Quick post before our weekend

I did not have time to write before we left home, so I'll try to do a quick post from my phone as we drive.  

We are heading to Lancaster County for the weekend, sleeping at Sam and Jenn's. At 6:30 my phone rang and it was Sammy asking when we will get there.  I said probably not till 8:00. Sam said that Sammy has his coat on and refuses to take it off because he wants to run out to greet us when we arrive!  Awwwww!!  Love that boy!

I can't believe I forgot to bring my new camera!  I'll be able to take pics with my phone like I did before, but I'm a little spoiled now!

Guess what!  The second fix (replacing the diode) was the charm. We now have a fully functioning microwave. So thankful for my strong, mechanically skilled hubby!

Look at this yummy Greek salad I had for lunch on Monday at a little cafe in downtown State College. 

That's all, folks!  

Snowy Weekend at Stauffer Acres; birthday time in Florida

What an interesting weekend!  The blizzard of 2016 was coming through, and as often is the case, we were a bit too northwest to be in its path.  They were saying on Friday that we would get just  1-3 inches.  Because Anthony was away on a business trip we had decided ahead of time that Dick and I would stay at Stauffer Acres with Lori and Austin.

We were delighted to have the opportunity to sleep in the guest room over the garage.  They have just gotten it ready to rent out through air&b, and had their first guests last weekend.  Here are some pics I took of the room.

Entering the room from the outside door.

Queen size bed under the eaves.

Sitting area under the other eaves.

The room is so cozy and comfortable.  We loved it.  Don't worry, there is inside access to the rest of the house.  We didn't have to go outside, since we weren't exactly "guests!"

The bathroom.

When we got to their place Friday evening it was just beginning to snow.  By the time we went to bed, this was the view from the guest room window.

We were up early, because Dick had to leave for work by 7 am, and he needed to use Anthony's snow plow truck to open up their private road first.  Lori wanted to learn how to use it, so she went out there with him.  It was still dark, and the snow was really coming down.  I was scared watching them do down the steep hill below the house.

I took this picture through the window as they were trying to get back up the hill.  It took several tries.

Mission accomplished.

Lori got right to using the snow blower after Dick left.  She is amazing - 7 1/2 months pregnant!

I stayed inside and took pictures!

And had fun with this boy.  I think he looks like a childhood picture of Dick.  I need to find it and compare them.

He loves his antique (very, very dull and blunt) sword.

Puzzle time.

I couldn't stop snapping pictures.  It was like being in Narnia.

When Dick got home around 1:00 he did a lot more plowing and shoveling.

We probably got about 8 inches, and it was finished by late afternoon.  Meanwhile we were hearing all the stories from friends and family of several FEET of snow in DC and Lancaster County.

Energizer Bunny Lori took Austin tubing at Tussey Mountain.  It was his twin friends' birthday party.

Dick and I went home to get some things.  I took these pics as we drove up Anthony and Lori's private road.

Sunset.

I got up early this morning since our church service at Fillmore starts at 8:15, and we were 20 minutes further away than we usually are on Sunday mornings.  There was a bright full moon when I got up.

The trees were gorgeous on our drive from Fillmore to Houserville later in the morning.

When we got back to Anthony and Lori's after church the sun was bright and it actually felt pleasant outside.  I decided it was time to take some pictures from outside rather than through a window!

Sometime I should make a collage pictures of their house and the surrounding trees in each season of the year.

 Today is a special day in our family.  It is Sophie's ELEVENTH birthday!!  It truly feels unbelievable and a little bit sad that she is growing up so quickly.  Lisa posted this collage of her today.

And guess what they're doing this evening?  Lisa, George, and Sophie, plus her best friend went to watch The Lion King musical.  Wow, would I love to see that!  What a great thing to do for a birthday.

Tomorrow is another special day in our family - Lisa's birthday!  Forty-two years ago Dick and I became parents to a beautiful, dark-haired little girl, our first-born, and we were instantly in love with her.  I truly felt like I had arrived!

More choir fun; Austin's birthday party - complete with dump cake (!!)

