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!

Cider & Cheese

We have visitors! On Friday we drove out to Coatesville, PA and picked up Robert and Narda at a campground where they wisely decided to park their RV instead of driving it into Philly. We have been walking their legs off ever since! As soon as we got Grandma & Grandpa safely into the city we took them on a walk down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, through Center City and had dinner at Reading Terminal Market. After driving through all that open space while traveling across the country we thought they would be ready to jump right into the heart of the city. Yesterday, for a change of pace we spent a idyllic autumn day enjoying the mums and water lilies at Longwood Gardens. We spent the entire day exploring the grounds and the conservatory, watching the fountains dance, smelling the fresh air, and taking a million photos.

Because I don’t want to neglect my company, I will keep things shorter this week. But, I do want to record a few funny stories. I am reading Little House in the Big Woods to Kate. She loves it! I realized in the first few chapters when the girls are playing ball with a pig bladder and Pa is slaughtering animals to store food for winter that this might be a shocker for a girl growing up in our boneless, skinless chicken breast society. Kate, however, seems to take it into stride that they eat their pet pig and the bears they come across in the forest. In fact this week we read the chapter about making cheese. It talks about how they needed the lining of a calf’s stomach so they had to choose which calf to slaughter. I was worried that Kate would be upset, but instead she looked up at me and said, “Mom, can we make cheese?” I began to reply, “Well....?” and she jumped right in again with, “We would need to kill a cow. So maybe we will wait until we kill a cow and then we can make cheese.” I’m sure she will hold me to it, so I hope I never find myself with a dead calf on my hands.

We went to our first Little Explorers program at Bartram’s Garden this week. Since I decided to do preschool at home with Kate I figured I need to involve her in a few things where she was learning from someone other than myself. We signed her up for gymnastics, which has been a huge success, and then I also found this program at Bartram’s Gardens. This week we took a walk around the garden while Mr. Zach taught us about seed pods, fragrant berries, toads, herbs, etc. and then we made apple cider on an old apple press. One highlight of the garden tour was the Sensitive Plant. If you go up to this plant and stroke its leaves, it folds up to protect itself. Yesterday while we were at Longwood Gardens looking at the lilly pads Kate discovered a Sensitive Plant. I looked over and could see her bubbling over with excitement. As I got closer I realized she was teaching Josh how to stroke its leaves to get it to fold up. It was so fun to see her remember something she learned, especially because she was so excited to teach her dad about it.

Kate and Jane are the perfect age to play together now. I love to watch them sing, play, and imagine together. The other day I heard Kate reading to Jane. She said, “Come on , Jane. I will read to you.” They sat down and Kate began by reading, “Little House on the Fairy.” It was a mix of bears, panthers, princesses, bad guys, flying, dancing, never land, and singing. Jane was completely engrossed. Every night the first thing Jane thanks Heavenly Father for in her prayers is “my Kate.” I hope they always stay close.

Next week we will give you an account of all our adventures with the Woodfords. Josh is on break right now, so he is actually around to join us in the fun! Even the weather is cooperating.

Base Camp

Life is approaching normal now as we settle into our routine here in Philly. We have organized and scrubbed our house until is as sparkly clean as a 120 year-old-house can be. We found a new pediatrician for the girls. The best part is we can walk around the corner to see her. We had Wharton families over for dinner two evenings this week to reconnect after the summer. The girls and I are back to exploring the city during the week. And, Kate started preschool. I am just working with her at home. But her best friend, Makenna, and her Mom, Asialene come over to our place and we do our homespun version of preschool. Fortunately, we have smart, motivated little ones, so it isn’t too hard to get them excited about learning. In fact, it is just fun to see them lap it up as quickly as you can send information their way.

