Vacation 2009 - part VII - various excursions

Paw Paw with her grandkids at the Great Valley Nature Center.

Paw Paw and Hannah in front of the bald eagles.

Paw Paw and Hannah.

Hard to believe, but we only made 1 trip out to Valley Forge National Park for a walk, picnic and relaxing afternoon.

Sarah and Christopher.

Daddy and Christopher.

Paw Paw and Mary Grace.

Daddy and the kids lounging around on the picnic blanket. You know it's chilly in the shade when JOHN needs a blanket!

enjoying the sunshine...

Our last Sunday in town, we worshiped at a friend's church in Reading. Since we were in the neighborhood, we drove by my alma mater - Albright College.

For those of you who wonder why I don't eat cheese...here is the infamous "Pizza Italia" (affectionately known as "Piggers" to Albrightians) where I ate my very last mushroom cheese pizza that forever spoiled cheese for me.

A view from Mt. Penn

The Pagoda on Mt. Penn

Vacation 2009 - part VI - Philipsburg

For Memorial Day weekend, we drove to central PA to visit more family...

My mom, Mary Grace, Me and Mam Mam

My mom, Mary Grace, Christopher and Mam Mam.

Mam Mam - my only living grandparent and my kids' only great grandparent.

My mom holding Mary Grace, Aunt Linda holding Hannah and Mam Mam.

2nd cousins - Sarah Ruth and Sarah Jane.

It is SO rare that we get a picture of Christopher where he's smiling and looking normal, so I thought I'd post it.

Cousins - Me, Missy and Shelly.

Missy and Bill took my mom out to Black Moshannon to kayak. Isn't it beautiful out there?

Off she goes...

Looks like fun! John and the kids watched from the pier while I stayed back at Mam's house to visit since Mary Grace was napping.

A view from Bill and Missy's back deck.

Bill and Missy's back yard is quite a bit more expansive than our postage stamp sized yard, so the kids had a great time exploring.

Me, Mary Grace and Mam Mam.

Hannah and Mam Mam.

My mom holding Mary Grace, Aunt Bub and Missy.

Sarah and Mam Mam.

Uncle Bill and Sarah.

Vacation 2009 - part V - Strasburg

For a day trip, we went to Strasburg, in the Amish country to visit the train museum.

The inside is filled with enormous steam engines and smaller locomotives like this one.

This is where we were...

Kids running around the inside of a box car.

We also went on a 45 minute train ride from Strasburg to Paradise and back.

We packed a picnic lunch and all the kids did amazingly well on the entire trip.

A view of the Amish countryside.

Sarah taking in the view...and hamming it up.

Daddy and Mary Grace.

Christopher hamming it up.

Here's a close up of what Hannah did to her face the morning before this trip. She tipped over one of those little riding toys over the curb and smacked her face onto the pavement.

An areal view of the train museum.

Another view of the countryside.

Tiny Mary Grace in front of a gigantic steam engine.

Vacation 2009 - part IV - visits with Pap

One day I brought the kids over to my dad's dojang to hang out. There were no classes going on at the time, so we had the whole gym to ourselves and the kids could run around. And run around they did!

Hannah running past what Christopher thought were, "enormous pencils!"

Pap showing Christopher how it's done.

Christopher just doesn't get it...

Pap showing Christopher how to use the nunchucks. Christopher just liked to say the word, "nunchucks".

The last Sunday that we were in PA, we went over to my dad's house (Pap) for a cook-out on the back deck. Pictured here are Alie & Brandon, my dad, Mr. Vu, and Sharon.

Alie and Brandon.

My dad, Mr. Vu and Sharon.

Uncle Brandon teaching Christopher how to play horseshoes.

Brandon, Melanie, Luke and Tim.

Hannah and Mary Grace playing on the deck.

Molly, finding a safe place to sit and watch horseshoes.

Elijah taking a turn on the John Deere tractor.