The Pennsylvania Part

I tried to blog while we were there, but the connection was soooooo slow! It just wasn't worth it. And now it's all a blur. But really, it was the same as every other trip we take there. The kids ran wild all over the acreage, fished in the creek, drove the tractor with Grandpa Norman, rode bikes up and down the hill, splashed around in the little pool, and all other manner of fun. We visited with lots of family--James' crazy cousin Amy being the highlight, as always. (I just love her--she's NUTS!) The other highlight was shooting the guns, of course. There's nothing more pleasing than hearing my boys say, "Wow, Mom!!! You're as good as Davy Crockett!" Ha! I shoot once a year and am amazed each time at how FUN it is. I'm not very good with the pistol (frankly, I stink), but the .22 rifle seems to work just right for me and I can make that milk jug hop down the hill pretty quick. :-) The new thing we did this year was a hay ride! It was just James' folks and the 5 of us, but it was fun! When we were done shooting James threw a few bales of hay in the back of the trailer and hooked it up to the tractor, then Grandpa Norman drove us all around the perimeter of the property (a pretty good ride!)--so that was great fun! I had my camera with me, but unfortunately the card was in the laptop back at the house so we missed out on pictures that night! Anyway, pictures are always more exciting (and remind me of what all we did!), so let's get into that!

On our final day driving to Pennsylvania (1800+ miles--it's a doosie of a trip!) we decided to take a 30 minute break from the van (those seats get pretty uncomfortable by day three!) and walk around a Cabela's that we passed somewhere. In my opinion, it far surpassed the Bass Pro Shop that we went into last year. This was sooooo cool! I took a ton of pictures, but I have way too many to share of the rest of our trip to post very many. Here are a few, anyway.

(I love the moose--I think he's my favorite!!!)

Here's James' Dad mowing the lawn while James was busy vacuuming out the van and scrubbing the stains on the carpets. (He didn't want me to post this picture. "Every time you take a picture of me I'm wearing this shirt--then you post it on the blog and everybody in the world must think I never change my clothes!" Ha!)

The kids spend countless hours riding the bikes up and down the hill. Katie and Joe learned to ride without training wheels while we were in Pennsylvania last year and now Sam can ride right along with them. Fun!





Ah, yes. Though Sam can ride a bike just fine, he still hasn't figured out how to use the brakes!!! That fact escaped me temporarily... until after he had started down the long gravel road that curves around the hill behind the house. It's not a steep hill, but long enough that you pick up speed the entire way. Before long he was going full blast and I was running across the grass in an effort to be there to pick up the pieces when he inevitably bit the dust (after he took off I recalled that he doesn't know how to use the brakes), but there was really no chance of catching him. Sure enough, he hit a big bump, the front tire turned sideways and he was thrown over the handlebars and came to a long, screeching halt on the gravel. He did a fair share of crying, but I was shocked to find that his hands weren't all scraped up and bloody like I had expected--nor his belly. Those were the places I expected to find the most severe injuries, judging from my view of the mighty crash. His elbow was barely scraped through his sweatshirt and his belly, too, but his head seemed to get the worst of it. I'm sooooooo glad he was wearing a hat! It stayed on during the crash and the bump, bruise, and scrapes he received were THROUGH the hat--it would have been pretty ugly if he'd not had it on! Pictures never really show the full glory of a bruise (and this one was taken a day or two later), but you can kind of see where he landed.

Another shot... You can still sort of see the little bump just above his temple where he cracked his head on the countertop at the Adams' house over a week ago. I told him to knock it off--Joe is the head injury kid around our house and I don't think I can bear having TWO of them!

Here are some pictures of James' birds. This is Sugar. I love how it looks like she's wearing a hat. Ha!

And Paco.

Here's James enjoying his 5 EARS OF CORN for lunch, followed by his 1/4 of an apple pie. Later that night we had pork chops and potatoes for dinner, then James ended the evening by devouring two pieces of Danny's Pizza from the night before and half a bag of Middleswarth potato chips--his favorites, that are only found at "home." So, as is customary, he spent the entire next day sick and laying around or running to the bathroom. The only thing that ever surprises me is that HE always seems surprised! I could write a book of how our visit will go each time. Wednesday is the day we'll go to Belleville, the final night there will be spent at the top of the hill shooting guns, the first day we're there James will eat like a horse and gorge himself on all of the things he's so excited to have, the second day he'll lay around complaining about how sick he is... Ha! Some people never learn. He told me to remind him of this next time. Ri-i-i-i-i-ight. Like it would really change anything! (Hey... he's in that shirt AGAIN! Ha!)

Here is Joe with one of his big catches from the creek! (I think he caught that same poor little fish over and over again! Ha!)

All of the men folk, fishing from the bridge.

