The Richards come to Pennsylvania

On Saturday June 30, Bruce's dad called to tell us that they wanted to come out and see us.  They were going to leave within a couple of hours, drive 36 hours straight and arrive sometime Monday afternoon.  We couldn't refuse a visit from family even though we were getting ready to close on our house.  To our surprise, the Richards' clan arrived earlier than we expected.  At 8:30 am on Monday, July 2, an exhausted clan of 8 Richards rang our apartment doorbell. 

Bruce's parents and his 3 of his sisters stayed in a hotel close by, while 3 of his brothers stayed the night at our place. 

Although I should have taken advantage of the extra people by making them help us prepare to move, we boycotted the moving boxes and set out for some fun. 

Monday, July 2

After a big pancake breakfast, we headed out for a tour of DVC and a picnic lunch.  We decided to take it easy since our guests were weary from their three long days of travel. 

Tuesday, July 3
However, the next morning, we set out early for a train to Philadelphia.   

Eliza had a great time riding the train

 

It's too bad we accidentally sat in the designated quiet car.  As you can see from this video, Eliza wasn't exactly quiet.  Oh Well!!  I hope all of those serious business people still had an enjoyable ride home.  Who wouldn't appreciate such a cute girl. 

When we got to old town Philadelphia, we started right away by watching the informative videos at the visitors center.  Then we headed over for a tour of Independence Hall.

Ironic that a year ago to the date, Bruce and I stood in front of this same building -  me wearing the exact same shirt, but Eliza was not yet born. (She came 11 days later)  See...

 

After Independence Hall, we took a lunch break to enjoy a tasty Philadelphia Cheese steak.  You simply can't visit Philly without eating one.  Although difficult to tell, Eliza's cheeks are bursting with yummy cheese steaks. 

Then... it was on to the Liberty Bell.

Eliza was very excited to see the famous bell. 

When we stepped outside the museum, music was playing from Independence Hall lawn.  Too bad I was the last one out, and only caught the last 10 seconds or so of Eliza's dancing - she was having a ball.



We hopped on the Phlash bus and headed to the other end of town.  We saw the Pennsylvania State Penitentiary where Paul found himself on the wrong side of the door.

He doesn't seem too shaken up by it.  The Pennsylvania State Penitentiary operated from 1829-1971, and had a unique wagon wheel design.  It was one of the first prisons to practice separate incarceration.  Prisoners were escorted to their cells with a black bag over the head so they wouldn't be familiar with the prisons layout.  Each inmate had their own cell with advanced facilities and fixtures for its time.  However, every inmate was held in solitary confinement and prison conditions were harsh.  That is....for every except for the famous Al Capone who served some time here.  In 1924, the most bizarre inmate was a dog named Pep.  Pennsylvania's governor sentenced Pep to life imprisonment for murdering his wife's favorite cat.   Weird!!  Despite it's castle like design, the Penitentiary's facade was less than inviting thus hoping to discourage criminals from committing crimes.  Interesting place to visit, but not a place I would want to call home. 

 The heat and excitement of the day tuckered poor Eliza completely out.  She zonked (in Uncle Luke's arms) on the Phlash bus right in the middle of the story she told. 

 

To "cool off" from the blaring heat, we stopped by the LOVE statue to play in the water.

I had to laugh when Paul said he couldn't get in because he didn't want to get his pants wet.  I spent some time rolling them up for him to find him 10 minutes later back floating in the water - so much for not wanting to get your pants wet! :)

 Eliza sitting on Grandpa's lap when she got tired of the fountain of water. 

 

We took a ride on the Subway just so the kids could have the experience.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Then we headed home.  A fun day in Philadelphia. 

 

 

Wednesday July 4:

 

To celebrate Independence Day, we headed to Valley Forge.  We had a picnic lunch in the woods close by Washington's Headquarters.  We watched a video depicting the events at Valley Forge.  We took a driving tour of the grounds, and stopped to listen to a few stories told by History experts. 

 

Ironically, this is the only picture I took of Valley Forge - Eliza sitting on grandma's lap.  Eliza was supposed to ring the bell in order to start the story, but she was a bit scared of the story teller who gave it to her. 

Although we tried to be patriotic by visiting some important sites during the Revolutionary War, Eliza crashed for the night before we left for a fireworks show.  We didn't even wave around sparklers.  Poor Eliza's first 4th of July was parade and firework free.  I'm sure she won't remember it, but I still feel unpatriotic by not watching fireworks. 

