So, the pics above are why "we're lovin' it"! My last post was hoping to come from New Jersey for the last time and sure enough, it was. We received a call from the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House Friday morning informing us that a room had opened up for us and that we could move in as soon as we wanted to. We had been anticipating the call and were packed up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and on our way to the PRMH in about 10 minutes. We knew it would be a great place to be but were amazed at the house and the service that it provides. You can click on the link above to learn more about it but in short it basically 45 hotel rooms, all with lots of space, bathroom, etc., a large group cafeteria/dining room with a large kitchen area with numerous sinks, dishwashers, ovens, refridgeraters, etc. There is also a huge food pantry where there is every snack, juice, etc., imaginable. We checked in and were given a tour of the place....huge play areas for kids, playground, gameroom, fitness room, huge lounges with coucheschairs/numerous tvs, laundry, computers....you name it or need it, you got it. We asked the worker that was giving us the tour what we needed to get in terms of groceries and he kind of gave us a weird look and told us "nothing." All food/beverage are provided. Wow!!! The kitchen/pantry are open to residence at all hours and all food/drink are up for grabs unless its labeled.
Volunteer groups come in EVERY evening and cook/serve dinner as well as breakfasts on the weekends. The house is fairly deserted during the day as most of the people staying there have children that stay in the hospital or need to be at the hospital all day so you see/run into people in the morning and maybe at breakfast and then they go to the hospital for the day and return for dinner or after. It's another humbling experience, though, to hear their stories or see their kids who aren't much older than our boys with heads lacking any hair due to medical treatments.
We were treated to some more visitors last weekend as Kurt (Shawna's older brother) and Janet drove out Friday. We were able to get out on the town as a group on Saturday and enjoy some beautiful fall weather. There are double decker tour buses that have open air upper decks that give tours of the city so we opted to give one of those a try, which turned out to be a fun, interesting, and historically informational tour (yes, the history teacher in me was salivating!!).
A great two weeks of being all together as a family did, though, have to come to an end. We all traveled back out to our favorite hotel in Cherry Hill to swim, celebrate Shawna's 32nd birthday (it was actually this past Monday, but we celebrated early...which was the 2nd birthday we'd celebrated this year at the Holiday Inn Cherry Hill as we were there for mine the first week of September, so if you missed it, I'll still accept gifts), and say our goodbyes as Kurt, the boys, and I stayed there for the night so we could all get up EARLY that Sunday morning and trek it back to the big Z for the next two week shift. So Shawna took off her jockstrap and put on her bra! It was tough for us to say goodbye to Mom but bittersweet knowing we'd hit the 30 week mark, a big milestone in terms of a baby's development. I also learned, about 10 days too late, how Shawna and I could have slept much better at the hotel as Kurt and I laid down the discipline with the boys (yeah right....Shawna tells me I'm a softy with discipline to start and then to add a fun-loving uncle into the mix equals ZERO-discipline) that we could have had our own beds as the boys settled down for a bit in our homemade cot!!
The only thing that made it a little more difficult than the past few trips home is I wasn't still on an adrenaline high from a Northwestern win the previous day, but that's not a topic I really feel like getting into right now or ever. I was really looking forward to flying my purple Northwestern car flag from the window of the van as we drove through Ann Arbor but I came to my senses as early as halftime of the game on Saturday and realized that wouldn't be happening as I took a stress-relieving walk where I found myself walking into a neighborhood that I probably didn't want to be alone too long in by myself as the sunset and darkness settled in without even knowing I'd walked that far as I was so mad about my Cat's performance. I've always said that being a Northwestern fan was going to kill me but that actually almost became a reality!! Just kidding, it as actually kind of fun/interesting walking around a few blocks of West Philly, although I got some strange looks having a purple Northwestern jersey on.
The best part about the return home was coming into an immaculately clean home, thanks to a few ladies that I work with. Either they did an unbelievable job that dropped my jaw, or I had just left it SO extremely dirty than even a quick 5 minute vacuum job would have made the house look brand new (I think it was the first). Just another act of kindness that we've received so many of. Unfortunately, the house was dirtied quite quickly as Myles, who by the way, is pretty much fully potty trained now (he started getting to the toilet early last week consistently and has been doing awesome!!! Thanks the Lord!), came up to me in the kitchen and said, "I need to poop, Daddy." So we rushed to the bathroom to find Peyton already occupying the toilet, taking his time with his own poop, and Myles couldn't hold it and dropped off his load on the carped in the hallway!! Shoot. He told me he had to go and did everything right, just to find the throne already in use! So we had a little carpet cleaning to do.
So, a big thanks to Kurt for co-piloting and joining Janet for a quick 24 hour trip and joining us for the trip home!
Back in the Z for two weeks and already missing Mommy but glad to be back in some normal routines with work, Miss Jen's, etc. Go Cats, Go Broncos (yes, still undefeated), Go Dux (yes, still undefeated), and maybe most importantly, Go Cubs....what Goat?
CHOOSING JOY
-Jeff
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