Mountz Memoirs: College Friends Visit

Wednesday was my last day before my friends from college come into town. Ellie and I had Precepts in the morning and I left home early since Ellie had woken up at 6:00 and would need her nap at 8:00. I didn't arrive at church until almost 8:45 and she was cranky. Entering a new environment doesn't really set the stage for falling asleep immediately. After trying for twenty minutes to get her to sleep, I left her in the pack'n'play and told the child care worker some brief directions. She fell asleep eventually which was a relief.

We went straight home following the study since Twin Valley had a half day of school and one of my students were possibly going to come early for her piano lesson. Apparently they decided against it, which was just fine, so I took the time to clean up and finish some laundry. I prepared dinner before my afternoon lessons came and took it over to Doug and Donna's at 5:15. Doug and Donna are still in Disney World so we told Omar we would bring dinner over to eat with him and Grandma while they were away. Ellie helped entertain Grandma and Jon met us there after work. I had a piano lesson to teach at 6:00 so we ate pretty quickly and Jon arranged for Omar to come over and hang out while he was watching Ellie during my Bible study.

Usually Jon hosts prayer group so Ellie can stay home to sleep. Since Ellie has gotten onto a fairly consistent bedtime of somewhere between six and seven it works out. However this time Jon neglected to sign up to host so someone else was hosting but he agreed to stay home anyway. Then, to boot, my Bible Study was cancelled last minute. Jon finished up the grout before Omar came over and I ran out to T.J. Maxx and Bed, Bath, & Beyond to purchase towels, bedding, and a shower curtain for the new bathroom and for the air mattress. It was liberating to be out of the house without a baby or a time restriction.
Thursday morning the big day arrived: Elizabeth, Elizabeth, and Rachel came to town. Rachel and Elizabeth Maye (Emaye) flew into Philadelphia around 10:45. My goal was to be at the airport to pick them up when they came out of the baggage claim but I took too long to finish cleaning and preparing the mashed potatoes for the girls that I was pulling out of Geigertown when Rachel texted and said that she landed early. Oh boy! Fortunately 10:15 is a wonderful time to drive to Philadelphia because it was smooth sailing.
Rachel and Emaye sat in the back with Ellie to see what she was like when we headed into King of Prussia for lunch. We ate at the food court and hung around until it was time to head back to the airport to pick up Elizabeth Dyer. They all came from different cities: Elizabeth Dyer came from Houston, Rachel came from Chattanooga, and Emaye came from Charlotte. Last year they all met up in Houston and this year they decided to come to see us! It was so exciting. Elizabeth and Emaye were my suite mates and all four of us were education majors together.
I had put together a pamphlet of sorts with possible stops for their trip up here. Emaye said she wanted to see the Amish country and they were all feeling up to going that afternoon. We went to Intercourse and stopped by the Kitchen Kettle and other local shops. Driving home we went some back roads and passed by some one room school houses.
I had asked Kelly if I could borrow her air mattress and the Fentons were eating at Mimi and Pops' house so we stopped by. The girls came in and met everyone and said hi to those they already knew. Jon arrived home before us and put the mashed potatoes in the oven and fired up the grill. I put together a salad and cooked green beans and we had those along with pork chops and mashed potatoes.
We had arrived home late so dinner wasn't over until around 8:00. In the evening we set up the "bedroom" in the basement. It was great to catch up with everyone!

Ellieisms:
The girls got to experience the wrath of Ellie when we were driving home from the airport. She was crying very loud for a good twenty minutes before settling down and falling asleep.