piddlin' in Pennsylvania

One of my favorite times of the year is our annual visit to my parents' home, my childhood home. Many things are different than when I lived in this house -- like "my room" is all pink now and called the "pink room" instead of "Crystal's room". The other guest room is blue and I never can remember which is which when I'm not here. Both of these were remodeled after I moved out for the final time almost 10 years ago. There's much more shade in the backyard than I remember ... more trees planted, and they've grown so tall. Gardening is one of the hobbies my parents enjoy together, so there's less green grass and more flowerbeds than before too. Every time we drive through the streets of Ephrata, I'm amazed at how many different businesses have come and gone, new buildings, etc. It's nowhere close to a city, but it's a bigger town than I grew up in. And, the one thing that always catches me off guard EVERY time I visit ... the accents of the people I overhear in the grocery store or taking my order at a restaurant. I grew up with it, yet it sounds so familiar and foreign all at the same time.

We arrived last night ... had excellent flights. Thanks, AA. We've laid low so far and haven't seen anybody outside of Mom and Dad yet. The boys are getting used to their new beds for the week and I even got a workout in at Curves in Ephrata (weird but the same). This morning, we ventured out to Tent City at the Ephrata Community Park. Huge circus tents are set up with pens holding sheep, goats, rabbits, pigs, and cows. The boys loved it and Sam was happy to go see the animals once he realized they couldn't get out. Some 50 tractors of all kinds and colors are parked in a row, and the boys took their turn sitting on a couple. I doubt these guys will ever actually operate one. :) We viewed the entries for the scarecrow contest and hay bale contest. (You'll have to check these entries later for pictures.) We even saw a US Army helicopter land in the park at the local American Legion. Big stuff for a small town. :) After a stroll in the park to the playground area and some much desired time on the swings, we packed up and returned to 1324. We'll hit the "midway" tomorrow for all the yummy food that Chris reminded me of ... before we find the "family spot" at Sauder Tire for the parade.

Moments to treasure

• grocery/diaper shopping with Mom (my favorite kind of PA piddlin') when someone recognized our relationship by our appearances :)
• several phone calls with "sisters" today
• watching our boys play in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard
• Zach giving Sam a big hug from behind
• Sam standing gingerly next to Zach in the stroller with the cows very closeby
• Doug and Dad running to the computer store a couple times to get the computer up to par
• chicken corn soup, homegrown tomatoes, creamed dried beef, Martin's creme-filled donuts (this is why I need Curves this week!)

So if you don't know what piddlin' is ... then you're not from around here. It's best done in PA. Not sure how much more of it we'll do. The rest of our week is filled with playdates, a soccer game, family visits and dinners, coffee with friends and trips to the Fair. It's good to be here.