The girls and I walked up the street this week to get a prescription filled at our local pharmacy. One of the things I love about Philly is the locally owned corner stores. Instead of going to WalMart and waiting for 45 minutes for the three pharmacists on duty to count out 20 pills, we walked two blocks up the street and entered a little corner store. The pharmacist came out and shook my hand and introduced himself. (That was after he had called me a few minutes before to tell me he had received a prescription for us from the doctor but was only open until 6 and then he would be out of town for a week.) He gave the girls each a lollipop and we spent a few minutes exploring the two-isle store while he entered all of our information into his computer system. I am always amazed at the inventory these stores fit into their tiny spaces. I have made several trips out to the suburbs lately to go to Target for random things we needed for our house. As I looked around Ellis’s Pharmacy I found almost everything I had driven so far to buy and I few things I couldn’t find in the expanse of the superstore like spray air for our computer. I left the pharmacy feeling like I was part of a community rather than a nameless, faceless means to a credit card number. In many ways our modern world is becoming terribly impersonal. I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to escape that for a few minutes. Who would have thought a trip to the pharmacy could be so great?

Josh and I have a list of things we would like to do this year before we melt into the suburban life of Dallas. One of those items was going to see New England foliage. This weekend was peak season, so we packed up the car and headed off for a camping trip in the Adirondacks. Kate summed it up best Saturday night as we were getting ready for bed, “We are going to freeze our freckles off!” she said despairingly. It was cold, there is no doubt about it, but it was also beautiful! Leaving later than planned, as usual, we pulled into a campground around 2 a.m. Friday night, or Saturday morning rather. Josh and I set up the tent while the girls were warm and toasty in the car. The next morning we had a good laugh when we saw that we pitched our tent approximately 6 inches from the road, not just the road, but a three way intersection of roads, and less than an inch from the camp site marker. As we ate breakfast Saturday we all started getting colder and colder until we called in quits and jumped in the car so we could turn on the heater. We drove on beautiful roads weaving among lakes and rivers and meandering through quaint towns. The leaves were beautiful.

The grand adventure of the day was a hike to the summit of Whiteface Mountain. Fortunately you can drive almost to the top of the mountain and then take a super short hike up to the peak. The hike is along a well groomed path with hand rails and stairs cut into the rocks, but the girls thought they were amazing “little mountain goats” “hiking clear up to the sky!” You wouldn’t think a quarter mile hike up a footpath could be a highlight of your life until you are a parent watching the pure joy on the face of your children; then you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world. After our hike we headed back toward the campground. We passed a bed & breakfast that had a sign out front that said, Beer & Brats, 2-4 p.m. Passing on the beer, we did a fine job of polishing off the brats, sauerkraut, potato salad, and apple strudel all homemade by the German proprietor. It was only about 6 o’clock when we pulled back into the campground, but it was dusk and the temperature was dropping. We let the girls fish in the lake for a few minutes and then we piled in the tent for a pajama party. We wrapped ourselves up in our sleeping bags with a headlamp hanging from the ceiling and played Old Maid and Go Fish. The girls giggled with delight as we passed the Old Maid around and Jane played her first independent hand of Go Fish. Then we snuggled down and I read a couple chapters of Little House in the Big Woods before we all drifted off to sleep.

Sunday morning we had breakfast in the tent. When it is that cold outside rules about food in the tent have to be bent. After a few seconds of bundled exploring outside, the girls played in the car while Josh and I broke camp. We took the scenic way home and listened to podcasts of conference in the car. The leaves were vibrant, the sky was blue, and the car was warm! All in all, it was a pretty nice conference weekend--great family time.

Before the girls came back to Philadelphia I bought the them sea bracelets, which are supposed to prevent car sickness. We call them our “magic bracelets” but it seems we’ll have to work on the magic. Both girls got sick at some point. Kate gets the super trooper award, however. She called out, “Oh dear, I’m going to puke!” and then held it until I got the ziplock bag in place.

Packing and unpacking the car with all of our camping equipment, I felt very out of place on the streets of Philadelphia. I don’t think you see tents, sleeping bags, camp chairs, and Kelty packs very often around here. I felt very odd making trip after trip across the street to pack up the car. We also ran into a predicament when we needed to dry out our tent. There is not a lot of yard space for such things. When I came downstairs after getting the girls down, Josh had set up the tent in our living room and the rain fly was covering the table and dish cupboard. Necessity is the mother of invention, I suppose. There were only a few inches of space to spare on either side. We can now say that we have a six man living room!

