Matty and Jake

Matty had a blast while I was up in Philly with his Daddy! A very brave Brian and Caroline took the kids to the Imagine-it Children's Museum and let's them run it out one day! I know they played their little hearts out! I called on Saturday and Caroline said, "Matty, Mommy's on the phone" and he literally ran away from the phone. But Jake wanted to talk to me so that made me feel good!

I love this picture of him with "sprinklers" on his face. It's my desktop picture on my computer and I look at it every day. That face makes me so happy!

It was Jake's 3rd birthday just a couple of weeks ago and we all celebrated at Mighty Jumps and what a fun time we had! That place was crawling with families and kids and everyone had a great time. Unfortunately Matty is still I guess just a tad too young to fully understand party etiquette, because he dug his fingers Jake's cake before the party actually started. But thankfully Jakers is rather chill and loves his friend unconditionally and doesn't hold grudges for things like finger holes in his birthday cake! But since Matty's big day is just around the corner, Jake will have his turn at vengeance if he wants it.

Philadelphia Freedom!

I can hardly remember it now, but before I forget it completely I want to capture what I do recall! I remember a few weeks ago lying in bed, getting a text from Ben asking if I could take a couple days off work the following week. It was already Sunday night, and I knew the crazy week I had lined up ahead and knew it would be near impossible to plan an impromptu vacation. He was texting my sister at the same time, trying to line her up to watch Matty for the weekend and get me up to see him for his birthday that next weekend. It sounded so nice, but so hard to put together in just a few short days.

But within two days it managed to come together thanks mainly to an email from Caroline stating, "here's what you're gonna do: you're leaving Matty with us and you're going to see your husband." I couldn't believe, and still can't, that I took her up on it. It takes me weeks to decide anything, how was I deciding in a matter of hours to leave our son for the weekend for only the second time in his life?

But I am really happy I did. Not only did Matty have an absolute blast and not miss me one bit (Jake did though, so thanks for that Jakers) but Ben and I had a great time. Just hanging out, sleeping late. We went to see a movie, an actual movie still in the theater. It was even Oscar nominated! We went in to Philly to the Reading Terminal Market and shopped and ate soft pretzels and ice cream and watched Amish people selling candies and we held hands. It might not sound like much, but when you've been living married but apart for 6 months, you cannot imagine how much you miss the simple pleasure of each other's company.

Ben showed me his solar project, finally almost complete now after almost 7 months - remember this was to be a 3 month endeavor. He pulled his truck along side a metal ladder on the side of the building and I looked up and asked if that was how I was getting up there. Ben just looked at me and said, "just do it, don't think about it."

I think now would be a good time to interject that the only recurring nightmare that I have is I'm climbing something and my hands are too slippery and I can't hold on. I'd also like to interject here that it had been snowing for 4 months solid and the ladder was WET!

But I did as instructed, I just did it and didn't think about it. (I imagined Sesame Street muppets to get through it and I counted silently in my head.) We made it up there and I truly wish I could explain what 7 months of hard work looks like. What 8,000 solar panels look like all perfectly aligned praying to their higher power. They are actually quite a beautiful sight. These pictures can't do it justice, because the camera loses them in the distance. They just go on too far.

I think about what Ben has managed to do. With his company, with this project and in his life and I am just beyond proud of him. Since I met him almost 9 years ago, the one thing he consistently wanted professionally was to work for himself and now he is. He was terrified of heights and he flew up that ladder and sort of dangled off of it when we were leaving just to show off. He was afraid of taking on this project and here he is smiling just before it's completion. I don't know if he gets what he has managed to do, but his wife does and I'm continually in awe of him.