labor day & stuff....

ok, so here we go.....at least it hasn't been a full month since my last post! progress!

so......the kids went to PA for 2 whole weeks without us. it was so so hard to let them go (even knowing they would be safe & have a great time). but it got easier. in fact, i think mattie & i almost started to like it. nights out with friends & dinners out minus kiddie menus are things we don't get to do very often. so we did that a lot. i mean a whole lot!

but we were very ready to see them. so we drove the 18 hours nearly straight through. we stopped for a 3 hour nap at 4am, then kept on trucking....well, buicking. whatever. i was too damn tired to take my picture with the "smile you're in PA" sign at the welcome center. but damn was i smiling. driving through western PA made us realize how much we miss living there. so, hopefully, the job hunt will be back on in a year or 2.

anyway....back to the trip. we got to berwick friday afternoon & just relaxed. we got HUGE smiles out of the kids when we got there. it was awesome. saturday & sunday we spent in spring grove with my mom's fam (even the ones we don't like to be associated with). it was great catching up with them. it was like no time had passed at all. well, except for my cousins & me getting older and having more kids!

(6 of the 10 great grandkids)

(cousin jamie & me)

we made 1 last stop in southern PA to see my dad's dad. then we headed back to berwick for 2 days of swimming. wednesday & thursday mattie & i went to nyc to hang out with jonan. we checked out his ohsosmall apartment that's worth living in for the location. can you really beat a 1/2 block from times square? we had lunch at joshua tree (fab mojitos), checked out bryant park (project runway anyone?), walked around the city, had dinner at espnzone, saw rent, & hung out at the house of brews for awhile. we were dead tired by 130 when we finally crashed. the next morning we checked out the world trade center. our tour guides were a retired nyc firefighter who responded to the attacks on 9/11 & a mother who lost 1 of her 2 firefighter sons that day. their stories were incredibly sad, yet i wanted to hear more. we saw the firemen's memorial, station house 10, the american express memorial, & the progress they're making on rebuilding. building #7 is already complete. it was all very moving.

(firemen's memorial wall)

(american express memorial)

we headed back to berwick for one last dinner, packed up the car, & got some rest before the looong trip back.

it was the least relaxing vacation ever, but we can't wait to do it all again in 2 1/2 months!

(btw, this post took forever....i suck at this)