PA Trip--July 2009

This post has taken me a long time to put together. Mostly because after really long trips it is very daunting to sort through so many pictures and then condense the activities of a week filled vacation into a short post. Well, I've abandoned the idea of this post being short so be prepared.

We had a blast in PA, as we do every year. Nothing beats visiting Aunt Carmella's house, as both Audrey and Alexis will tell you. Even months before leaving Audrey would tell me at least once a week about how excited she was to eat Aunt Carmella's breakfast burritos. We left on a Monday morning, around 8:30am and drove for about 10 hours. Audrey wanted to go to bed so she could get up and eat a breakfast burrito in the morning. She is so funny! I actually had one every morning for breakfast as well and sometimes for lunch or late night snack. I guess I am just as addicted to them but I don't announce it to everyone. Oh wait, I just did.

Here she is eating the delicious breakfast burrito:


We decided to go cherry picking our first day in PA. Lori and I wanted to make some cherry jam. Aunt Carmella went with us too and it took no time at all with all our helpers! Audrey was so proud of the bucket she picked. She picked every single one and carried it to be paid for, held it on her lap on the way home, and carefully put it on the counter when we got back home. She found out that she loves cherries!


The kids picking cherries:


Lori and I spent the next two nights making cherry jam. It turned out delicious and is a close favorite of mine after blueberry jam (which we made in MS at Ellen's house). We also discovered that when it is late and Lori and I are tired and we are making jam we get extremely silly. I think Nicholas (my brother in law) and Carolyn (my mother in law) got a little concerned!

We took a small trip within our trip to PA. Lori, Nicholas, and I decided to take the kids and drive to Palmyra, NY. None of us had been there before and we were really excited. We drove up on Friday night to catch the Hill Cumorah pageant, which was awesome, and then stayed overnight so we could see the Joseph Smith Farm, the Sacred Grove, and the town of Palmyra.

The pageant was really neat and held the older girls' attention. It was a zoo getting out of the parking lot but luckily we had some live entertainment from an anti-Mormon guy yelling at us. He said we "make wrong decisions every day!" I was shocked! I always make the best and correct decisions! Anyway, it was pretty funny. His material didn't make much sense. I was tempted to go give him some better material but I didn't.

Palmyra Temple


The girls and I in downtown Palmyra:


We were really excited to see the Joseph Smith Farm and The Sacred Grove. It was very exciting. It was so peaceful and beautiful walking through The Sacred Grove with the kids. The sun was shining through the tree tops, casting shadows and light everywhere, the birds were chirping, and there were lots of little secluded areas with benches that we were able to stop and contemplate the greatness of this spot. The children sat with us at each bench and I could tell they were contemplating too...................YEAH RIGHT!!!!!!! Okay, this was a horrible experience. When I told Ben about it the next day he laughed hysterically and said it was the perfect Mormon Family Vacation moment.

Here's what really happened: we arrive at the Joseph Smith Farm and it starts sprinkling. No big deal, I brought three umbrellas. Alexis starts being difficult and I have to call Ben so he can give her a talking to about listening and not complaining to Mom. We then find out that we have to go on the tour for every building we want to see. That kind of stinks since we have younger kids who aren't going to want to listen to some of the history for 15 minutes prior to viewing. Oh well. We go see the Smith family log home. We come out, it's still only sprinkling. The kids are starting to complain. We walk on to the Smith barn. It's raining more now. Kids not happy. We decided to skip the next house tour and walk through the Sacred Grove. Okay, all kids (except for Lily and Abby) fighting over all the umbrellas, not happy about getting wet. Next thing we know it is pouring. I mean, monsoon pouring. We are all soaked, one kid is throwing a mega tantrum screaming, other kids are crying and complaining, we can't seem to get out of the Sacred Grove. We emerge from it completely soaked, muddy from feet to knees, and none of us happy AT ALL. We get under a covering and it continues to pour, pour, pour. Luckily I had moved the car closer and we made a run for it. My kids are crying, upset, and the Lori tries to dry herself off with one single McDonald's napkin. We look at each other and start laughing hysterically. The kids look at us like we have finally lost it. We just say, "If we don't laugh we'll cry."

Happy kids at the Smith log home. Audrey is only pretending here. She knows what to do in front of the camera.


Pageant:

We went to the Erie, PA zoo, like we do every year. The kids always love this. I have to admit, I love going to zoos. I love watching the animals. Here are the nine Thomas cousins:

One of our most fun and anticipated days is at Waldamere. It is a water and amusement park. I never get pictures of the water part. I'm just too lazy to haul out the camera. And I'm afraid it will fall in the water, I'll lose it, etc. The kids love, love it though. Alexis and Lily can go down all the big water slides together. They make the best buddies because they both like all the rides and are usually willing to try them all.

Here is our picnic lunch after the water park with Great Grandma Thomas:

Tilt-a-whirl:

This is the favorite, hands down, of Alexis, Lily, Audrey, and Meredith: the scrambler. A moment of silence please. The girls could ride this over and over and over again.

Oh, how I love this picture. Sorry, Ellen, it's too good not to share! I lasted one round on the merry go round. Even that made me dizzy. I can't do anything that spins or goes sedately around in circles. I can do any kind of roller coaster though! I dragged Lori with me to ride the awesome roller coaster this year. I think I scared her for at least a couple of days. Last year Janet came with me. Who's next?

Another circle ride. Some sort of airplane thingy ride:

We would have been lost without Uncle Nicholas this year! The girls loved having him around. He played with them, chased them, and entertained them to no end. Hooray for Uncle Nicholas!

Playing on the playground near Aunt Carmella's house:

At the park with Gr. Grandma Thomas:

The three moustache cousins:

Thank you Aunt Carmella for having us! Thank you for feeding us! Thank Uncle John for taking care of Audrey's infected foot (of course the night before we leave we find that Audrey has an infection in her foot. Uncle John is a family doctor so luckily he got her some antibiotics and then popped the blister like thing on her foot to clean it all out. Hey, last year it was lice. I'll take the infected foot!)! We had so much fun. We love coming to visit. We love seeing all our cousins and aunts and uncles. I love all the games we play after kids are in bed! I also love the time we have to stay up late and talk and just have the best time ever! We love you all!