East Coast, Part 1: To Newark & Philadelphia

Ok, here we go...I hope I don't bore those of you who still bother to read my blog...I am now going to embark on the monstrous task of blogging our BIG SUMMER EAST COAST ADVENTURE, and I will forewarn you that this will last FOREVER. I posted about a million photos on Facebook already but that was really only a taste of all we saw & did...so expect about a bajillion photos. We were gone for 2-1/2 weeks...travelled through 9 different states, DC & Canada.

We had such a fantastic trip! All of it was worth every bit of money and the extensive planning--you didn't hear much from me throughout May & June in particular precisely because I spent just about every spare moment I had putting together a full trip plan complete with maps, addresses, history & fun facts, etc, etc, etc...along with all our reservation info & packing lists...it was a MAJOR production (60 pages on Keynote!) I'll add some bits & pieces of it here.

At PDX preparing to board our plane...boys carried their homemade boats (for Boston) through security & got some funny comments from the TSA guys.

It was Zac's first time flying, amazingly enough considering all our crazy travels! He was in LOVE.

 Southwest Airlines was good to us. I worried when I didn't make it into the A group for check-in but everything ended up ok--we had a system for sitting together which worked out awesomely--I kept the 3 big boys together in the row in front of me & the little boys, which meant I didn't have to worry so much about the little guys kicking the seats in front of them! And George sat on the aisle of the opposite row to help keep the peace. They all did amazingly well on the flights. Our first leg took us to Phoenix where we saw Granddaddy's house from the air & called to say hi to Grandma S while sitting at the gate...then we took off again for Newark.

5 boys on a plane!

Riding the tram in Newark was way fun. It took us straight to the car rental place where a minivan was waiting for us!

And we made it to Newark, where when we got off the plane, it sounded like we'd landed in the middle of an episode of SNL's "Coffee Talk"...love that NJ accent.

 Thank goodness we had a GPS because I don't know how long it would have taken us to find our hotel that night--as it was we got turned around a few times--but when we finally found it, it was rather disappointing. Clearly you get what you pay for, but fortunately that's the worst of the hotels we visited throughout our trip, yet unfortunately we were staying in that same hotel at the end of the trip again before flying home...oh well. It had been a 100+ degree day there and nobody had bothered turning on the AC so our hotel room was SWELTERING. All of us slept in our undies with no sheets. On the plus side though, the room had FOUR double beds, so we were able to spread out a bit. : )

Next morning we rose up bright & early (and with jet lag, it was WAY early for us! 6am felt like 3am!) and after a quick hotel breakfast we hit the road for Philadelphia. (Keynote)

Driving into Philadelphia on the Ben Franklin Bridge!

Even with the GPS we still had a tricky time finding our way in Philly, but at long last we found it and after picking up our Independence Hall tour tickets we went straight to the Liberty Bell, where luckily we were able to pretty much walk right in...but after we left we looked back and there was a long line headed out the building. 

We'd talked about the Liberty Bell & also saw it when watching "1776" so I think the boys were a little underwhelmed when we finally saw the actual bell--they said, "That's it?"

As part of our preparation for the trip, I'd assigned each of the boys a city to research for the trip--I wanted them to know something about the things we were seeing so that it would mean more to them. Anthony was in charge of Philadelphia.

We had more time to kill before our tour time over at Independence Hall so we checked out the old Supreme Court Chamber in Old City Hall next door.

Walking around, we passed this Library of the American Philosophical Society. Did you know Ben Franklin established the first library in America? One of the many reasons I love him. That's a statue of him above the doorway.

Love this.

There's Independence Hall. It still wasn't time for our tour yet though, so...

...we took the time to do some handstand photos:

Our gym holds a "Handstands Around the World" contest every summer so we make a point to do handstands at points of interest....and we did a lot on this trip.

So I will end this post here...stay tuned for the rest of Philadelphia....

Summer of moving

All my life growing up, my family moved so often that I can not think of a single friend who ever moved away from me...it was always us moving away from everyone else and on to some new adventure. So it's been such a change to be on the other side, staying put while good friends move away from us. I think in a lot of ways it's more tough to be the one left behind.

This was the summer of moving but not for us...just about everyone else it seemed. Above is my good friend Shelley...first we learned they were moving away and that alone broke my heart. Then our neighbors/best buddies across the street sold their house...we knew that would happen eventually but we'd hoped it'd be put off one more year... Then THREE more families, no make that FOUR (I forgot the ones who left at Spring Break), who all lived close to us, moved away--three of the families had boys specifically the same ages as my 2 oldest boys so there went a whole bunch of their friends...oh wait, there was another one too I left out...way too many people! Ugh, heartache! 