Like I said, Wednesday is the day we go to Belleville for the flea market. Most of it is like any other flea market, but several Amish people go and set up produce booths or sell baked goods or what have you. I know everybody always enjoys those pictures, so here are a few.

Not the greatest shot, but that's what happens when you're shooting from the hip! I know people say that the Amish people aren't really scared of having their picture taken like has been rumored, but I've seen how they look at the camera dangling from my neck and their quick jumpy behavior if I actually reach for it! So I try not to make them uncomfortable--no flash and no picking it up--just reach down and push the button real quick, hoping nobody notices!

Don't these look good?!

And the corn boy.

Katie came away with a parasol this year, Joe with yet another cap gun, and Sammy with a little wallet with an elk on it. All of them were very pleased with their purchases and have loved showing them off to anybody who will take the time to look at them.

Here's James letting Sam "drive" the truck.

The kids always love climbing on the hay in the barn.

James took Katie & Joe for a walk through the woods over to Aunt Betty's house one night.

And here's Sam coming down the cruel hill, but this time on a petal car... that he knows how to use the breaks on!

One thing that we did very different this time was drive in the wrong direction when we left James' folks' house! But we did it on purpose. :-) James wanted to take the kids to Hershey, Pennsylvania. They have an actual amusement park (Hershey Park) with rides and all sorts of stuff like that, but we just wanted to take them to the chocolate factory. I'm so glad we did! It made for a VERY long day and we were sooooo tired when we finally made it to Mom and Dad's house late last night, but it was worth it. Here are some pictures.

The "tour" consists of riding in a car on a track of some kind while cows sing to you, screens display video clips, and equipment demonstrates while speakers in the car tell you all about the process of making chocolate. Unfortunately, I learned nothing and my knowledge of the procedure is precisely what it was before the tour. It was all very "busy" (so many sights and sounds and different things to look at as you drove by and tried to get pictures and all that!) and I couldn't keep up with it all. No matter--it was fun! And if I'm ever that interested, the Internet holds the key to learning about how to make chocolate. I'm just sure of it. ;-) Here are some miscellaneous shots of the ride/tour.





And the kids enjoying the gift shop after the tour!

I was excited to see such a fantastic Reese's display and apparently Joe was impressed by whatever he was looking at as well!

Ooooh! The kids are doing GREAT on their search for license plates. The only states they are missing are Hawaii (might be a tough one! Ha!), Colorado (can you believe that?!), Wyoming, South Dakota... and maybe one other one--I can't remember. But look what we found while leaving the Hershey parking lot! Wa-Hoo! That was a toughie, too!

Mom is at IYC right now, so we won't see her until tomorrow. Dad preached up there last night, but came home afterwards. He actually got to the house just moments after we did. He was able to spend most all day with us today--something I never would have imagined possible just days before the Assembly! The day started out playing with the puppies, of course. I've been dying to meet them! After they climb all over you vying for attention, they calm down and crash... all over Mom's porch furniture! I love it!!! :-) They are ADORABLE and I'm in love with them all. I didn't get a picture of Ralph, the brown one--and my favorite, but here are the other three. Aren't they just too cute?!

The kids played outside most of the morning. Joe is our family fisherman. He'll stand out there for hours on end, waiting for the big one! Here's Sam fishing with Granddad.

And Joe with the little bass he caught.

James did his own running around today, so the kids and I hung out with Granddad. He took us out for brunch at IHOP, then we went to Headquarters to check out all of the amazing changes there--and it truly is amazing! WOW. It's beautiful!!! I can't wait for everybody else to get here and see it! It is just so EXCITING after all of these years to actually SEE things happening there! Wa-Hoo!

We went and washed the van, only to have it start raining immediately afterwards. Gotta love that! We came home and Dad and I were able to nap while the kids played outside, then we went out and did some more fishing with them. James met up with us and we all went to dinner at Catie's Kitchen where you can get a meal for $2.19 on up to about $3.50--and we're talking chicken fried steak and such! Ha! Makes you feel like it's 1962 or something. :-) Came home and got the kids all showered up and put to bed. And here we are! Tomorrow is church, Monday is Presbytery stuff, then Tuesday is Fields of the Wood and the beginning of the Assembly! How exciting!!! I don't know how often I'll blog. It's sooooo hard to do while I'm here! In fact, the only reason I'm doing it right now is because Dad is an early-to-bed sort of a guy and Mom is gone! But she'll be home tomorrow, so if I happen to have time to blog... it will probably be spent hanging out with her instead of blogging! But you just never know. For anybody who can't make it to the Assembly, be sure to keep your eye on the church website: thechurchofgod.org. Although it doesn't say anything about it, you will be able to watch it live again this year. It's not the same as being there, of course... but it has to be the next best thing! God bless!!!