My kids spend most of their summers with grandparents.  When they go to Pennsylvania to spend time with my parents, they go to a fun day camp.  When they go to Illinois to spend time with their paternal grandparents, they hang around, go to the pool and relax.  Since the Redhead’s baseball season isn’t over yet, and he’s playing on the All-Stars team this summer, Superman and I took Teeny to my parents’ house in Pennsylvania yesterday all by herself.  Little one actually admitted she’d miss her little brother.  That’s quite an admission for a teenage girl, but my kids have never been typical.  They’re close – especially for a brother and sister.  They talk, they hang out together, and despite the usual squabbles that brothers and sisters have, they’d go to the mat for one another.  The Redhead constantly demands hugs from his sister, and she even helps him out with his chores when she’s in the mood.  I’m lucky.  Very lucky.

So we took Teeny to Pennsylvania, and we hung out with my parents for a bit, where Superman got a chance to experience more Russian food.  Then we took off, leaving Teeny with my parents, having decided to play at Valley Forge for a while before meeting Massad Ayoob for dinner.

So we walked around the area for a bit.

How would you like to use these in war?

I prefer the M-16, thanks.

It’s nice to see what kind of tools our military used in the Revolutionary War.

This is how the Soldiers lived during the Revolutionary War.  I’ll never complain about our barracks again.  Yeah, that’s a bunk.

Look at these fabulous barracks!  They kept out most moisture… well… meh… not really.  But there was a fireplace!

And here are the officers’ quarters.  Note the difference.

More at Valley Forge! 

We couldn’t spend a whole lot of time there, as Mas Ayoob was teaching a class in Harrisburg, and we wanted to get there so we could have dinner together.  So we left and drove to Harrisburg, where we met up with him and his girlfriend and another friend, and we decided pizza and beer were to be the fare of the night.  This is where it was also confirmed by the expert firearms instructor that I’m not a complete asshat for keeping my non-dominant finger on the trigger guard when I shoot, which is something Superman had always needled me about.  Mas confirmed that doing that was fine, as long as I’m comfortable with it.  Superman was good enough to stand corrected.

We had fun.  Loads of great (and not so great) jokes were told, and we didn’t leave until 2200.  Since I have issues driving at night, Superman graciously agreed to do the driving.  We got to my place from Harrisburg in just under two hours!  Boy, I love having a cop drive my car! 

Me and Mas at the hotel during pizza and beer time!

Mas and his Princess, who is much like me in the sarcasm department.  We got along just fine.

Thanks for the pizza, the valuable advice, the jokes and great conversation to you guys!  You definitely need to come out to the DC area soon and hang out with us!

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