Moving On

While passing by the many stores in Hershey Park I showed much restraint. You know how those stores, and frankly most stores, are--full of merchandise with inflated prices. A Hershey t-shirt easily goes for $21.99 and the hooded sweatshirts are (brace yourself) $35.99. That's bad. But even worse: people buy them!! Well I am happy to say that I wasn't one of those people. I came home and went on eBay and found the shirt you see pictured for about $10 including shipping. That's more like it. D wanted to be in the picture too. His shirt doesn't have anything to do with Hershey. It was a Christmas present from my mom last year. Ha, ha. If you can't read it, it says, "According to my wife, I AM VERY HAPPY!"

We decided to take advantage of David's one week hiatus from rotations and drove two hours west to a little town called Hershey. As in the chocolate variety. I don't know where exactly we came up with the idea, but D's been there before and wasn't opposed to going again and I wanted to go to Hershey Park. So we made plans, got park tickets off eBay for an awesome price, consulted hotwire.com for a good hotel, and we were off for a two-day excursion.

We left Friday morning and the ride was very scenic. Just 45 minutes out of Philly the landscape totally changes and you can see farmland for miles and miles. It's like something out of Little House on the Prarie. After we checked in to our hotel, we went into Hershey to do some looking around and to grab some lunch. We knew were in Hershey first by the street names (Chocolate Ave. and Cocoa Ave.) and then by the smell. What an awesome advertising campaign they have going on near that factory. And there were distinctly different smells, too. Like a cocoa powder smell at one point, then a brownie kind of smell, and then the melted Hershey kisses smell. Yum, yum, yummy! We toured what was left of Hershey and made our way back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. D found this Mexican restuarant in our hotel directory and it was a cute little out-of-the-way place. It was set up like a hacienda (Mexican house) with authentic decorations which made it even more appealing.



















Next day, we woke up to some light rain and decided it could work to our advantage. We wandered downstairs to the "deluxe" continental breakfast offered by the hotel and stayed there until we were nice and full. We checked out a while later and noticed that it wasn't raining anymore, although it was still overcast. Unfortunately such weather didn't hinder the majority of people we thought it would and we arrived at a very crowded park. It didn't rain at all the rest of the day (thank you, Lord), and we even had to go back to the car to change into cooler clothing because the sun came out and the sky turned very blue.

Hershey Park is a very neat place. Well, really it's like most other parks with rides, food, games, shops, and the like, but it's very clean with a warm feeling to it--if you discount the fact that we had to get out of the first line we were in because the rollercoaster was stuck. We had better luck the rest of the day and went on three rollercoasters, the Skyride, and the Ferris Wheel before we left. We also saw the sea lion show, toured Chocolate World, and visited Zoo America. They moved the Hershey Factory tour out of the factory and into Chocolate World. You sit in this car and it takes you through the chocolate-making process and you get a piece of chocolate at the end! Then you can easily make your way to their gift shop where there is more chocolate and Hershey products in one place than ever before seen.

















We ended our day at the park around 8pm because we still had a two hour drive back. (Oops, forgot to mention that I got a funnelcake for lunch!!!) It was a great Fall trip and I'm glad we got a chance to go. Now D has started his Pediatrics rotation and I am one month into my third kindergarten class. Reality hits.

Fall is just around the corner and I think it is turning into my new favorite season. Summer was my old favorite season, but there is just something about fall. I love the fairs, which they don't have a lot of here in PA (we miss you, Big E!). I love the changing colors of the scenery, picking apples, carving pumpkins, making candy/caramel apples, and the smell in the air. I don't really enjoy the cold weather, but at least in the beginning of fall, it's still cool and not so cold yet.


Anyway, to help welcome in the Fall, D and I went to Linvilla's Pumpkinland on Sunday and purchased a pumpkin. (Oh yes, I forgot to mention how much I like toasting the seeds we dig out of the carved pumpkin, a tradition passed on by my dad.) It has yet to be carved, but Dave has the entire week off from rotations, so I am sure it'll be done one of these days when I get home.

