A Visit to Pennsylvania

Day care was closed for the month of April so Mark and I got to spend lots of extra time with Simon! We are so fortunate with Mark being self-employed and the flexibility that brings. Mark had Simon the majority of the time but we decided back in February that it would be good if when I was off with Simon for a few days, to take him to Pennsylvania to visit my parents. My Mom quickly volunteered to buy Simon's plane ticket. : ) We talked to Simon quite a bit about what happens when you fly, that you need to listen to the captain, keep your seat belt on, etc. So the day finally arrived and Simon was so proud to wear his Thomas the Train "pack pack" (aka backpack) in the airport. Is he the cutest traveler or what??

He did really well on the flights! We had to change planes in Washington DC and almost missed our connection because we had to go up and down 7 -- yes! seven -- different elevators in the airport. Crazy airport! I did a terrible job of taking pictures on our trip. I totally forgot to take one on the airplane.

Anyway, we spent lots of time visiting with family and friends. Here's a photo of Simon and his Great Grandma. He loved playing with her pinchers that she uses to pick up things and pull up her socks.

We also got to visit with my high school friends on Wednesday night -- love getting together with my long time friends! On Thursday, the weather was kind of scary so we didn't do much until later in the day when we went to visit Grandma. On Friday, we took Simon to the Strasburg Railroad. I hadn't been there since I was a young kid. He LOVED it! I don't think that the train drove fast enough for him but he loved seeing the conductors, watching the steam engine get ready for the ride, and seeing the animals we passed. I think that my Mom and Dad got a really big kick out of Simon saying "All Aboard!"

I know, my Mom won't like this photo but like I said, I didn't do a great job of taking pictures!

On Saturday, we were supposed to go to my sister's house in Chambersburg to visit with them and watch my nephews play soccer. We almost had to cancel because Simon woke up sick. He is rarely down for the count but he was that morning and I was so bummed. I knew that he would be too because he had been talking about "the boys" since we arrived in PA.. Thankfully, after a morning nap and limiting his milk drinking, he seemed to perk up so we headed down to see Heidi, Thinh and the boys.

He LOVES playing with them and wants to do everything that they do. I love these photos with each of his cousins. The first one is of Brandon, then Andrew and then Mason.

As I said, Simon likes to do what the big boys are doing so when he noticed Mason eating a hot dog on a chopstick, Simon wanted one too. And Aunt Heidi was happy to oblige. I on the other hand, was on pins and needles each time he ate something that day!

Here are the four boys enjoying cake and ice cream around the picnic table.

Here's another example of Simon wanting to do what the big boys do -- it wasn't nearly warm enought to be playing in the water like this but this was the game of choice that day. I think all four of the boys went through several clothing changes to dry off.

And then, there were the mini-bikes. Uncle Thinh was having a blast giving Simon and Mason rides around the house. The look on Simon's face was pure joy!!

The next day was Sunday and the last day of our visit. Simon fell asleep on the way to visit Great Grandma again. My Dad wanted to hold him and Uncle Tim was trying to wake-up Simon. But he was so exhausted! I think between being sick and playing with the boys, he was wiped out.

It was a fun trip and I was so happy with how well Simon did on the plane! On the way home, he called the flight attendant "the conductor" which had many people on the plane laughing. We wish that Pennsylvania was a lot closer so we could visit more often! Thank you, Mimi and Papa, for taking such good care of us!