Mt. Gretna

Today we went to Mt. Gretna with some of our friends.  It's a little town about 20 miles away, atop a forested "mountain" (you Westerners would call it a hill) that is/was a resort town going back to the 19th century.  It still is a Chautauqua site, with a playhouse (a musical was happening today, which we peeked at), library, philosophy hall, and so on.  It was also a "camp meeting" town, which is where people who belong to a certain church denomination would go and spend summers together (there still are a few of those here in PA).  And it was served by a pleasure railroad line until 1917, so people would take the train and spend the day there, to get out of the summer heat.  It has darling little gingerbread cottages, with paths in between (no cars then), and a set of small public areas, all set amid the woods.  There is a nice little lake with a beach, privately owned, which you have to pay admission to enter.  Very different from the West Coast model of public lands!  But it was charming, with grassy picnic areas, a nice beach, docks, diving boards, and a trapeze that teenagers were swinging on and jumping down into the lake.  Very old-time East-Coast summer fun.  We spent several hours at the lake, wading, swimming, and picknicking.  And then we went to the famous "Jigger Shop," an ice cream parlor since 1892. 

Both kids had a great time.  They are both very social, and light up when they are around friends, both kids and adults.  Agatha LOVED the water!  She sat in the shallows, crawled and splashed, and we swooshed her all around and she adored it.  Henry didn't want to get in at first, but once he did we couldn't get him out.  He has really changed lately, becoming more emotional and also even more verbal.  I have the sense now that he is fully fluent in English-- nothing gets by him, and he can express precisely what he means all the time.  It seems like he notices everything-- every stand pipe on a building, every stray shopping cart-- but I think it's really that he can easily verbalize every single thing that he sees and thinks.  His emotionalism is definitely different.  He is very loving and expressive toward us, and toward his sister.  For the first time, he is really trying to care for her, and if he accidentally hurts her he wails and cries and is so upset.  At the same time, he seems more timid than he used to be, and more prone to freak out and cry if things don't go his way-- even tiny, silly things.  As my mom said, it almost seems "hormonal," and maybe it is, or maybe he's just going through a phase.  I wonder if it is a matter of coming to understand feelings more, the emotional and psychological aspect of getting along with people, wanting them to like you, starting to have fears and doubts, and so on.  It is always interesting watching him grow and develop.