Photo Extravaganza - The Pennsylvania Edition

Here are the promised and long awaited Pennsylvania photos... prepare yourself, there are 34 of them ( which isn't too bad considering we took 408 pictures while we were there).

On our way through Pennsylvania we stopped to visit our friends, Judy & Pat. It was great to see them (after 18 years) and our kids became fast friends.Once we got off the turnpike, it was easy to see that we were in Amish country. Driving through one town, we drove by an Amish church and this is what we saw...actually, there were 100 or more buggies and horses hitched up around the church. It was very cool to see.Finally, we got to see baby Isabella, whom we drove 20+ hours to meet. Isabella is Nina's biological half-sister, born Sept. 6 (I think) to Nina's birth mom, Rebekah and her wonderful husband, Daniel.

Nina wasted no time in getting her hands on Isabella.

The next day, it was off to Gettysburg. Wow, hard to visit that place in one day! We only made it to a couple of sites there. This photo was taken at Little Round Top. As you'll see later, I didn't see this sign until we were on our way off the hill :-)

For whatever reason, people really liked touching this guy's nose!

There were many, many monuments at all of the battlefields we went to. This one was like a miniature castle, complete with turret.

There were also many, many rocks to climb on, around and under. We honestly didn't see the sign before this)

We also spent some time at Cemetery Hill. Here are the kids at the bottom of the hill, except for Zoe, who spent most of the day strapped to my back, and Nina, who spent most of the day fawning over Isabella.

Isabella enjoyed her first trip to Gettysburg.

We at a picnic lunch at Gettysburg. We were going to have hot dogs, but I forgot a pot to warm them up in (I remembered the stove, but not the pot), so we ended up having cold dogs. Molly didn't find that thought too appealing, so she had a Cheeto sandwich instead. Yes, nutrition really goes out the window when we go camping. My main concern is getting enough calories in them so that they have smiles on their faces :-) I'm very pragmatic that way.

Marcus opted for the hotdog WITH Cheetos on it.

Molly - reenacting the Battle of Gettysburg - okay, maybe not.

Marcus & Raelea exploring Cemetery Hill.

Cool cannon picture...

Aidan entertaining himself with a hazelnut.

Aidan entertaining himself with a cannon.

Zoe & Raelea entertaining each other.

Hanging out by the parking lot at Gettysburg.

The following day we went to a really fascinating place called Hopewell Furnace National Historical Site. The buildings weren't open when we were there, but we had a great time wandering around the site, reading the signs and petting the horses. Here we have Emily and the horse smiling at each other.

Raelea was pleased to see that they had an outhouse at the Hopewell site, although she was dismayed that it was no longer functional.

As you can see, it was a gorgeous day and the grounds around the furnace were beautiful.

This place is especially friendly towards dogs, apparently. This is the first time I have ever seen a dog water fountain (or bubbler for those of you from Wisconsin).

This is the lovely little, and I mean really little, house that the person tending the fires to make the charcoal lived in. Looks more like a gnomes house to me. It looks especially little when compared to the mansion on the site where the family that owned the furnace lived.

This is the building that houses the furnace. In the background is the structure over the water wheel. The water wheel (which is still functional) caused to large pistons to move up and down to blow air onto the fire to get enough heat to melt the metal. This is fascinating stuff folks!

Okay, enough of metal-working and history...

here we have my lovely Emily.

Adorable Isabella - apparently having happy dreams.

On our last day in PA we went rock jumping in St. Peter, PA. It was an old mine town and the mine people left all these giant boulders of granite (I think) laying around just for us to climb on. Okay, I don't think we were supposed to be climbing on them, but there were no signs telling us not to (at least I didn't SEE any signs saying that).

Raelea was my faithful dishes helper. She always wanted to rinse the dishes so that she could stick her hands in the warm water.
Our friend the swan, who you met in a previous post...And last, but not least, the drive home. Now folks, you should know that it costs a small fortune to take our clan out to eat, even to McDonald's. So, to avoid that expense (and the gut-rot feeling that goes with eating fast food), we decided to cook our lunch at a truck stop. With just a little preparation ahead of time, I was able to serve up a warm and relatively tasty lunch in a matter of minutes, all cooked on the top of the camper.

Doesn't she look happy to be eating home cooking even while on the road?

There you have it. The picture extravaganza of our vacation. Hope you enjoyed it.