Summer Trip to Pennsylvania

Maren:

We just had the most amazing vacation!  Mommy, Maddox, Jolene and I traveled to see Auntie C.C, Uncle Tom, Hayden, and Jimi at their new home in Pennsylvania.  We had to get up super early to leave, Mommy woke us up at 3:30, loaded us in the car in the clothes we were wearing so that we could make our 5:00 flight.  After a short flight to Portland and a long four hour layover there, we boarded our plane for the long flight to Baltimore.  Maddox and I did really well, we even took a small nap, but we were really excited to get there.  My puppy did so great!  She sat down at our feet for the entire flight and never made a sound. 

The party started as soon as we landed!  Auntie CC took us straight to a park so that we could get some of our wiggles out then we all went to a hotel in Baltimore so that we could take in some of the sights there the next day.  We were supposed to go to an aquarium but it was all sold out so we went to an amazing children's museum instead.  We had a great time playing and topped it all off with some face painting... Mommy and Hayden even got their faces painted too!  

We had so many adventures while we were there!  Multiple trips to their community pool where I put my swimming skills on display.  I even went off the high dive... more than once!  Overall, I think my favorite thing was Hershey Park.  We had a great day and a half in the park and I went on all sorts of rides.  Hayden and Auntie CC even convinced me to go on a couple of really big roller coasters!  They didn't go upside down or anything super crazy but there were some really big drops and I was pretty scared. Thank goodness mommy was sitting next to me to hold my hand and talk me through it. 

We also had Karaoke night a few of the nights.  I had a lot of fun singing all of the Disney Songs I know and even sang along with mommy, Hayden, and Auntie CC with their songs the best I could. 

I also did a lot of four wheeling with Uncle Tom... he let me drive!  But then I was going a bit too fast around a corner and tipped the four wheeler over.  It scared me a bit but everyone was ok.  From then on I let him drive!

One of the new things we did while we were there was to play badminton.  I have never played before so it took me a while to get a hang of it but after mommy helped me practice I was actually doing pretty well.  We had lots of fun playing and even broke out the bat for a few swings at the baseball.  

It was a wonderful summer vacation full of love, laughter, and adventure... topped off with a dose of magic from the lightning bugs that filled the night skies.  

Maddox: 

Vacations are fun! Mommy was a bit worried about how I would do on the plane ride over but I was a champ!  We had to wake up super early but sissy and I were so excited that it didn't phase us a bit.  Once we boarded the plane in Medford I kept asking mommy... "When are we going to fly?" But as soon as we got up in the air the first thing I said was... "When are we going to be there?" Even though I asked that frequently, I did really well.  I took a nice long nap on the plane so I was ready to go as soon as we got there.  

I loved the hotel in Baltimore!  When we walked in to the lobby, I looked around and proclaimed very loudly... "Yeah!  Thats what I'm talking about!"  Everyone thought I was very cute!  Even though we had fun in Baltimore I was anxious to get to Auntie CC's house.  Of course I found their scooters, cars, bikes, etc right away and did a really great job at entertaining myself most of the time.  

We did lots of activities while I was there but one of my favorites was swimming at their community pool.  When I was wearing my little kiddo life vest I was all sorts of brave.  They had a big water slide that I went on over, and over, and over again!  Then I got super brave and started jumping off the diving board.  I tried to convince mommy that I wanted to do the high dive but she didn't think that was too smart of an idea!  

I also really loved Hershey Park. They had some really amazing rides and I was super brave.  I also tried to convince mommy that I wanted to go on the upside down roller coasters with Hayden, but unfortunately I was too little.  I enjoyed the water park a lot and went down all of the slides I could.  I think we would have stayed longer but sissy and I were pretty chilly in the cold water.  After a nice long nap we came back in the evening to ride more rides.  

Auntie CC took us to a special place for breakfast one day called Duck Donuts!  It was pretty amazing because we got to watch them make the donuts right in front of us.  We even got to choose what kind of toppings we got on them.  They were warm and yummy, right out of the oven when we ate them!  

One of the nights we were there we had a big fire out in the back yard.  Hayden played his ukulele and I grabbed the guitar to play along with him.  We sang songs and had a nice evening.  

One of my new sayings when I hug someone is... "I'm gonna squeeze the heck out of you!"  One of the days my Uncle Tom told me that when he was hugging me and I replied very matter of factly... "I got a lot of heck in me!"  That cracked everyone up for sure!