Tomorrow

The big moving day is tomorrow! Hooray!! Yesterday I wasn't too motivated, but I did manage to get most of my and the kids things packed. Today I must go through whatever is in the loft and make sure it's alright to move, and pack up Dustan's things as well. Of course, there is a thousand last minute things to pack in the morning.

As my day will be busy packing and running errands, Ariel's will be busy as well. It is her last day of school at Monroe, and she's excited so far- hasn't shown any sadness yet. They are having a fall festival this afternoon, and then tonight we're trick or treating in our new neighborhood. It's going to a fun day!

We are all so ready to get settled in our new place!

Counting Down Yet Again

It seems life is full of count downs in the life of a parent. As adults we've learned to take (most) things in stride, and understand that life is a pattern of changing seasons, each to never be repeated in the same way, though the basic circumstance might be the same. Case in point, moving. The children are now facing the third move of their short lives that they remember. For them, time slips away in a different motion than for some of us more experienced participants in life. We can grasp the concept of time and measurement, having felt the pulsing of life beat against us for so long... one cannot escape it. But they are just learning the wonders of the world, how the sun marks the day and the moon the night hours, how the clock ticks aways the seconds of our lives, bringing adventure just around the next click of the chime being set in motion.

Okay, enough with the obssession of literary expressionism. The kids know that this weekend we are moving (finally) into our own house and they are looking forward to doing so. There is a lot to be done between now and then and they like to hear the details - at least the ones involving them. They are happy to hear that they get to have special time with PawPaw and MawMaw whilst the rest of the family helps to move us in. They are looking forward to their last night's sleepover here and then being able to go home on Sunday. Nathaniel is especially excited that this means he can finally go to preschool and have friends again. He has been terribly lonely.

And so today the countdown leaves us at 4 more days til we wake up to an exciting day of family, work, pizza and trying to keep white carpets clean while hauling things in and out. Yipee!

Traffic!!!

Can I just scream??? I guess I could, but luckily I had company with me and we tried to laugh it off. It has a little hard to do because I was so hungry that I was lightheaded driving a rental car and my dear friend was pregnant and carsick. Not a good combination to get stuck in traffic for nearly 3 hours.

Here's the story; Crystal and I decided that we'd like to go hiking. I had to register Ariel for school down in York, so we chose to go there to hike. I left Nathaniel here at the house with Romona, as he hadn't slept well the night before and it was a bit wet and chilly out and I knew he'd never last. So, Crystal brought her dog instead to join us.

No problems so far. Well, we had a nice time chatting and hiking and snacking and it go to be 3ish, which every good commuter knows it's time to hit the highway before evening traffic kicks in (especially being Friday). So, off we went. As we passed the Newberrytown exit heading North, I thought that perhaps I should take the back way thru the country and avoid the town traffic. But I chose otherwise, assuming that I could get back to the parking lot where Crystal left her car faster on the highway. Well, we didn't get much further for a bit past Yocumtown exit, when we saw the cars slowing down. Within a minute, we were inching along. We tuned into the emergency station to hear what was going on. They had closed HWY 83 Northbound AND 581 E- both of which we needed to use. And there was at least 5-8 miles of traffic ahead of us that was trying to get the same direction we were going. Grrrrr....

At this point, I promptly got off the next exit, at Lewisberry and went back to where we would have been had I gotten off the highway 2 exits before, but I would've missed a whole lot of traffic! We crept along for 2 hours before we got to Crystal's car, which normally would have taken 20 minutes from where we were.

So, what caused the closure? People want someone to blame! Well, there seems to have been crazed people driving around shooting at the police and they were having a grand chase along the highway! I don't know what the outcome to the chase was, but there were MANY angry people because of it, including Dustan (who would've guessed?).

He seemed to have missed the bulk of trouble from the closure, but it also seems that he was a testimony to God's grace this same hour. He was coming home down the back way, and apparently, a garbage truck was driving the opposite direction, too fast, and as the truck came over a hill, he jumped it and ran the thing off the road, into a tree. This knocked the tree over into the road, hitting 3 cars passing by the same time. Right in front of Dustan.

