We did a quick trip yesterday afternoon to Reading and Ephrata. It was a cold, but beautiful, clear day, so we took Destiny to the Pagoda. Unfortunately, after we had climbed all those steps to get to the observation deck, we realized we didn't have any quarters for the telescopic viewer, but we still were able to pick out her apartment building and her school, among many other things. It was so clear, and we could see so far, I almost thought we could see Philly in the one direction, State College in another, and Lancaster in the other, hahaha!
This is a picture Dick took when we were going down the steps. At one level there was a sign on a door that there was a private party. Wouldn't that be a cool place for a party? One level has a little museum about the history of the pagoda.
When we left there, we went to Destiny's great-uncle Danny's house, where Frank is doing some remodeling and painting on weekends. We didn't stay there too long, because he was busy.
Of course we were hungry, and Destiny told us about Bojangles Famous Chicken and Biscuits. We had never heard of it, but we went, and she was right. The food was delicious - really, the biggest, tastiest biscuit I've ever had. Destiny loved that fried chicken!
After we said our goodbyes to her, we headed home by way of Ephrata to see Sammy. We probably stayed for just a short, but very fun half hour.
We got home around 10 last evening.
Today Dick had an unexpected opportunity. A friend at Fillmore this morning was looking for someone to use his tickets to the Penn State/Nebraska wrestling match this afternoon. I do not enjoy watching wrestling at all, so we tried to find someone to go with him, but no luck. So he went alone, not that he cared!
And I melted into the depths of my comfy sofa for a good, long, deep Sunday afternoon nap. Ahhhh!!
This is a birthday week in our family. Last Thursday (17th) was Austin's, this Thursday (24th) was Sophie's, and today (25th) is Lisa's.
Lisa had called me in the wee hours of that morning in 2005 to let us know that she was in labor and they were going to the hospital. But I had to go to school and try to concentrate on teaching! At that time I did not have a computer in my classroom, so I would run to the computer lab every chance I got to check my email. I will never forget opening my email just as a herd of middle schoolers were entering the computer lab, and there was a picture of Sophie. I yelled, "THERE SHE IS!!!" And the kids all tried to crowd around the computer to see her!
There were no computers or cell phones when I had Lisa! But they did have a phone in the delivery room at the hospital. For some reason I did not want our parents to know I was in labor (it only started around midnight anyway). After Lisa was born (around 5:30 am) and they put her in my arms, they brought us the phone. I think I might have let Dick call his parents, but I wanted to call my parents myself. It was so much fun hearing my dad's surprise! They shouldn't have been surprised. Good grief, I was two weeks overdue and beginning to wonder if women really do go into labor! What precious memories I have from that day! At that point, being a mom was all I had hoped and dreamed for. I secretly hoped for a girl first, although I don't think I ever said that out loud to anyone but Dick. And I just couldn't believe how adorable this tiny little girl in my arms was. Sigh. I'd start all over again if that were possible, hahahaha!
On Thursday evening I was with Lori and Austin, and we made this Happy Birthday video for the Florida birthday girls.
This was SUCH a cold week!!! It's so easy to feel unmotivated and blah. One morning I just felt like I needed something funny and fun, so I created this collage of my sisters Doris, Barb, and me for Facebook. I had a number of wrong and right guesses. If you didn't see it there, let me know how you think we match up with our childhood pic!
We got snow again today, probably just a few inches. I was able to get all the running I had to do today finished before the roads had snow on them. I was so glad to be home.
Late this afternoon we hopped a ride with Anthony and Lori to Slinky Action Zone in Altoona. It's an indoor playground. We weren't sure why the name "Slinky," but it was definitely an action zone! A number of their friends were there as well. I think the kids and the adults all had fun and more than enough food.
Today our lovely daughter-in-love Jenn turned 30! We love her so much and hope she had a good day back home with her "Sammys" after being away for two weeks of training.
