We have been busy this summer, and now that the girls' dance camp is over , we are finally settling down. For the first two weeks in June, we traveled to Pennsylvania, my home state, to visit family. My Gram is sick with lung cancer and I really wanted to take the time to go and see her. While there, we had a wonderful time. First, now that the kids are older, the car ride was much more pleasant--not so many stops! When we arrived, we stayed at my mom's place in Dubois, and drove to Clearfield almost every day to go see my Gram and Bill, Dad, Connie, Kristie, Brody, April, Josh, and Jed. We also had a wonderful time visiting the Neff's!!!! It was so fun reconnecting. Missy and I talked about how funny it is to see all the parallels in our lives: both home schooling, musicians, kids, and CHRIST! Our kids really hit it off, too! They really should be our next door neighbors!
We also got to hang out at Penn's Cave and see the only cave that you travel through by boat. Our children had never seen anything like it, and it was wondeful to share that experience with them, probably about 30 years after I went with my Gram. We also visited Parker Dam State Park and enjoyed swimming and seeing the beaver dams. We found a couple fairly quickly. I tried to talk them into buying a Smokey the Bear doll, but they weren't interested. I should have bought one for me!
I did visit the Dutch Pantry and buy a shoo-fly pie. It was great! We passed by many Amish communities and saw some Amish people.
The trees are so enormous. They say everything is bigger in Texas, but I say...everything but the TREES!! The part of Pennsylvania I grew up in is called "the wilds" and that is what it feels like over there. It is a giant forest with little towns cut into the woods, usually along a river somewhere. The water is clean, the show of stars at night is phenomenal, and there are all kinds of wildlife everywhere! We saw groundhogs, deer, possums, squirrels, chipmunks(I miss those) and a large variety of birds I missed seeing! We also stuffed ourselves with Lebanon bologna and birch beer(like rootbeer). We got to visit the Old Town Dairy, which has the best ice cream anywhere! I always get the peanut butter. My Great Grandpa Woods owned it when it was called the Keystone Dairy, but he lost it during the Great Depression. The sign still hangs in the store.
I did have some nice visits with Gram, but not nearly enough. She is an amazing woman. Home health nurses were amazed to go see her, and there she sat with her jewelry, make-up, fully dressed, nails painted...she was determined to live her life to the fullest. She is still fighting, but after I've left last month, she has declined rather rapidly. I miss her already. She is too weak to talk to me on the phone. I want to, but I know it will wear her out. But, what a blessing she has been to me all these years. I am glad she is my Gram, and I am glad I got to go and see her.