sweet home Pennsylvania

After Easter Rob had to return to Maryland and his class work. The kids and I decided to stay in PA for 2 weeks and visit with friends and family. (Although Rob did come up on the weekend, because we missed him so much... for the first time, Charlotte was actually willing to really talk to someone (her daddy) on the phone. Amazing!)

Here is a muddled snapshot of our trip--- I'd put these photos in order, but I'm blogging from a hotel room with 2 small children, so this is the best I can do today! ;)

Molly and Charlotte enjoyed going for a little hike at Beltzville and lunch at the Sunset Diner with their moms. One of the nice things about hanging out for so long was being able to meet up with some of my old friends from high school and catch up with them. 13 years is a loooong time- it's nice to know some things never change. :)

Toby and Aunt Melissa. I liked having little visits throughout our stay and having time to talk with my family as individuals and not just as a big group. I like teasing Melissa that Charlotte got her Chatterbox gene from the same place as her Aunt Melissa. ;)

I made a short visit to see the headstone that we had put up for my mom and her parents. She had always talked about getting a headstone for their grave and hadn't been able to. Since we had her remains buried there as well, we were able to do that for her and I think that would have made her happy.

A crowd gathers to watch Uncle Ed eat something yucky- pickled tripe I think.

Toby with Aunt Melissa and Max. It was wonderful for Charlotte and Toby to spend time getting to know some of their cousins better.

Portrait of a TIRED traveler.
Charlotte has been such a good girl throughout this trip, but she seems to really be missing her home, toys, and friends in Germany.

Nothing like a popsicle on a hot day.
Notice Charlotte's new haircut? She can see again!

Toby chillin' with his Uncle Dan. Only 13 and already taller than me! Well I was the tallest in this family for a long time-- go ahead and enjoy it Dan- until Toby overtakes you. Oh wait, you have to catch Allen yet! ;)

Play time at Chestnuthill Park.
I got a haircut too- although it's pretty windblown in this photo, I think I like it. We'll see.

Tori preparing the kite for flight at Chestnuthill Park.

Happy little traveling man. We left this carseat in PA and have switched to a bigger one since Toby had reached the weight limit on this one and I could barely carry it around anymore.

It rained a bit and even hailed one day, but overall we had beautiful weather for our stay on the farm. Thank you Pam & Mark for letting us hang out and stay for so long!

Charlotte and Toby both liked the dogs at Pop-Pop's house. This is Buster, he's the bigger one.

And this is Nana. She's a little bit smaller while still fitting in the "enormous dog" category.

Tori and Charlotte had fun playing kitchen together and dressing up as super fancy ladies. I laugh every time I see Charlotte's face in this picture. :D It reminds me of living in New Jersey for some reason. hee hee

Thank you all for making time to play with us! I'm sorry if there is anyone we missed-- it was a very busy couple of weeks. It's kinda nice to be back at the hotel and recoup for a little while before we head off to visit Grandma & Grandpa Anderson in Georgia!!!

Easter 09

We headed up to visit my family in PA Easter weekend. It was great to get together with a lot of Charlotte and Toby's cousins and hunt for eggs and dye them as well. :)

Charlotte did a great job on the Easter egg hunt and couldn't wait to see all of the candy inside the eggs.

Easter egg dying- Eddie, Aunt Pam, Leah, Grandma Linda, and Connor

Aunt Pam, Leah, Daddy, Connor, and Uncle Dan

Charlotte showing off the eggs she dyed... notice how they each have exactly one sticker on top.

home sweet hotel

Hello from beautiful Greenbelt, MD! "A Liveable Community" according to the welcome sign. For those of you who might not have heard, we are spending some time in the good ol' US of A this Spring... and it really is good to be here. :) Here's a glimpse at what we've been up to so far.

Toby thinks the king size bed is just the right size for chillaxin'.
I agree.

We went to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner last Friday. Charlotte LOVED it. She ran right up to Chuck E. and said, "Hi Mickey, I'm Charlotte." I told her his correct name about a zillion times, but at this point he is still "Mickey Cheese."

Even Toby got in on the action and rode a creepy Teletubby ride.

Daddy and Toby beat Charlotte at air hockey, but she basically understood how to play and giggled like mad the whole time.

In non-photographed news--- we have been "stimulating the economy" (aka shopping.) I, especially, have really been missing the American shopping malls... and Target. We've been eating at all of our favorite dining establishments- Red Robin is my favorite and last night we celebrated Rob's birthday at Cheesecake Factory. Yummy! (Happy birthday again my love!) And last, but of course not least, we have been catching up with some old friends and having some fun playdates. :)

On the flip side- Charlotte is a bit homesick for her toys and friends in Germany. The morning we first woke up here she said, "let's get ready to go home!" Ummm, no. Living the Eloise-hotel lifestyle gets old fast. And there are things that we really enjoy about Germany--- our friends there, being able to walk places, bakeries on every corner, book club, etc, etc. But we'll be back there before we know it.

In the meantime- we look forward to seeing family very soon and hope that you all have a very Happy Easter this weekend. :D Tschuss!