First Visitors

Two weeks in Philly. Still no kitchen table. Still no beds for the girls. Still no pictures on the walls. But, as far as the fun stuff goes: Art Museum...check, Independence Hall...check, Constitution Center...check, Zoo....check, Reading Terminal Market...check, Valley Forge...check, Cheese Steaks....check, H&M...check, Liberty Bell...check, check. We are getting quite comfortable parallel parking in tight places. We have mastered the roundabout in front of the art museum (We call it Phupont Circle--the ph for Philly, the rest because like DC’s Dupont Circle no matter where you are trying to go you end up circling and circling the roundabout). We even found a mail drop. That may not sound monumental, but I carried our rent check around with me for a week not knowing where to take it.

Abby and Sydney, my two nieces, have been visiting this week. Driving to the airport to pick them up was one of the happiest drives of my life-- one I hope to be taking very often. They have been so cute with the girls and they are always asking, “What can I do to help?”. I imagined myself getting our house looking like a magazine while they were here. Instead we have just played. But, man, how we have played! It has been good for me to get out and explore the fun parts of the city.

Abby and Sydney have been visiting this week. Driving to the airport to pick them up was one of the happiest drives of my life, one I hope to be taking very often. They have been so cute with the girls and they are always asking, “What can I do to help?”. I imagined myself getting our house looking like a magazine while they were here. Instead we have just played. But, man, how we have played! It has been good for me to get out and explore the fun parts of the city.

Josh officially started at Wharton this week. The scariest part about the experience seems to have been learning to ride his little moped. If fact, I had to drive him to class the first day because he was “too afraid to ride”. The earliest he made it home this week was 7:30 and that was with just one calculus class going on. That doesn’t bode well for the future. It has been very nice to have Sydney and Abby around to distract me. We have just done our thing and been happy when Josh showed up to join us without stressing if he wasn’t around. I hope I can carry on that attitude when I am alone.

Every night Josh comes home and tells me about a person he met from xxx. He has made friends from Beijing, Israel, Lebanon,Peru, etc. and talked to them about what life is like in their countries. What a unique opportunity.

The funny culture shock story of the week centers around our search for a kitchen table. We found a possibility online so we picked up Josh at lunch one day to go look at a local furniture store. The name of the store is Brothers’ Fine Furniture. In my mind I was thinking brothers as in Greg and Ken in business together and was expecting an RC Willey kind of experience. Oh no. I ended up taking Sydney & Abby and my two babies right into the West Philly Hood. “Brothers” rather than referring to siblings was referring to Brothers (say that in black talk). It didn’t dawn on me until I was in the hot, sultry second story looking at warehouse-like rooms full of “fine” furniture. I just had to laugh at myself.

It has been fun to hang out with my cute nieces. Abby entertains us with her retelling of jokes and stories and every once in a while we loose her to some trees or squirrels. I have a sore shoulder from Sydney’s slug bug hits. I think I used to be pretty good at that game, but now I can’t seem to get one to save my life. We have expanded it with new signs for hybrid, moving van, and limo. We also coined a new word: smovie. It is a smoothie and movie night of which we have had several. Last night we watched National Treasure. A good part of the movie is filmed in Philly. The girls were literally squealing as the action was happening in all the places we have been over the last few days. Super fun. We have discovered Philadelphia together and it has been fun to be with them. In fact, we have had so many adventures I am going to take a Sunday afternoon nap.

Old City, Old House, Old Habits

New City. New House. New Habits. Or, would it be more appropriate to say: Old City. Old House. Old habits. Either way I suppose, I am back to blogging.

After a power packed few months we finally got out the door and made the trek to Philadelphia. When we did this a few years ago it was just Josh & me headed off to take on the world. This time, with the girls in tow, it is more of a wrench. We will miss the West (It couldn’t have been prettier this year!). But most of all we will miss family and friends. I am still hoping for a constant flow of visitors. We are taking reservations now!

Alan helped us pack up our truck. It was a work of art. I don't think we had an inch of wasted space and everything survived the 2,500 mile journey without a scratch. It was one of those times when following Sebastian's advice paid off. "If you want something done, you have got to do it yourself."

We had a fun drive across the country. You can tell a few days have passed, since I described it as fun. The girls did do very well though. Kate would get in the car seat and ask, “Is today a driving day, Mom?” and then she would settle into the routine of snacks, activities, and toys. Jane survived and we survived Jane, which is about all you can ask of a 1-yr-old on a cross country trek.