So, his civil duty came into action here, and he started guiding traffic after calling it in. And here he was for quite a while.

It was a crazy afternoon, the result of which was hungry bellies and thankfulness that nothing worse had befallen us today.

Mile Club

I just have to say that I am so proud of Ariel! She has achieved something I can hardly say I did myself- at any time. In gym class a few weeks ago the kids had to run a mile without stopping in order to join the mile club. And Ariel did it! Yeah! She got a little pink foot charm that goes on your shoe lace as a reward. She was very excited and proud of herself. We were proud too!

Frost!

Jack Frost has finally started teasing us here in Central PA. Two nights ago he sabotaged the nicest of the coleus. Left some crystals in the grass. Then last night he created gorgeous patterns on all our car windows, I think as a peace offering for killing the plants, and although it's beautiful, I don't really like having to scrape it off in order to get places I need to go in the morning. Doesn't he know that? lol I just can hardly believe that autumn is truly here and winter is knocking on the door. I feel like I've missed out on something this summer... maybe I left it in Germany. Yeah, that's got to be it.

Lake Tobias

On Sunday we went to Lake Tobias. It is an animal park that offers a petting zoo and a 'safari' ride. They have all different kinds of things from miniature horses, sheep, camels and goats in the petting zoo to lions, tigers and bears in cages. They have alpacas, cougars, baboons, monkeys of various kinds, alligators, chickens, geese, white and black swans, and zebras. The animals observed on the safari tour included emus, ostriches, buffalo, turkeys, zedonks, elk, deer, cows, and water buffalo. Oh yeah, and checkout the world's largest rat. It's bigger than a dog. It gets to 80 pounds. You can see it in the photo next to the pond. Gross...

To the kids greatest pleasure, there was a playground too, so we stopped to play a bit on our way out.

The Party

Ok, so I am a little behind in the things I was going to write about, but haven't found the time. Let's begin by recapping what happened after I was the decoy.

I had just made arrangements with Monica that I would be showing up at the township building with Lori in 15 minutes. This way, they would all know when to have everyone inside and ready for the surprise. As soon as I hung up the phone with her, Lori called and said she was outside waiting. I was like 'crap'. It's only less than 5 minutes to the building. So, I told Lori I had to do something upstairs, when really I didn't. I just finished cleaning up the kitchen and sat in a chair for a few minutes. After 10 minutes were up, I didn't press my luck any longer and went out to the car. There I found Lori driving her car with Ben, Sara, and Shane packed in the backseat like sardines. They were waiting patiently, nbut I found the need to state what was taking so long, so I said I was just getting something out of my room and then my mom called and was talking.... yadda, yadda, yadda...

Soon we arrived, and Lori just kept talking my ear off. She kept talking while we walked, and we let her be the first through the door. She was trying to tell me something and kept looking back over her shoulder, not really paying much attention, and then she saw the stage full of people, and they shouted, "Surprise!" She looked at them, looked at me and Sara, and then she realized she had been set up. She was really surprised!

The rest of the evening was fun. She was more than busy, so Ariel was a bit put out at not being able to dance with Aunt Lori, but Aunt Pat and I danced with her instead. She wasn't quite satisfied, but what can you do? One can't always have what they want in life.

The cakes turned out great, and the candles I had found were really cool on the cake. 50 candles really lights it up! We all had a fun time. Happy Birthday, Aunt Lori!

Being the Decoy

Why is it that no one really wants this job? I don't know... I think it's kinda fun and nerve-wracking to know that at any moment you might have flubbed and given away the surprise. Like, at this very moment I could be walked in on and this post seen and be immediately suspected of some secret undertakings. And yes, I would be guilty. I am waiting for Aunti Lori to come over, under the guise of seeing Ariel before her show at the Octoberfest this afternoon. But alas, 'tis truly a 50th birthday party for her. Wish me luck not to spoil the surprise! (If no one has beat me to it.)