Vacation in Pennsylvania

Last week, we took a break from packing, paperwork, and moving issues to visit my family in Pennsylvania. It was a WONDERFUL vacation! I got to see my sister, who came home briefly from Ethiopia where she is doing a year-long teaching position. And my other sister, who is working and going to school in Washington DC. And my brother, who is living in Buffalo NY but came home for a few days. We were just missing my other brother, who is in the Navy and couldn't get leave. :-( The kids had a wonderful time visiting Granny and Grandpa... and playing with their dog.

Friday night was a big Prosser family crab feast. We got a babysitter to come to the house-- our first babysitter ever! We got to spend the evening with adults, eating crabs in Baltimore. It was delightful! And apparently the kids had fun and enjoyed their evening too.
Saturday happened to be the annual Olde Tyme Days festival in my hometown. Yep, it's a very small farm town in Pennsylvania, so the central theme of the festival is... tractors. There are tractor parades, tractor shows, tractor pulls, and some good pit beef sandwiches too. :-) So we took the kids and spent the morning checking out the show, and letting them have fun pretending to race them.

Saturday night the kids stayed home and had smores and stories on the patio with the grandparents. My husband and I, my brother, and our best buddy Chris spent the evening at the Baltimore Inner Harbor. There was a Spanish tapas restaurant we wanted to visit to try some Spanish food. It is called La Tasca, and it was delicious! We had a cheese platter with Manchego and other cheeses, some figs wrapped in bacon, spicy chorizo sausage, and of course paella! Sipping sangria and watching their flamenco dancers on the outside deck overlooking the harbor was a relaxing and fun way to spend the evening. I can't wait until we can do that in Spain overlooking the Atlantic Ocean! Afterwards we checked out the new Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, which was actually really interesting and fun! Cities made out of toothpicks, beautiful artwork made out of trash, a fun mirror maze, and even a 4-D movie.

Sunday was the annual visit of my cousin who is a nun with the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville, TN. Her dad had a big open house party for her, and this was the first time I had made it in a while, so it was really great to catch up. Everyone had fun playing with my little ones, especially when they started dancing in the rain. :-)

It was so nice to have a weekend to ourselves, to just enjoy being with family and friends. Once we got back, it was all catch-up and paperwork again, back to the old grind. But we did get some pretty great news: we have renters for our house! They are moving in just 2 weeks after we move out, and have contracted for the whole year! What a huge relief! Our big moving tasks are all wrapping up, and we are getting down to the little details. We are trying to enjoy the time we have left with family and friends, and not stress too much about the moving process. Wish us luck!