Flying

Our house was hoppin’ tonight. Remember how we discovered a few weeks ago that our living room was a six person space. Well, tonight we discovered that our house is a thirty-four person space. We hosted the Wharton LDSSA crowd this evening for a dessert night. The kids (11 girls and 2 boys) were upstairs alternately watching Robin Hood and jumping on our bed. The adults were downstairs, eating tasty dessert and talking with the enthusiasm you can only find at Mormon gatherings. Fortunately for our neighbors, things wrapped up around 7:30 so we could get our kids home and in bed. What’s there not to love about a gathering of LDS student families?

This entire week has been crazy busy. I don’t know what it is, but I feel like my life is on fast forward. Can it really be more than half way through October? Kate is loving her preschool. It is fun to be able to teach her and her friend Makenna exactly at their level. They are so excited about learning. Kate is still enthralled with gymnastics. Friday is her unequivocal favorite day of the week and she wants to be a “painter, no a gymnast” when she grows up. Jane is 100% into pretend play. I overheard her the other day setting up a game she was calling “Mulan goes into business.” I have such good girls. I just can’t believe how lucky I am to have two little buddies to spend my days with who are so cute, so smart, so energetic, and so good.

Although it seems like the distant past already, the beginning of this week was spent with Grandma & Grandpa Woodford. We took them to see the historic sites of Philadelphia one day. We took Grandpa over to Rutgers University to do some research while we played at the Aquarium down the street. And when we couldn’t convince them to stay any longer, we snuck in a trip to Valley Forge on the way to delivering them to their camper. We arrived at Valley Forge just as the sun was going down. It was beautiful in the evening light with the Autumn leaves blowing around us. We had a farewell Philly Cheesesteak dinner and then, much to the sadness of all those being left behind, bid Robert and Narda happy travels.

One of the highlights of the Woodford visit was our Sunday evening excursion last week. Narda’s mother and father, Arnold & Thelma Ehlers, lived in Philadelphia just after they were married. Narda had some addresses from letters they wrote to each other, so we went on a drive to find out where they lived. As we walked out the door I picked up Thelma‘s history and then as we drove I was able to find the section about their time in Philadelphia. We read about traveling to the big city and finding a place to live, the birth of their first son, afternoon outings to the park, the rigors of student life, and a charming description of their Christmas. We were able to find one of the houses and the street where the other was with many of the row homes just as they would have been. It was another magical family history moment, so easy to feel a connection to the past.

Our Philly discovery of the week was Tyler Arborteum. When living in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the country it is nice to be so close to so many open spaces. This arboretum has an exhibit open with about twenty tree houses scattered throughout the grounds. Each one was a magical world for the kids. I think we could have stayed there for days, if I had only packed a lunch! For little ones with an imagination it was pretty much a wonderland.

Josh has midterms this week. Recruiting is in full swing for the second years and Josh has spent so much time helping other people prepare for interviews that he even he has fallen a little behind. That might make for an intense week, but hopefully all will go well. We just have to graduate!

I had a personal triumph this week. During the Halloween Season parking around our house gets to be a big problem. Down the street about a half mile is the Eastern State Penitentiary. It was the first penitentiary build in America. Now it is a tourist destination like Alcatraz. During Halloween they have a haunted house there which makes parking in our neighborhood, which is already a challenge, into a nightmare. The evening we took the Woodfords back to their RV we didn’t arrive home until late, which is usually the kiss of death. Not this night! Check out this parking triumph!