The Rest of the Month with Jaclyn

It was such a fun and whirlwind month having Jackie with us. I don't think I've ever gone at such a pace since having kids, we were up to something every single day. Most of those things involved bringing the kids with us, but every once and a while we got lucky and were able to go by ourselves. Once of those days we went to the art museum. We'd been there once before, but this time we were able to absorb all of it without worrying about my children destroying anything. It was really cool, I already hope I can go back again sometime.





Another day was spent at Fort Washington Park so Jackie could run the Miles for Smiles for the Haiti club. Glenn was volunteering and I thought it was really cool that she was willing to do that to donate to the cause. I would have run it too, but...uh...I'd just sprai..busy, ANYWAY...



We spent a couple of times at Ocean City too, sometimes with friends, sometimes by ourselves. It had definitely gotten busy by then, but still a lot of fun. We learned the second time that if we wanted to go where it was less busy, to go OFF the boardwalk. We love the beach though. I just need to get my son to love it. Towards the end we would find him lying face down in the sand, what a life!





Camping was definitely on the agenda, and since we were able to go on a weeknight, we didn't have to worry about bothering our neighbors (can you tell I have an issue with crowds?). We had a great spot at French Creek, right in front of the bathrooms, with a playground right around the corner. I wish we'd been able to stay a bit longer, but still a lot of fun. The kids loved catching fireflies and roasting hotdogs. The next day we found the craziest looking slug, I kind of liked his little face!






We also got to spend an afternoon at the Eastern State Penetentiary, a place that I've been wanting to check out for a while. It was fascinating! I had no clue how old it was, or how much history was behind it. Definitely a cool experience, I'd recommend it to anyone.




We had a few nice picnics around town (I probably packed that cooler a hundred times), including one at Valley Forge, with a mandatory visit to Zwahlen's afterward, mmmm.




One of the very last days we spent together we got the whole day to go to Peddler's Village. I'd heard about this place quite a while ago and it's been on my list for a long time. This was my very favorite day of the month. We got to roam around all the cute (and surprisingly inexpensive) boutiques and shops, eat at a nice restaurant with no interuptions, and soak up the pretty surroundings. I also got to try gelato for the first time, good stuff! Two days after our Peddler's Village trip, we hopped on the plan together (sans Glenn, he had to study for boards, sniff!) and went to Idaho for the month. Now that I'm home, I really miss my sister, but I'm so glad we got to spend so much great time together!

Our Week with Mom

A while back we had planned on having Jackie (she goes by Jaclyn now, but I'm going to just go ahead and call her Jackie on my blog) with us for the whole month of June. I'm crazy about Jackie, so I was thrilled, then at the last minute my mom decided to come out for the first week of June, which was an even bigger bonus. Every year, my mom, sister and I try to do some sort of girl's weekend, so this ended up being perfect. We spent every day out and about doing something, I didn't take a whole lot of pictures because sometimes it's nice to just be able to enjoy yourself without snapping a million photos, but here is what I do have.

My mom went to church with us on Sunday which I think was a cool experience for her. She even went to primary with me, which was awesome because she didn't sit in the back or anything, she plunked herself right in the middle of the Valiant boys class and wrangled any trouble makers, LOVED IT! We spent the rest of the day roaming Fairmount Park and feeding the ducks.



We went back to Sesame Place, which was great because it was finally warm enough to play in the water park. Skyler takes a while to warm up to these types of things, but Jayda had a blast.




We went to Ocean City, right before the season really picked up, so we got the place to ourselves, it was really nice. We also walked the boardwalk and sampled some delicious crab cakes that had apparently been hailed by Food Network.



We spent another day going through Intercourse for a day at Kitchen Kettle. Can't get enough of those samples! We got there on a good day too because they had some live music. Skyler wasn't feeling the shopping so much, so him and I sat outside to listen and make funny faces. Of course we couldn't go home afterward without a trip to the Smorgasbord, I mean, c'mon.






The rest of our visit with mom was spent mostly eating, a bit of shopping, and a lot of hanging out enjoying each other's company. Even though I knew I was going to be seeing her again, it was hard to say goodbye when she left.

Two Peas in a Pod

Everynight after the kids fall asleep Glenn and I go check on them to make sure they are tucked in and not sleeping in the closet or something (it's happened before). So when we went to see how Jayda was, we got a bit of a scare not finding her in her bed at all. Luckily it didn't take too long to find her.


She told us the next morning that Skyler was sad and she wanted to help him feel better. Love these two!

Strawberry Festival

I love going to the Linvilla Orchards. If we could afford it, I would go to every single festival they have. This was a fun way to distract ourselves while waiting for my mom and sis who were coming in that evening.

We spent the first half playing in the playground, eating and checking out the petting zoo. I got the hairbrained idea that Skyler would enjoy going through the maze with me, and he did, for the first half. But after a good twenty minutes of running around, he started getting really discouraged and I finally had to lift him out of it. Luckily I made it out pretty quickly myself, ha!









I'm not going to lie, picking berries is a lot of hard work, quite different then apple picking. Skyler was not having it, at all, and one of us had to hold him the majority of the time. Jayda on the other hand was loving life, she could have picked berries all day. They were such good strawberries too, a bit smaller then I'm used to, but so fragrant and flavorful.





After berry picking, the kids got to watch the cute show they put on with Barney in it, and got to dance on the stage. We also spent some time goofing around, getting lunch and shopping in their market. Such a fun way to spend the day!