Delaware-Pennsylvania Visit

Well, well, well, this posting and the accompanying photos are very late, I apologize, but I finally managed.

Our small family ventured back east about 1 month ago to visit grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends for what amounted to 10 days touring Philadelphia, Baltimore, the Delaware seashore and numerous points in between. It was truly a whirlwind trip, 10 quick days sandwiched perfectly between 2 groups of Japanese students: 1 group left Vancouver the day we did and the other group arrived the day after we returned. This week (almost 1 month to the day!) is the first full week I haven't either had to deal with students or international air travel! Anyone for a beer...?

A brief re-cap of the first few days...

Departed Vancouver safely and on-time but, due to tornado sightings in the Chicago/O'Hare area (our lay-over hub), our flight had to make a semi-emergency landing in Wisconsin 'till things cleared up. It wasn't until midnight that we strolled off the plane into Philadelphia to meet Nana and Pop Joe - the ever reliable grandparents were there to drive us and fast-asleep Miki another hour back to their house. Day 1 began at 5:30am and ended at 2:00am. Ouch.

We spent the next couple of days hanging out with Nana & Pop; Miki absolutely loved all the toys scattered around the house and we had to peel her away from the Little Tikes slide numerous times. One Saturday morning we ventured over to a weekly Amish farmer's market. Ericka picked up some veggies and a roast chicken for lunch, I grabbed an amazing homemade pretzel and shared it with Miki. This was also the weekend that Miki got to meet her eldest cousin, Evan, for only the second time but they hit it off well, despite the age difference. It was sticky hot one afternoon so Pop dug out the kiddie pool and the 2 of them splashed around on the lawn while Nana kept a sharp eye out for any mishaps.

that's it for now, more to follow soon...scroll down for some other photos.