April 24, 2011

April 24, 2011

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been a great week. I have loved being able to have B-man home for Spring Break. We started the week off slowly, and then finished it at a much quicker pace. Monday was our normal shopping day, and then FHE that night.

Tuesday and Wednesday were fairly slow and a blur. Tuesday after M got home from work we went to the storage unit and found some items that we have needed. We went to a park on Wednesday to enjoy the nice warm weather and sunshine. That night I played basketball with some friends. It was great to get some good exercise.

Thursday morning I boiled eggs and then we dyed them. It was a little crazy with J, and he did crack several of eggs in his excitement to switch colors, but we still had a good time. I love dyeing eggs. It was a hit with the kids too. We spent the rest of the morning packing and cleaning so that we could go on a little family trip. It was a really busy morning… After packing a lunch we drove to M’ office and picked him up. We then headed to Philadelphia, PA. The drive went well. It is about three hours away, and J slept a little during the trips. There were plenty of trucks to keep them distracted in the mean time. Once we got off the freeway and were very close to our hotel (less than a mile away) we got stuck in some nasty traffic that added almost an hour to our trip. That set us back a little in our schedule. We put our stuff in our room, and then headed back downstairs. I got an amazing deal on a hotel through Priceline, and we were staying right downtown in a very nice hotel. We realized that all of the historical sites would be closing by 5:00, so rather than getting an early dinner we decided to do some sites first and then dinner. We walked the six blocks to the visitor’s center. The entire way the boys were in awe. J could not get over all the things to see in the city. The trucks, taxis, cars, people, etc. I just wanted to make sure that we all stayed together and didn’t lose B-man or something. After a brief trip to the visitor’s center we then headed over to the Liberty Bell. I waited in the line while M, J, and B-man ran around on the grass playing tag. It was beautiful weather and they had fun getting some energy out. We then entered the building that houses the Liberty Bell. It was interesting to see how large it is in real life, and to be able to see the crack in detail. J only tried once to go touch the bell, so it was a good outing. After the Liberty Bell we walked back to our hotel, got our car and then went to get dinner. We were all starving by this point. We always do some research on where to eat in cities when we go out of town. We decided to first hit a place for a “Philly Cheese steak.” There are two places that are across the street from each other. We went to the one that we had heard was best first. We then decided that we might as well try them both, so we did. And if you are ever in Philadelphia, we thought “Geno’s” was a clear winner. One fun thing about this trip was seeing how old B-man is getting. He even weighed in with his own opinion on the food, and what he liked better. It made the trip all the more fun. After finishing our sandwiches we got in the car and headed back to our hotel through the Italian market area. We actually stopped at a fruit stand that was still open and got some fruit for J to eat. After getting back to our hotel the boys all changed into swim gear and we went to the pool in our hotel. It was on the seventh floor. I thought that was very strange. The pool was a little chilly for J, but B-man and M had a great time. We then headed to our room for hot showers and bed. We put J in a pack-n-play in the bathroom, B-man in his own bed, and RM was on a chair turned around and pushed up against the wall. The first ten minutes the two youngest were crying, but after picking up RM and letting him fall asleep in our bed things quieted down and all the boys fell asleep. I then was able to transfer RM back to the chair, and he slept pretty well there the rest of the night. M and I stayed up for a little bit, but went to bed fairly early.

Us in Independence Hall. J wasn’t thrilled to have his picture taken. If you look very closely you can see RM’s little legs in my other arm.

Saturday morning was cold and soggy after all the rain. That morning we had our egg hunt, and the boys opened some prizes from their Grandparents. It was a great morning. After the morning festivities I picked up a friend and went to two garage sales. That was all there was with the rain. Later that morning we packed a picnic (egg salad of course) and headed to an egg hunt that was organized by some friends of ours. It was a big hit with all the kids. Sadly the weather was very cold and wet. In fact after the hunt, and the picnic it started pouring rain and most of the kids got drenched to the bone. It was cold enough that we came home and turned on the heater and put all the kids in warm baths. (Ironically right after we did this the sun came out and it got to be over seventy!) The rest of the day we just worked in the house going through things, and then ran a few errands right before bed.

Sunday was a great day. M made a great breakfast of egg tacos, and then we got ready for church. Sacrament meeting had excellent talks on Easter. J even had a slightly easier time this week. After church I started making rolls to take to a dinner that we had been invited to attend. It was a family that M home teaches. I was when I went to roll out the dough and realized that I had managed to kill the yeast. (Still not sure how that happened.) It was not salvageable. Not what you want to have happen when you are going to someone’s house… We picked up a woman in our ward that was also invited and just as we were knocking on her door a tremendous thunderstorm came through. It was loud, and full of heavy rain. Thankfully it was fast moving though, and by the time we arrived at the house for dinner the worst had blown over. We had a delicious dinner with wonderful company. Their oldest daughter had even organized a little egg hunt for the kids. We then came home and got everybody ready for bed.

We love you all!

The C Crew