Finding Joy: We're Baaaack!

Whew! What a whirlwind trip we had.....but we are finally back home from Pennsylvania. The best part of the trip was playing in the snow with Maddie; the worst part of the trip was our insane drive all night to get there and home. I don't really know of a better way to travel with little ones than doing what we did which was leave at around 9:00 pm and drive all night so they can sleep in the car, but man it was hairy for us adults.....we're just not cut out to stay up all night anymore. By the end of each trip having only gotten about 15 minutes of sleep total, I thought I was going to die. I don't know if we'll make this trip again while we have little monkeys, but we for sure won't make the trip again until we have amnesia from this drive! lol

It was fun getting to spend some time with Dan's grandma. There have been very few occasions that I have seen her thus far since we've been married and each time there has always been something big going on and not a lot of time to just get to know one another and spend some time together. She is a very kind woman although she likes her house to be VERY warm which is hard for a pregnant chick that usually sleeps with the window open even when it's in the teens outside. Grandma had lot's of toys left over from when her kids and grandkids were little and Maddie had a good time playing with them and generally making a mess all over the house.....Grandma was a good sport and didn't care a bit that toys were all over the place although I'm pretty sure that for the next few weeks she is going to find random toys placed all throughout the house.....Maddie's good at strategically placing items so you don't find them for a while! I had been told many times by family members that Grandma has a quasi museum in her house but gosh I was not prepared for the magnitude of stuff that was EVERYWHERE!! I would describe the scene as organized hording, or very severe pack rat-ness. I seriously don't think that Grandma even knows what she has because there is so much stuff jammed in the house, basement and attic in boxes and bags and stacked up that you can't tell what’s under, or behind something else. It would be a lot of fun to really go through all her stuff and purge the junk (like the used wrapping paper that she saves) and really organize the good stuff. She should have someone from Antiques Road Show come to her house and do a special episode just of all her stuff.....I bet she has some valuable stuff. I'm very excited because I got to pick out two aprons to take home and I've been wanting a half apron for a long time! She also told Dan that we could have a set of Encyclopedias that were printed before World War II. We are really stoked on those, but didn't have the time to take them with us....maybe on our next trip. Grandma's house was a good time.

We got to see a few family members that I had either never met, or seen once before and it was nice being able to put a face to a name. Dan's brother Chris cam up for a night and it was great getting to see him since we probably won't see him till this summer. We drove around Erie and I was shown the sights and 2 different houses that Dan grew up in. We tried going for a walk but it was seriously COLD and the wind was blowing so it was very short lived. I was really hoping that it would snow even though it seemed as though we arrived right at the February thaw, but we did get snow on Wednesday night and it was enough to cover everything and look beautiful but it was not overwhelming....so it was perfect. We took Maddie out to play in the snow and she really liked it. Dan was worried that she was too cold and made us go in after like 10 minutes and when we got inside Maddie cried because she didn't want to leave the snow. Poor baby. We also got a trip in to Erie County Farms which is the grocery store that Dan's family always visits while up in Erie that has unbelievably low prices. We got 40 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts, 10 pounds of hot Italian sausage, 9 pounds of ground sirloin, 5 pounds of provolone cheese, 10 pounds of chicken parts, 5 pounds salami, Amish jams, whole wheat bread loaves and some other odds and ends......all for under $150. I think we're going to buy a chest freezer so that we can have more room to store frozen meats and cheeses and buy more next time.

After seeing Pennsylvania for myself I don't think that I would ever want to live there. Pittsburgh looked like an interesting city but not my speed, and Erie was very run down. The entire time we were there I think the sun came out once and not for very long......it was kinda depressing. On our drive back home we got to watch the sun rise over Greensboro and walked into our home bathed with sunlight and I was actually very thankful that North Carolina gets as much sun as it does. I didn't really appreciate it until I left it and experienced a lot of gray. There is nothing like coming home and sleeping in your own bed and having the comforts that you are used to. Traveling is fun, but home is definitely where the heart is. Even Maddie thinks so…..she has slept like an angel since we got home. All in all a nice trip and some wonderful memories!