I love my family!

Yesterday I was thinking how grateful I am for my family, each of them had done something special for me, but was really the normal for them.

Friday night I went to my 20 year reunion, which Ray encouraged me to go to, he then let me sleep in, cleaned the kitchen, and then in the afternoon took Keagan to the parade (Melissa was already gone babysitting) so I could have a quiet house to prepare my YW (church) lesson. I sometimes tease him that he is not romantic... who needs romance when he is so thoughtful and kind! :)

Also Friday night, Melissa was so cute, I told her I was a little nervous about going to my reunion. She said, why mom? Go and have fun! Saturday morning after I was awake she came and cuddled with me in bed and asked me all about it, wanting to know all the details. It almost made me laugh, it made me think of how we are when she comes home from different activities. It was really sweet.

Saturday morning after I woke (right before Melissa came in) Keagan came in and asked me if there was anything I wanted. He knows I like hot tang, so he made me a cup and then asked me if there was anything else I wanted. He then made me smile by saying ok mom here are your choices... I chose toast, then he asked me, lightly toasted or dark, do you want cinnamon on it? (He couldn't believe I didn't want cinnamon on it... he kept saying are you sure you don't want cinnamon on it?) What a sweet boy!

A Grandma Stambaugh story

One of the fun things about visiting family is hearing all of the fun family stories. One story that just made me laugh about
Grandma Stambaugh (Ray's grandma) -

Darlene (Ray's aunt) was driving w/ her mom (Grandma stambaugh) and there was a rude driver that cut them off, Grandma said, you should give them the finger Darlene, of course Darlene was shocked, grandma doesn't talk like that, then Grandma shook her pointer finger at the car, saying you shouldn't do that! LOL!

The case of the missing keys

One of the "funny" stories of being out here..
Saturday we were going to go to a BBQ, Ray had just been driving Darlene's van and we couldn't find the keys! We searched EVERYWHERE! Poor Ray, they were only lost for about 20 minutes when they were lost, we tore the house up and couldn't find them, we had several people looking...
Luckily we could walk to the bbq, so we did and then came back and SEARCHED again and again.. said a few prayers and searched some more. We finally went to bed there was nothing else we could do, said another few prayers and hoped they would turn up in the morning, we had church and 7 people to get there- it would be really hard to get rides to church for all of us, doable, but a pain.
So the next morning we got a back up plan in case we couldn't find the keys and started searching again... a 1/2 hour before we needed to leave for church Darlene found the "extra" set of keys for the van that had been missing for 4 years! Still hadn't found the set we were looking for, but found the old set and could drive everyone to church! What a blessing!
Monday morning... Ray's sister called and guess what she found in a random bag... the original set of keys that were lost! They had slipped into a bag of clothes that Colin was taking home and when she dumped it out to do laundry... clink!
So now because the first set was lost, Darlene found the other set.. see there is a reason for everything! :)

Hershey Park

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Here are some of our pictures from Hershey Park. I've narrowed it down quite a bit. Hershey Park is usually not one of my favorite places to go. (This is the one thing we always do when we go to PA) It is usually too hot, too long of lines, etc. This year was great! The weather was perfect! It got a little hot in the afternoon, but not bad (low 80s)! I didn't ride very many rides, we only had to wait for an hour for 1 ride (the super soaker, which the kids said was not worth the wait). Most of the rides had hardly any lines! It was crowded over in the water section, but not the coasters, etc. We didn't have to go to the kiddie section! (I don't know if that is happy or sad)

In the afternoon we Melissa had her cell phone, we had ours and Uncle Dan, Melissa, Colin, & Keagan went on more rides and Ray, Aunt Darlene, & I went to all of the shows. That was really fun!

We went to a country singing & dancing show (which we really enjoyed)

Then we went to some weird Beauty and the Beast adaptation - in a theatre where you couldn't take any pictures. It was funny because when we came out of it, I asked Darlene & Ray if they got it and they both didn't either, but it was very entertaining- lots of dancing and acrobatics!

Then we rushed over to the aqua theatre and saw some cheesy show about saving the chocolate Pearl. Like I said it was over the top cheesy, but fun to see the seals and the guys jump off the high diving boards w/ somersaults and all.

Lastly we went to a show of 50's music. It was really good, too, but so loud it hurt our ears. (Yes we are all getting old! :) )

We got up early were there before it opened at 10 a.m. and left by 8:30 - we were exhausted, but it was fun!

