Family Time Revisited

At the end of June Nick and I headed back to my home state of Pennsylvania to spend some quality time with my family. It had been a full year since I had seen them last so I was super excited to be able to spend an entire week with them. I'm obsessed with my family, so beware of the photo dump.

My older niece Emma has her First Communion on Saturday morning and we arrived on Saturday afternoon just in time to make it to her cookout celebration! My cousin Steph(anie) (affectionately called 'Snef' or 'Snefnie') came up for the weekend!

my sister, my brother, and me... can you guess who is the oldest?

We stayed at my brother, Brett's, house all week. Since he and wife Amber worked Tuesday to Thursday Nick and I got some awesome one on one time with my nieces Emma and Ella! 

Nick, aka Uncle Noodle, jumped on the trampoline with the girls that night. Just called him 'funcle'!

Ella, my youngest niece, is currently learning her letters and how to read and write. She wrote on names on the trampoline in chalk!

Roasted Peeps and enjoyed the fire with the adults...

my sister-in-law and me

Picture of the girls before bed!

  

The next day we went shopping and to get Emma's second holes pierced at outdoor promenade shops.

She did amazing! Didn't even flinch!

The girls were so excited to see a husky while we were shopping. They are currently obsessed with with huskies! We had one growing up. They have a 'Husky Fund' where they put their money so can they afford one on their own. SO CUTE.

We got friendship bracelets! 

After shopping we stopped and checked in on my dad at his currently job site. It's his first commercial project and was really excited to show it to us. He's working on a building that the church he goes to purchased and it's super close to being done! 

There is a mini golf course outside of the building so we played around on that for a bit. Can't beat a free game of mini golf!

Snef and Ella having some girl time.

My sister-in-law Amber, Steph, my sister Courtney, and I did a beer tasting. Surprise, I hated them all because I hate beer, but I did enjoy drinking with Carlos. 

See one of my sister's assessments below...

The next morning we spent some quality time with my nieces playing board games!

As my brother and Nick headed off, we had a girls day in the pool and ate some really, really yummy food that I can't find in Michigan.

Steph headed back to DC in the late afternoon. We figured out we hadn't seen each other in NINE YEARS! I definitely won't let another 9 years go by.

So many sillies. Who knew bubble wrap and a gigantic stuffed tiger named Silver Mist could be so much fun?

 The next morning Ella, Emma, Uncle Noodle, and I headed down to Lancaster to meet up with my BFF Sara Jane and her son Isaac for fun at the Turkey Hill Ice Cream Experience.

The Turkey Hill Experience features interactive exhibits allowing you to learn about dairy culture, the story of Turkey Hill Dairy, and how the company's ice cream and ice tea flavors are selected and created. 

The kids made their very own ice cream commercials, and then we got to make our own ice cream! I could not believe the flavors the kids picked, but they did a great job  mixing them up and enjoying their ice cream!

The next day we had a slow start, which was much needed, and then took the girls to the Lehigh Valley Zoo.

These kids are crazy for animals!

This is my favorite shot from the entire vacation...

Not pictured: That evening we went over to Sara and her husband Geoff's place and they had an incredible birthday dinner for me. I ate some amazing cherry wine slushy, steak, potatoes, and zucchini, and they spoiled me with gifts and a chocolate peanut butter cake! YUM.

Our last big adventure for the week was a trip to Crystal Cave. We were lucky enough to have Courtney, Sara Jane, and Isaac come with us for a cave tour, panning for gems, and ice cream!

  

  

That evening Courtney, Amber, Emma, Ella and I went to the drive in movies!We visited Shankweiler's Drive-In Theater which is American's oldest drive-in! It's so cool to have that little piece of history right down the road. Since there are no new movies out they were playing Zootopia. Cute movie and perfect for the kids. 

Friday was my birthday and it was super low-key just hanging out with my family at my brother's house. We celebrated with a Fudgy the Whale, a cookout, and a fireworks show put on by my brother!

Unfortunately, we had to head back to Michigan the following day, but I did stop and see Laura, my favorite college roommates, and her family. She had bought a new house and had TWO more children since I had seen her last. It had been way to long! She let us get in on her Fourth of July picnic, and after that it was back to Michigan and real life!