A little fun

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Mmmmmmmm!!!

Well surprise, surprise!!

Look what we woke up to find this morning! We are so excited! Snow? In November? Wow, we must live in Pennsylvania or something.

Nolde Forest

What's my favorite thing about Friday and Saturday? Chad is home with us in the morning. He closes every Friday and Saturday so he gets to stay home a little bit in the mornings, which is a nice change of pace. This morning we had pancakes for breakfast and headed out to Nolde Forest. It was a bit chilly so we didn't stay too long, but we had such a good time. We will definitely go back soon. And this time we'll take our hats and gloves and big winter coats!

Here are a few more pictures of our morning--

The Robot, Dorothy and a Fighter Pilot

Here are a few pictures from Halloween. We had such a good time. Man, the Pennsylvanians take Halloween seriously. Jake rode politely in his stroller while the big kids collected goodies. Anna Kate almost froze because she would not put on her long sleeved shirt or jacket because Dorothy doesn't wear a long sleeved shirt or jacket. Max bit the dust a few times because of his robot gear. His "front panels" were beat to death by the time we got home. The two girls in the last picture are our neighbors, Kayla and Chloe. We joined their family for the evening.

Big News!

Anna Kate lost her first tooth!

Tagged.

I've never been tagged before. I've read lots blogs written by people who have been tagged. My friend, Felicia, over at The Zoo I Call Home has tagged me and I am supposed to write about what we do on rainy days. I will say that I am glad it's not one of those tags where I'm supposed to come up with 8 random things about myself. That would be tough.
Anyway, rainy days. Hmmm. Being truthful, rainy days look a lot like our other days except that we're in our Jammies. On a typical day we get up, eat breakfast and get dressed. On rainy days we just skip that last step. Why get dressed if you're just going to be inside all day? When it comes time for free time when the kids would normally go outside and play, I wish I could say that I get out a fun craft that I've had planned for just such an occasion. But, alas, I typically let them watch a movie. Or two. I think that's okay. They think I'm the best mom in the world.
The other thing that changes in our house on rainy days is our menu. We eat food that suits a rainy day like Cheesy Meat or Stuffed Potatoes or Corn Chowder. Yum. Come on, rain!
This little system has worked well for us since rainy days are few and far between in Texas. As the cooler temperatures arrive here in Pennsylvania, I am realizing that I'm going to have to exercise my creativity to keep them occupied during the snowy months ahead. Ideas, anyone?

And just for the heck of it, I'm tagging Momma B, Mandy and Kristen. Love you girls!

Ketchup, ketchup, ketchup

Perhaps this will be the longest blog in Gerlthouse history. Perhaps I'll run out of steam and cut it short. We shall see. It has been an eventful few weeks and it doesn't look like it will be slowing down anytime soon. At any rate, I have loads of pictures to post beginning with pictures from my Mom's visit a few weeks ago.

We started our week with a train ride on the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway. We left Port Clinton, PA early in the morning and rode about 2 and a half hours to Jim Thorpe, PA. The city is named after Jim Thorpe, a famous Native American who won a gold in the Olympics in 1912. Google him. It's a very interesting story. We spent three hours in Jim Thorpe. It was a beautiful town, surrounded hills and filled with quaint little shops and a few tourist traps. While all of the other passengers were content to stay on the "beaten path", Mom and I decided to try out a little restaurant that we heard about. By the time we realized how FAR away it was, we were already committed. We walked completely to the other side of town, up hills, across highways, over bridges, through alleys, all the way chanting, "This better be delicious!" And it was. It was well worth the hike. Click below to see a few shots of our trip.

Jim Thorpe, PA


The next day we visited Amish Country. We live just north of Lancaster County. There are approximately 8,000 Older Order Amish who live here. That doesn't count all of the other types of Amish and Mennonites who live there, as well. We saw beautiful farms and horses and buggies. It was fascinating. Here are a few pictures of the things that we saw.

Amish Country

On Monday we headed to Washington, DC. We drove to Greenbelt, MD and rode the Metro in, which I highly recommend. We didn't have to mess with traffic or parking or anything. It worked out perfectly. Monday afternoon we saw the National Archives and the Sculpture Garden. We went back early to miss commuter traffic. We got an AMAZING deal on Priceline for our hotel. Our room was swanky and we got to go to a special lounge to eat. We felt so important. The next morning we headed into DC and saw Arlington Cemetery. It was incredible. The morning was a little damp and chilly and the leaves were falling. The mood was solemn. A funeral was taking place. I wonder what his story was. We saw men stop and salute. We heard the 21 Gun Salute.
Next we headed to the Washington Monument. The big kids and I went to the top while Mom and Jake stayed at the bottom. We met a family there from San Diego. They were on vacation and had learned that their neighborhood had been evacuated due to the fires. Can you imagine? Their neighbor had taken all of their photos and their dog to safety and they were just waiting for news. While we were at the top, she received a call that their home was safe! It was fun to celebrate with them.
From the Washington Monument we went to the Natural History Museum and then to the Air and Space Museum. Both museums were wonderful! While walking to the Air and Space Museum we got an incredible surprise! STEVE ABLE!!!! He is a friend of ours from college. He and his wife and son live about 15 minutes from DC. He found out we were in town and came to find us! We had such a great time. He took Max to see all of his favorite exhibits in the A&S Museum. Max had the time of his life. While they studied the planets, Mom, Anna Kate and I went to the American Treasuries exhibit. I think it was my favorite part of the trip. They have treasures of all sorts from American History, from Abraham Lincolns' top hat (the one he was wearing the night he was assasinated) all the way to Seinfeld's Puffy shirt. It was strange to have such things all grouped into one room. We saw the Ruby Slippers (AK's favorite) and Lewis and Clark's compass. George Washington's suit and the Fireside Chat microphone. John Phillip Sousa's baton and Mary Todd Lincoln's dress. Mr. Roger's sweater and Irving Berlin's piano. It was wild.
We wished for two more weeks to explore, but we still wouldn't have seen everything we wanted to see. Again, click below to see pictures.

Washington DC

More news to come, but I must get to work now. I am going on a RETREAT today!!! I am meeting Jamie in Wheeling, West Virginia for the weekend. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. So there's lots to get done before I leave. I've never left the kids for this long. And I've never been away from Jake. I'm a little anxious about that. I leave this afternoon and will be back Monday morning. I love my husband.