Home again, home again

We are home at last.

It feels so good to be home.

I have been saying that like it's my new mantra. My goodness, it feels so good to be home!

We got home on Friday, July 19th, and have now been home for 9 days. In that short time, we put about 1400 miles on my father-in-law's car, which he so graciously let us borrow until we can buy a new vehicle. I am SO grateful for that!

We have done a lot, too. Isn't it great to be a tourist in your own home-town?

We've been swimming at the hotel pool, went to a baseball game, visited the Arboretum at Penn State (lovely place and I very much recommend it if you're in the area), visited Del Grosso's Amusement Park, watched a fireman's parade and attended a local festival, enjoyed my nephew's new VR station, and of course spent some quality time with our families and friends. We have been so busy, and I am so tired!

At the hotel breakfast the first morning, I went down before the kids woke up, and I found myself sitting and listening to people's conversations and just enjoying the fact that THEY WERE SPEAKING ENGLISH! It felt like a surprise to me. It is so nice to walk into a gas station and get a diet pepsi and be greeted in English. And the FRIENDLINESS! Oh my goodness, people are so friendly here. I can't tell you how many strangers have commented about my good kids or my patience, which they appreciate. A dozen, already, perhaps?! It is absolutely lovely. It is SO GOOD to be home!

You know you're happy to be home when a raccoon carcass makes you smile. I wasn't happy that he was dead, but it was so nice to see a RACCOON! And we saw a fawn outside our house that first morning. And the Milky Way! PA is absolutely a beautiful state. I am so glad to live here.

Tomorrow I get to go back to work, and I am looking forward to it. I'm not certain that I'll LOVE my job, but I know I still love the people there. I am looking forward to being with them again. It is a great team to be coming back to.

I have a lot of work left to do to get us back into "normal" again. I realize (now that I'm home) that the German home never felt like home to me, and that because of that, we've kind of been in limbo for about 2.5 years. They were beautiful years, of course, but still limbo. I am looking forward to being in a routine again (at least for a little while!), and getting the kids into the school down the street and living in the Land of Convenience for a while. I am looking forward to pressing the EASY button.

And I'm also looking forward to Christmas! (Lol. That's my craziness, though. I'll mostly keep it to myself for at least a couple more months.)

I took this picture the last morning, about 20 minutes before the taxi driver came. These kids were SO good sleeping like this in the Wiesbaden Army Lodge for 23 nights. The room was a little crowded, but they (and David!) did it. I'm so proud of them.

We had so many people and so many suitcases, people at the airport stopped to watch us like we were a parade. It was weird.

A diva at the ball game.

Me and one of my sweeties.

Three of my sweeties. (Wasn't familiar with the selective focus feature on my new phone. Sorry, David!)

These four kids at the hotel breakfast. The littlest things make them so happy!

An interesting flower kaleidoscope at the Penn State Arboretum. GREAT place for the kids to let off some steam.

Music making at the Arboretum.

This little guy posed as long as I wanted him to.

Riding with cousin Steven at Del Grosso's. What a fun day!

Somebody had a good game day. Pulled the number 2 from the Fishy Fishy and hit the golden cup on the ball toss.

Even I played the VR, and it was fun!

I wonder why I am getting this look?!