Summer Stories {Part 4}

This past weekend we headed out of town, albeit only 1 night, to Hershey Park, for Matt’s family’s annual get together. We don’t go every year, because it would just be too much, but when we do we always have fun. The first year we went with all 4 kids we decided that instead of buying them a t-shirt every year or some such thing, we would buy 1 t-shirt in a bigger size and take pictures every year. Here’s the picture from 2 years ago…

For those of you that follow me on Instagram, you’ll already have seen this gem.

We did have a few side stops on the way down, the biggest one was for Daddy to go to Cabela’s, which was fine with me because the kids were quite enamored with all of the animals and the live aquarium they now have.

After Cabela’s it was onward to Hershey Park! We got to the campground, setup our tent, and…hold up, tent?! Yep, we slept the night we were there in a tent…6 of us. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds, but it wasn’t that great either. Matt, Ave and I were on the floor, the kids in the pack n play {they stayed some of the night in there}.

In the evening we went with tradition: Chocolate World, followed by ice cream.

The awesome t-shirts they got from Aunt Meggie and Uncle Matt.Finding out how they measure up!Henry was a bit overwhelmed by the busy, but Daddy didn’t mind.Riding the Chocolate World ride: I think James was impressed.Then it was time for ice cream!Back to the campground it was, and baths in Baba’Sunday morning we got up bright and early {not that we needed any help with that, since the kids were up at 3:30, until 5:30, then woke up at 6:30am}. Off to Hershey we went! They were a bit excited. See how much they’ve grown in those shirts?!James on his first ever ride: He loved it!Ellie wasn’t too keen on the whole bit of nonsense.Then it was time for Mommy to take the crazies on the Tilt-a-Whirl….one of my favorite rides. They LOVED it!Ellie didn’t like it at first, but by the end she loved it!Henry finally found a ride he liked, the cars {and Mater!}…that was the only way we could get him on it.Interestingly enough all of the kids went on their first big-kid roller coaster and LOVED it! After that we were all so hot it was time for the water rides.Soon after, it was lunch, meltdowns and time to go home, but not before one last ride.In the car and ready to roll.Literally 5 minutes later.We stopped about halfway home at Cracker Barrel, our first time taking all the kids out to eat since they’re more than 6 months old. It went surprisingly well, given the exhausted and meltdown conditions.We came home, put the kids in bed and mommy crashed with an exhaustion induced migraine. It was a great time though, it was so much fun seeing the kids with cousins and family, and riding all the rides.

A Dream Come True…

a slight hyperbole, but not too much.

The other night a friend and I headed to Philadelphia for a book signing. A book signing for what is one of my most favorite series, Outlander, authored by Diana Gabaldon. I’ve never been to a book signing.

For a while, I’ve wanted a signed copy of one of her books, only so that I could say I had one. I never saw the point in ordering a signed copy through the mail…seemed kind of like cheating.

I now have a few friends who are fans of Outlander {per my prodding to read them}, after years of having no one else who even knew about the books: I convinced one of them to go with me to the Q&A and book signing at the Free Library in Philly. Babysitters in place we headed for the city of Brotherly Love…

We had a quick dinner at the Kite & Key on Callowhill Street; which was really, really good. As I told Jill, I am always up for a good burger and fries!

The food was delicious {deep fried onions and bacon on a cheeseburger? yes please!} and the place was pretty neat inside, definitely popular as an after-work hangout for the 30 and under group.Someone wasn’t a clean-plater….Then we headed over to The Free Library Philadelphia for the book signing…it was hot out, and muggy: The temp was around 93*.And then this happened….

For the boobs who completely forgot to stalk the ticket sale website to order their tickets {I blame it on not living in my own home}.It turned out ok because those of us upstairs were the first in line to get our books signed!It’s still kind of hard to believe that I was standing next to Dr. G; not so much in a star-struck manner, but more because it was literally for 20 seconds.  The talk and Q&A were ok, obviously being on a screen was a bit of a bummer, but her talk was pretty much verbatim to every other one I’ve heard online, and people weren’t all that creative with their questions {there were a few good ones}.

Afterward we decided to walk over to Logan Square to check out the Swann Memorial Fountain.{In which a handful of kids were splashing around at 9:30pm; frankly, I was ready to join them}.Good-bye Philadelphia! I hope to visit you again someday. We didn’t get to walk around the library at all which was a bit disappointing, because it is absolutely huge and seemed more like a museum to me than a library!

The one thing that did really stick with me {there will be a podcast available next week}, was Diana saying in regards to writing “You have to make time, because you’ll never find it” when talking about how she started writing the first Outlander book, as a mom of 3 under 6 and holding two full time jobs. It’s true…we’re all given the same number of hours in the day, it’s up to us to figure out how to make the most of them.

It was a long day: We didn’t get home until 2 {due to a missed turn on I-476 and a desperate search for a gas station at 10pm}.

Was it worth it? It was fun, it was a great experience, and I’m glad I went, but it’s not something I feel I need to do again {something about sleep being a bit more important}. There is something to be said for having an author sign a book when it’s a much smaller venue and you can actually chat with the person.