Evan, Clover & Co.: The Busy Month of March, Part II

Okay, picking up in mid-March...

We headed down to Pennsylvania, to go to Billy Schweighofer's funeral. Billy was Dad's cousin, and Dad spent his summers on Billy's farm, which is where he must of been bitten by the farming bug! Anyway, Dad and Billy were always close, and I have lots of good memories of spending time with the Schweighofers. Hard to believe Billy is gone.

Sunday evening, when we first got down to PA, we went to Boston Market to have supper with Aunt Emma and Hopie and John.

Rilla spent the picture trying to come get me, and Elliott practiced eye-rolling.

The kids playing with their double third cousin Ella during the viewing. There was a separate room for the kids to play in at the funeral home, which was really handy.

I didn't get any more pictures of that evening or the next day, but we sure enjoyed seeing all the Pennsylvania folks.

Tuesday, we went into Philadelphia to the Please Touch museum-- because we have an annual membership at the Rochester Children's Museum, we were eligible for tickets through the Children's Museums reciprocal tickets program. Here Rilla is all dressed up for water play.

This water play area was one thing Rochester doesn't have, so it was exciting for the kids to explore.

It's nice to have a daddy with long arms, for when a particularly special duck gets hung up!

Very cool Alice in Wonderland exhibit with funhouse mirrors and lots of optical illusions.

There, Elliott finally got the memo about cheesy grins being required.

This clock projected onto the floor was cool. Plus, I love how Rilla is all lit up.

Hopefully, this is as rowdy or as fast as Elliott ever gets on a two-wheeled motorized vehicle.

Playing in the kitchen.

Running the register in the McDonald's.

Rilla had a blast in this one! Maybe she'll have a glamorous career in the fast food industry.

Cheyenne is soooo grown-up and blase about playing in the McDonald's. This was her answer to me asking her to pose with the sandwich Rilla and Elliott brought over.

So yeah, we kidnapped Olivia and Tori for this section of the trip. It's not like we're going to watch all four kids in the hotel pool, and in the museum, and while we're driving home... That's where Livie and Tori are indispensable.

And, as you can see, Olivia used the time to educate herself.

Tori is gearing up to be one of the dudes that sits on the back of the D.O.T. pickup, putting down road cones.

This was really taxing Olivia's abilities.

Cheyenne showed her up, I'm sure.

Rilla putting gas in the car.

Driving!

Elliott asked what the hose was for, and I told him for putting air in the tires. I expected him to start filling the tires on the demo car, but he took care of the stroller!

My little sweetie pie, after finally succumbing to sleep.

This is a blurry picture, but Rilla was so stinking cute in her little mechanic smock.

Livie's finally figured out how to get wheels. Apparently, she forgot to look under the hood. Uh, Olivia, there's no actual engine in that car. You can forget the evil genius smile. Olivia...?

Rilla posing in front of the sign outside. We had fun this day, but we decided we do like the Rochester museum better-- which is good! Probably won't be in Philadelphia quite as often as Rochester.

Patting the big purple kid.

Although this was not documented photographically, this day was the day that Marilla gave in on a long, stubborn refusal to (ahem) "go stinkies" on the potty. There was much rejoicing in our family. She's done great ever since. I didn't know how much nicer it would be to only have one little monkey in diapers!

The building that houses the museum. It's the last big building left from the 1876 World Fair. There's a whole scale replica of the World Fair in the basement of the museum-- us grown-ups bored the kids by looking at that forever.

What a group!

Pegasus.

Looking from the museum steps.

Then we did some drive-by tourism. This is on the same street as Independence Hall. I like this old building.

Basement apartment.

Lots of these old bridges!

And a not-so old building. We intended to actually get out, maybe visit Reading Market, but Lincoln was sleeping, Rilla was starting a no-nap meltdown, Evan couldn't find a parking space... All in all, we decided to be walking tourists when the kids are a little older!

So, instead of learning more about beautiful, historical Philadelphia, we stopped in the Conshohocken Ikea! Good consumers, us! Since we have no Ikea store anywhere near us, it seemed like we should stop.

I love Lincoln in the light of the bug lamp. This is the same lamp that's over Rilla's bed.

Cheyenne holding Lincoln by the lights.

More lights! And, considering how few and far between my trips to Ikea are, you'll be impressed to know I only spent about $5. Having four kids and a husband along might have something to do with how fast we whizzed through there.

Then it was home to lots of wash. Evan took Olivia, Tori and Elliott north to work on the sugar shack, while I stayed home so Cheyenne could pretend to be enrolled in school. We believe strongly the old saying, "Never let school get in the way of your education." Anyway, I took the other kids up Friday night.

And, then, Olivia must have had my camera. Because I don't remember taking this picture. These are cool old block, though. That's a Bill Ding. My dad had a collection of them as a kid, and he named them all after then-current world leaders. So King George III, George Washington, etc. Hee, hee. No, I do get a kick out of my dad naming his building blocks after political leaders. His interest in politics is apparently not a recent thing.

Evan and the guys worked some more on the sugar shack. Fixed the cupola up some more...

Built these sweet doors.

Justin by the current fire place. Justin is planning on building an arch for next year. To be honest, I have no idea what that would look like, but I've heard the term "the arch" incessantly over the last couple of months.

Evan and Justin had to give me grudging respect, because Evan was chatting with me on his cellphone one morning. He told me he was driving to the store to buy a new hygrometer for boiling syrup. I asked, "What happened to the one from last year?" and he told me no one knew where it was. That was because I had carefully boxed it up with the filters from last year and put it safely up in the closet in the guest room. It was exactly where I had put it. So my organizational freakiness paid off!

Dad splitting firewood.

Sap buckets on the maples on the front yard.

Sap dripping out. (It took quite a few pictures to get it as it dripped-- thank goodness for digital cameras!)

Sap!

Even though I'm not quite as obsessed as my husband, I have to admit this is a cool sight!

Back home again-- we travel a lot! Found Mr. Lincoln standing under the table the other day. Remembering this picture of Marilla, I had to get my camera out.

That dimple is going to do me in.

I ran to get my camera the other day when I caught a glimpse of Cheyenne outside in these frilly socks and silver shoes-- but she was already running in to get her rubber boots on instead.

She was on playground duty-- complete with writing all her classmates' names on her new clipboard. (Evan got a call the other week, asking if he was available for a job closing out a Blockbuster Video store. He had to clean out anything that remained, supervise the sign coming down, clean up, etc. They had cleaned out all the videos, but not much else. He filled two dumpsters with trash, but he brought home lots of goodies! We have office supplies out the ying-yang. I doubt I will ever have to buy another manila envelope. We have 69 rolls of toilet paper, a vacuum cleaner, four packing tape dispensers, a bazillion sharpie markers, two folding 6 ft. tables, an 8 ft. aluminum ladder, enough balloons to have a party every day for the next 30 years, 12-13 reams of paper, hole punches, raffle tickets... Needless to say, this is nirvana for a little girl who no longer has to account to Mommy for every piece of paper she wants to use!)

Elliott concentrating on playing.

Lincoln in the spring sunlight.

My wonderful husband.

Playing patty-cake.

A little red-head watching the patty-cake game.

Happy little boy!

These two fight like cats and dogs-- and also have the best time together. Elliott is getting so he can read to her. (Of course, when he saw me with the camera, he started acting silly and turned the book upside down.)