Sunshine!

The Rest

Here is the Santa Fe caboose that we stayed in for the remainder of our vacation. The children were thrilled to sleep in bunk beds and had the most wonderful time exploring our home base.
A trip to Intercourse would not be complete without a stop at Kitchen Kettle Village. Matt and I went here after we were first married, and we were able to go in every store in the village. Not so with the 4 children in tow. Candle shops and such are distant memories...

We had beautiful weather, though, and enjoyed our time "window shopping". Next time I will bring Windex and paper towels to wipe my childrens' impressions off all the windows.

The Strasburg Railroad

I know I already posted pictures of Joseph on the train ride, but the rest of the family went too!

We rode in Gobbler's Knob, a passenger car, during the 45 minute trip. I laughed the entire time. The diversity within the family was so comical. Sarah was pleasant but bored and started planning the rest of the day's activities. Joseph was in heaven and barely spoke. Tom was beyond stressed that the train wouldn't stop when he wanted it to and so he screamed the whole time. Nathan fell asleep.

Number 89 (or as Tommy-Boo says: "The Eighty-Ninety!") was our personal steam engine.

After the ride, we sat around at the station and watched the next train depart. The children loved every minute of it. While we were there, a tractor trailer was in the parking lot picking up the real Thomas the Tank Engine. We were able to see Thomas begin his long journey to Medina, New York! So exciting!

Joseph's First Train Ride

No Words. Just study that face.

*Sigh*
I have NEVER seen my son look this peaceful. EVER.

Thank you, God, for trains.

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

Our second day of vacation began with a trip to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania at Strasburg.

It made me chuckle all day thinking of the 5 children I had to chase from each exhibit. It was really hard to tell who appreciated the old locomotives the most. (No it wasn't.)

Who is the happiest about being in the Conrail?

Joseph and the GG1. The train he has been waiting to see his WHOLE LIFE! Tommy just jumped up and down in one place and shouted "GG1!GG1!GG1!" He knew what it was the moment he saw it. No one had to tell him. Matt was so proud. I was slightly disturbed. It is a disease, I am told.

One of the many train tables in the kids' room at the museum. The children would have stayed in here all day.

They even had a corner with toys, puzzles and books for Nate!

Out in the train yard!



Nathan was perfect the entire trip.
Truly perfect.



Switch tracks

Paradise

This vacation was long overdue. On Easter morning, right after Church, we jumped in the car and drove to Amish country. We needed to get away from the work computer and cell phone. We needed to have some family time. We needed to focus on what was most important.

Car trips with our babies are hysterical. They LOVE the car. They love everything. They love singing. A lot. They love fighting. A lot. They love fighting about singing in the car. A lot. I thought I would teach them some of the games I used to play as a child in the car. Mom, I had no idea these games were so obnoxious. I am just going to go out on a limb and apologize for EVERYTHING I ever did as a child in the car.

We arrived in Paradise, PA right around dinner time on Easter Sunday. We walked into the lobby of our hotel and could smell the coffee brewing and could see the pool waiting. The children ran over to the glass enclosure for the pool and smashed their faces to it, smearing the view. Jumping up and down, they immediately began asking when they could get into their bathing suits. I actually had to prevent Thomas from dropping his drawers right in the lobby! ;)

The woman at the front desk started checking us in as Matt chased the 4 children around the lobby and restaurant. She asked me if this was our first time there and I replied with an exhausted "Yes!" She looked at me with a funny smirk, glanced at the children, and handed me the room keys as she said: "Welcome to Paradise, Honey." *Sigh*

We went up to our suite with four crazy babies. I thought it would also be a VERY good idea if I taught them about the ice machine. I remember having TONS OF FUN with it when I was a child. I think my parents used to send us to the ice machine to get us out of the room for 30 seconds. Bad idea. Really bad idea. Terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad idea. Now, every time we walked in or out of the room for the remainder of our stay, each child went into a full-blown sprint to see who could get to the ice machine first...to push the button. Same with the elevator.

Our suite was exquisite. I loved everything about it. The children and I unpacked as Matt brought everything up from the car. The baggage cart quickly turned into a train that made break-neck speed runs into the door of our room. That train had to go far away...but not before I got pictures of my children hitching rides on the train of death.

Nathan was so happy to have a place to crawl around. I just let him go. He was like the energizer bunny.

Sarah was glad to have her space. No boys within two feet of her, and the promise of a dip in the pool before bed. That was one happy princess.




My Ice Machine Man. I told him he couldn't go back to get more because the bucket was full. So he started eating it.



We went swimming. No pictures because we both had one baby in each arm. Trust me when I say it was insane and hysterical. Sarah was so brave. Joseph was perfect. Thomas was dangerous. Nathan was giddy.

Evening came and morning followed. The first day.

Coloring Easter Eggs

It was not stressful this year. We did our egg-dyeing on a washable surface and decided before we began that our children were, in fact, washable too. They had a marvelous time.

I am not really sure why we dye eggs; we have hands.

(p.s. This was a HUGE accomplisment for our Joseph! We were so proud of him for allowing himself to get "dirty" and put up with the stain on his hands for the next day or two!)

Nathan would have been allowed to color the eggs had he shown us that he was responsible enough. ;) Better luck next year, Nate!

I should have just purchased them farm-fresh from the store... ours all ended up brown anyway.

Sleepy Time

Grandad has a knack for calming babies down and putting them to sleep for the night. So...when he and Nonna called last evening and asked if they could pop on over for a quick visit at bedtime, we were totally open.

Laying the children down for the night is normally a HUGE ordeal. When we were slightly newer at the parenting game, we would schedule in at least an hour to tuck the kids in at night...reading them stories, brushing teeth, bath time, prayers, talking about the universe, planning the next 647 days, deciding what they are going to wear the 3rd Tuesday of their junior year at highschool. We caught on quickly (not really) that Sarah learned how to manipulate the system. Matt is a bit of an apologist, so when Sarah started in with the theologic questions at 9p, he was happy to oblige. "Dad, what color is my guardian angel? Can I name it? Does she get thirsty? Where is Heaven?" Up until a couple months ago, this is what would happen each and every night. By the time all the children were finally asleep, we would walk down the stairs to have some adult time and turn right back around to go to bed ourselves...we were EXHAUSTED!

I remember a time back when Matt and I had first started dating. I was clearing the table at the Pernot's house and was trying to put a bottle of dressing in the fridge. There was no room, and I turned to Mrs. Pernot for a solution. She told me to jam it in and slam the door as quickly as possible. I believe that this particular method has become our most recent routine for putting the children to bed. The children rub their eyes, we toss them in their pjs and into bed, put up the gate and RUN!

Soaking It In

I hope I always remember these mornings. Sarah is so sweet and sugary before dawn. I struggle to appreciate it all before my first cup of coffee, but Matt is constantly and gently reminding me to love on the princess. She wakes up singing. She tells us how much she missed us through the night. She wants to be present when Matt heads off to work for the day. She counts down the days in the rest of the week, planning our weekends in advance. So organized. So efficient. So lovely.