Stopping along the route was the high point of the drive. We spent the first night in Denver with Aunt Julie and Uncle Delmar. They waited up for us and had snacks waiting, which being Woodfords, we heartily partook of. The girls loved the heart waffles and Aunt Julie’s play room the next morning. In fact, Kate still asks to go back to Aunt Julie’s house to play.

Our second stop was Missouri and the home of Josh’s sister, Angela, and her husband, Brady. We stayed a day there. It was fun to wake up to a rooster, explore the farm, swing on a rope swing, eat potatoes from the garden, feed the chickens, play with cousins, cook dinner over a camp fire, and chase fireflies. What a life! Jane has a thing for chickens and Kate would still be in the tire swing if it was her choice. One cute story: Angela’s youngest daughter is named Charlotta. Kate, not having too much experience with that name, called her “Gelato,” which, thanks to her mom and Grandma Shelly, she has plenty of experience with.

Stop three was Indiana. We loved the country side so much we took an hour long detour while I sorted out directions on the GPS. By the way, have I mentioned I have a very good natured and patient husband. We stopped for dinner in Indianapolis at the home of Ann & Bryn Huntington, some friends from our last ward. They are the kind of friends you can not see for months but when you get together you pick up where you left off and have a grand time. They were (I hope that is past tense now) expecting their first baby any minute, but were still kind enough to entertain us. Then we drove another hour to Batesville, Indiana where we stayed with Derek & Melissa Adams at the home of Melissa’s parents. We had a great slow paced day relaxing, riding a party barge across the lake, playing games, doing laundry, and touring the house and collections of the Rockwoods.

Then it was the final push into Pennsylvania. We went a little out of our way to stop for lunch at Graeters in Columbus, Ohio. No sacrifice is too great for Graeters. It is a tradition now that the first thing in our home when we move is the dry ice cooler containing six pints of Graeters ice cream. We drove as long as the girls could stand it and then stopped for the night in a hotel with a swimming pool.

We pulled into Philadelphia in the late afternoon on Monday. Our truck arrived the next morning. The police, who were supposed to block off a section of the street so we could park our truck, never did arrive. Josh and I unloaded the truck entirely by ourselves. Well, not entirely by ourselves.

Tender Mercy #1: Jane slept the entire time we were unloading the truck.

Tender Mercy #2: Kate was as good as gold and entertained herself with play dough, finger paint, stickers, and paper dolls.

Tender Mercy #3: Somewhere inside these incredibly buff bodies of ours we found the strength of 10 grinches plus two and were able to pull the mattress through the second story window without any help.

We have had a couple classic moments to welcome us to city life. The first happened when we went to get our driver’s licenses. We were right in the heart of Philadelphia. We couldn’t find parking anywhere. We ended up finding a meter under an overpass (i.e. dark, damp, dirty place). I was holding a sleeping Kate and the diaper bag. Josh was holding Jane, the folder that had all our documents in it, and trying to feed the parking meter. Let’s talk about that folder for a minute. It held everything I had taken out of our file to bring across the country with us--the title to our car, birth certificates, social security cards, credit card information, etc. Josh couldn’t get the coins in the meter, so he dropped the folder on the ground. I’m standing there thinking, “Oh, good now all our important documents are sitting on the filthy sidewalk,” when I see an arm reaching around Josh’s legs and picking up the folder. My soccer reflexes kicked in and I stomped on that folder with all my might. Yeah, I scared the guy half to death. He was just trying to help.

Next classic moment. We were trying to get to Costco. I was driving and Josh was navigating. Then Josh had to take a phone call so I was trying to drive and navigate. I got lost. I pulled over in a parking lot to reset our GPS system. It said I was only 0.6 miles away. I followed the directions and ended up on a toll road going to New Jersey. And I didn’t have any cash in my wallet. $1.25, scrounged from the depths of the car, and an hour later we were at Costco, which coincidently was just on the other side of the parking lot where I originally stopped.

o break up the drudgery of unpacking we have tried to mix in a few fun Philly activities. After the parking meter incident, we ended up parking at the National Constitution Center and walking a few blocks to the driver’s license bureau. We decided that while we were in Old Town and had a parking place we should go see the Liberty Bell. As we got to the front of the crowd and could finally see the bell Kate said, “Oh, this one has a crack in it!”