 

Unfortunately the Richards' clan left the next afternoon to drive all the way back to Utah.  It's sad to see family go, but we are glad that they were able to make the long journey out to see us. 



DC with the Chases'

The first full week of June, we found ourselves strolling around DC with Bruce's sister and her wonderful family.  Although Eliza has been to the DC vicinity many times, this was the first time she has actually been to DC. 

Eliza couldn't resist giving one of her famous hugs to her cousin Lilly when she saw her again. 

We went to the American History and Natural History museums. 
Eliza got to see Dorothy's famous ruby slippers

One of the original stones from the Nauvoo Temple

And... none other than Kermit the Frog

She found this giant Geode fascinating

But not nearly as fascinating as cousin Lilly. At this point, Lilly was great at pulling herself up on things, crawling, and could even take a few steps. Eliza was still pretty stationary, only able to roll on the occasion that she wanted. The two girls would sit together; Eliza would play with Lilly until she crawled away. After Lilly crawled away, Eliza would beckon and talk to try and convince her to come back.

 I really enjoyed the mummy and skeleton exhibit in the Natural History museum. I learned so much about male and female skeletons and how much scientists can learn about a person simply based on their skeleton. However, I found it a bit morbid to take pictures of that exhibit. 

We settled for this picture in front of the large elephant. 

Sitting on the mall lawn near the end of the day.  Eliza was so so good on this trip considering she only had a 20 minute nap all day. 

We finished the evening with a meal at Five Guys - they have unbelievably awesome fries, and their hamburgers are very filling. 

The whole gang (minus the photographer Bruce) outside the Natural History Museum

And.....She CRAWLS!!

As of August 7, 2012 Eliza is finally able to crawl forward.  She has been up on her hands and knees for the greater part of 4 months.  Just when we thought she would move, she would plop down and roll around.  Then she would scoot her bum across the floor backwards, then spin in circles, and now...

It's more of an inch worm slide...but it's completely and originally Baby Cakes.  It fits her personality.  Even now, a week and a half later, she does it the same way.  Her forehead almost has a permanent rug burn on it.  She will "crawl" with her head dragging across the carpet, stop, look up to see how much further she has to go, and begins again.  I seriously laugh every time I see her move.  She is so determined, and tries to move faster and faster - head down.  She has managed to crawl normally for two small "steps", but if she wants to get anywhere, it's head across the carpet.  I love my very unique and fun Baby Cakes. 

Excitement!

It sums up how we all feel!!

Updates.......coming soon!

First of all, I can't believe that July is over.  It has flown by....probably because of everything we have been up to.  July was certainly BUSY!!!

I have LOTS of posts to write, and eventually I will be caught up.  For now, I'm tired.  Here's what you have to look forward to:

• Washington DC with sister in law Angeline and family
• Visit from the Richards family
• Visit from my sister Katie
• Our trip to NY and Broadway play
• Eliza's 1st birthday
• Moving to our new house, and the "home improvements" I've made already.
• And more

Stay Tuned!  I'll eventually catch up; hopefully before August is over. 

We Bought a House

After nearly a year and a half of looking, we finally found the right house for us.  While we were looking, a lot of people told me that they knew which house was theirs the moment they walked in the door.  We looked at 60+ houses and I kept waiting for that feeling.  There were some houses that I liked, and thought I could tolerate living here.  We even made offers on two different houses, and still the feeling never came.  There is one area in particular we were hoping to move to.  Although it is still a suburb of Philadelphia, it is not nearly as cityish as some of the others.  We looked at 15 or so houses in this one area, and still didn't find what we were looking for.  I decided that we should start considering some other areas.  I looked on Zillow, and found 10 houses in other areas I wanted to look at.  As I was about to close the computer for the night, I felt a small prompting that I should look in our desired area one more time.  I found a new listing, and decided to give it a try.  Wouldn't you know, the minute we walked in, I had that feeling.  This is the house for us!!  Instead of looking at more houses the next day, we made an offer on "the house."  The next day, the sellers made a counteroffer.  We made a counter counter offer, and it was accepted. 

