Project 365, Week 41

It's a sweet time of year, a sweet time in life. I hold it all with open hands and a grateful heart.

October 6

It was a foggy start to the day and Shaun and I both captured it in different locations.

Dakota's mom had the twins!! She was just 30 weeks so the babies went straight to the NICU. The next day I visited, mostly to check on the parents who'd had a very intense day, but I also got to see the babies.

In chit-chatting with the front desk check in guy, I realized that very well might be my dream retirement job...volunteering at the front desk of a hospital.

The twins, Declan and Delaney, were just three pounds (but now a month later they are over four pounds and have been taken off most of these tubes and wires).

October 7

My body strongly requests a 20 minute nap everyday. I can fall asleep almost immediately and then wake up on my own, refreshed and ready to finish out the day. When it can happen on my sunny porch, it feels luxurious.

October 8

Aiden's favorite class has been Old Testament.

I stopped in at the beginning of Avery's shift to say hi and she made milkshakes for the boys.

October 9

Aiden's grandpa paid him to help with some yard work. The remaining flower gardens were a delight.

October 10

These fall mornings have been special.

Taking advantage of the three day holiday weekend, we headed down to visit Amanda at school. Avery and Jack weren't able to make it, so in addition to Jason, Rocco joined. 

First up was Hershey Park. It was the perfect evening for it because the crowds were sparse. The kids were able to do all the roller coasters they wanted, some more than once. After, we went out to dinner and then back to the rental house.

October 11

It was a slow morning and Shaun and the kids walked to get coffees and breakfast.

As it happened, Amanda did not need to return to school each night, so we had freedom to venture out of town. We opted for Philadelphia since it wasn't too far. Shaun had never been there, surprising considering how much he loves history.

Once we got our vehicles and bags situated at the hotel, we hit the streets.

Much of the sights, such as Independence Hall were closed due to the government shutdown, but no worries...we had our own personal tour guide in Shaun.

We stopped at the market, where we all ordered Philly Cheesesteaks

The boys walked to the Rocky Steps and recreated the photo from our visit with cousins many years ago.

October 12

Jason and I made it to the gym.

The Broncos played at 9 AM, followed by the rest of the league, so much of our day was spent watching football, which we were all happy about.

Thankfully the Broncos and Cowboys did not play each other. ;)

Then we went to see more of Philly.

This portal in the City Hall courtyard was so fun! What a cool thing to suddenly be connected with people in other countries. We even took selfies together. :) Also, City Hall was a marvel.

Avery sent me this stunning photo from where they were in the mountains of New Hampshire.

October 13

It was down to just me in the gym first thing in the morning.

Just before checkout, Shaun and Amanda walked to the parking garage to get the cars, while we sat in the lobby with all our stuff and waited. And waited, and waited. 

Turns out, the US Navy is 250 years old and to celebrate, they held a parade in downtown Philly. We had no forewarning that the parade route would go right down the street our hotel was on. In trying to reach us by car, Shaun and Amanda kept getting more and more detoured and then finally separated.

We scrambled for options and finally it became apparent we'd need to walk a couple blocks to get to them. Since there was no flight involved, we had not packed light. So, the boys strapped on belongings and we walked. We were all relieved to be reunited and were thankful we didn't have a place to be!

We found food and a ginormous mall, where we hung out and stalled before we had to say goodbye to Amanda. It was a really great weekend together.