Justin and Leah's Visit to PA

Leah and Justin posing in front of the Liberty Bell...and a little girl in the background looking at them funny.

Brandon and I posing in front of the Bell.

Brandon's photography skills at Independence Hall.

A courtroom in Independence Hall.

Where they wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Our beautiful Sunday brunch.  Grilled chicken salad and fresh sweet corn.  Yum.

We're so proud. :)

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

This is the construction of a 50 ft high tank for a Water Treatment Plant.  Also included is a picture of me (Denise) in a hard hat...don't laugh.

New York, New York

Only 2-1/2 hours away from the Big City, Brandon and I spent the weekend of Aug. 1-3 in New York City for our 1st Anniversary.  There is so much to see and do, it was almost overwhelming.  Here are a few snapshots of the weekend...

We stayed in a hotel just across the river in new jersey.  The rooms were a ton cheaper and it was just a 15 minute bus ride to the middle of Times Square.  We will definitely do the same thing next time. 

 Times Square...sooo busy.

We went to the broadway show, Hairspray, on Saturday.  It was so amazing and hilarious!

NBC Studios

The old site of the World Trade Center and the new site of the Freedom Towers.

Self-explanatory.

Brandon in the oh-so picturesque Central Park.

Beautiful.

D.C. on the 4th

We had such a great time! Definitely a memorable experience. Check out our pictures of the trip on our picasa website. http://picasaweb.google.com/brandon.brinkmeyer

Chocolate!!!!

Yesterday (Wednesday), we traveled only 45 min. to reach chocolate heaven....Hershey, PA. Here's a few pics...

First entrance.

Second entrance.


We just got in the tour cars (think Willy Wonka) to see what this place is all about. So excited!
So much chocolate!
Brandon is really really excited.

Chocolate Ave....but the streets are made of asphalt. How lame is that?


Hershey Kiss street lights.

Little by little...

The dent in the truck.

The new kitchen table.

Kitchen

Master Bedroom...a little bare, but it's a start. Brandon hung blinds in all the upstairs rooms. He's pretty much a rock star at hanging blinds now.

Speaking of rock star, here's the office/tv room/rock band haven.

MOVING!!

On Thursday, May 29 we got in the Jeep at 5:45 AM to head to PA. Our goal was to make it to

Ephrata, PA which is about 15 miles from our current home. We drove straight through only stopping to pee and eat and gas. We rolled into the Hampton Inn at 10:15 Eastern Time. It was a BIG day. Check out the pics. We closed on our house on Friday and then had to wait for our stuff, which was going to show up between the next Saturday or the following Saturday. On Friday night we went to Lancaster and found a great Japanese restaurant and explored the city. Saturday we had our washer/dryer and fridge delivered but

there was a slight problem...the refrigerator was too big. So in the

afternoon we drove to Pottstown and picked out a new one which was delivered on Sunday. Also on Sunday the truck was delivered. We were glad to see it, but there was a large dent and scratch on the top of the cab. The driver admitted to doing it so it wasn't too big of a deal, but

still something to deal with. Monday-Wednesday we did a lot of shopping (we still didn't know when our things would be delivered).

On Thursday we went hiking at French Creek State Park which is about 25 minutes away. It was a good time, the forest is very different here than in MO. Can't really say why, but it is just different. Different smells, sounds, dirt, just different. Friday morning we finally got our things and have been unpacking since. It's good to sleep on something other than an air mattress.