We made it to and from PA safe and sound. It took us a little longer going and coming home than expected but with 3 boys it wasn't too surprising. The boys did surprisingly well on the long car rides and we only had a couple of bad incidents. Jonathan got sick only a couple hours into our trip but recovered nicely. We also had a few close calls with the newly potty trained boys, but again we made it to a bathroom just in the nick of time.
The hotel stops went really well and Luke did great considering it was his first time staying at a hotel. He loved having Daddy make little beds out of couch cushions for him. He had the option of sharing a bed with Mommy and Daddy but, much to our delight, did not want to.
Micah (5), Katya, (3) Grandma Rosie holding Yuri (almost 3 weeks) Jonathan (6), Matthew (6) and Luke (almost 3).We made a brief stop in Oklahoma on the way out to visit with Eric's brother and his wife and children. We had not seen them in 4 years and hadn't met our 3 year old niece yet and we got to meet our 3 week old nephew. Eric's mom was there and she was so delighted to have all 6 of her grandchildren with her. She flew home the next day to get things ready for our arrival.
We were fortunate to beat out most of the rain on our way to PA. We were a little worried about getting home when we heard about some of the highway closures in the states that we had driven through. Fortunately all the roads were open on our way back. For the record these are all the stated we drive through to get to and from PA. New Mexico, Texas (the pan handle), Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, about 30 minute of driving through West Virginia and then Pennsylvania. It's about 2400 miles.
The time in PA was great. Eric and I had new sleeping quarters at his parents house and Luke shared the room with us sleeping on a crib mattress. The twins had their own room with separate twin beds and they did so well in those that we are now going to get them their own beds instead of having them share.
One day we drove 30 minutes to Strasburg and rode on an old steam engine train (Eric and I had been there before but not the kids). It was a very windy day and the twins do NOT like the wind but they had fun riding the train. Luke probably enjoyed it the most. It was so fun seeing his eyes light up and that smile never left his face. Such an amazing experience for both Eric and myself.
We celebrated Easter a day early with a big family dinner at Eric's parents house. I think there were 20 of us and 4 generations. It was almost all of Eric's mother's side of the family. Earlier that day it actually snowed. The boys had never been in falling snow. Matthew was mesmerized but did not want to go out in it. Luke loved being out in it.
You can't really tell but it is snowing in this picture.Easter was a nice quiet day. We had church in the morning and then a nice relaxing afternoon. We had a nice Easter dinner and then we had Easter treats.
Easter picture. Note to Doni, I didn't bother cleaning Luke's face either.On Monday after Easter we loaded up the kids in the van and headed 200 miles up to New York to visit with Eric's paternal grandparents. We stayed the night and had a lot of fun. Eric got to visit with a couple of his uncles and reminisce about the Giants winning the super bowl.
All of us with Eric's grandparents on his dad's side.The Wednesday before we left to come home we had an early birthday party for Luke. It was a lot of fun. Daddy ordered a special cake for the birthday boy from a lady who used to make his birthday cakes growing up. He told me he ordered Thomas and Diego, 2 of Luke's favorite characters. I was so surprised to see that she actually created a Thomas on the cake with Diego riding him. Very original I thought.
The boys got out a couple other times to go to the park and to a little lake down the road. Daddy and Papa Rosie took them and had so much fun. They played 3 Billy Goats Gruff on a bridge at the playground and they had fun walking across fallen trees by the lake. Luke was a complete mess both days.
The boys with Papa "Rosie" at Grubb Lake.Luke also had a lot of fun "helping" Papa Rosie start the fire in the wood stove every morning and helping with whatever else Papa would let him do. They also loved playing catch with the purple ball. Everyday Luke would walk around the house looking for his Papa Rosie. Those 2 really bonded.
All in all it was a good trip and we all had fun but are glad to be home. I think the next time we decide to drive we will have to have a couple extra days added on to the trip. We drove 4 years ago and we were gone 3 weeks and that was a little too long and this time we were only gone 2 weeks and it wasn't quite long enough. Now we know we need about 16-17 days to really have enough time.