Swimming Upstream

Every morning Kate hopefully inquires if it is Friday. A week ago she started a gymnastics class, which she lives for now. Half of the excitement is for the gymnastics and half of the excitement is for the blue shiny leotard that makes her eyes sparkle. She has done some pretty amazing things already like a backward roll, back hip circle on a bar, walking backward on a balance beam, and a front roll on a balance beam. She loves to stand on one foot like a flamingo and jump and twirl on the trampoline. My favorite part is to see her smiling out in the gym and occasionally she’ll look over to the observation room to make sure I’m still watching and give me a big wave.

Much to the amazement of everyone on the East Coast I have not signed Kate up for a preschool. When I tell people that they look at me as if I am throwing away all chances my daughter has at a happy, productive life. I hope not. I am going to work with Kate at home this year and continue to take her out on adventures in and around the city. I do want to introduce her to some situations where she is learning from someone other than me. I figure she gets that in primary. Now she has gymnastics and a monthly program at Bartrum’s Garden called Little Explores that starts next week; they will be learning how to make apple cider.

We have kept ourselves very busy this week rediscovering some of our favorite Philadelphia haunts and connecting with friends. It is very apparent that my girls are a year older now. The double stroller is still in the dungeon. I push the single stroller around the city while Kate rides her bike next to me. She learned what crosswalks are and waits for the blue man to come and tell her it’s okay to cross. She rode over 6 miles this week going to and from playgroups and outings.

We also ventured out in the suburbs this week to play with another Wharton family, the Mortensons, who have two girls ages 4 and 2. Kate and Lucy were instant best friends and disappeared upstairs to play. Jane took a few minutes to warm up but then she and Sarah were deep in pretend play. We went to get the little ones for lunch, but the princesses having a tea party were too busy to attend. It was so cute to see them playing together we didn’t have the heart to break it up for a PB&J.

Jane is becoming very independent. She wants to do everything “by myself!” I have had to add a few minutes to my get-out-of-the-house routine to accommodate this current phase. As long as her blood sugar is up and she’s not trying to do something on her own she is so cute and sweet. She will come up to you and give you a hug and say, “I love you!” without even being prompted, and she remembers to thank Heavenly Father for everything and everyone she can think of in her prayers.

Recruiting is in full swing at Wharton.... AND WE DON’T HAVE TO PARTICIPATE!!! Josh is able to focus on his classes and has even made it home for dinner or at least the girls’ bedtime a few times this week. A lot of the second years must be rather burned out from last year or so worried about recruiting that they are trying to ease up on their class schedules this year. Josh, typical Josh, is taking a whole load of hard classes. I’m glad. We are paying for the EDUCATION after all!

I had an experience that got me thinking this week. While I was sitting in the observation room at gymnastics with the other parents, one lady was talking to her friend about the cost of daycare. (You can’t help but eavesdrop on the conversations of others since you are all in a 10 square foot space). She was recounting a conversation she had had with her husband about how they needed to decrease the amount of money they were paying for daycare. At some point in the conversation her husband suggested she quit her job. Then with a tone of ridicule and distain she said, “Yeah, right. Then I would be stuck running a daycare!”

Wouldn’t that be horrible to actually be a mother! So, what happened in our society to make having a baby cool, but nurturing your child a lowly task? Why is pushing papers at an office so much more valuable and fulfilling than running a household? Is it the business suit and heels rather than the scroungy t-shirt and flip flops? Kate and Jane fixed my hair the other day. I looked pretty schnazy I tell you, but I would hope that there are things we value in life more than perfect hair. I watched a documentary about WWII which said that daycares started up during the war when women had to go to work while their husbands were away fighting. I understand the importance of having arrangements for child care outside the home when needed. But, was building airplanes in a factory really so much more fulfilling that when the war was over the women didn’t want to go back? The daycares certainly didn’t go away and now taking care of children and sewing and cooking and cleaning are spoken of with distain. I wonder if as a society we will ever value homemaking again? If we go to all the trouble to have babies (and even look cute pregnant!) it seems like teaching them and loving them and establishing a happy home in which they can grow up might be an important enough task on which to focus your life, or at least respect. But who am I, a housewife, to understand such things.

