Mom's Helper

Knox has entered the stage where he wants to help me badly--and now he is actually able to follow through on little requests, and has the strength necessary to do a job. So many times he seems to be "under foot", but all too soon he will be grown up, so mostly I just let him help. Last weekend I started defrosting the big freezer on our back porch. I do this twice a year, in the spring and fall, right before one of my quarterly freezer filler cooking extravaganzas!
Knox jumped right in, and started picking up chunks of ice and throwing them in the bucket for me. I found a small plastic scraper and let him have at it. I did the upper shelves and he did the lower two.

New York, New York....And Some PA and VA too!

Mid-September we took a road trip up to Buffalo New York, to get Shawn's best friend from high school wed. Shawn was the best man. It was a beautiful wedding and we had a lot of fun.

We tried for a family picture.

But someone was cranky.....and ended up taking his nap AFTER ALL!

We decided to wend our way home through Pennsylvania. We met up with another of Shawn's friends, Neal, at the Ephrata Cloister in Ephrata, PA. I had studied about the Cloister in grade school social studies and had always wanted to visit.

Great shot of Knox watching birds and squirrels....

The graveyard at the Cloister which was peaceful and quiet in the late afternoon sunlight.

Gravestones.

We visited Hershey's Chocolate World and for some reason have no pictures of it. Mostly what we have are candy wrappers everywhere. We rode the tour twice and Knox was fascinated by everything. Of course, you exit through the gift shop. We had to laugh at our son, the chip off the old block, who started flinging bags of Hershey Kisses left and right into our basket. He does have good taste in chocolate, I have to admit.
We left Sunday afternoon after a lovely visit with Neal and a wonderful service at one of our sister churches in Lancaster, PA. The back side of Monticello---Thomas Jefferson's home. We were so excited to visit here. Knox did not do well in the house, he got bored with it and was quickly removed by a guide, so I finished the inside tour alone and then traded places with Shawn so he could take the inside tour.

The gardens at Monticello. I picked up some seeds in the gift shop.

Knox under a large tree.....he appears to have a large tumor growing out of the side of his head, however, I can assure you that it is really the tree.

Another view of the back of the house.

Globe amaranth.

African marigolds and a honey bee.Knox and Dad in front of the gated cemetery at Monticello.

We took the trail down to our car. Knox loved scuffing his feet through the small gravel. I noticed that he had a bruise on his toe the next day.From there, we traveled back to South Carolina. We detoured in Fishersville, VA for a quick trip to the Cheese Shop for some Sweet Lebanon Bologna, and some Amish(?) cheese and a few bulk food items.
We were happy to be home. Knox was so happy to play with his toys, and Shawn and I were worn out from all the driving.