A Busy Week

Well, Mom, Dad and Bryce were here this last week. It was great to have them! They arrived July 3rd and we were supposed to go camping with John's folks at a place called Ohiopyle for the weekend. However, the rain had different ideas. We ended up meeting at John's parents house and spending the weekend in Pittsburgh. We had a great time! We really didn't do a whole lot on the 4th until the evening. We decided to go downtown for the fireworks show....assuming that it wasn't raining. The rain decided not to come down, and we enjoyed a SPECTACULAR fire works show on the banks of the Monongahela River. It was the best I have ever seen! We really enjoyed it. We even enjoyed the 45 minute wait to get out of the parking lot....what a blessing. :-)

Saturday, we headed to the Carnegie Science Museum in downtown Pittsburgh. That was a lot of fun! They have some really cool things to do and look at. We got to tour a submarine, walk through a miniature train village, play some video games, look at anemones in tanks (we actually saw Dora and Nemo), and watch a frog get disected. That was interesting. :-) Bryce loved it! After this, we took the fam up the incline of Mt. Washington for a beautiful view of downtown Pittsburgh. We had a great time with John's parents! They are great hosts!

Mom and Dad spent the next two days with us. We got to take them to church and they got to go eat at John's school. That was really enjoyable for them, especially since John got to eat with them. Tuesday, they headed out to Philadelphia and then back through Gettysburg. It turned out to be a good thing that they were gone because I got sick and am still struggling with a sore throat and no voice. They enjoyed all of the sightseeing that they were able to do, especially Independence Hall. I'm so glad they were able to do all of that! I think it was worth it for them.

They returned to us Thursday afternoon. Mom and I headed out to Smicksburg, PA, an Amish community about 45 minutes from us, to do some shopping. We had fun looking in the little shops and buying some little things. Mom found a cookbook for John...."The Ultimate Potato Cookbook". Anyone who know John knows of his love of potatoes, so she thought this would be the perfect gift for him. :-) I bought mom a "Blessing Star" to put on their house. This is a 5 pointed metal star displayed on the outside of your house (although we have ours inside). These are common in PA, and symbolize blessings on the home. The 5 points represent God, Father, Mother, sister and brother. I didn't know this last part until John's mom told me yesterday.
Pretty cool! Mom and Dad took us out to eat for dinner Thursday and then we went home and watched the movie "Gettysburg". :-)

So, Mom, Dad and Bryce left yesterday. I absolutely loved having them here and hated to say goodbye. I miss them so much! Hopefully I can post some pictures soon.....but we all know how good I am about that. :-)

Talk to you later!