Hey, I'm Back...

I've decided that I miss blogging and the record that it provides for our family, so I'm going to attempt a little comeback here.  I doubt I'll ever get as into it as I was a few years ago, but here's hoping I can stay consistent enough to get at least some of our highlights down.  

So, it's been a week!   On Saturday, it was this sweet missionary's 20th birthday!   I was so excited to hear that she'd actually received her packages on time and it was fun to watch her open them over the phone.   I LOVE LOVE LOVE that particular missionary rule change that allows us to communicate with Emma on a regular basis.   BEST. THING. EVER.

I also loved that she sent us this picture from later in the day.   All the sisters in her apartment dressed up for Halloween.    Emma was Arthur--the kids' storybook/tv show character. 😁

We spent quite a while talking with Emma, then went out on one of our favorite hikes to Ridley Creek State Park!   The loop we do is about 5-1/2 miles long and involves passing by a small dam, so of course it's our favorite. 😆  The weather was a little chilly that day, but the leaves were PERFECTION!  I love autumn.

Here's a random picture I found on my phone of Cami and Garrett--both students in Texas.  

Tuesday was Election Day and Adam, at 18 years and 18 days old, got the privilege of being one of the youngest people to vote!   It's been a crazy election and it took us forever to figure out who we wanted to vote for.   We honestly felt like it was choosing between the lesser of two evils and I didn't make my official decision until the morning of.  With all that indecision though, we definitely did not want to miss voting. 😑  We very much recognize it as a privilege to be able to vote and I am grateful to live in the USA. 

We waited 2 hours, 15 minutes in line in the freezing cold to vote, so it's a darn good thing we felt so strongly about it, or it would have been really easy to walk away and go home.  

Here's a closer look at the cool stickers we received after voting.    

After voting we took an almost 3-hour trek to Northern Virginia for Ellie to visit her pediatric neurologist.   We tried to find her one in Pennsylvania, but, alas, searching for a new specialist in a pandemic is not the easiest thing in the world and ultimately we decided that it would be easier to drive her to VA than to wait whoever knows how long before she could get an appointment here.   So we drove her there, took her to the doctor, then turned around and came home.   We literally saw no one and did nothing else than take her to the doctor.  But it's done and we got to see this sunset on the way home.   This particular picture was actually taken by Adam as he left work in PA, but we were very much admiring it as well on the way home.  

On Wednesday we headed downtown for Adam's boat building class.  Glen's job just ended last week, so it was fun to have him join us for that.   We went to the Nation Constitution Center, a place we really enjoy and we think the whole world should visit.   The "Freedom Rising" show is normally live and is worth the price of admission by itself, but even just watching the film version (due to COVID) was still cool.    We also love the Signers Hall with lifesize statues of all the signers of the Constitution and the exhibits about the amendments.    

We also maintained our Wednesday tradition of eating Philly Cheesesteaks for lunch.  WE've been on a quest to find the best cheesesteak restaurant in Philly and have been to over 15 as part of that quest. 

 We decided that instead of trying a new one this week, that we'd introduce Dad to one of our top 3....so we took him to Gooey Louie's.  And after try #2, it's definitely still staying in our top 3.  One day we're going to buy one from each of the top 3 at once and try them side by side and figure out which one is the best of the best.  

Here is a cool shot Adam took down by the river.  

And lastly, what would a blogpost be without a picture of food?  I try hard to make my first meal after fasting as wholesome as I can, and this one hit the spot bigtime for me!   A vegetable saute, with fresh avocado, and a big bowl of frozen blueberries with a small splash of almond milk.  

This is not normally the type of thing I eat for breakfast, but after fasting, it was delicious and ultra-satisfying!  

And that is all for now.