Back into routine, 2nd 4th, lessons

 Won't lie... it took a bit to get back in the swing after a week of off routine. The kids had trouble at school, our emails were backed up, the house was a mess, laundry was mounting... but what made me chuckle was I asked Eleanor if it felt weird to be back.. and she said, it feels good to be back. I agreed - something about sleeping in your own bed and puttering around your own home that makes a trip feel like you came home just in time.

We did celebrate the 4th of July again on Friday night tho - we spent some time with my family and lit fireworks off at my parents house. It was nice, slow, and quiet. We had some hold overs from last year and Mom picked up some too - the kids love the parachuters. I think I'm a fountain fan... less boom, more pretty. The kids stayed a couple nights at the farm - they played in the corn, hit up the local one room school and played with the kitties between side by side rides. 

Matt and I got some stuff knocked off around home include working on the landscaping and even got a round of golf in .. it was horrible and we both played like schit until we quit talking to each other. Fun times!

This week has been busy. G started his golf lessons and he's excited about it. We are piling that on with baseball lessons - I'm not sure if we are into skill mastery yet but we are still liking. Eleanor also started tennis this week - something totally new for her. 

Overall, it's hard to believe that it's July and summer is swinging into the back half - we have a lot of things on our list that we haven't even thought about or started planning for!

G comes out.
G: Eleanor is (insert petty behavior that we don't want to hear about).
MJR: Grady, I'm sick of hearing about the things your sister does wrong. What does she do that's right?
G: Nothing
G walks off.

PA: Part 2 - the Philly Stuff

Usually, I don't start with the quote piece but I think it sets up the second part of the vacation.
MJR laying down in his own bed upon arriving home: I've never seen so many public restrooms in my life.

We left Tuesday morning, the 4th for Philly - just our family. We said goodbye to Judy and Chris - appreciated their hospitality and tractor rides. Matt wanted to stop at the cemetery where his Grandmother is buried. G got out to take a look around too. 

G: What are you doing?
MJR: Talking to my grandma
G: Dad, are you going to die?
MJR: It will be a very long time before I die.
G: But you are going to die, right?
MJR (sighs): Let's not worry about that anymore, Grady.

After a public potty trip, we headed to Philly. We drove through the Lehigh Valley Tunnel, where they attempted to hold their breath - it didn't work. We also went past Allentown and decided to start Philly off with the Cheesesteak off. We've done this every time we've been to Philly - Geno vs Pat's. We got one whiz wit of each and sat down for lunch.

Video Spoiler: 3:2 - Matt wins with Geno's.

From there we went and got settled with our VRBO and then took on the history portion of the day. After a quick trip past Ben Franklin's grave - where we dumped quarters because we had no pennies, we took on Constitutional Center first - took in the President Portraits, the Hall of State Flags, the 19th Amendment display, and then the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. I don't think that we did a good job explaining the importance of the place and the trip - maybe E got it but those other two uncultured swine complained their way through that building as well as the Liberty Bell display. The whining subsided a bit when I bought Italian Ice... which I have to say the lemon was amazing. 

We took in a Ben Franklin story - as there were story tellers parked throughout Philly that day and then headed to Betsy Ross's house - where the heat and the walking (approximately 3.7 minutes) got to Grady. I unbeknownst to me, saved the day by buying our customary 2 water bottles (one for the backwashers and one for the nonbackwashers) - G chugged it to empty and seemed better. I won't disagree that it was hot - it was 90 degrees and the humidity was high but c'mon man.

We switched gears and went to Dilworth Park - where we had to convince those people to play in the fountains. We couldn't keep them out of the creeks in PA's country BUT apparently they need swimsuits for city fountains. After a bit - they figured it out. Also, Ains and I found our 3rd public bathroom of the day - which required a purchase again.

It started raining and we had the kids put on dry clothes before heading to my favorite Philly Restaurant - the Dandelion. It's so adult and British and it makes me smile - word play, good food, good drinks..... They had no kid menu and sharing a cheese board with the heathens was a bit unnerving as they poppped aged cheddar like it was skittles but it did make me proud to split mussles, fish and chips, risotto, and my unexpected favorite - their tandori chicken. 

We headed home for baths and downtime. I specifically found this VRBO because of the view it offered of Philly. Sure, it had a lovely downtown view but it was right in the center of multiple firework shows. They had cake pops and cookies with berries that they hustled from Aunt Liz and Uncle Dave on the roof while we watched side shows. The location was ideal as Ains tuckered out and wanted to go to bed, E did too - she thought listening to the booms while she went to sleep was fun. G took in one of the big ones with us but my favorite part of the entire trip - one that I will remember for my whole life was when all the kids gave up and I got to sit on that Philly roof with my person and watch the sky light up. I love my children and fight for them each day but it's times like that I love the simplicity and ease of the love of my husband. The day in Philly was the only thing I really pushed to do for the trip and the fireworks on the 4th in the city where it all started was easily for me a once in a lifetime experience.

The next morning, we headed to another place I love - Reading Terminal Market. First stop - donuts (m&m - Ains, caramel apple - G, bavarian - Matt, white sprinkle - E, and peanut butter).