We're Back

We’re back! We’re back in Philly, back to humidity and parallel parking and grocery delivery and traffic jams. We’re back to Wharton, back to unexpected team meetings and homework and endless emails. We’re back with our girls, back to giggle fest and tag tails and experiments and messes. We’re back to exploring the city; back to mapping our way to our outings, back to being amazed that this or that exists in the city and we just found out about it now, back to packing lunches and missing naps.

My parents arrived early this week with our girls. It was great to have visitors to distract me as Josh got back into his school routine. In spite of my own better judgement I let myself think that the schedule this year would be easier. This week as team meetings, homework, and social events began to pop up I was reminded that I was on my own a good part of last year. I survived then and I know I can survive again. I just have to get my expectations back in line. Having my parents here this week was a huge blessing. We had fun. We went out on the town. And it is always nice to have some extra hands.

Welcoming the girls back home was really fun. The first two days they ran around the house rediscovering everything. It was as exciting as Christmas. Kate would open a closet and call me over to see what she had discovered. The doll house, the tea sets, the bunk beds, the stick horses, the stacking bowls in the kitchen, and the scissors were some of the big hits.

The adult discovery of the week was the Barnes Foundation. This is a private art collection opened by Albert C. Barnes in 1922 to “promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts.” It is a collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings and it was amazing! (I can’t believe I didn’t take Doug there when he came to visit.) Dr. Barnes arranged the paintings on the walls so as to emphasize certain characteristics of the paintings and then accented each display with furniture and metal work that adds to the effect. They are actually moving the collection this year into a building near our house. It has been a big local controversy. Now I understand why. I’m glad we got to go see it before it moved.

Being back in Philadelphia somehow makes me realize how fast my girls are growing. Kate rode her bike all the way down the Schuylkill River trail to our friends’ apartment building. Both girls went down the Big Wooden Slide at Smith Playground by themselves. And Kate started a gymnastics class, which she loves and wishes she could go to every day.

It’s nice to be back to Fall. It’s cooling off a bit. The leaves are starting to turn. Yesterday we went to Linvilla Orchards to pick apples and raspberries. It was a lovely Autumn outing.

Countdown to the City of Brotherly Love

12

Twelve states crossed, we now find ourselves back in Philadelphia. Leaving Utah, or more accurately our families, was no more fun this year than it was last, but our arrival in Philly was much less dramatic. We didn’t have to use our GPS to find our house. We are comfortable parking by braille. We didn’t even have to haul our belongings up through the second story window! We already had a kitchen table and a gallon of milk in the fridge. We only had to make one trip to IKEA...for lightbulbs. It actually was kind of nice to leave home but come home at the same time.

11

Eleven tracks in our audiobook, The Glorious Cause by Jeff Shaara, gave us listening enjoyment from the outskirts of Salt Lake City until the outskirts of Philadelphia. Not only were we entertained, but now we are sharp on our history and on the look out for historic sites to take y’all to see when you visit. Let’s see...Independence Hall--yep, that’s here. Where Washington crossed the Delaware--yeah, that’s where we go to Costco. Battle of the Brandywine--pass the battlefield on the way to Longwood Gardens every other week. Valley Forge--our favorite place to fly kites and eat cheesesteaks. Love living in Philly!

10

Ten video conference chats with our girls, who are staying with my parents until they all fly to Philly on Tuesday, have kept us from missing our girls too much. They, fortunately, don’t seem to be having any trouble at all. We have learned when not to call. Don’t call when they are watching a movie; parents rank well below princesses. Don’t call right before bed; story time also trumps talking to parents. Don’t call when cousins are over; much too much to do to talk just then. We are glad they are happy and are thankful for a few days to get our ducks in line.

