The Higham's Go To Philly

Making the trip to visit family is always a exciting. Amy and I have lived more than 4 hours away from our parents for 18 of our 20 years of marriage. We try to get home as much as possible. And our parents/grandparents try to visit us as much as they can. But it never seems like it's enough.

This past weekend, we loaded up the mini-van and made our way east, to Philadelphia, to spend some time with the Higham family, celebrate Jay's mom's birthday, and to make our first official college visit with Logan. And boy, what a trip it was!

It began a couple of days before our scheduled departure. Tires. The van needed tires, badly. We are thankful for a winter with a very light snowfall, as it would have been nearly impossible to navigate the hills and highways in Western PA. But making the 300+ mile trip to Philly required that we replace our balding tires with something a little more road worthy. So after a couple of months, we saved up enough money (a significant feat considering our current state of affairs, but that's another blog) to replace the bad tires. And thanks to a coupon and a special, buy 3 get 1 free deal, we were able to replace all four.

The tires were to be replaced on Thursday morning. Amy was going to make the drive into Washington, get the tires replaced, and all would be great. Or so we thought.

Thursday morning was anything but usually. In fact it was absolutely chaotic. Comical now that it's in the past, but frustrating and stressful when it all went down. The bottom line, Jay ended up making the trip into Washington (2 hours late) for the tires, only to learn that the wrong tires were order. Apparently when we were looking for tires, we mistakenly used the wrong sizes for our particulate van trim. We needed 16's not 17's, and the 16's we're in stock. In fact, it took the mechanic some time to find 16's. But the call came in later Thursday afternoon that they had found some 16's and they would be delivered on Friday before noon. Whoohoo!

Come Friday morning. Amy made the trip Friday morning to have the tires replaced. Unfortunately, the tire were not in the store. They were delivered to the wrong store. True story. The mechanic was on the phone trying to figure our how to get our tires to his store so we could still make our trip to Philly.

Meanwhile, Amy came home. It was about 12:00 p.m. We had hoped to be on the road by 1:00 p.m. We picked up the kids from school, loaded the van, and hoped that the tires would arrive. Then it was back to Washington and the mechanic. Thankfully, the tires were there! So all 7 of us sat in the little waiting room waiting, as the guys switched the tires.

Once the tires were on, we hit the road, arriving in Philly in time for a late dinner and some time to relax.

Saturday was a busy day as we met up with the rest of the siblings and cousins for the official cousin portrait. It's been a couple of years since our last portrait, and not only have the kids grown, but the number of grandkids has grown as well. So after waiting for almost an hour over our reservation time, the photo was taken and we were on our way to lunch.

Saturday wrapped up with the entire family squeezed around the table and our Christmas celebration. Yes, Christmas. We didn't make it home at Christmas, so we exchanged gifts this weekend.

Sunday kicked off with a new tradition. Last year, we stopped by a Starbucks before heading to church. The store has a great second floor sitting area where you can just hang out. And thanks to some Starbucks gift cards, we were able to get Starbucks for all of us.

One of the fun things we are learning to take advantage of is that our kids are growing up and able to enjoy times where we can sit around and talk. We love taking time to just sit and be with our kids. The later church time, and the convenience of having a Starbuck near the church we visited, makes for a great opportunity for us to spend some time with our kids.

After church, we made our way to my sisters house for the surprise birthday party for Jay's mom! The family all gathered, the siblings and cousins, Aunt's and Uncles, and some close family friends. It turned out to be a wonderful afternoon of catching up, laughing, and fun!

Monday brought our first official college trip with Logan. We went to Eastern University in St. David's, PA. Fortunately it was an absolutely beautiful day for a tour, lunch, and stop by the campus store.

It's a bit early to know if Logan will end up at Eastern, but he was very happy with the tour, and what the school had to offer. So we'll just have to wait and see.

The weekend came to an end late Monday night as we rolled back into the garage, unloaded, and sent everyone to bed. Exhausted, yet full. All in all, it was another great weekend in Philadelphia!

​- the higham family

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Hi we're Jay & Amy, and we've been married for 19 years and are super blessed to be busy raising our 5 kids; 4 boys and 1 girl! We juggle the adventures of life and ministry and share what we are learning as it relates to marriage, family, raising kids, serving in the church, and chasing after Jesus. Raising a family is hard work, especially in today's culture. But our hope is to encourage you and your family, as we live for the glory of God.

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