true boy tales

We're back to real life after a wonderful long weekend in PA with Jon's extended family. It met all my expectations--the 2 days in the car there and back went relatively well. We barely heard a peep from Bennett, except the occasional, "Mom, my headphones fell off". He was in couch potato heaven watching endless movies. We stayed the night at Jon's Aunt and Uncle's in Ohio on the way there and back, and after 9 hours in the van, just envision releasing a pinball in a pinball machine. That'll give you an accurate picture of Bennett in their house. Let's just say the stress level was high in their tchotchke-laden home. But they were gracious and Uncle Brian won Bennett's heart over quickly by letting him "drive" his excavator.

We had lots of great family time with the Colyer side in PA, celebrating Pa-Pa's life. I was so honored to sing at the funeral, a song that meant a lot to him and Ma-Ma. I'm pretty sure there was more laughing than crying at the funeral- exactly the way he would have wanted it! We're really close to all of our family there and had so much fun hanging out together. We spent a day at Dutch Wonderland, a small amusement park that Jon's family went to when they were little. We had an absolute blast there, with all the kids. We couldn't have asked for a better day- sunshine, but not hot and it wasn't crowded at all so we didn't wait in any lines. Bennett definitely takes after his mom. His face would just light up and he'd start giggling every time a ride started. I was loving it as much as he was. He kept pointing at the biggest roller coaster and saying, "I want to ride that next!" Unfortunately he was a little too short for it. I didn't ride my first real ride until I was about 12 (The Zipper at a carnival. My friend begged and begged me to go on even though I was scared out of my mind. I relented and couldn't believe how much I loved it and had been missing out on all this time. I wanted to ride again and again but half way through my friend started screaming for them to stop the ride, she was so scared. I love the irony.)Anyway, Bennett is fearless and will undoubtedly be riding The Zipper and every other scary ride the minute he's tall enough and I will undoubtedly be riding with him. I'm thrilled I have an excuse to go to amusement parks again since Jon gets nauseous just watching someone spin around.

The cousins with their second cousins, Blake and Gavin:

On the log ride with Blake* and Gavin. Bennett tried to stand up the entire ride:

Amish lady looks a little upset she's not gettin' any lovin':

We spent a couple hours eating browsing through the City Market in downtown Lancaster with all the girls (+ Dawson):


We even got to have a Survivor finale party with our cousins- a crucial part of our weekend. And we had the most incredible breakfast on our way out of town with cousins at this unassuming local place called, Gus's...I'm salivating right now just thinking about it. I ordered an Athenian omelet (spinach, feta and onion) with a side of hash browns (these shouldn't even share a name with that oval patty you get from McDonald's. They were amazing) and sourdough toast. I ordered a sweet potato pancake and baked oatmeal for the boys so I could sample that too!

That place is reason enough to make a yearly trip out there. Forget family! (I'm so kidding...I know you all read this :)

*Please take just a few seconds to go here. You can find out why Blake is sportin' the Mr. Clean look and place your vote for his mom because she's the greatest!