Our journey to Pennsylvania started out a little bit different than we expected.
We flew out of Salt Lake, had a layover in Newark, and then a connecting flight into Allentown.
Or so we thought. Instead, we flew to Newark, had a 3 hour layover, and then took a SHUTTLE BUS to Allentown. We could have driven all the way to my parents house in the time we sat at the airport waiting for a bus, and we would have if we had realized what was happening. Thankfully the drive was only an hour and a half, BUT we had checked the kids car seats when we flew out of Salt Lake so that made the ride extra interesting. They asked us if we wanted the car seats when we were getting on the shuttle, but we thought we were being shuttles to a plane or something so we said no. The whole thing was very weird, and we were kind of in disbelief the whole time.
Of one the first things we did was get mine and Ella's hair cut.
Ella had grown a pretty sweet mullet that just had to go, and I had a whole under layer of postpartum hair loss hairs that were a ridiculous length compared to the rest of my hair.
Hudson came down with a random that day, so he was not thrilled with life at the time. However, Ella had a blast looking at books while waiting to get her hair cut.
Before
After
After our haircuts we went and got ice cream at Gravity because duh. That's what you do during the summer in Honesdale.
We made a quick stop at Walmart to get some things we needed for our stay, and then on our way back to my parents we drove by the place where it all started.
Spring 2010 I met Taylor in that very building. I was 16 or just barely 17 at the time, and I suppose the rest is history
Some in between highlights of our trip included Merlisarnowski Park, Herr's potato chips, the long roung swing at "the little house," and humidity.
Once we got to the weekend, the main adventure started.
My parents, my oldest brother's family, and our family all headed to upstate New York with a destination of Palmyra.
The kids loved this little play spot at our meet up rest stop
It was hot, humid, and hard to do with tired little children, but it was so pretty to see.
So pregnant and so hot.
We definitely learned some lessons from this experience.
Don't hike it at noon when the sun shines directly into the gorge.
Bring a lot more cold water.
Shoes that can easily get wet and still be worn are easiest for kids because getting in the water at certain parts is just too much to resist for them. (thankfully we had that one right)
A child carrier of some sorts won't hurt.
After we finished our hike we went straight to Burger King because it was more or less right there, and we were all in dire need of a drink and food.
We all felt a lot better after lunch, and then it was up to Palmyra.
We were there a little bit early for the pageant so we took the kids to see the Palmyra temple.
A lot has changed with our family since we were sealed there.
Showing the kids that you can see some of the trees in the Sacred Grove from the temple.
We headed over to hang out in our seats for a little while before the pageant started.
Raelyn adored Ella and was a sweet little mommy to her.
Pizza for dinner before the package. So good!
All of the kids stayed awake through the whole pageant which surprised everyone.
It was a really great time, and so cool to be able to take my kids to something I remember going to growing up.
We drove to a hotel that was on our way home after the pageant.
The next morning we headed to Syracuse so the boys could race go karts.
It just so happened that Build-a-Bear was having a special coupon so Hudson (and Raelyn and Xavier) got to build a new stuffed animal.
Hudson thought long and hard about which one he wanted and settled on a shark. He named him "Hudson the shark." Very creative with his names.
Ella had a random fever so she didn't want to participate in the animal making.
After our detour to the mall it was time to head back to my parents' house.
We stopped to see the renovated Restoration Site on the way.
So many trees.
The kids had a great time throwing rocks in the water.
It was hot and humid, so we didn't stay too long.
My mom invited Raelyn and Xavier over for the night, so the kids got to have a little cousin sleepover.
They LOVED Poppy pushing them on the new swing.
The last "big" thing we did on our trip was have a lake day at my family's lake house.
I could go on and on with all of the memories I have at Spruce Lake.
I definitely took having the lake house for granted growing up.
Hudson's first time fishing!
Poppy had been promising Hudson to take him fishin all week long, so Hudson was pretty stinking excited when the time finally came.
He really like the fishing part, but he wasn't the biggest fan of the fish.
The kids had a blast, relaxing, splashing in the water, and playing with their cousins.
Poppy even took them out on a few boat rides which was probably the highlight of their day.
We left the lake late, went to a local ice cream shop, and had ice cream for dinner.
It was the most perfect summer day.
Cousin crew!
It was such a good trip with memories to last us a lifetime!
No comments