Delaware County, the county in which we now live, sponsors an end-of-summer Riverfront Ramble that takes place in the towns along the Delaware River. A few of my kindergarteners had talked about it last year, so when Jen, my coworker/social consultant, mentioned it as something to do this weekend, it sounded like fun. Food, festivities, and fireworks. Especially the fireworks, I love fireworks. So D and I planned on going Saturday night. Then Ron and Sara called us before we were about to leave seeing if we wanted to do something with them, so we all went, including Julie.





I was playing around with the camera and got a few pictures of the fireworks...









Since the Riverfront Ramble vendors had all but closed up shop by the time the fireworks were over, we had to find a place to eat to fill our starving bellies. That's me with Julie, across from us are Sara and Ron (who are expecting!!!) and D is taking the picture. 

I didn't feel comfortable calling it a housewarming party because as everyone very well knows, we moved into an apartment. So I invited a few of the girls from work over for a new apartment party last night. I was done with work at 4pm and everyone was due to arrive at 7pm, which means I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off for those three hours. My very understanding husband was a willing helper for most of those three hours, even when he knew I was kicking him out for the party's duration. He was at the movies with our friend from church, so he probably thinks he got the better end of that deal. Anyway, I invited the people I was closest to which made for a very enjoyable night because we always have a good time together. The menu was very eclectic, from guacamole to brownie cupcakes and apple crisp, from popcorn and cheese and crackers to fruit with spray whipped cream and ice cream cake for Jane's birthday. I knew no one would mind, though, because we all like to eat :).


Can you find Rachel? She is playing with Dougie, who was happy to see all of his lady-friends. I think he thought he was back at work with all the familiar voices. He showed off a few of his tricks, including opening his cage door all by himself. Ok, so it took him a few tries because he misjudged where the door actually was, but no one ever accused him of being smart - just cute.





Here are Latrice and Jeannie





Jen and Lela have been employed the longest out of any of us.



Rachel and Latrice are enjoying the chaise. Everyone commented on how huge our chaise was, which is usually the first thing we hear about it. So each got a turn to sit on the big, red chaise.

We got a plant for one of our gifts. Originally I thought it was a fake plant, but D inspected it further and found it to be real. Good thing.








Not pictured: Jane and Stella. They protested the camera too much.

D commented this morning on how clean our apartment is and how he would like it to stay like this. We'll see!

I was sitting here after another busy day in the life of us and it suddenly dawned on me that I have neglected to post pictures of our new apartment! Oops. Well, not a big oops because there are still boxes scattered about that I had to push out of the way for some of the pictures, but everything is starting to have a permanent place around here. So, here they are:

This is what you see as you walk into the apartment - the first part of the living room. The blinds are covering the patio doors...we are putting the patio to good use before the cold weather sets in.


Here is the second half of the living room. We're not quite sure if this is how the furniture will all end up, but it's there for now!


Oh yes, can't forget the other wall of the living room. The TV is across from the couch. See our cool IKEA TV stands?


The kitchen! I'm lovin' all the space it has compared to our old one. However, it's now in a prominent place so it has to stay clean - ugh!


Yes, this is the bathroom. No closet space, which I miss, but there is a huge closet across the hall to make up for it.




















Other pictures of the dining area and our bedroom will be forthcoming. Those are still a bit too messy to put on record. We are thoroughly enjoying our new space and all the benefits that come with it. We have a few get-togethers planned in the upcoming weeks so that'll be our final push to get everything done. Of course most everyone we talk to says they still have a box or two that hasn't been unpacked in all the years they've been at their places of residence.

David can't help but fiddle, so here he is changing oil on our first day of a three-day weekend.


My mother gathered us all up for this picture. There is Yana, me, Mom, and Kristina.


She managed to round all the boys up, too.


A trip to Rita's Water Ice in the cold and in the rain. It's no wonder we didn't have to wait in line.


Dad was mowing the lawn before all of our guests were due to arrive and happened upon a rabbit hole nestled quite well into a random patch of grass. There were four of these little guys in all. They were the cutest things! Yana and Ryan went to the pet store to get some milk and stuff for them because supposedly when a human touches them, their mother won't care for them anymore. Three of the four found new homes and the fourth was let go back into the yard. Dad said he saw that one hopping on by the other day, looking bigger and happy. Dougie might have liked a companion, but he is quite enough.

Ariana and I match! I hope I wasn't boring her...


I finally got to see Keegs after her summer in Europe! It was great catching up with her.

