Catching Up

It's been a busy last couple of months. Here are a few pictures to help us sum up the latest in our lives:

William and Jonathan outside Cameron and Sarah's apartment after our grandnephew Ethan was blessed.

Opening Night of the new Star Trek movie. We loved it!

Jonathan reading in a chair just his size at the Discovery Gateway (a children's hands-on museum) in SLC. Gayla gave us a family pass for Christmas. The boys LOVED it.

William on Memorial Day in Deseret. We enjoyed seeing and remembering family.

Larissa graduated with honors from  Juab High School on May 27. We're proud of her for the person that she is. And we're happy for her for all she has achieved. She won a prestigious scholarship awarded by the school district, a first-year-tuition scholarship from the U of U, and was runner-up Sterling Scholar in English for her area of Utah.

The next day, David left for Philadelphia. He drove all the way across Wyoming, making it to Chimney Rock (a landmark on the historic Mormon Trail) in Nebraska just before dark. 

It was a long 4-day drive. He camped all but one night along the way. His favorite campsite was on a peninsula along the shore of Lake Erie, near a lighthouse. 

David arrived at our summer home in Drexel Hill (a western suburb of Philadelphia) on May 31. He took the trolley and the train into Philadelphia for the first time the next day. For David's impressions of his trip across country and his fellowship this summer see his blog: http://elementsunearthed.com

Meanwhile, back in Utah, William caught the flu. This is him trying to follow me around the house.

Poor thing couldn't keep his head up to eat.

Thankfully, he was well enough to travel by June 2nd. Gayla took us to the airport and helped us check in. It was quite the adventure to get the kids through security (shoes off, harnesses on, out of the stroller, through the scanner, back in the stroller, shoes back on, and collect the bags). We even managed lunch. 

Then there was this cool play area, so even though our plane was delayed we were all set! 

Little did I know the adventure hadn't even begun. The flight to Denver was difficult. They didn't give me back our double stoller when we got off the plane (they had put it with the luggage to Philadelphia), so I had to manage 4 carry-ons and 2 toddlers without it, using the restroom, changing a diaper and buying gum. Thank heaven for the harnesses we got at WalMart before we left! The boys didn't usually want to go in the same direction I was going (big surprise). William would get tired periodically and just sit down in the middle of the floor, and had to be encouraged to get up again. But we stumbled our way to the gate (with the help of a nice lady who took one of my bags and encouraged the boys), sat down and ate a snack (this plane was also delayed), and then stumbled our way down 3 long hallways onto our plane (with the help of another nice passenger who carried one of my bags for me). 

The second flight started out much better. (I'd learned a few things on the first flight.) Jon was fractious at first, but went to sleep. Then, about halfway through our flight, he threw up all over me (What a great time to get the flu, right?) and promptly went back to sleep. So we pretty much had to just sit in it and grin and bear it 'til we got to Philadelphia (2 hours late). The flight crew was weary and practically kicked us off the plane. We met David and went directly to the car (there was no place at the airport for me to clean up), got lost in downtown Philadelphia, made it home with the help (over the phone) of my brother, Scott, and crawled into bed at about 3 a.m.

I thought the state I was in when I arrived a good start to our stay in Philadelphia. Things could only get better! David and I caught the boys' flu too, so our first weekend here as a family was miserable, but we're tons better now.

This is our apartment building.

Here's the view up the street from our outside door. (See the lamp post near the center? I love these lamp posts.) David's seen a bunny out here on the lawn some mornings.

This is the view the other direction, down the street from our building. I think it's just beautiful.

This was taken from our kitchen window. There are a couple of grey squirrels (I've named them Charles and Emma) that inhabit this gorgeous tree.

Here's one of them trying to sleep.

On Saturday, after David attended a conference at work, we went to Valley Forge. It's a beautiful national park now. This is the house that served as Washington's headquarters.

We headed, then, toward Lancaster to eat at the Amish Good n' Plenty restaraunt, but we took a wrong turn and ended up in Delaware instead. (We got a good laugh out of it.) A fun adventure. I had never been to Delaware before. 

We ate "The Best Burgers in Northern Delaware" at Jakes (good shakes too), then came on home. 

Next weekend's adventure will be with the Amish...we think.