Day 12 - Decisions and a visit with Kate and Jerry

Monday July 10, 2017

The kiddos have been super good sports this trip, but I could tell they were bored and wanted to get back to Florida to be with their friends and get back into their Floridian routines.  GT has football conditioning starting next week, and Avery is ready to continue her dance practices competitively. 

I was running out of ideas and things to do. We had finally hit the wall.  Jen and I went for an early morning bike ride to start the day, By the time we got back, we decided on walking to Dunkin Donuts (family tradition in PA every time we visit) and getting some breakfast and coffee.  Always good time to bond and talk, no matter what ages the kiddos are. It was actually pretty nice, and reminded me of easier to please time with these two. 

The morning started on a good note after breakfast. The only thing on our agenda was to try and get up with Kate and Jerry when they got back in town after celebrating her 60th b-day in Atlantic City.  I was able to call her and set up plans to meet up with them around 3-4 at their house once they got back and settled in.  I also asked if we could swim at the cabin in the creek.  She told us anytime, so we decided to go immediately while waiting for them to get home.  We brought Dave and Taylor along with us too.  It was awesome, the water was cold. The pics say it all!  

took this same pic of Avery when she was about 7 years old.

The look on both faces in this is priceless..Good to experiement with my 70-210 F4 Minolta Legacy lens!

my 35-80 Macro lens by Rokinon.  Like the way this turned out on my Canon Eos M

We left the cabin around 2pm, to get home and get a nap before going to Kate and Jerry's house. 

When we got to Kate's it was like we didn't miss a day.  We hung out with them and caught up, possibly thinking about a return trip next month with GT for the LLWS?  Jerry and I had a traditional cigar and beer.  Because Kate had to work in the morning, she retired to bed around 7:30 and Jen and I headed home to pick up the kids, and head to the Genetti to look for ghosts and have a beer.  We met Vicki and Dave at the Mountaineer for a final dose of wings around 8PM. 

We decided to leave early in the morning so we could have a full day off at home before going back to work. It was a wonderful time in PA again with everyone.  Off to bed at 10:30 and out of there, with car pre-packed the night before at 4:00 AM. 

We were home in 17 hours and 10 minutes. I think that's some kind of record for travel. 

Another crazy destination packed vacation in the books.  Will it be the last with all four of us? Only time will tell.