Why am I smiling??????? Because WE HAVE DSL! Yay! It probably doesn't sound like a big deal, but we've been going through withdrawl for the past two weeks without any in-home Internet access. We made a first attempt to get DSL hooked up only a few days after we moved in, but we were told it wasn't available to us at our new location. Very upsetting. David, not able to fathom that we couldn't get cheap Internet service only 20 minutes outside of Philly, made a second attempt. This time he talked to someone and she said that it may take two or three attempts because there are a limited amount of ports available in each DSL area. Ok. Can they join me in the 21st century? Technology is supposed to be advanced nowadays, is it not? (Deep breath). Anyway, after much anticipation and a few pushed-back start dates, we finally feel complete!

Oh and did I mention the price difference? We would have had to get cable modem, which means we would have had to get basic cable and then add the cable modem onto that. So a $20 a month DSL bill would have ballooned into a $45 cable and cable modem bill. Now do you see why I am smiling????

Well thank you for voting on your favorite bistro set, however there was a three-way tie on the three options. So we were back to square one until we went to Walmart one night to get a few things for our new place. I wanted to get a few plants for our patio and we had to walk through the patio furniture section. And there it was. It was the perfect set at the perfect price. This is the time to get them if you’re in the market for one, because it’s the end of the season. Here is what we got:

Unloading the truck went faster than loading it – about an hour and a half in all. That’s because we had three more people than the night before. Julie, Keith’s wife, and I were fiddling around with these annoying put-this-together-yourself shelving when someone yelled that they’d be done unloading in fifteen minutes. Yikes! I hadn’t even ordered the pizza yet! While us girls were picking up the pizzas, the guys put together some stuff we got from IKEA (I love that store!). After everyone left, D and I had the rest of the night to do some unpacking. But we didn’t, both of us fell asleep early.

Our new apartment is about one hundred square feet smaller than our old one. Before we moved in I couldn’t exactly picture what that would look like, but now I know that it’s noticeably smaller – at least the living room part. The kitchen, however, is double the size with all new appliances and lots of counter space and cabinetry. I’ll take that over a bigger living room any day!! I’ll be sure to post pictures once all of our boxes have been unpacked. But the best thing about this move has got to be our new commute times: 3 minutes for me and 7 minutes for David.

Last Friday night came with much anticipation because we had done a lot to try and make our move go as smooth as possible. The first test was the UHAUL truck – if that went well, than everything else would go well. Not necessarily, but that’s what I told myself. It went well. We chose a place half way between our new apartment and our old, so I followed David and he drove the seventeen-footer home.

Heath (from Ruby Tuesday) arrived first, just in time to help D solve a disassemblement issue. So as not to embarrass David any further, I will stop there. Then Keith (from church) came and we introduced the two. That’s when the nicknames were decided on: K-Dog and H-Dog. Now it’s probably not as funny to the people who’ve never met them, but take my word for it, they totally don’t look the part! These guys were such great workers. I had to pack more boxes as they were packing the truck just so they wouldn’t run out of things to do! I was also baking cupcakes to keep their energy level up and this seemed to work well. The truck was loaded in two and a half hours with only minor injuries – to David.

He came away with a cut on his lower lip and a rather sizeable bump on the side of his head. Both the couch and the bungee cord won those battles, go figure. I’ll let you ask him for further details.

Keith left first and we were seeing Heath off when they got talking about Ruby Tuesday (because they both used to work there). Well I hadn’t eaten a decent dinner in all the commotion, so their conversation got me thinking about Ruby Tuesday’s parmaesan mashed potatoes. So I may have mentioned how I was hungry, or something to that effect, because all three of us found ourselves at a Ruby Tuesday not half an hour later. Ironically I didn’t end up getting the mashed potatoes. On the way home, we saw a brilliant lightening storm and I prayed that any type of storm would hold off at least 24 hours.

My night finally ended after I set up a makeshift bed with some sheets on the floor of our half-empty bedroom. Dave’s ended when his dad and his brother-in-law Tony came in around 12:45am. We tried to be hospitable, but it’s kind of hard when the apartment is so empty we could hear our voices echo. D and I are forever grateful for all the time and effort given by those to help make our move go so well. Thank you, thank you, thank you!