores, Elephant Museums and other crazy road side attractions is almost more than I can bear! I love it.
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