Saturday morning we pumped up our bike tires and went out for a family bike ride. Josh pulled the bike trailer and we went exploring. We found a great path that runs along the river and starts about two seconds from our house. I have a feeling I am going to get to know that path very well.

So, we are back on the East Coast. Back in the land of toll roads, humidity, historical places, tall trees, skinny streets, and itty-bitty living spaces. Our neighbors are great. They have shown us how to park, where to shop, how to get around, and where to find farmers’ markets. Our street is lined with pretty flower pots and at night it has lights strung across it. I know we’ll love it here. This week will be the real test as Josh starts his classes and I become a one woman show. Fortunately for my sanity Sydney and Abby are coming next week!

p.s.

To put your heart at ease I wanted to let you know that Kate’s “tend” friends arrived safely as well. They were a few days behind us, but they showed up on Thursday!

Little Red 2009

I love cycling!  Thanks to the generosity of my brother and sister I have taken up road biking.  It has become my preferred means of exercise and, probably more importantly, my escape.  Not that a Relief Society president and mother of two needs an escape, but I certainly look forward to being on my own for a few minutes each day.

For the last few months Shannon, my sister-in-law, and I have been training to do a century ride.  A 100 mile bike ride is sort of a rite of passage for a cyclist.  So as much as weather and children permitted we followed our training schedule and prepared for this event.  On June 6th we joined 2,600 other women in the Little Red Riding Hood event through Cache Valley.  We had a grand time.  The scenery was beautiful.  The weather was great.  And we were awesome! 

Josh and Greg came up to cheer us on.  We looked forward to seeing them in their little red car at random places on the course.  As I told Shannon, I have never done anything as crazy as this without my brothers or Josh.  It was nice to have them around now and then to remind us that we were the tough ones this time.  Other than a little head wind that seemed to be blowing in the opposite direction we were riding now matter what direction we were riding, everything went very smoothly.  We even beat our goal for average speed.

Here we are at the finish line!  The ride ended up being 105 miles.  I'm not sure whose idea it was to add an extra five miles.  Obviously someone who was not riding--maybe the big bad wolf!

We are looking for a couple more people to ride with us next year.  We decided in the wind it would have been much nicer to have a group of at least four, so let me know if you are interested.

What Would We Do Without Google

I was going to go to bed early last night.  The girls were down and Josh was out, so I headed up to bed around 9:30 hoping to be asleep by 10:00.  As I finished washing my face I noticed the light was on in the girls' room.  I opened the door and saw that Kate was not in her bed.  I turned around and saw her standing on top of my cedar chest coloring with a Sharpie on the top of the dresser.  "Kate!," I exclaimed.  Then the extent of the damage started to register and all I could say was, "Oh....oh.....oh..!".  The top of the dresser, the side of the dresser, every single drawer of the dresser, the top of my cedar chest the front of the cedar chest, the night stand, the little TV, the quilt on the bed, the pillow cases, every slat on the crib, and last of all a two square foot area of the wall were all covered with sharpie!  I just about died.  So instead of going to bed early I spent the next three hours scrubbing sharpie off of every surface in the bedroom.  I googled "remove sharpie" and found out that you use a baking soda mixture to get it off wood, ethanol to get it off cloth, and, best of all, brake fluid to get it off paint.  It worked!

p.s. My daughter is still alive!

Dressing Mishaps

Kate, like all good three-year-olds, is in to dressing herself.  She has "dancing clothes" and "running clothes" and "biking clothes" but whatever variety she is in is likely to change within five minutes.  She'll put on an outfit, run out into the living room and say, "Mom, do you like my park clothes?" and then she will run in and change again.  This is one of my favorite outfits that she put together recently.

And then there was this attempt at getting dressed.  I heard her struggling but when she came around the corner I couldn't help but bust up.

Meet Me In...

Philly

I know you are dying to see the Liberty Bell in person as soon as possible!  Right? Can you hear the hopeful tone of my voice?  How about Independence Hall? Valley Forge? Gettysburg?Hershey, Pennsylvania?  Amish Country?  the Appalachian Trail?  I really hope I am interesting you in something.  Joshua was just accepted to the Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  We are very excited for him and are currently taking reservations for visitors.  The way I see it: the more visitors I have, the more sane I stay.