The Glory Of The Grind: Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

This past weekend, Mitch and I parted ways to each go off on our own little adventure. We each had a wonderful time away, but by the end of the weekend we were all very excited to be back home together again! Mitch went North to Camel, PA to a little fishing/hunting cabin with his dad, brother Kyle, uncle Kevin and cousins Ryan and Stevie. I've never been to Camel, but from stories and pictures I understand that it is a very tiny little town that really has not much to it other than the beautiful outdoors. The guys spent their time either fishing, at the bar ("the" bar...there was only one), or playing cards all weekend....it was the epitome of "a guys weekend". Just to get a little feel for Camel, Mitch said the first night they got there they were all at the bar waiting for his uncle Kevin to arrive. Kevin showed up around 10 (I think) and was hoping to order dinner. Apparently an older couple ran the bar and the man told Kevin that the kitchen had closed but offered to sell him some packaged beef sticks. A little while later, the wife found out about Kevin's request and came out offering some sausage and peppers that were still warm in the crockpot....see what I mean about being a small town? Here are some pictures that Mitch took:

Front of the cabin

Looking left out of the driveway

Looking right out of the driveway

Kitchen

I, on the other hand, spent a very girlie/motherly weekend out near Harrisburg visiting my friend Jen from high school and her little 16 month old Connor. Caleb and Noah did great on the car ride out and we arrived in time for a little playtime outside (which it's good we did then because that was our only outside chance!) and pizza. Connor goes to bed around 7 so my boys were up a little later but they did great playing and staying relatively quiet. For bedtime, I decided to try putting Caleb on a sleeping bag on the floor with some pillows (he found some more pillows and stuffed animals to add to his space so there was basically no room for him) and Noah in the pack-n-play next to him and it worked beautifully. I think it really comforted them to be in the same room and although they were mostly silent, every once in awhile I could hear Caleb talking to Noah or them giggling together. When I went down to bed about 1 1/2 hours after putting the boys to bed, Caleb was still slightly awake and got up to whisper to me that "he had missed me while I was upstairs"...melted my heart!

Saturday we had planned to go to a festival, but since it rained the entire day we ended up spending most of the morning in Jen's basement playing, coloring, watching Veggie Tales and eating tons of snacks. Lunch was a quick and easy leftover pizza and then on to naps for everyone! It actually took Noah a long time to fall asleep...in desperation I ended up turning QVC on the TV in room he was in (I split them up for naps) and he eventually fell asleep. Caleb never slept either but he did have a quiet playtime for a good 45 min in his room....so the house was again quiet for a little part of the day. After naps we were all itching to get out and Jen found a buy 1, get 1 free coupon for Brewster's, a walkup icecream stand down the road. If you know either of us, you would know there was no way we could pass that up rain or no rain! Even though we were totally soaked and our icecream pretty much completely melted by the time we got home, Caleb and Noah were excited to get purple dinasaur ice cream (vanilla ice cream dyed purple with 2 candy eyes on top) and we were thrilled for the outing!

Sunday morning we went to Jen's church, came back for lunch, and were on the road heading home by 1. We really had a wonderful weekend and it was so great to spend so much time together! Felt like the old days when we used to always have sleepovers...except, obviously, for the kids being there too! Jen is an excellent hostess and maybe in the future I will be posting some of her amazing recipes with all of you! Thanks Jen and Connor (and Brian!) for letting us invade your house for a couple days!

All 3 boys were so excited to climb in Lacy's (their dog) crate...so we figured they'd be fine while we left for awhile...ha! Just kidding...but it was so funny to see all of them climbing around in there!

Caleb's jello fingerpaint masterpieces! Sat afternoon we were needing something to fill time and I remembered doing this little craft at a playgroup before so we boiled some water, added a little bit to a package of jello, added an icecube to cool it, and instant fun! (If you try this...be prepared for an immediate bath afterward!)

I think this was our 5th or 6th attempt to get all of them still and semi-smiley for a picture! (Do you see Caleb being the protective older brother and not letting Noah fall forward? So thoughtful!)