And then there were 4

This week and next we are a family of four. Arlington is officially on her first vacation from her family! We have spoken to her every day, and yesterday did Skype with her so that we could see her. She seems to be having a fun time. She has been a busy bee so far! She has been with Mat's parents since last Friday, and will be with them until this coming Friday. Then she will spend the next week with my parents. So far she has helped with a yard sale, gone to a water park with slides, gone to the local county fair, and gone to a local zoo. She is also participating in Bible School this week at Mat's family church. She loves it so far! It is every day from 6-8:30pm, so that gives her something to look forward to each evening. Her cousin arrived yesterday, so she was excited to see her. I know the girls will keep each other company this week and time will fly by!

Anyway, a funny story before I forget about Arlington and Bible School. Yesterday (Monday) they learned about Jesus and the lepers. They may cookies and she told us "some of them were sad faces with dots on them - before Jesus cured them, and some were happy faces when they were all better!". We laughed about the fact that they had "leper cookies". Too cute! Can't wait to see what they made today!

So that is Arlington. Doing well. I am trying to remember where we left off in pictures. I think what is next is our day at Kennywood - which is a great amusement park in Pittsburgh near our house. But those pictures were taken with my mom's camera, so I will post them next time. I will just post today some of the pictures from our last few days in Pennsylvania and maybe a few from our days once we returned to Connecticut.

Today my parents left. We have been with them for about 2 weeks, and it was sad to see them go! My grandmother was also here visiting, and it was nice to see her as well. This was her first visit to our new house, so she seemed to enjoy seeing our new area. She and my parents helped us get resettled after being gone a week, and that was really helpful.

Finley and Cainan are doing great. They are going to miss their big sister this week and next. I will too! Arlington is a second set of eyes and ears when it comes to the two little ones, so I will miss that a lot! :) But it will be easier to get some things done with only two kids for a little while. I plan on getting a lot done during the babies nap times over these two weeks since I won't have Arlington during that time! Let's hope that happens!

Finley has a new favorite saying: "Change my stinky butt". Isn't that lady like of her? What a riot. She says it all the time. Cainan even started repeating "stinky butt", so that is great also. I tell ya! Kids are weirdos. Finley is a talker just like her sister - non-stop! She talks all the time now. On and on and on. Cainan still mostly babbles for long periods of time, but he will say his words too. He just can't run as many words together yet like Finley can. Finley also sings "Happy Birthday to you" over and over and over. She is in a rut.

You have to read this article. There is a little girl in New Zealand that was named (first name) "Talula does the Hula in Hawaii". No joke. Poor kid! Anyway, there is an article about her getting her named changed by the courts, and some of the other crazy names that are out there. Arlington, Finley and Cainan aren't sounding so bad after all! Here is the article: Talula

This weekend, on Sunday, we saw my cousin Kirsten in "Grease" on Broadway. She plays Frenchy in that show. It is always neat to see her up on stage. This is a big role -she was on the stage pretty much constantly, so we really enjoyed that. And Taylor Hicks (winner of American Idol) is playing in the show right now, so we got a chance to see him. He is really tall - I had no idea! And a really nice guy. We got to watch Kirsten sign some autographs, and at dinner after the show (we had a chance to eat with her before her next performance) someone wanted her autograph their as well! Too great! We are really proud of her. She has been there a lot time and is very successful. She is coming to Connecticut to visit in a few weeks, and Arlington is SO excited. We can't wait to have her! You can see some info about Kirsten here - (Grease) it links to pictures and cool info about Grease. If ever in NYC - you should see the show!

Anyway, we were supposed to take the train into NYC so we wouldn't have to drive, but they changed the train schedule and we didn't know, so we couldn't do it. Bummer! Next time. It would have saved on gas and parking, but not on time. Oh well. It isn't too bad to drive in the city - we used to do it all the time when we lived in Baltimore. We haven't been to NYC in years and we are both really glad to be so close again. I love going there!

I am sure I am missing lots of details, but it is getting late and that is how my brain works at night! Below will be pictures from the end of our trip to Connellsville and a few others. Maybe even my NYC pictures if there aren't too many to post.

Just for some info on the pictures. Some are of buildings in Connellsville. One is of a place called "Crafty Tats". You think - huh? Only in a small town. This is a place that sells crafts AND does tatoos. Can you beat that? NO!!! ha!

My dad is the president of the bike trail council there, and we are very proud of the work he and everyone else has done to make the bike trail through our town so nice. I think we are going to get a blog going to help people see what there is to do when riding through Connellsville, so stay tuned! This bike trail is part of the Great Allegheny Passage

Check the website out (click there on Great Allegheny Passage) to see what Connellsville and the trail have to offer! You can also click here: Connellsville - to see about the city.

Enjoy the pictures.