Our Trip

  

Now that I know what all the children are occupied with, I'll get started on my letter. Bradyn is playing with his jungle play mat. Venesa is walking around fussing; does she want to try to play with the play doh that Ciara and Eric have? Ryan and Jen are doing their 'summer school' for today. At garage sales I am always finding these nice Summer Bridge books; and often they have only several pages done...take a hint, right? Great goals that don't happen! I'm am trying though, and I think they are fun enough to spend half an hour a day over summer vacation. Although they'd never admit it, I think they miss school work.

       Yesterday was Sunday- a free Sunday with nothing going, something we decided we needed, to relax and recharge. As we slept the afternoon away, we got a call from Mom wondering if we were planning on coming soon, because Sylvia was thinking of doing the cake around five o'clock.  As my brain cleared a little, I responded with something like "I think just maybe I totally forgot something!?" At that point I should have asked her to tell me (slowly) exactly what was going on and where we should be. Because as I remembered that Sylvia had mentioned a birthday party a few weeks earlier, I thought it was Dominik's party we had nearly missed! The party time was from three to seven, so at five we still had time to go. When we arrived and I finally realized it was actually Derrick's party, I got the card out of the gift and slipped it in Jason's pocket. Although I had the wrong boy in mind, the gift was still suitable, a little red wagon with a pack of blueberries, which Sylvia assured me that he loves! The birthday boy was so cute in his little blue outfit bearing the message " I am going to be Big Brother."   I am still filled with the excitement of finding out about a another baby in the family. The children were delighted with the jump house! We remembered to get some pictures of the children together. Mary Lou is probably thinking... you were invited to a party in the family, and you forgot!? She has to miss so many special occasions! And we miss your presence, too.

        Now it is Monday morning and I am out of laundry soap- after all that wash from our trip. I knew I should make more on Sat. but it was such a busy day with all the blueberries to freeze and still doing laundry. So do I run to the store for some or make more today and wash tomorrow? Forget running to the store...some one is always napping, or needing to!

       The trip I've mentioned was to Pa for a Glick reunion and to visit Grandma Z.  We took Jason's parents motor home. I guess I hadn't quite planned on all the extra packing and loading that was required. We had what we needed (and more) but it was a lot of work to be ready to go! Had to load things like toilet paper, towels, kitchen supplies, bedding and food for 6 days! We started out before noon on Fri. and  got to Troy Beam's (where we'd park for the night) in time to join them at church for a 'wild game' night. Before you start to imagine a lively game of 'swat' or drop the blanket, let me explain.... :) It was a wild game supper, with venison and rabbit dishes, ect. There was guns on display, and the pastor and a few other men shared stories. Ryan won a door prize... a toy gun. He was beaming the rest of the evening. Eric was just as happy, knowing he'd get to play with it also. We got to visit with Debbie Beam before we went to bed. Her husband has been in prison for almost two years (false accusations from the IRS) I am glad for her sake that family is close by, but she has nine children at home, so join us in praying for Troy's release! The next morning the children had lots of fun on the farm till we left for the reunion. When I saw Ryan playing with Trevor, I told myself again that I needed to purchase that book, Trevor's Song that has been written since his serious farm accident. We prayed for him back then, and it is so wonderful to see him walking around, with just a limp to remind us all about the miracle that took place!  

       We were in a huge, air conditioned church for the reunion, making a very hot day enjoyable. Later that day we traveled the rest of the way to where we planned to have church with Eddie Zook. (Elaine Glick's brother) We parked in the huge parking lot of a War History museum for the night. I cooked supper while Jason took Ryan and Ciara on a walk to see the army tanks and huts and cabins, ect.

       In the morning we drove to where church was held in a pavilion by the river. Once a year Eddie has a service out on a river boat, but it was closed that day, so plans were changed. It was still refreshing to be outside, close to the river. When lunch was over we headed into Lancaster to see Grandma. The youngest ones were sleeping

when we arrived, so I went in to say hi then went back out to the motor home for awhile to let Grandma rest, since she'd just had visitors leave when we came. It was Larisa and her husband, so I got to talk with her a little before they left. I went in with Bradyn and got to quietly visit for awhile before everyone else came in.

