Fun Times

The question I was asked the most in regards to our recent trip was, "How did the baby do?"

She did fantastic!

Especially when, on our last day, what was supposed to be a two hour drive turned into four because of a couple of accidents. We then got to sit for two hours on the run way making it six hours inside a packed air plane.

Princess still prefers to be held all the time-awake or asleep. This lends well to vacation for mom has the time. Not a lot of demands to warrant that wanting-to-put-the-baby-down-so-I-can-get-something-done feeling.

If she does sleep on her own this is her preferred place. Thankfully she has slept pretty good at night in this. She is starting to squirm a lot more so trying to transition her to the crib for safety. It's not going so well so far but we persevere.

She has started to show a preference to sleeping on her left side. We will lay her down on the right and she will squirm and maneuver until on her left before settling in.

While on this trip she started nursing a lot better! Up to this, she has gotten upset a lot and often refused to nurse. This combined with a doctor requesting weight checks every two weeks (I knew she was gaining weight about the same as my other girls but he just wanted to be careful) can kind of mess with a mother's mind. After returning from our trip, my doctor had seen enough weights, to see a consistent growth trend, so that he could state that she is just petite, he thinks (something I knew all along but always better to be safe than sorry).

Princess has started laughing. 

She has an ever ready smile for anybody that talks to her. 

She loves to coo and contribute her two bits to any conversation.

Look who discovered her toes

That bib couldn't be further from the truth.

 Definitely a mommy's girl.

Making Memories

One of the main things the oldest two wanted to do on this trip was to go to the Washington D.C. temple and perform baptisms for the dead.

We also needed some time just to relax and play. For Tator that meant swimming! She was excited to be able to swim all the way across the pool.

We enjoyed the last couple of days hanging out with my sister's family. We met up at Franklin Square were we played on the play ground.



Reminds me of the merry go round- Those always made me sick.

Carousal rides

and miniature golf amongst Phili's land marks

Go Jenny!

check out those one handed golfing skills

And then followed up with lunch. 

Bud Boy spent more time feeding the birds and squirrels

We made sure we got  Philly Cheesteaks since everyone said we should.

They were good but quite frankly I've had just as good at the local Great Steak Sandwich Co. We also had water ice. Loved that! Jolly J wished she could have brought some home with here. Don't think it would have survived the plane ride.


My sister and I had babies 5 days apart. So fun to be able to see them together.

Must be something interesting over there

Of course we had to get souvenirs like the shirt Princess is wearing. We'll always be able to remember how small she was.

We also got plenty of chances to drive on bridges like this. So fun to see the vast water and various boats. Not fun that many of these bridges are toll bridges. Especially when you get charged more because it's a 15 passenger van ($ 20 bucks close to New York; maybe that's why it was so much cheaper to fly into JFK).

This bridge is the one we took to get from our hotel in NJ to Phili. We had one time where we missed a split in the road and was forced back onto this bridge. We then had to turn around and go back over the bridge. Yes, that meant paying a toll again.

Like any trip we had a few hic-cups but they just added to some pretty great memories of a fantastic family vacation!

Our Trip Back East-History

For the rest of our trip we spent three days in Washington D.C. and then back down to Philadelphia for a couple days. One of the neat things about this trip was the historical events we discussed and learned about. The kids were able to see things related to what they are learning in school. We saw lots of monuments and artifacts from the past.  How are you with your history? Can you name these things we saw?

We'll start with an easy one

1.             

2.     

3. What happened in this building? 

Here's a clue

Another easy one, it's the tallest

4.         

5.       

6.       

There were a ton of school groups there

Just in case you aren't sure, here's a peek inside

Don't you love the baby's hat?

Fun to see the evidence of Memorial Day by all the flowers

Loved that the people are etched into the wall

               7.    

8.        

If you got that one, then how about this one

9.    

10.  (Who's plane?)

11. Again who's plane?

look closely-we just gave it to you

12.

They are spelling where it's from

13.  Last,but not least, who's house?

 Here's a clue

One day we parked our car fairly close to this memorial. It is a tribute to the Irish, depicting a period of time where there was much starvation and forced evacuation.

Our Trip Back East-The Beach

After Valley Forge, we traveled down to Cape May, NJ.  From there we drove our van onto a ferry (yeah, it was that big). We all enjoyed traveling this way to Lewes, Delaware. It was fun to see everyone sway a little as they tried to walk. Didn't quite have our sea legs.

We then went and dipped our feet in the Atlantic Ocean.

Even the littlest one

Such tiny footprints!

Tator & Minnie were excited to find what they thought were just shells. 

Nice impromptu lesson on what lives in shells

It was fun to play as the sun set on another perfect vacation day.

Valley Forge

On Memorial day, we met up with my sister's family and saw Valley Forge.

My children asked, What is Valley Forge?

We learned in 1777, during the American Revolution, the British strategy included a plan to capture Philadelphia (the capital at that time). To accomplish this, 17,000 British troops landed at the head of Chesapeake Bay. To oppose them, General George Washington marched his 12,000-man army out to battle.

In the Winter of 1777 George Washington sought out a place for his troops to make camp for the winter. He choose Valley Forge, PA which was located 25 miles from Philadelphia. This area was named for an iron forge that was built on Valley Creek. A forge is used to shape metal-think blacksmith. This area was chosen for it's landmarks that made it ideal for defense against the British and protection of the capital.

credit

Many of the soldiers were worn out or wounded from the battles. At times there was little food and most were ill clothed. The winter was cold, but mostly wet and damp which caused disease to fester.   Nearly 2,000 men perished. It was also a time for the soldiers to become more unified in their training and prepared for future battles when they marched out in June.

National Memorial Arch-done in dedication to the army

replica of the cabin, or hut, the soldiers built

The Washington Memorial Church. 

The chapel is on private property within the park. 

It has an active congregation.

We loved looking at the many stained glass windows which depict various scenes from history and honor George Washington's service to his country.

The girls spent some time acting out scenes from Rapunzel on this fun "tower" outside the chapel.