Family getaway

Last weekend, we had a little family getaway to the Pocono mountains. A friend of ours offered us his cabin and our day-to-day lives have been so crazy between Patrick's work, taking care of the boys and keeping up with housework that we thought it might be nice to do a little retreat of sorts. Not so many rules, barely any chores. Just quiet, fun time together as a family.

Or so we thought.

We arrived at the cabin on Friday afternoon, after a late start and driving almost five hours in the rain. We were all a bit cold and cranky, but when we got there, we seemed to unwind instantly.

The cabin was beautiful.

I pictured Patrick and I sitting out on the porch in the morning with some hot coffee,

with a view of the lake through the trees and lots of wildlife around.

Can't you just hear the boys mocking me for thinking such a thing?

The inside of the cabin was just as beautiful, but as you may be able to tell, the loft-style sleeping arrangements made it difficult to realize my other dream of Patrick and I putting the boys to bed and sitting on the couch by that cozy fire watching a movie or talking.

Because all day Friday had torrential downpouring rain, we did a lot of this

Candyland and Go Fish!

The combination of the pounding rain, the metal roof, the beds at ceiling level, and the open floor plan meant that Patrick and I each got about an hour of sleep Friday night. And that not all together - it was more like 10 minutes here and there up and down with the boys who couldn't sleep because of the rain, or fell out of their beds, or had bad dreams. It was rough.

Saturday morning, we discovered that overnight, we'd also had some rodent visitors who'd helped themselves to the food on the counter (shame on me for leaving it out). Tired and grossed out by the discovery, we determined to make the best of our day.

The boys wanted to take some pictures of their own, so I let them use the camera. Here are Jack's photos, straight out of the camera - no editing from me. I love to see how he chooses his shots.

First, our family






Then, of course, Lammy



(I love that he kept trying to get the right angle. . . and that in the last picture, Lammy looks like he's had enough.)



Next, his backpack and toys



Then, some other random shots:

My "red sweatshirt," which made me cry laughing when I actually saw the picture



Daddy's bagel (one of the few that wasn't nibbled by the mice)



And I love this one of his and Patrick's feet



PJ's turn to try his hand at it with some of his favorite toys



and the deer head which both fascinated and appalled the two of them.



Finally, the rain stopped and the boys were excited to see some sun peek through the clouds

So I dressed the older boys and took them for a walk by the lake while Patrick and Thomas napped.

It was good to stretch our legs

but it was COLD - sweatshirts were not nearly enough - and we had to dodge a lot of puddles.

The lake was beautiful, though


Then, we hopped in the car and headed to the nearby town of Honesdale, which has a train and some shops and, we figured, dry places to walk and let the boys burn off some energy.

On the way, we passed a road with a familiar name.

The boys loved seeing the train, and sitting on a tractor parked on the sidewalk


That night, we made a fire in the fire pit and the boys got a kick out of cooking their own dinner for the first time as they roasted hot dogs on sticks over the fire. Then, of course, we had to have s'mores for dessert.




We were all in bed by 7 that night and even though I'd put all the food in the refrigerator, we could hear the mice all over the house that night. They ran back and forth along the rafters and I even saw a furry nose peek through a space between the wood planks of the ceiling while I was lying in bed. They chewed holes in everything that had ever touched food, including the baby's bottle nipples, the rubber tips of his spoons, and some of the bottles for Patrick's medicines. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night either, though the boys slept really well.

Maybe it was a bit city slickeresque of us to expect anything different, but more than a little grossed out by the mouse droppings that were everywhere - in the coffee pot, even - we decided to pack up early on Sunday and go out to breakfast on our way home.

Thankfully, the boys have become pretty good travelers, despite the fact that two relatively new potty trainers require lots of pit stops. And hey, they look cool too!

It was a beautiful drive home on Sunday with clear skies and gorgeous fall colors. The boys especially enjoyed seeing all these wind mills which dotted the landscape for a good part of the ride.

The trip might sound like a total loss, but it really wasn't. We got to spend a lot of time together, and Patrick and I talked a lot in the car during the drives, something that we don't get to do much of for extended periods of time these days. Plus, it really helped me to appreciate our home (and our beds) and our family, and want to make being together here special too.

Making Whoopie

Maybe it's the rolling hills. Maybe it's the acres of farm land. Maybe it's the romantic clip-clop of horse and buggies passing outside, but if there's one thing people in Lancaster County, Pa. know about, it's making whoopie pies.

And with three little boys

under four years of age,

Patrick and I know a little about making whoopie pies ourselves.

But this is something that even we don't know how to make!

Mystery trip

It's hard to believe that it was a whole year ago that we first took the boys to see Thomas the Tank Engine. Remember this photo? PJ was only about 17 months old. Too young to remember.

One of the benefits of having kids who wake at the butt crack of dawn is that we can frequently do early morning outings in the cool of the day and be back home in time for lunch and naps. We're out at parks or the mall well before the crowds arrive. With three boys, another favorite spot is the nearby Strasburg Railroad, where we'll walk around and watch the engineers get ready for a day on the rails. The most thrilling part is watching the steam engines fill with coal and water and pull into the station to couple up to the passenger cars. The engineers are so kind and friendly. It's free entertainment and the boys love pointing out the knuckle, dome, whistle, and coal tenders.

(We know all the terms already going in.)

Can you name that movie?

Anyway, I knew Thomas was coming to Strasburg soon, and when I looked it up online last night, I realized he was there NOW. So this morning, I told the boys we were taking a Mystery Trip right after breakfast and we went to see him.

As we got close (but not too close) Jack recognized the route as being the one we take to go to the railroad. So by the time we got there, they knew where we were headed, and were excited enough about watching the engines, but they still did not know that Thomas was going to be there.

I love surprising them like that. They were both so excited.

Totally made it worth the fact that I didn't have time to take a shower.

We were able to snap a few pictures with Thomas as they were cleaning him up before he pulled into the station. Only the two Thomases were looking at me, despite my twenty seven "Look at Mommy!" requests.

Finally, a kind father saw my plight and said, "Hey, boys - look over here!"

(Kids, are you noticing all this plight? **gun shots** Roll 'em up!)

Can you name that movie?






Would have been nice if he were standing near me, but ah, well. At least I can see their faces.
I can't tell you how much I love these ones of them posing by the train. PJ's "cheese" always has me in hysterics.

I love how all three of my boys have, as babies, just sort of put their feet up on the stroller and lounge. It cracks me up.

After getting a few small Thomas-related items in the shop (because we do not have enough of those already), it was time to see Sir Topham Hatt in all his splendor. PJ was so excited while we were waiting in line. "I'm going to give him a hug!" he kept saying.

Then he saw him.

He wasn't quite as normal-looking as PJ had imagined and he was more than a little uneasy, but he did give him a hug. We had the option of buying pictures from the station photographer or giving the aid our camera and having her snap a few pictures. I figured I'd take my chances with package B. Here's what we got, completely unedited.

I love how that realistic-looking tarp in the background makes it look like we're really on the island of Sodor. I think she realized that maybe the grommets across the top are not really supposed to be in the picture, and then came these two:

Jack is all business. He's not about to mess up his chances at being an actual conductor with the Sodor Railway. If he can just nail this encounter with the big guy, then he's a shoo-in.

I kept telling them that PJ's name was "PJ" (which, I believe I was actually in the process of saying when this picture was being taken). Still, they continued to call, "DJ? TJ? Look, TJ!"


So close.

Oh well, I edited it a little bit at home and here's our memento from our morning Mystery Trip to see Thomas.

And a good time was had by all!