Do I have to take my children?

Pennypacker Mills

One of the things I miss most about Utah is the playgroup that we went to every week. I LOVED chatting with the moms that went and I’ll probably keep in touch with those ladies FORVER, so I knew that I really needed to find a new playgroup here to help “fill the HUGE, GINORMOUS, GAPING void" (how's that, girls?). So I was so excited when I heard that a group of ladies from church were starting up a new “mommy group” here. They are going to go and do all sorts of different activities around the community each week, so I’m going to get to see a lot of new things in PA, and I am so excited. But the problem I’ve found so far is that I actually have to take my children (that’s kind of the idea), they don’t always cooperate, and I actually have to find the right location where the ladies are meeting.

For example, my first week we went to visit Pennypacker Mills, which is a restored colonial-revival mansion that was owned by a former governor of Pennsylvania and used as a headquarters by George Washington in 1777. It looked BEAUTIFUL and I was so excited to go on a tour of the mansion and learn some great history about the area.

So we go up to the porch of the house, and I realize that I have to leave the double stroller outside. Hmmmm. See, there’s a problem with that. I have a 30 pound, very heavy 10-month-old and a 2-year-old that runs away from me every chance she gets, and I don’t take them ANYWHERE that they are not either tied down in a cart or a stroller. But I threaten Kennedy’s life if she doesn’t stay holding my hand and we walk into the foyer. There are a couple of rooms on each side of the foyer (fully decorated with actual antiques) that are roped off so that people can’t go in them and the tour guide starts explaining what the rooms were used for. Of course, after about 20 seconds of holding my hand, Kennedy twists so that she can get free and runs underneath the rope into one of the rooms (with the actual antiques). Now the tour guide helpfully says, “oh, we need to get her out of there.” Hmmmm, nice. The other moms are busy carrying their 2-year-olds, but I am the only lucky one with a baby AND a 2-year-old, so I just plopped Maddox down in the middle of the foyer (praying that he wouldn’t decide to crawl into the other roped off room), and I chased a squealing and laughing Kennedy around a table in a room until I finally caught her and told everyone we would wait for them outside (while mortified that I am the mother with the out-of-control 2 year old.)

On the bright side, I got to see the foyer, which was nice. And the grounds were beautiful, so while I didn’t get to see much of the house, I’m a huge fan of trees and I got to see some more of them and take some pictures of the Kennedy while we waited (Maddox fell asleep). And afterwards we had a little craft activity OUTSIDE of the house on the side porch, which was perfect. So it was still fun, and I am at least grateful that Kennedy didn’t break any eyeglasses or vases that were used in the 1800s. I’m afraid Pennsylvania might have kicked us out of the state if she had done any major damage to a historical site our first month here.

Pictures of Kennedy we took OUTSIDE Pennypacker Mills

while everyone was enjoying their tour

Kennedy sitting by the pretty trees...I don't envy whoever has to rake these grounds!
The NEXT playgroup I went to didn’t exactly go as planned either. I had an old copy of the playgroup schedule, so I headed to storytime at a library that A)didn’t actually have storytime and B)no one else from church came to anyway (they had changed locations). Now, being in a library is just about heaven to me most of the time, except that I kept seeing things that I wanted to check out and I can’t get a library card until I get my PA drivers license or a utility bill (which I didn’t have yet). So it was like being in a candy store without your wallet (or more aptly, being in a Barnes and Noble without a wallet…even worse!)…Pure torture!

So we walked around and LOOKED at the books, and then went to a nearby park to let Kennedy run around and Maddox eat (their favorite past-times). While we were there, a different group of ladies and kids came to the park for their mommy playgroup. Now these ladies were very nice, but their playgroup was for “families with two mommies,” so I didn’t quite fit in. But they helped keep Kennedy from jumping off the side of the playground equipment that was like 6 feet up, which was nice of them. Then that led to them asking about us and when they found out we were new, they talked about how hard it is to move to a new place and asked your normal friendly get-to-know you questions (I think I mentioned three times that my HUSBAND got transferred here for work...real subtle). So I did get to meet some other moms, I’ve just never been to one of these kind of playgroups (for obvious reasons, plus not a lot of them in Utah…that I know of). But hey, I figure I got to make some new and different friends, and they were all very very nice, and I had a nice time talking to other moms. It was yet another moment when I thought, “I’m not in Utah anymore.” But I wanted diversity, and boy am I getting it!

So next week, I’m going to do my darndest to go to the right place and meet the actual ladies that I know for playgroup, while making sure I can use my double stroller…I’ll let you know how it goes (with my luck, I’ll end up in Delaware….which is not that far away apparently!)

Kennedy at the park at our "new" playgroup

Kennedy on the swing...she didn't even fall off this time!

You can see Maddox's cute front teeth in this one...I love this boy's smile!