After going through the crazy process of obtaining a mortgage, and signing my life away on a large stack of paper, we are officially HOME OWNERS!!  We closed on our house yesterday, and I was over there today shampooing the carpets.  We will be moving within the next couple of weeks.  (Our current lease doesn't end until August 3, so we decided to take our time)  We are so excited!!  It's not perfect, but it is good for us right now!!  These pictures are from the inspection, so the furniture you see is still the previous owners. 

 The basement (unfinished), but very spacious.  We can double our square footage when we decide to finish it; however we are in no hurry to do so.  The washer and dryer are staying with us.  :)

 The other half of the basement - can I say how excited I am about the storage possibilities here.  I might actually be able to use my closets they way they were intended.

 The Dining room and family room.  I love how they are connected and open.  You can see the edge of the kitchen counter in this photo as well.  Eliza can play in the family room while I cook dinner, and I can still see her.  AWESOME!

 The kitchen.  Look at the cupboards, triple the space I have now.  Not to mention that there are 7 drawers which definitely tops the 2 I have now. 

 The living room.  Eliza is playing on the floor with our awesome Realtor, Jane. 

 The other half of the living room, showing off the huge coat closet and front door. 

 Bedroom #1, it will probably be Eliza's room. 

 Bedroom #2 - a guest/craft room for the time being. 

 The master bedroom - it's connected to the bathroom. 

 The other half of the master bedroom.  I'm a fan of the two separate closets, no matter how small they may be. 

 The bathroom - the downside, there is only one in the whole house.  Not impossible, but not ideal.  It is actually pretty large though.  This picture only has half of it. 

 The front of the house from the curb.  Isn't it cute??

 Eliza and I at the end of the driveway.

 The shed in the backyard.  Ironically, the shed is positioned in the middle of the yard.  We might eventually move it to the back of the yard, thus freeing up more yard space.  Our lot is just shy of half an acre.

 The back patio.  Unfortunately the owners took the patio furniture - it would have been nice, but the wooden benches are still there for entertaining. 

 The back of the house from the side yard. 

The whole front of the house.  Notice the attached garage - automatic door and everything.  YES!!  No more hauling groceries all the way down the LONG sidewalk.  The garage enters right into the family room which is right by the kitchen.  The driveway is double wide so we can park the truck in the driveway and still get the car out. 
Except for the basement laundry, all living space is on one floor.  I love ranch style homes!

Family Vacation - Shenandoah National Park

On Memorial Day, we drove from Pennsylvania to Gordonsville, Virginia to the Shenandoah Crossing resort. Unfortunately, it took us a lot longer to get there than we originally planned. We didn't leave until late afternoon,and finally made it to the resort after 10 pm.


Day 1- May 29 We drove the 40 minutes from our resort to Shenandoah National Park. The park was absolutely beautiful. Forests and trees and far as the eye could see. I can only imagine how beautiful it would look in the fall with all the leaves changing colors. We pulled off at South Falls for a little picnic and a hike. This was Eliza's favorite part of our vacation: Eating her lunch while sitting on top of the picnic table. The silly girl would NOT keep her hat on. She could almost take it off faster than I could put it on. I plastered her head with sunscreen and hoped she wouldn't get sunburned. The two cutest hikers on the planet ready to go!! She's a natural! Notice that I tried tying a different hat on her. As you can see from the pictures below , she still figured out a way to pull it off. We made it to the South Falls waterfall (80 ft.), and enjoyed the overlook Even though it was extremely hot and humid, Eliza did really well. She didn't like the hiking backpack as much as we had hoped. We had to make frequent stops so she could have a break from being strapped on Bruce's back. About halfway through the hike though, pure exhaustion overcame her. We stopped for a few moments on a rock to "rest." We decided that we might be able to make quite a bit of progress with her asleep. We positioned her as comfortably as we could, and headed out. Apparently all she needed was a 25 minute power nap because after 25 minutes, she was happy, bubbly, and ready to finish the rest of the hike. After an exhausting and super hot hike, we sat under a tree on this blanket eating trail mix and relaxing. We decided to take a family picture using the timer, and rested the camera on top of the diaper bag. I think it's so funny how straight Eliza is sitting. She must be showing off how good her posture is.

We went back to our cabin to make dinner and rest. Eliza thoroughly enjoyed the gliding rocker.