Gettsyburg, July 2nd, 2009

Sad, but true... Keagan's favorite part of Gettysburg...
the out house that had the talking "dummy" in it. He said things like, excuse me someones in here, this is only a 1 hole -er.. He opened and shut the door several times to show us all and laughed every time! BOYS! :) Melissa wasn't too thrilled with it, which made it funnier, I know I'm a mean mom, but I had to tease her and tell her, well maybe this will be the Christmas card pic...

Where a cannon went into the barn

Melissa and Colin overlooking the battlefield, Little Round top close to Devil's Den.

Climbing the rocks at Little round top

We took the tour bus - on the upper deck and listened to head phones about the battle, I realized how little I know, I think I need to do some homework on my American history!

The cemetery in Gettysburg, I think the total was around 30,000 that died in the battle at Gettysburg!

There were several different monuments there, this one is the only one dedicated to the north and the south.

Ray's mom- Grandma Jackie and the kids getting ready to ride the bus.

We had a great time learning and seeing Gettysburg, next time when we come we are going to drive it ourselves so we can get out and see everything we want. We had the perfect weather! It was in the mid 70s, like home in WA! Not even an hour after we left it down poured.. how lucky are we!

Harrisburg, PA Capitol

The Capitol of Pennsylvania, in Harrisburg.

The capitol is beautiful! But I think the kids had more fun flicking water at each other.

Ray, talking to the tour guide and comparing notes. This is the House chamber. It was very interesting, especially since Ray works in the capitol in Olympia.

It is very ornate! They told us that it was built in 1906, took 3 years to build, it was the 3rd capitol built and 3rd location, and cost $13 million to build. Now it is priceless. (not even a visa commercial..)

They have several stained glass windows.

The chandeliers weigh 2 tons!

The inside of their dome.

The grand stairway entering into the capitol.

PA state museum

Today we went to the PA state museum. It is in Harrisburg, right next to the capital. It was pretty interesting. The kids weren't that excited by it, though. It was more for little kids. They thought the best part was the petrified poop.. sorry I didn't get a picture of that. :) It had 3 or different floors with all kinds of things about PA's history. I could of spent a lot more time looking and reading over things (sure sign of getting old..)
One of the more favorite parts is where they could try on period clothing. Here we made Melissa try on a hoop skirt and dress. The look on her face was priceless! She was pretty funny, how do you sit in these things and walk..! Love it with the flip flops!
Keagan in the wool coat, he said this is pretty itchy! I was trying to a picture of them together.
Colin is just soo happy to have the wool coat off! Melissa isn't too happy with him. LOL!

Keagan doesn't look to thrilled, either, which of course being the bad parent I am makes me laugh.

Colin

Mackenzie (Ray's youngest brother - Danny's daughter, she is a couple of months older than Keagan)

liked putting on the hoop skirt

Mackenzie

Ray is almost as tall.. and skinny as Abraham Lincoln.

Here they all are telling me to hurry up!

This is some of the displays they had.

There was a huge mural!

Cousin Colin

We arrived in Pa @ 1:30 a.m. (eastern time). We left our house @ 7:30 a.m. our time - which is 4:30 eastern time on Monday. We are still trying to figure out what time it is.. but Tuesday had a great time seeing most of the family. Of course I forgot to get my camera out when there were 15+ people here.. but Colin has been here most of the time and we have really enjoyed being around him!

Colin is the youngest son of Ray's sister/brother-in-law Theresa/Jace. He is 5 weeks younger than Melissa.

See, it is a Shoop gene, tall & skinny, check out that curly hair!!!

Smile, Colin!

I like this one!

strawberry jam

Before we went on vacation, we bought 2 flats of strawberries and made jam. I made 5 batches, 20 pints and a couple of half pints. Yum! Last year I made 6 batches with 2 flats... I think we ate more berries this year. Spooners strawberries are the best! Last year I made just enough to last until now, we have 1 half pint left.

Lightning Bugs

One of my favorite things about being back east is seeing the lightning bugs. Keagan doesn't really remember them from last time we were here (4 years ago) He was fascinated by them, just like me! I couldn't capture the little lights on the camera.

Keagan learning to skateboard?!

This is outside Aunt Darlene's house in Camp Hill, PA. Keagan's cousin Colin is trying to teach him to skateboard.