Fourth of July Planning Gone Awry

One of my dreams, lately, has been to attend Longwood Garden's 4th of July fireworks display. As a regular visitor, I should have known that this event required special tickets. When we arrived, we were told the park was closed, and that the tickets were sold out. Bummer!

Since plan A didn't work, we decided to try an outside the park view like others were setting up to do. That didn't work either: not allowed!

So we packed up and headed home to see if nearby Quakertown would be crowded. We had plenty of time. Or so we thought...

I took the wrong interstate highway once again (I meant to take 276 east, but I took 76 east, which is confusing because 76 east becomes 276 east and another route altogether becomes the rest of 76 east). Anyway, we ended up in Philadelphia about 8 p.m. so we drove around to catch a glimpse of what the original capital of the USA, the place where the declaration was signed, had going on.

To my surprise, the streets were not crowded at all! In fact I traveled around most of the downtown area in just 30 minutes, making a loop to see what was going on.

Chinatown was not too busy either!

But we did find some people hanging around the museum area, especially in front of the art museum that Rocky ran up and down the steps of in his movie.


This building by the interstate was lit up in red, white and blue lights for the occasion.

Leaving town, Anne got a shot of one of my favorite bridges in Philly. They have many great looking bridges there. I hope they get preserved!

We couldn't stay there since I was driving the 15 passenger van, a difficult vehicle to park. With our third option shot down, we tried for option number four, to watch the city from a vantage point, but no point could be found (that I knew of).

After a pit stop, we headed on over to Quakertown, and arrived to park just as the fireworks were getting started. The middle kids jumped up on top of our van while the big girls sat on the hood. I ran to a clearing to get photos.

Below is David, Wesley and Paige.

A cool shot of the display.

Anne, a friend and Ruth sitting on the warm hood of the car.

Next year, I may just plan to park at the theater early and stake out a good spot to watch from and have advanced purchase movie tickets in my pocket so afterward, we can just walk over to the theater and catch a movie afterwards.

We did have a great time just running the roads for hours, though. Next year's plans may not work out either, so why not just go with the flow again? The best laid plans...

Gardening

A few of the vegetable garden beds at Longwood Gardens inspire me to keep at the work of creating my own beautiful place that will feed my family on a penny.


I thought I lost the opportunity to grow summer vegetables once again, but checked my seed packets and discovered that corn needs 80 growing days, and beans need about 50. I do believe there are that many growing days left in the season, so for the past two days, I've been digging, hoeing, and raking my vegetable beds to get some seeds into the ground.

Today I planted three rows of corn, and hope to get a bed of green beans planted tomorrow. Then I will do a few more short season summer vegetables and move right into planting seeds for the fall garden.

It all depends on many things.

We shall see what tomorrow holds.

Day 25 of 25 - Going Home

The road home was a long one! When I arrived home, I had added 5450 miles to my speedometer!

When I arrived home, the garage door was open, ready for me to drive my car into; the garage was also swept neat and clean and had welcome home posters put up for me. =)

Inside, the children all greeted me with hugs (except for Douglas who seemed angry that I had left). The house was clean, kids were bathed and quietly watching TV with Kerry, their eldest sister who had taken on the job of caring for them in my absence. She did a great job, too.

Hubby had two steaks ready to cook and while I looked at photo's and video's Kerry had taken for me, he cooked us both dinner (the kids had been fed a couple hours before). The children joined us by having a bowl of ice cream for desert while we ate our dinner.

After clearing the table, Diana read to Douglas while I got a quick shower, and I put the young ones to bed, then crashed!

It was a very pleasant homecoming. I think they did miss me!

Day 24 of 25 - My Brother's Birthday!

Today, brother #2 had a birthday, so as we traveled home, I was able to time my trip so that we could be back at his home in time for dinner. We shared that meal and left after a short visit with him and his family.

Back at mom's, I called home and fell asleep. I'm ready to end my trip and stay home for awhile!

Day 23 of 25 - Meeting More New Family Members

Sunday brought the opportunity for me to meet my nephew's wife and kids. They've been married for five years, but I wasn't able to attend the wedding because I had just moved to PA at the time. Since then, my nephew has become a dad of two kids, a son and a daughter.

Mom enjoyed holding her granddaughter...

...and her grandson!