I asked to see some of Christianna's handwriting as a cousin suggested in the news letter...but she wasn't able to find it then. And I didn't want her to get tired out searching for it! Bradyn was content to let his great grandma hold him for awhile. The children enjoyed her one pet, a beautiful blue parakeet. The girls showed her their dolls.  

She served us some delicious refreshing punch, and gave us some homemade chocolate chip cookies for later. I was surprised and blessed- we ate them slowly with great appreciation for her labor- I should say I did anyway; the children just gobbled them up! 

         Then on to Verlin and Rose for the evening...she had invited us for supper, and I was glad to have one less meal to make in the motor home. It was good to be with old friends again. Their children are the well matched playmates for ours. Their heart baby, Vince, was only with them for seven short weeks. Rose has an 'in loving memory' sign in her flower bed, surrounded with lovely petunias.  We tried to get to bed in decent time; I was really looking forward to our morning plans. After we all had breakfast in our own 'houses', Rose and I and with the babies headed out to do some shopping! Jason stayed there with the seven other children. We went to Clay Book Store and then to Ken's Educational Joys. A dream store for any teacher! I got the music books there that I'd been needing, a pretty tea set for Ciara's birthday, and two books,

 Trevor's Song   and I'm a Winner Either Way   Austin Mullet's story. Two books I really wanted were on sale for almost half the price!  I was one happy gal!

Venesa was not happy for me in that store; she was getting tired, so out of the stroller she comes, onto my hip, beside Bradyn who is in the baby carrier. Very tiring to be sure! I guess Brady was sleeping or I would have put him in the stroller. Rose kindly pushed around the empty stroller for me.

When we got back we gathered up our children, telling their children to get their parents to come to OH sometime soon! We ate while we drove and had a fun time traveling in the motor home once again. Nap time was so easy! Brady boy could sleep so comfortably, in his jeep seat, or on the big bed. When curly top was getting tired, I'd put her in a booster seat up front, and when she was asleep, carry her back to the bed where she'd sleep for hours. Eric didn't have time for naps, but who can stay awake with the gentle bouncing and the loud hum of the motor, not to mention the comfort of a big bed and the breeze from the windows! How I wished Jason could experience that while I drove. (Like he would sleep while I was trying to operate a bus like that! Ha!) I didn't relax real much on our trip while we drove. There was house work to do! Washing dishes, cleaning up, putting toys away, making meals....we ended up eating out just once, so we chose Cracker Barrel. What a treat.

        As we were traveling, Jason found out from the GPS that we were close to a helicopter museum. Want to stop? He has a keen interest in helicopters. I hope he can get one when he retires and fly us all over the continent!  :)  We enjoyed seeing all types of helicopters; some of them you could sit inside. Our destination for the afternoon was the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, so we left for that after walking through the place and taking pictures.

         Philadelphia is a beautiful (and big) city, and we ended up driving around and around; wondering why we didn't think ahead to what we were going to do with the motor home when we get into inner city!? It is getting closer to five o'clock, and we haven't been able to park yet! Do we have to give it up when we are so close? Finally we get permission (from an official) to park along the street and pay for two hour parking. But it is passed 5:00 now and we know the building will be closed. But we learn that you can see it through a large glass window, so we set out to see the sights. We pass the graveyard where Benjamin Franklin is buried, get to see Liberty Hall and the Betsy Ross house. Some other things of interest were the oldest road in U.S. and the first meeting place for worship. We saw where George Washington lived (the site) called the President's house. And then the Liberty Bell, which didn't seem that big, but it is amazing how much it weighs. Ryan knows all the facts since he read a book about it that Jason got at a garage sale.

Now that we saw it , it might be interesting to read it myself or to the girls. An hour and 15 min. later we got back to the motor home.

         Monday night we got a camp ground close to the Ocean. The children explored in the woods while we made supper over the fire. It was a warm evening and the motor home was so stuffy. Jason didn't think we should run the generator for air conditioner and disturb other campers, but it was hard to sleep! Finally he turned it on till we were comfortable.

It sure was a hot weekend for a trip! We felt like we were melting a lot of the time! It made the beach seem all the more welcoming!

