Photos from PA

Despite the circumstances, we had a really nice get together with family in Elverson, PA last week. As one of our favorite Christian singer/songwriters, Beth says, "you can bring beauty from the ashes, gladness from despair."  And kids also seem to be able to do this best, as you can see from this post (Not sure where Andrew gets it from :)).

It was great to see Erin and Brian (and meet super sweet Jamie).  We had not seen Erin since her and Orion's wedding 10 years ago and Brian in quite a few years either.  It was great to catch up with everyone.

We got to meet Lisa which was such a joy!  She is an absolute jewel and such a wonderful addition to the family.

So who invited this guy to the fancy resort?  :)  Leave it to Uncle Johnny!

We decided to do a little early Christmas dinner at the hotel.  Michael and Court's room had a full kitchen and we put it to the test.  And did it ever deliver!  The roast and all the fixin's were amazing.  We took over the hotel lobby for our roast beast feast.  Talk about a Christmas dinner to remember!  Sometimes the impromtu get togethers are the very best!

On Monday, Jan and I took the kids out to Amish country.  I wanted them to see how the Amish live and man, did Intercourse Pennsylvania ever deliver.  When driving through Bird in Hand on our way to Intercourse (yes, this is really the name of these towns) we passed by a bunch of Amish farms.  Monday is apparently laundry day as the laundry was strung up outside every house.  All the black pants, white shirts and blue dresses.  It was quite the site to see.  We then went to lunch at a little Amish restaurant in Intercourse (I had the meatloaf ofcourse . . . I have never been able to pass up a good meatloaf) and we sat by the window, watching all the horses and buggies and Amish on scooters going by.  It was wonderful!  After lunch, we walked through a few stores and bakeries.  We then met Mr. Sam who took us on a buggy ride.  We went about 4 miles through the countryside as he explained Amish life and the farms to us.  We really learned a lot and it was such an amazing experience.  As you can see, he even let the kids drive the buggy.

After our Amish buggy ride, we headed over to Valley Forge for a candle light reenactment event.  Each year on December 19th, they reenact the arrival of George Washington's troops to Valley Forge. And even met the one and only George Washington!  He gave a great speech but my favorite part was when he told Elizabeth that "a girl without freckles is like an evening sky without stars."  I could not agree more.

Thanksgiving - California Style

 We had a great time in California for Thanksgiving having a wonderful time at Disney, the beach, and getting to meet some wonderful extended family!

 One of the many highlights on the trip was having a lunch with all of the princesses!  

 Andrew enjoyed his Octo-Dogs and Mac

 The kids loved Splash Mountain and went on it over and over again while the line was short!  I went one, sat in the front, and got soaked!

This had to be Amelia's highlight, she LOVED Minnie and Minnie loved her!  Afterwards Amelia had a little "tea party" in Minnie's house.

 Andrew honestly tried to keep it off his face...

  Thanksgiving Day - After three fun filled days at Disney we headed over to Newport Beach for some fun in the Sun.  The water was a little chilly but nothing a wetsuit couldn't fix!  We all had a blast playing on the beach!

 After the beach we headed over to Kim and Fred's house for an amazing Thanksgiving dinner - Can't thank you guys enough for inviting us all over, we really had a wonderful time!!!  We made a quick get away down to the beach for some family sunset photos with Catalina Island in the background.  Amazing!