Day 2: May 30  

We decided to spend the day hanging out at our resort, and enjoying its immense amenities. The resort had over 1000 acres of rolling hills. Neither of us are big horse back riders, so we opted for the horse drawn wagon instead. Eliza was fascinated by the horses.

It's a good thing the horses were well trained and pretty mild since Eliza kept poking them in the eye.

She followed a peacock:

Had a close encounter with a turkey:

and enjoyed listening to daddy tell the wagon driver a story while looking at the scenery.

That is until the rocking movement of the wagon slowly lulled her to sleep.

The 60 acre lake on the resort property. Isn't the country just beautiful.

We played mini golf:

Making the "perfect" shot.

The first game Bruce and I tied; the second game, Bruce beat me by 1 point. Eliza also got in on the action:

We also played in the swimming pool - Eliza wasn't a fan of the COLD water, so she decided to take a nap in the stroller instead. We enjoyed an improv comedy show, a free magic show, and played BINGO. I was shocked when I won the first game and Bruce won the last game. We were pretty happy with the prizes we got to take home. I won Eliza a T-shirt, and Bruce chose a free kayak rental.

Day 3: May 31

  We headed back to the National Forest for another day of hiking. We stopped off at some of the overlooks, and went on 2 hikes.

We learned that Shenandoah National Park was the first national park east of the Mississippi. President Roosevelt decided that the west shouldn't get all of the parks so he instructed this one to be built. The first hike was to Dark Hollow Falls- one of the most impressive waterfalls I've seen inside a national park. Dark Hollow Falls is 85 ft. Perhaps the coolest thing about it is its many levels. You can see the entire falls from the lowest level - it is worth the grueling hike back to the top.

We used our brute strength to hold up the rocks.

Then we stopped for a family picture halfway up the trail.

Thirsty Eliza - we stopped for a water break.

She decided to share with mom.

Our second hike was to Lewis Falls, a 1.5 mile hike to an 80 ft. waterfall. Despite the short distance, the hike was surprisingly tough. The trail was narrow, steep, and covered with large rocks. To make matters worse, there was very little shade. When we made it to the falls, we were a bit disappointed. Although it could have been amazing, the way the trail positioned itself made it difficult to get a good view of the falls. Eliza got tired of the backpack, so we moved her to the Baby Bjorn.

We finished the day by Paddle boating on the resort lake. Eliza was curious about the life jacket, and thoroughly enjoyed steering our boat.

By the end of the day, we were all tuckered out. When I put Eliza in bed that night, she started playing peek-a-boo with herself. When I went back in to check on her, she had fallen asleep like this.

Day 4:  June 1 - our last day

We started out the morning by Kayaking on the lake.  Eliza enjoyed looking around and being close to the lake.  She found the geese swimming close by fascinating.  Bruce did such a good job steering, that he rocked Baby Cakes right to sleep. 

Afterwards, Bruce decided to take the Kayak out by himself for another spin.  He was having so much fun, when he decided to try and do a 360.  Because he was sitting in the back of a two person Kayak, he ended up swamping it.  Although he tried and tried to get back in, it was to no avail.  I saw him tip over, but wasn't worried about him.  Bruce is a good swimmer.  An older couple also saw him, and wondered if she should tell the workers that Bruce was out there.  When I told her that he would be fine, she asked me if Bruce knew about the snapping turtles and snakes in the water.  He definitely didn't know about that.  Even though I still wasn't worried, she told the workers, and they rescued Bruce in a pontoon boat.  We later found out that there is a 35 pound snapping turtle named Bowser that lives in the lake.  Definitely grateful that the workers rescued Bruce before he had a close encounter with the lake monster.  I'm glad that Bruce is such a good sport about everything - he wasn't at all embarrassed. 

We ate a picnic lunch, played one more game of mini golf, and let Eliza get in some swing and sandbox time at the resort park before we headed back to Pennsylvania. 

It was a great vacation - so fun for Eliza's first official family vacation.  We decided that we will definitely go back to this resort in a couple of years.  Baby Cakes was such a trooper on this trip.  For the four days we were there, she never got in a decent nap.  She only napped in the car, the stroller, in the hiking back pack, or in my arms for no longer than 20-40 minutes, and yet she was still as happy as a clam.  I think she enjoyed the cabin we stayed at.  She slept well at night despite being in an unfamiliar place.   

I just can't resist - I have to post this absolutely adorable picture of my little hiker.