Wednesday already!  And I'm only now finding a bit of time to post about Austin's birthday party on Sunday.  Please stay with me, because it includes an unbelievably unfortunate, but very, very funny event.

In the afternoon we went to a basketball game at the Bryce Jordan Center again.  Two Sunday afternoons in a row!  And we'd never gone to one before.  This time it was Anthony and Lori's treat.  It was a girls' basketball game - Penn State's Lady Lions against the University of Michigan's girls' team.  What is up with it always being a Michigan team when we go to watch??  LOL!!

This game was close and very, very exciting.  We thoroughly enjoyed watching it.

Unfortunately for us, we just didn't have enough time to get the last three points that would have won the game.

Austin is starting to play basketball, so he understood a good bit of what was going on.   As you can see here, we were way up in peanut heaven!  At first Lori wasn't sure she was okay up there, but after a while we got used to it.

It was a special breast cancer awareness game, their tenth annual one.  During half time they asked all breast cancer survivors to come down to the floor.  It was tremendously emotional as they just kept coming and coming.

We got to hear a few of them share their stories.

After the game we went to the bowling alley for Austin's birthday party.

Pizza for everyone and bowling for the kids.  The parents enjoyed socializing.

Lori and her friend Sherry - mother of Austin's twin friends.

After the first hour the lights went low and everything glowed - even Austin's storm trooper outfit!

Then it was cake time - an ice cream cake that was getting a bit too soft.  Lori lit the candles, but the overhead fan was causing them to flicker, so she picked it up and stepped away from the table.

The children gathered around as we sang happy birthday to Austin.  You can see me there trying to get a picture of Austin's face.  And THEN!!  Just the slightest tilt of Lori's hand and that cake fell and went SPLAT to the floor - as you can see on the lower half of this collage that Anthony made.  Austin immediately burst into tears.   It just felt HORRIBLE, especially for Lori.

 Immediately Anthony said he would go get another cake at Wegman's.  But Lori insisted she would go.  She told me later she just had to get out of there, she felt so frustrated.  Understandably so.  I felt so bad for her.  

So while she was gone the kids were getting a bit antsy and crazy, and Anthony did a very wise thing.  All the children's names were still up on the boards above the lanes in which they had bowled, so he started the games over again.  That kept them occupied, and then much sooner than expected, Lori was back with a cake.  Turns out, as she went outside it occurred to her that Dairy Queen was right behind the bowling alley, and she just walked there and got one!

So we were back in business - this time with an ice cream cake that was too hard!  But Lori's brother Gary is big and strong and did the cutting.

We. Want. Cake!

The birthday boy was happy.  If fact, he was very happy.  He LOVES bowling and is quite good, and after some of the kids left, Austin got to take their turns in addition to his own.  He was in bowling heaven!

We gave him a Star Wars alarm clock radio.  It will waken him with the Star Wars theme song!

That night when I was getting ready for bed I got a text message from Lori asking if I had gotten a picture of her dropping the cake.  I said no, I just had one of the kids singing.  She said, "Darn!"  Then I knew it was okay to laugh.  And laugh I did!  I just couldn't stop laughing.  On Monday when I went to their place, they were both there and Anthony had just looked at his pictures and put that collage together.  And we laughed some more.  I don't know how many times throughout the day I thought about it again and laughed some more.   So I guess all's well that ends in laughter!!

Backing up now to Sunday morning.  Our choir at Fillmore did the song I mentioned last time - Amazing Grace to the tune The House of the Rising Sun.  We had SO MUCH FUN.  I do have to say that I never knew the original song.  The first I ever heard the tune was when Dick and I were dating and he was doing it at church camp with the lyrics of Amazing Grace.  I've heard in the last week or two that for some people, it is hard to unthink the lyrics of the original song, which are not particularly wholesome, apparently.  I'm really sorry if that is the case for you.  We so enjoyed doing it.  I'm going to share a video here that someone took that morning.  The visual is a pretty blurry, because I got it second-handed, so just enjoy the sound!