The next morning Jason discovered a parking ticket $75 on the back window of the motor home of all places! He was so mad. It threatened to ruin the fun day ahead of us;

and put a shadow on our memories of Philadelphia. He told me he was going to try to fight it since there seems to be no reason we should have gotten a ticket! After breakfast of pancakes, sausages and eggs (or was that another morning?) we were happily on our way to the beach! The children were so excited. We got there around 11:00 and stayed there for 5 to 6 hours! We missed lunch and no one seemed to mind! I have never been there long enough to see the tide change like we did that day. In several hours you could move out and play in the wet sand, and there was lots more shallow water. Jason and I took turns staying with the little ones while the other played in the waves with the older children. It was an awesome feeling to let the powerful waves carry you back towards the shore. Eric played mostly in the sand with the sand toys. It took Venesa a while to wander off my lap- the ocean is so strange for a one year old.  Ciara was one last time we were there, and cried most of the time, clinging to me.

We had a hot sunny day at the beach- I was worried about the children getting too much sun. I put sunscreen on everyone, myself included. No one got very burned except Jason! His poor legs from the knee down got so red and swollen , IT HURT TO WALK. Second degree sunburn, from what I've read! I was sorry I hadn't thought of  my husband, yet I'm not sure he would've let me put the stuff on him anyway. Bradyn was the only one that didn't really enjoy the beach at all. I used umbrellas to keep him in the shade, but he got hot. It was nice he slept for awhile.

         Washing up was a chore, but the shower made it go quickly, and we headed out and ate a light supper of cream of chicken soup and crackers. No one was real hungry- too much time in the sun? Later Jason stopped for drinking water and got frostys for everyone. That was refreshing, as we were so hot again. Children were ready to go to sleep early. I was able to sit beside Jason while he drove and drove, through thunderstorms and lots of rain. But after awhile I was falling asleep so I went off to bed, lulled to sleep by the driving. I haven't mentioned how I felt sort of sick a lot of the trip- motion sickness I suppose. We ate fairly often while driving which made it worse too.

The next morning we woke up in Cabella's parking lot. After getting dressed and a breakfast of cereal, we went in to shop and see all the mounted animals. We were so hungry by the time we were done there; that is when we went to Cracker Barrel for a delicious lunch. Late afternoon we got home, and started the job of unloading.

I gave the children crates to fill up; I put stuff away. It was a race to see if I could keep up with four children running back and forth. I got behind of course to their delight, but it was a huge help to have all that stuff brought in so quickly. I was able to give the motor home a good cleaning (Jason and Jen helped) and we took it back that same evening. Then the next day I crashed, and took it easy most of the day. I waited till Fri. to do the laundry and it took all of Sat. to finish. I was just so glad to have the energy to tackle all that wash-instead of being in bed recovering from childbirth as I was after we arrived home from our last trip!

         Jason just called and wondered if he could stay down at Kevin's deer farm overnight. I said I'd miss him, but it will give me time to get the house in order after spending the day in the office!:( And the left over grilled chicken will be the right amount to feed the children for supper. But what are you going to eat? They'll go out for supper, I guess.

        I had Ryan and Jennika start the laundry soap. I pay 50 cents a bar if they'll shred it for me. They both wanted to earn a dollar, so since I had 4 bars on hand I have half of it for the next batch. Good deal!

        It looks like we might have thunderstorms or rain every day this week! It has been cloudy or raining all day. I managed to mow the lawn on Sat. between rains. You know, I have a feeling I should've picked my peas this morning- the second picking. My garden is slowly pulling out of the shock of that heavy frost. Nothing really looks very great, except the corn in the new garden.

         We plan to have my family's camp out here at our place this year. My brothers from out of state won't make it this year, but Simon's plan to come from NY. So the next month we will be getting ready for that. A lot of fun, but a lot of work first.

         This week I have a mom's group to go to on Wed. at Marnita's house and our church picnic is on Sat. It will be another full week. Bradyn is cooing at me...reminding me that I have nothing more important to do than taking time to look into the sweet faces of my children. I was given some great and wise advice at the beach. In broken English a lady told me, after exclaiming over the children; "Be happy; if you be happy, then they be happy!"

                                        More than that, be filled with the joy of the Lord!  -Chris