To PA and Back

We just returned home from a fun filled week in Pennsylvania. I was a bit stressed about the plane ride, but on the way out the kids were perfect. On Monday morning we headed out to the Jersey Shore (Atlantic City). My mom, my 2 sisters and 2 sister-in-laws all came. We stayed for 2 days, and it was lots of fun (except for a few moments of drama). The kids absolutley loved the ocean, and boy was I glad that I packed their life jackets (not that there were any problems, it just saved me some stress). Noah did not love the water but he was very content playing in the sand.
On Wednesday my sister Andrea and I (and all 7 of our kids) hit the outlet mall to do some shopping. That was a pretty uneventful day.
On Thursday morning we headed up to my sister Alisons to do some swimming and hanging out. We spent a good part of the day there. Today was my mom's birthday so when we got back we lined all the kids up to sing happy birthday to Mimi. It was so cute to see all the little ones singing, Mimi liked it so much she cried. That night we paid a babysitter to watch all 12 kids (yes, she was brave and she was rewarded for her efforts). We headed out to dinner at Carabas to celebrate the birthday. The food was yummy and it was fun hanging with just the adults.
Friday, we took it easy in the morning. We took all the kids to McD's for lunch and then we headed out to the Star Wars movie (my kids were not big Star Wars fans, but now thanks to their cousins they love it). It was I think, the worst movie ever. Me, my sis and bro all fell asleep during it. I had to keep elbowing Jeff because he was snoring. The kids had a great time, and that was important. After the movie I headed over to the InstaCare because I had a wretched sore throat and I wanted to make sure it wasn't strep. It wasn't, yeah. After that we went right to the bowling alley for cousin Riley's 6th Birthday Party. My kids had a blast, they bowled, played video games, won prizes and ate pizza and cake.
Saturday we headed into the city to a place called Smithfield Playhouse. It was a big house with lots of fun things for the kids to play with and outside was a big playground. The big hit was the slide. They could have stayed there forever. After that it was off to Zwalans for some yummy ice cream. That night the kids thought it would be fun to camp out in the back yard. So we set up the tent, started a fire, made smores, the kids played with glow sticks and then off to bed.
Sunday we went to church, went back to my parents and then loaded up the car to head home. I wish I could say that the flight home was as pleasant as the way out, but I can't. While on the trip Noah picked up a new habit of screeching and he decided to do that for most of the flight. People were giving me dirty looks and I was trying to do all I could to keep him quiet. I thought for sure he would sleep for the last 2 hours, but no only the last 10 minutes. It was a very long 4+ hours, but it is done and we are home.
Now I am still trying to get over my cold, Noah is sick, Tanner starts school tommorrow and I have a huge catering job on Friday. So wish me luck, I'm going to need it.