Summer Trip back to Pennsylvania! June 18th-July 7th

For years, we had planned for Owen to go to summer camp at Kirchenwald, where Allison attended when she growing up and later worked as a counselor. As we were committing to this assignment, we realized we would be on the other side of the continent at camp time...  So we planned a trip back in June and registered Owen for camp.  It was a good time to be back in Pennsylvania/New York as it aligned with Allison's sister's family summer visit and also a reunion with my family. 

Planning was a bit hectic, but we made it work.  I drove Allison, Molly & Owen to Seattle on June 19th and sent them off on a flight to Philadelphia.   The kids were great on the flight home for Allison and after a long day of travel, arrived at Grandma & Grandpa's house.  The next week Owen attended day-camp with his cousin Shaun.  So many stories and great memories came out of this week.  Here's his group picture.  Shaun is in the gray shirt.

The second week, Owen spent with his cousins on my side of the family at my parents.  Mom hosts an annual cousin's camp and it's something that Owen looks forward to every year.  This year the theme was "Down on the Farm".  During the week, they did so many wonderful things along this theme..   Here's Owen with Alyssa, Ellie & Riley, my brother's girls.

 

Riding on Mr. Klinko's John Deere!

Riding horses!

With Grandma & Grandpa...  how about these smiling faces!

I stayed in Vancouver for 2 weeks working and doing some things around the house in the evenings.  It was so quiet without Allison and the kids here...  June 29th I left after work and drove to Seattle to catch a red-eye into Philadelphia.  The border crossing was slow and traffic going into Seattle was heavy.  I just made it to the airport in time to catch my flight.  I arrived in Philadelphia at 6:30am and stopped into my old office in Lancaster for a short visit.  Allison and Molly met me at the office and we drove over to our house to sign a contract with a new realtor.  After a short lunch, we caught up with Seth & Mary at the outlets in Limerick, PA.  They had spent a few days visiting with friends near Philadelphia while the girls were at Cousin's camp.  After doing some shopping, we drove up to Mom & Dad's in Binghamton for a family get-together over the July 4th holiday weekend.  We had a great weekend, lots of laughing and great food as usual.  :)

Dad built a zip line in the backyard for the kids and it was a huge hit!  Here's Owen looking very cool calm and collected.

A quiet moment with Molly and her drink cuppy.

Sam was on the porch with Amelia, Lydia and Molly, and they were laughing so hard!  I  forget what the topic was, but all the girls were having such a great time. Molly was all wrapped up in her blanket because she was "chilly".

Love this picture...  Molly was biting Sam's foot with a muppet puppet and then giggling like crazy.  You can't help but laugh at this.

Riley, Allysa and Ellie.  This picture pretty much captures their personalities perfectly.

Molly pushing around her stroller

Owen and I...

Nirchi's pizza is a must during trip's home.  Memories of so many years involve this pizza. 

Mom and (most) of the grandkids...

Dad built an air over water pump up bottle rocket launcher and the kids constructed rockets with 2 lt. bottles and paper stock fins.  It worked awesome and they loved shooting them off...

In the back room, Molly reading books.

Some serious tractor driving with Grandpa. Funny almost identical expressions..

Molly all tuckered out in her stroller after a morning of serious playing.

Here we all are with Aunt Karen and Uncle Larry also visiting from Alexandria, VA.

After our weekend in New York, we spent a few days with Allison's parents and family in Lancaster. 

Driving somwhere.. Molly, Owen and Shaun....

Grandma, Molly & Great Grandma.  Molly was showing off her very fashionable double sunglasses look.

Over a year ago, Owen won a goldfish at the E-Town fair...  Goldie we affectionately took home and cared for... We tried to prep Owen that the fair fish sometimes don't live too long... but Goldie was a warrier and suprised us all!   He lived through the winter and when we moved, Owen gave him to Grandma to take care of.  During our trip home, Owen decided that Goldie would be happy living in Grandma's fish pond with some new friends.  Writing this a few months later, I'm happy to report that he's doing well!

Grandma with the Molly fish in the pool.

 

We made so many wonderful memories during our visit and cherish the time we spend together.  

Thursday July 7th we flew back to Seattle and made the drive home to Vancouver. One happy detail about our trip home is that we brought our dog with us!  Bailey was small enough to check in the cabin, and he rode in his carrier under the seat with no noises or issues the entire trip.