It wouldn't be so bad if some new families with boys would move in over here near us but there hasn't been anyone...the new family in our neighborhood here just has a baby girl & both parents work. : (

I reiterate: it stinks to be the one left behind. 

I now can truly sympathize with all of my dear old friends I moved away from so many times way back when.

On the plus side, a couple friends who moved have stayed closeby...and best of all, George's cousin & his family moved here! Hallelujah for having more family close by! That is a blessing we cannot take for granted. I still miss all my beloved friends. Thank goodness for the world of Facebook & blogs that make the distance seem that much smaller.

Jolly 4th O'July

I know I've written all about our neighborhood 4th of July things before...so blah, blah, blah...same yummy breakfast, same great friends, same fun party in the park...

...such as the bike parade, which little cousin Betsy joined us for this year:

Zac lined up to ride with everyone else but once the parade actually started moving, he was done. Little stinker. Katie walked with Betsy though. I love their matching sunglasses...and Betsy's face cracks me up in this shot:

It's a little hard to see there so here's a close-up--hahaha!

And there's a cuter shot of Betsy, sans shades:

A lot of people lined up for the neighborhood parade

Christopher rides by in parade

There go Katie & Betsy

And another unhappy parader...not sure why Benno was sad.

And I took a whole bunch of pics of Benno jumping in the bounce house but somehow I managed to get him only on the landings and none up in the air, so it looks like he was just standing around in there...I promise he was jumping & having a grand old time:

George's cousin Aaron & family had *just* moved in that week so it was so great they could be there to play with us. Cousin Matt was in town helping them move in too--Matt's helping cute little Brinley hit the target with the ball (and you can't see my Aaron who is sitting in the dunk tank):

There's Aaron! And Benno trying his best shot to dunk his brother!

Little cousin Bentley tried to dunk Aaron too:

And finally someone got him:

There's one very wet Aaron!

And of course Anthony had to do it too after Aaron:

It happened so fast I wasn't ready when he went in. This was definitely the highlight of their day!

Cute Brinley

Benno & Bentley race through the course

Aaron & Brinley

I'm always amazed by the size of the crowd that shows up, and it feels a bit like a reunion of sorts--so many people I know from church, school & community activities are ALL there--and it's way fun. I snapped this on our way home as the activities were winding down and yet there's still a good sized crowd out there. 

I haven't got any more pics from the rest of our 4th but it was a fantastic day all around...after the park festivities, some dear old family friends showed up at our house & took us and my sister Katie's family out for lunch...and of course there were fireworks that night. We drove over to the neighborhood next door where they always put on a good show (and another big "reunion" with more friends.) Love 4th of July!

On TV! And a surprise!

So again, way back in June (and I still haven't even gotten to our big trip of the summer...ugh) our gym was featured on the news--actually make that TWO news shows--so they asked anyone who could to show up bright & early at the gym at 5:45am.

Warming up--Anthony is the one running about to jump with Aaron standing behind...and there's one of the news guys standing there in the red shirt:

The news broadcast began with the girls showing Drew, the news guy, how to do the beam:

And there he is up on the beam:

A short time later though a surprise visitor was announced--none other than Chellsie Memmel, who, if her name doesn't ring a bell for those who don't follow gymnastics quite so closely, was a member of the silver medal 2008 Olympic women's gymnastics team in Beijing, AND she was 2005 World Champion--only one of 5 American women to EVER hold that title!

So we learned then that that was the true reason the news was interested in our gym that morning! So they did another short news spot then & there--here they are sitting in the midst of the kids, my boys are just to Drew's left.

Here is the actual spot that showed on the news that they filmed in the photos above. My boys are standing right behind her through most of the interview. Fun! 

 After that, Chellsie was gracious enough to sit & sign autographs & smile for photos as every single kid in that gym made their way up to the little table there.

Anthony & Chellsie:

Christopher & Chellsie:

Aaron & Chellsie:

Then they handed me all the autographs to hold onto while the 2nd news guy got going for the other newscast.

Lucky little Christopher is there sitting right next to Chellsie on her left.

Here's the other news guy trying his skills out on beam:

And parallel bars:

Here's the other news spot but it's less exciting because my boys aren't in this.

And one last photo with just the boys--now it's Anthony's turn to stand right next to her, again on her left.

It was SO WORTH IT to get up that early that day!