Over the River and through the Mall

In early October, John's family came to visit. They spent a few days with Great Grandma, and on our way to have dinner together, we drove on PA's coiled roads through some of the most beautiful images of this year. I took one solitary picture through the front window and spent the rest of the time gasping and murmuring about beauty to myself. I'll make a great crazy, old lady someday; I've got the mutterings down pat

In keeping with my sorry past performances, I took very few pictures while they were here.

In the picture below, Susannah discovers for the first time that these rides actually move! Thanks to the quarters in Grandma and Grandpa's willing pockets, she's no longer blissfully unaware.



As if putting real, live quarters in the machines at the mall weren't enough, they took us to Chuck E. Cheese's!!!! The girls were pretty much in heaven for three or four hours. (Yup, we stayed that long, and though the adults were wiped out by the end, I think the girls could have effortlessly chugged along for another hour or two.)

Here, John and Dude face off.



And here, John and I face off. (He completely killed me.)


At home, Dude entertained the littlest.



And, pathetic as it may be, this is my only picture of the much-loved McGamma. We went to the Sciencenter after church, and she's the whitish shape with bangs next to Mille. (Look at me on the left. I wanted to be a clown, in dead seriousness, for most of my teen years, and the infrared picture reveals that I missed my calling.)


Christmas come quickly, and we'll see them again!