Labor Day Weekend in Pennsylvania.

I picked Elizabeth up at 11 Friday morning and we started on our trip. Well, not before a photo of us starting our adventure.

I bought Elizabeth and Andrew disposable cameras for our weekend trips. Andrew and Wade were going to Pikeville to the annual dove hunt at the farm. Andrew has been wanting a disposable camera since we bought one for Elizabeth for school. It was on her class supply list.

Elizabeth insisted I pack her lunch instead of us stopping somewhere so I had picked me up something before I got her. We drove probably four hours before our first stop. That was only because I needed to use the bathroom (not her) and we needed gas. We drove through five states counting, TN: Tennessee, Virginia (the bulk of the trip), West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. All up interstate 81. Yep, Elizabeth and I took photos as we drove down the interstate of all the welcome signs. :)

Traffic was fine until we were about 20 miles from our exit and some crazy guys were tailgating me - cars beside me, ten cars in front of me, no where to go. This is one of my pet peeves. I think sometimes I would love to have one of those running digital signs on my back window to give nice little comments to drivers behind me such as "there's no where to go, back off!". I'm sure I've thought of other things to put up there too. All nice, of course. ;) Anyways, Elizabeth was gabbing away at this point and I told her she needed to be quiet and pray for mommy because I was getting a little stressed and starting to shake. Eventually, my anger got the best of me and I slammed on my brakes. That worked. The crazy guy was holding up his hands like "what was that for?". Again, I needed the sign to answer his question (nicely!).

When we got off the exit, Ben and Stacy's townhouse was easy to find - and not far. Elizabeth was excited to see the dogs - Sixtus, Pounder and Tanner. They were excited to see her as well and one jumped up on her and scratched her face and neck. She didn't care though - she had her "cousins" for the weekend to play with her.

Ben and Stacy moved to Pennsylvania last month (from Alabama) to start law school. They are both going. They have started a new chapter - possibly entitled "Our Adventurous Life". Add to the mix that they are having their first child - due October 4th (if I remembered right). Obviously, God had other plans though for his delivery. With their busy lives, they haven't had time to fully get ready for the baby. Stacy had even had a scare the weekend before I came and she still hadn't packed a bag. LOL

So when I arrived, I saw a need. I had to get these two busy people ready for this baby!! I unpacked boxes, washed blinds and windows, moved furniture, washed the baby's clothes and Stacy and I put together the bassinet. Their townhouse is three stories counting the basement downstairs where the washer and dryer were. I probably lost a pound or two while I was there. ;)

Ben and I cooked breakfast and dinner the days I was there. We went to lunch at the Chocolate Cafe on Saturday. That was a neat place to eat. It's an old church. The smell of it inside reminded me of Granddaddy Clemmon's house (Wade's grandfather) - the old wood smell with almost a hint of moth balls! LOL Elizabeth had voted that we eat outside but she got too hot and didn't feel good. I didn't find out what was bothering her until we were back at their place and she had cooled off. I don't think she wanted to admit that her choice to eat outside caused her to feel bad.

A happy girl and Sixtus:

We had a great visit with them. Elizabeth said she wished she could stay for a week by herself with them so she could be with the dogs. She loves them that much. She doesn't like Nana's dog, Lily, this much which I haven't figured out yet. Maybe Lily is too hyper for her.

I've been playing with the new actions I bought for Photoshop Elements. I used the "glow" action on these two shots of the dogs. This is Pounder.

This is Sixtus:

Unfortunately, I didn't get any good shots of Tanner. She's the "baby" of the family. She's six years old but a smaller breed of the Airedale Terriers.

So here's a pregnant Stacy:

And here's baby Benjamin Stone Farmer:

Yep, he was born two days after I left. He was born a week ago today (the day of my owl adventure) around 6 pm. He was 5 pounds, 6 ounces and 18 inches long. She was taking medicine to stop contractions after the incident over that one weekend but her water broke around midnight Tuesday and he was born the next day. I guess it was a good thing I came and did what I did! I was just happy to help and visit with them. (Oh and watch the Sound of Music three nights in a roll! LOL)

We plan on going in a month to see him IRL (in real life). I can't wait! :) I'm hoping to make that our weekend to go to a pumpkin patch too. I thought it would be fun for the family (and hopefully Ben, Stacy & Stone - I think that's what they're calling him, at least, Stacy is - will come).

Tomorrow is grocery day, work out day and Bible study day. I've enjoyed the book we've been studying, Created to be His Help Meet by Debi Pearl. I sincerely think it has helped me in the few weeks I've joined. If it works out then I hope to start a study of the book with a group at our church when I'm done. We have a lot of stay-at-home-moms who could come. There are a couple of groups already that meet at our church but they are seem to be older groups. I would love to have a group more my age (twenties and thirties).

Now I'm behind on the last two weeks of my life!! I guess I will try to catch up soon.