Earthquakes, hurricanes and flooding. Oh my!

We took a trip to see Jon and Michelle's family in Delaware at the end of August. We weren't sure we would be able to go until about a week before when we got cleared by Emersyn's doctor and I am so glad that we could make it! We have missed seeing them soooo much and it was so nice of them to allow us to mess up their beautiful new house for a week.

We flew into Philadelphia and before we drove to Jon and Michelle's we spent a day in historic Philadelphia, if you are a history buff like I am Philly should definitely be on your list of places to visit. It was amazing to see the Liberty Bell and take a tour of Liberty Hall. Kory and the girls were really good to humor me for a little while, I think I may even be converting Marti to my side, she was listening intently to the tour guide and would lean over and whisper what he had just said to me "in case I didn't hear it".

Emersyn and Marti had seen the tour buses going around all day and really wanted to ride one, Kory and I debated on whether or not we should (they are expensive) and in the end we decided to do it. It was a good decision, we learned a lot about the city that we wouldn't have, the girls were happy sitting on the upper deck and Emersyn took a nap (bonus). We were on the hunt for an authentic cheese steak sandwich and we found it at Reading Terminal Market, it was alright but I didn't think it was that big of a deal (how un-american of me).

After our day of sightseeing we drove out to Jon and Michelle's and met their newest addition, sweet little cabbage patch kid look alike Aubrey. She didn't warm up to Kory right away, I think she was put off by all his hair, but she came around a little bit by the time we left.

Our big adventure for the week was going to Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvania. We could not have picked a more beautiful day to go, the weather was perfect. The older kids were happy going with Jon and Kory to ride the big manly roller coasters while Michelle and I were running the smaller kids from kiddie ride to kiddie ride.

Right before we left the park we stopped at Hershey World and took the free Chocolate Tour. You sit in cars and it takes you around to show how they make chocolate, complete with singing cows. I asked Emersyn what her favorite ride was at the park and of course she said the free chocolate tour. If I had known she would be that easy to please we just could have gone on that all day and saved a few bucks.

While we were at Hershey Park we got word that there was an earthquake that hit Washington D.C., the first one in a long time. There were people at the Park who said they felt it, but none of us felt anything. Crisis averted, or so we thought....

At this point we started hearing a lot about Hurricane Irene, it looked like it was heading up the eastern coast. It was scheduled to hit where we were on Sunday, the same day we were supposed to fly out. I called the airline and managed to get our flight changed to Saturday, but it still looked a little bit iffy.

  While we waited for the more info on the hurricane the next activity on the agenda was a trip to the beach. We drove to Rehoboth Beach and had a great time playing in the waves and digging in the sand. Dallin and Josh were trying to teach me how to swim in the ocean without getting taken out by the waves. I got smashed into the beach more than I would like to admit so I think I have a lot more practicing to do. We walked the boardwalk and ate taffy and salt and vinegar fries, yum. It reminded me why someday I would like to live by the ocean.

By Friday people were starting to freak out about the hurricane and the potential of flooding. Kory and I had scheduled a little 24 hour trip to New York City on Friday to see Wicked but it made us too nervous that we wouldn't be able to get back to the girls so we ended up not going. We were disappointed, but just couldn't take the risk.

Instead we all strapped on our bowling shoes to see who could post the worst bowling score. I am an awful, awful bowler but we still had a good time. Michelle managed to get a babysitter for Friday night and the adults went out to dinner, where I managed to put my big foot in my big mouth (sorry Michelle, I spend most of time with little kids, that's a valid excuse right?). Even with that we still had a lot of fun catching up, and laughing at the poor waiter who didn't know how to make a caesar salad.

Just as the rains were starting to come down on Saturday our flight was taking off without any problems. It was pretty turbulent as we were flying out of Philly which made me super nervous, of course I am always nervous when I fly. We were worried about Jon and Michelle and whether they would have flooding at their house, but thank goodness everything turned out just fine.

We had such a great time it was hard to believe how fast it went by. Marti was especially upset that she had to leave Brinley, she just loves that girl. We miss having their family nearby and we are so grateful to them for making us feel so welcome.