ALR to G and Ains: Aren't these amazing?
G, mouth so full of donut, his cheeks look like a chipmunk (nods earnestly)

From there the graze was on - we had an Iberico Cone - which Manchego cheese, a salami and teeny breadstick. G and I devoured. Ains thought the cheese looked like dried pineapple and wasn't interested. We started the shop and walk.. the kids got hung up on the sweets and cotton candy but the cheese monger caught my eye. Matt loved the meat display cases. The kids saw a lobster tank and each took pics. I totally got sidelined by the famous mint lemonana - with rosewater splash. I had to share with gluggers before Ains decided she needed to add another public restroom notch on her list. They took in pickles and I split an Amish pretzel before we left for the Please Touch Museum. 

Ainsley's view of the lobster tank - no wonder she's angry, she can't see schit.

This was a beautiful concept because these children couldn't keep their hands on anything - bathroom walls, signs, fence posts, sidewalk glass - I'm not sure when they are going to understand filth and yuck but we are not there right now. There are all sorts of divisions in the museum - Alice in Wonderland, water tables, transportation, grocery store, bakery... but Matt's favorite was the money and currency section - of course it was. I got a kick out of the baseball exhibit that was up too. 

From there - we went to the airport. Took the rental back and caught the two flights back home getting in at approximately 1:15 ... AM. Not everyone was a good traveler that day. G probably was the best especially since he took a nap on the longer flight. But I will not forget the final leg into Bis where we had TV's and Ains just wanted to watch Paw Patrol but the announcements and safety briefings kept pausing her show. She lost her mind and I will always see this tiny hand coming up beside Matt gesturing emphatically, like an angry little Italian and wailing like an Irish wake that she didn't need the safety brief and wanted Paw Patrol. I sat across the aisle so maybe my humor in the situation is from not having to rationalize with that exhausted little body.

PA: Part 1 - the family stuff

 Earlier this year, Matt and I had a big discussion about our family. This was after we had said good bye to another of my grandparents. The result of the conversation recalculated our family vacation plans - we both decided it was important for Matt to spend some time with his last remaining grandparent and also introduce our kids to him and him to our kids. So off we went to PA. We also decided it was important to have a multigenerational approach to this so Matt's mother could be a part of the conversation. 

There we were at 5 AM, waking the kids up with Grandma and Grandpa, to tell them that we were going to Pennsylvania and going by plane - first time for some (E flew when she was 4 mo old and says she remembers it - Who am I to question her). I had already packed their clothes, packed busy bags, packed water bottles, packed shoes, packed stuffies, packed pens, hopes, dreams, and anything else so all they needed to do was wake their "happy" selves up and get on the plane. They were excited and it was fun to see their anticipation. 

After switching planes in Minne, we arrived - got a rental and headed out of town directly to Judy's. We had sheet pizzas that night with wings. We were crashing in the camper while at Judy's.

Our first day involved a trip to Grandpa Dave's. Matt helped with a house project and the kids fell in love with the creek - walking, exploring, and hunting for crawfish. Cousin Liam came with us - he is about 2 years older than Eleanor. They played quite a bit over the week. The other creek that gave them a ton of fun was the one behind Judy's house. That night after a fireworks run, we all had italian hoagies. 

On Saturday, we did a Independence Celebration of sorts - East Coast style - meaning clams. We had clam chowder and stemmed clams - completely new concepts to my kids. It was also a bit weird convincing them to have soup when it was 80 degrees, with 875% humidity but it was very tasty and I was proud that each of my children tried it. E seemed to like the clams well and we ate until we exploded - mostly because 800 clams had been purchased. We watched fireworks that night - Chris and Judy don't take the 4th lightly... they got the big booms. Memories were made!

The next day we went to Steamtown - a national park dedicated to trains. We even went on a steam train ride that went through the town a bit and by a beautiful water bed. We also went through the museum, including a round house and some cars. I liked the mail car the best and I also was fascinated by the hobo culture surrounding train life. The kids' favorite part was either the ride or ringing the train bell - depending on when you ask. 

We had Texas weiners at a Coney Dog place in downtown Scranton. We also are dealing with E's ability to read a menu - there's no getting things slide by her anymore. We headed to Natalie and Matt's house - Natalie is Matt's cousin, she's a bit older than we are but the two were thick as thieves growing up and it was fun to hear them chum. Our kids paired up with their girls pretty quickly, making it easy to chat with the grown ups. 

The next day, us 5 headed to the Lackawanna Coal Mine Tour - this had been Matt's idea and I was mildly interested but upon completion, it was fascinating. I really enjoyed it. You go a quarter mile underground and then the tour is a mile through the mile and then they drag you back to the surface. It's a hour in totality. I would have enjoyed it even more if I hadn't been responsible for lugging the 30lb whine ball. See, when you go underground the temperature is consistent - 50ish degrees. It was 90 degrees above ground with 327% humidity but underground it was pleasant - unless you were Ainsley. Our children (in tanks and shorts) were too cold and the smallest one was freezing. With the low ceilings, I thought it was best if I carried her so they both didn't crack their head on the rock ceilings. The interesting parts to me were the child labor situations and the operations of the mine - including the contracting, the safety, the hauling... Our guide was fantastic too. 

Afterwards we went for ice cream and that night we went to Uncle David and Aunt Liz's. They've always been good to us and they have a beautiful family. It was good to meet brand new baby Cameron as well as hear Paige (their middle child) stories as Matt thinks Ains and Paige have the same streak in them. Our kids couldn't decide what they liked more... the chickens, the pool, or the berry picking!

G upon landing in Philly: This is my favorite part!

Ains leaving David and Liz's after 9:30: You are wasting my bedtime.