And we are back in Wyoming!

Our trip to Pennsylvania was lovely. We arrived at the Washington Regan airport on Dec. 21st after a harrowing day on planes and in airports which I will not recount for your sake. I cannot express how lovely it was to step out of the airport into a balmy 36 degrees. Believe me, after leaving Wyoming at -5 degrees, anything above freezing is balmy.
I cannot say that we did a ton of stuff while on vacation, certainly not anything near what I said we were going to do, but we did have a wonderful, restful time with family and friends.

Ravenna developed a love of pickles while at Isaac's Deli where diners receive a plate of pickled delicacies upon ordering. Ravenna just reached out an grabbed one and started munching on it with relish (he he he, relish!). I really don't like pickles and neither does Andrew, but our little girl is special indeed.

Speaking of delicacies, at one of Lancaster county's famous market's I sampled pressed pigs tongue which was selling for $9/lb. It is basically a bunch of pigs tongues cooked, I imagine, and then pressed into a mold which is then filled with gelatin. After curing for an appropriate amount of time, it is then thinly sliced and put on bread. I was not thrilled by the texture of this "treat," but Nettie seemed to like it. Of course, I did have a famous whoopie pie as well.

Much of our time was spent shopping. Lancaster is famous for its many outlet malls and I was suckered in by the allure of Christmas sales. Being that Gillette is very short on shopping in general, unless you want to buy a gun or booze, I had not done any clothes shopping since I was in California in July and I was in dire need of a new coat, here modeled by Peter.

Nettie and I also went "house hunting" with her real estate agent neighbor. No, Andrew hasn't found a job there, but in case he does, I know what we can afford and what is out there.

My amazing brother-in-law, Peter, taught himself to play the cello, so he didn't see any reason why I shouldn't learn to play it as well. Here he is showing me the ropes. By the end of our trip I could play For the Beauty of the Earth decently. I am thinking of taking it up if I can find a teacher here in Gillette, which is unlikely, but a girl can dream.

I learned to sing the harmony on Pie Jesu which Peter and I performed together for his family. I don't sing much in front of others, but I do enjoy it.

Another large part of our trip was spent playing games and watching movies. Here is Jon on Christmas morning wearing the hat that Lauren got him, which suits his personality so well.

We obviously did more than just this, so I will blog some more with pictures from our outings and other neat activities.