Welcome to the fourth installment of Together on Tuesdays!  We're so glad you are here, and please remember that you are welcome to link up any weeks that you are able.

Today we're talking about our favorite places.  This might be a local place, region, or vacation spot.  For me, well I enjoy being at home with my family.  I also enjoy my former home...
The reality is I really enjoy where I grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania.  
Though the landscape (and truck traffic) has dramatically changed with the drilling of gas wells, the countryside is made of rolling hills dotted with small towns and farms...I love the country life.
Summers are lovely with comfortable days with a few really hot ones thrown in for good measure.  Winters bring a good amount of snow, but it's okay since people know how to drive in it and folks use winter tires.   Fall is crisp and cool, while spring is cool and wet.  Seasons the way they should be...at least according to Annette because that is how she grew up.  (Southeastern PA, where we live now, is hot and humid all summer and hard to enjoy, and when winter does bring snow, things shut down.  Spring blends into summer.  We do like our location though...don't get me wrong.)
More specifically, when we are in northeastern PA now, we stay on Grandma and Grandpa's (GnG) farm.  Of all of our family, they have the most room to accommodate our family of five, and they are centrally located.  I also love that they are retired, so they are there all day when ever we are.
Don't you just love that porch!? (I recently learned that the house was once twice as large as it is now.  They used the timber of the other half of the house to build another house.)Derek spent much of his time growing up there with his family, especially on Sundays.  I should specify that the dairy farm is now operated by the new owners, but GnG still have their farmhouse.  The view from the kitchen table not only includes the barn, but many birds visiting the feeders, as evidenced below. 
When we stay at the farm for a weekend, it is usually a very busy time.  We try to fit in visiting with all of the family which includes Derek's parents and both sets of my parents...and ideally some siblings, too, who still live in the area.  My older sister actually lives in the  same town as GnG.  Very convienent since the rest of our families are 20-60 minutes.  (I should mention that the population of the township-larger than the town itself-is about 1,000.  Yep, no traffic lights needed and nice to have some family right there!)
However, there have been a few relaxing visits when we have been able to stay for a week or so.  (This would be the children and me, without Derek.)  These lingering visits are very relaxing as we spread out the visits and relax a lot more.  We can sit on the porch and watch the farm equipment come and go all day.  The children can spend the day outside, mostly unsupervised, just playing around.

But most of all, it's the people, our families, that live there that make it special.


For the past few years, we have had a family vacation that is also about the people and relaxing.  With many families from our church, we attend Pinebrook Bible Conference.  It's camp...for the family.  We eat in the dining hall, sing songs, and swim, just like you'd expect at camp.  And I don't have to wash dishes for a week (except baby bottles). We get to do it in the foothills of the Pocono Mountains (in PA) and enjoy God's great creation and the church family while learning more about God.
In fact, Dorie's family sleeps just a few doors down from my own at Pinebrook!  Last year we were both reading Maud Hart Lovelace during nap time on the porch of our "motel."  We had a good laugh about that!

So though I may have a couple of favorite places, I think it's the people and memories that stay with me the most.  That's not to say that I would oppose a special trip to Hawaii or Israel, but I want to be able to relax with my loved ones and not just go-go-go on vacation.  My preference is rural over urban, though we certainly enjoyed our trip to NYC last summer to sight-see and visit family.

(All photos were taken in the school district-a couple different areas-in which I grew up, except the last.  The first photo was very near to GnG's home.  The last photo was taken at Pinebrook a couple years ago by my husband.)


~ Annette {This Simple Mom}