I found my nephews wife to be a very sweet and kind young woman.

My brother and his son checking out his new laptop.

My great nephew playing with a truck. He is so cute!

It was so nice to finally meet my brother's expanding family! I loved his house, the location and enjoyed a very nice weekend with him. Best of all, our mom had a great time!

Day 22 of 25 - My New Great Niece!

I arranged my trip to Wisconsin at the end of the three weeks because my neice's baby was due about then, and I thought I'd take my mom to see her granddaughter's new baby.

Mom has only been with one other infant born to her descendants before, and that was my firstborn child, Louise. All other grandchildren and great-grandchildren were born at a distance she could not travel on her own. It was a privilege to take her there so she could hold her great grandchild.

My big brother, the proud pappy!

My sister-in-law holding her second granddaughter.

There were many other activities, but this was the highlight. More about the trip tomorrow!

Day 21 of 25 - Trip to Wisconsin

Another travel day consisted of 445 miles, driving from Indianapolis to Mauston, Wisconsin. My mom had knee surgery a month ago, so we stopped often to give her a chance to walk around to keep her knee from getting stiff. I had no such reason. My right knee gave me trouble since the beginning of the trip.

One rest area was very beautiful, so we took some photo's:

Does my mom look like she's a great grandmother? Nope!

A very idyllic place!

Wearing my sun hat in the car to keep the sun out of my eyes because I couldn't read my GPS with my sunglasses on! =P

I have a thing about fields.
To me, they are as beautiful as sea scapes!

We arrived safely and had a wonderful evening reminiscing old times with my older brother. Though I haven't seen him in eight years, I still feel a strong bond with him and adore his family! It was good to see him again.

A Quick Note

I've been offline while in Wisconsin and I'm back at my mother's house in Indiana, but must leave to head home to PA today. I'll post about the last days once I get home, so don't miss the great photo's of my new great neice! Check back tomorrow for the rest of my 25 day, 5000 mile trip!

One of the highlights was seeing my big brother and his wife in Wisconsin as well as three of his four grown kids.

Most of my kids will be home by tomorrow, save Donald, who is helping with his grandfather's VBS this week. I do look forward to being a mom of many again. I am so thankful they could do without me for THREE WEEKS so that I could reunite with my daughters in TX and grandchildren, many of my siblings scattered across the midwest and my mom in Indiana. Next year we hope to reunite in late June, God willing.

Day 20 orf 25 - Photojournal of Indianapolis

Mom was all dressed in her new (more modern) clothing when I woke up this morning. Does she look like she's a mom of a 50 year old to you?

Even though she had knee surgery just a couple of weeks ago, she's on her feet and traveling. I'll be stopping often for her to work her muscles, but otherwise she is back to normal.

My nephew with one of the dogs:

Sitting in one of the trucks my brother drives. Isn't it cool?

Another brother and me:
(Are you confused yet about all my brother's and sisters?)

At the Motor Speedway (the Indianapolis 500 is held here).

The place is huge!!

In Speedway, IN I bet you can't tell what they are proud of!

The capital, Indianapolis:

Little brother and his wife at a local art exhibit:

Sitting by the mouth of a pedestrian bridge. This is for you, hon.

Mom took a little respite while my brother barbecued chicken.

Another nephew!

The look on my brother's face when he saw the Grecian formula my sister picked up for his birthday. Isn't it priceless, sis?

I didn't hear from home today, but I did get a 'kiss' from my hubby. =)

Day 19 of 25 - Life in Indiana

Mom and I had a wonderful day of shopping and visiting with friends and family where we could. I think I wore her out, but she has an updated wardrobe and is excited to be on the way to visit two of her sons: one in Indianapolis and the eldest in Wisconsin. I am thrilled to be able to visit them as well. It's been too long!

A friend of mine from when I lived in Terre Haute.

I was shocked when she ended up living in my home town!

Here I'm with a cousin.

We went to high school together.

Hubby tells me all is well at home. The kids are attending VBS this week, so there is literally no one there in the daytime. Don is mowing lawns for some cash over in his grandmother's neighborhood. John is helping at VBS as well as Paige. We have five little ones attending and they love it. I can't wait to see photo's of their birthday parties and their days at VBS.

In the meantime, there are more miles calling me...

It's time to head off to more brothers!