9

Nine stops for bug removal. Have you ever driven across the country in late summer? Watch out for dusk. Our previously perfectly clean car now has a protective shield of approximately 239,000 smashed bug bodies. We think we’ll leave the shield to protect our bumpers in Philly, but the windshield at least had to be cleaned at every chance we could find.

8

Eight bison surrounded our car while we were driving through Yellowstone. I now know what sound bison make. Kate asked me last summer and I didn’t know. Now I do. I also know that having metal between you and a herd of bison is a good idea. Some of the big guys didn’t look, or sound, too friendly. It was cool, but I wasn’t too sad when we could finally creep our way out of the herd.

7

Seven stores in one day is quite an achievement for the lackluster shoppers that we are. We were on a quest however since we weren’t hauling girls around. We ran all our errands and replenished our stores in one massive shopping day. IKEA, Home Depot, Target, the Fabric Store, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Costco, and Trader Joe’s. That may sound easy. It wasn’t. Fortunately, we had ice cream and chocolate covered delights to resuscitate ourselves after the bout of consumerism.

6

Six mug shots document our trek across the country. I guess in some inexplicable way we got off on our journey without the knowledge of the paparazzi. We didn’t even have a tripod, so here is what we got:

Island Park

Yellowstone

Some Waterfall

Small Town Diner

Jewel Cave

Your Guess is as Good as Mine

5

Five hundred feet down we got to explore Jewel Cave, another reason to go to South Dakota. We went on a guided tour and got to walk a half mile through underground passages and rooms that were only a tiny fraction of the entire cave. It was fun to see, but made me grateful for light and large open space when we surfaced.

4

Four nights on the road brought us to the comfort of our own bed. The first night we spend at my parent’s new home in Island Park, Idaho. It is in the process of being framed. We crept in after dark with our trusty headlamps, swept away a few nails, rolled out our sleeping bags, and slept under the stars. What a place to wake up! It was beautiful. We were the first official, or maybe unofficial, guests at Idylwolf. We spend another night under the stars in South Dakota and then I played the girl card and convinced Josh to stop at a hotel so I could shower. For our final night we trespassed on the hospitality of some dear friends in Indianapolis, the Huntingtons. We got to meet their little boy, eat their food, mess up their house and have a super fun night playing games catching up.

Idylwolf, my parents' house in progress in Island Park

3

Three days of traveling still found us in Wyoming. I guess we were so reluctant to leave the West that we just kept coming back. On the way to Yellowstone, on the way out of Yellowstone, and even after having spent the night in South Dakota we kept crossing back into Wyoming.

Would you want to leave that behind?

2

Two scenic byways provided some of the most beautiful driving we encountered. Since we left our car sick prone kiddos behind we decided to take as many narrow curvy roads as possible. On our way out of Yellowstone’s NorthEast entrance we drove on the Chief Joseph Scenic Byway. Gorgeous. Then we got a taste the Black Hills Country by driving on the Peter Norbeck scenic byway. Again, unexpectedly beautiful. I’m going to keep an eye out for scenic byways in the future. I guess they are there for a reason. Maybe the fastest way isn’t always the best.

Chief Joseph Scenic Byway

Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway

Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway

1

One pint of Graeter’s Ice Cream gave us the strength to finish our journey. We stopped in Columbus and I showed Josh the house on Welsley Drive where I lived with Greg, Shannon, and Abby. We had lunch at the french cafe next door and then bought a pint of Graeter’s Coconut Chocolate Chip ice cream. We ate it as we drove. I made sure Josh was driving so I could eat the bulk of it. A pint of Graeter’s is definitely worth the drive across this big beautiful country we live in.

Summer Creations

One of my dear friends is into couponing. (The speller doesn't like that, but I think it's a word these days.) Every week she posts pictures of the great bargains she has found to her blog. She arranges all her items just so and snaps a shot of her triumph. Well, she inspired me.

I spent the last couple of weeks before Josh returned to Utah trying to finish up all the projects I started over the summer. As I was about to pack them all up to transport them to Philadelphia I decided I needed to take a picture of my handiwork. So, there you have it--a representation of everything I created over of the summer. I love projects, but I love FINISHED projects even more!