And now we shall officially be entering the deep freeze. I surely hope it's true that cold weather builds character. Ha!
I love making collages! I made two new ones yesterday. Here's my updated collage of our eight beautiful grandchildren.
Last evening Lisa posted a picture of herself laughing. It just made me want to laugh with her. I LOVE to laugh - especially the I-can't catch-my-breath kind of laughing. I got the idea to go through my Picasa files to find pictures of people laughing. And here we are - Dick's brother Fred, myself, Grandma Mary, my sisters Doris and Betty, Lisa, my dad (he was the best laugher!), Sammy, and Dick. Just looking at this makes me laugh!
We had an amazing sunset last evening as I was driving home. My new cell phone does a pretty good job of picture taking, but I had to enhance these photos to get the true beauty. For things like this I will still need to use my good camera. Guess I'd better put it back into my purse.
We celebrated Austin's 4th birthday this evening. I made our favorite meal - Sazon chicken with rice and beans. Lori made a chocolate chip zucchini cake, and according to Austin's wishes, turned it into a blue snowman! As we ate, Anthony had a slide show of Austin's first day running on the computer. Oh, we have SUCH fond memories of that day. Of course, Austin was not nearly as impressed with those precious pictures as we adults were!
Here's a collage I posted on Facebook this morning.
He is totally in love with anything to do with Thomas the Train, so that was the birthday theme, even a big Thomas balloon!
No Thomas cake, though. Here's Lori finishing up that blue snowman cake!
I gave him Harold the Helicopter.
No pictures of Anthony or me. We were the photographers!
After the warmish weekend our snow cover had disappeared, but on Tuesday night we got a brand new coat. The trees were so beautiful on Wednesday. I took these pictures right out the window here at my computer.
My mountain is also white again.
On Friday I left here around noon and drove first of all to Reading. They had been forecasting warmer temps for the end of the week, but I didn't realize that rain would come with them. I ended up driving in heavy rain much of the day.
I spent some time with Destiny and her brother at their apartment, helping them to organize some of their clothes and things, then took the kids to McDonalds. Here they are - Shalimar is two years younger than Destiny. We had a lot of fun.
When I got to Sam and Jenn's place around 8:15, I was happy to see that Sammy was still very much awake. He and Sam were sitting at the kitchen table listening to music and playing with Play Doh. I was amazed that he wasn't putting it into his mouth. Then I discovered he likes to pretend he's going to, looking around to make sure we're watching, with smiles and tricks just popping from his eyes. He is a born ham!
Saturday morning he was just the happiest little guy. He loves his pancakes!
After I posted the two previous pictures onto Facebook, Sam said it's time for a wardrobe change, lest my friends think he wears jammies all the time!
Another thing he loves to do is put coins into the slot in the piggy bank. He really works at it, because the coins don't always line up with the slot just right.
When Sammy went down for his nap I left for home. Sam and Sammy have until Friday till Jenn comes home from training.
On Sunday after church we went to the Waffle Shop for lunch with Anthony and Lori. Her brother and his son also joined us. I got my usual corn pancakes. Just love them!
We brought Austin along home with us for his nap. When he woke up we built bridges with blocks, played with the chess pieces, Legos, and ate some snacks. When Lori and Anthony came for him they stayed for a while, which was nice.
Lori texted me her awesome pictures from the other week when she took Austin and Destiny sledding. I gotta share them!
Meanwhile, in sunny Florida..... Last Tuesday Grandma Mary flew to Sarasota, Florida where she'll be staying for four weeks. Her son Carl and his wife Mae flew down with her and just came back today. Mae sent us this picture, which I just LOVE!!! At the Mennonite and Amish community where she's staying they play a lot of shuffleboard. She's a pro! (I hope she doesn't disown me for posting this!)
My mountain is not beautiful in the winter, but this morning I thought it looked kind of pretty the way the sun seemed to be dancing across the top.
