Good times all week long!!

A whole lot has happened since I posted a week-and-a-half ago!  And this is going to be really, really long.  But not too boring, I promise!

I'll start with last Friday, August 31st.  Our home area in Lancaster County made the national news that evening because of the craziest rain storm ever!  In just a matter of a few hours they got around ten inches of rain on soil that was already completely saturated.   Crazy flash flooding occurred.

The first pictures I saw were of the 283 bypass, which I knew Bjorn probably uses on his commute between his apartment near Manheim and the Penn State Harrisburg campus he attends.

I texted him later and he said his normal 20-minute commute home took him 2. 5 hours!

Here are two pictures I took from the FB page of the Drone Guys.   This is Manheim, our home town.    Flooding in this section of town is nothing new, but it happened so fast and unexpectedly in this case.

The craziest picture is this one.  Look how the flooding actually shifted the blacktop of this road!!

We did not get that rain, thankfully.

On Saturday I gave my whole little house a good cleaning, and when I went to bed that evening it was all ready for company, even though that company would not be coming until Monday.  We were planning our own little trip in between.

On Sunday right after our service at GBRV we headed down home.  We had not seen Dick's parents since our Stauffer camping weekend at the end of June!  We stopped and picked up Sammy and Bianca and took them with us to Great Grandpa's house.  It felt like ages since we'd seen them too, even if it was just three weeks.  Just love them to pieces!

At Great Grandpa's house they played with some of their good old toys while we adults visited.  How about that classic Fisher Price airplane?

Later I took them outside on a tour of the woods and all the outbuildings and sheds.  Sammy was thoroughly fascinated by all of it.   This place holds so many good memories for our kids.  They were building the house the year Anthony was born.

Dad is 93 now and definitely experiencing loss of energy and balance.  Arlene is a huge help to him and still drives, so they are able to keep on living at home, which is their preference.

After leaving their place we took the kids back to Sam's and then went to the annual Labor Day  gathering at my Uncle Earl and Aunt Irene's house.  It is such a perfectly lovely place to meet! 

These two uncles, Lloyd and Earl, were the youngest of ten children and are the only two still living.    My mother was fourth in line.  Pictured also are Aunt Francis, formerly married to our Uncle Bob, and Earl's wife Irene.  

These are the cousins that were there on Sunday.  Many others were not there.  

We really do enjoy being together.  

This was my crazy photographer taking a selfie, haha!

We went back to Sam's then and had more fun with the kids and stayed overnight.  

Monday morning I made pancakes and bacon and then said our goodbyes.   Oh my heart!

We headed for home, keeping in touch with Jeremy and Mike who had spent the weekend in DC and were coming to our place, and also Mike's dad and stepmother who were on their way from Pittsburgh.  Amazingly it seemed like we all were going to arrive at about the same time!!  We decided we would meet for lunch at the Corner Room in downtown State College.

Dick and I got there at exactly the same time as Dave and Marian.  Too funny!  We took a selfie and sent it to Mike and Jeremy.  They were about 10 minutes away.

It occurred to me that it was EXACTLY one year since we had last seen Jeremy and Mike!  So of course I had to have a new mother-son photo!

We had such a good time eating lunch together.

We came home to our house then to relax.  Dick went back to our room and took a nap for a while, Mike found his favorite spot on the loveseat, and Jeremy, Marian, and I played Scrabble.  Dave was kind of advising Marian, but that was okay.  We had a lot of fun, and Jeremy beat us like crazy.  I taught him too well!

Around 5:30 we headed over to Anthony's place to pick him up and we went over the mountain to Doan's Bones BBQ.   Lori and the boys had been with her mother and sister and some other friends from her childhood for the weekend in celebration of her birthday, and they were not home yet.

The weather had turned unmercifully hot and humid, so the AC felt really, really good inside.  Seems like every time we go it is either too hot or too cool for eating outdoors.  One of these times it will be just right!

After we got back to Anthony's, Lori and the boys soon arrived too.  It was loud and crazy and fun!  We all went down to the barn to see some of the most recent renovations.  I took my camera, but forgot to use it until we were walking out!

Marian and Dave stayed in their airbnb apartment that night, Jeremy and Mike came to our place.  We were a tired bunch!

On Tuesday morning I had a badly needed hair appointment.  While I was there Dick and the guys and Dave and Marian went to see Whipple Dam.  Marian remembered going there when she was a student at Penn State back in the 70's.

Jeremy and his dad; Mike and his dad.

We all met at Berkey Creamery for lunch.  Lori walked there from her office.  It was SO HOT, and of course all the indoor tables were taken.  I got there first and found two in the shade.  It wasn't too bad.   And of course, we WERE eating ice cream.

Dave and Marian headed back home to Pittsburgh after that.  Back at home I made Spanish Country Soup and blueberry muffins for our dinner.  The soup recipe had a note that it was especially good for a cold winter evening, hahahahaha!!  

Jeremy had lots of work to do, constant phone calls and emails.  It's amazing how people don't have to be at work in order to work these days!  My living room was a pretty good office.

We all went over to Anthony and Lori's for dinner and the evening. 

Hunter was proving to Uncle Jeremy how smart he is.  He just loves letters and learning to spell names and counting.

We enjoyed hours of good conversation on the screened in porch.

On Wednesday Anthony brought Hunter to our house instead of daycare just because we wanted to babysit him.  He is so easy and delightful.

I was busy in the kitchen.  I made a lot of fried rice and also sweet and sour chicken and then put all of it in my big slow cooker to keep it warm until dinner.  While Hunter napped we watched the movie Wonder, which the guys had never seen before.  Oh my.  No matter how many times I watch it, my eyes just overflow almost all the way through.  It is so very, very touching.  Jeremy is my favorite person to watch a movie like that with because he feels everything deeply just like I do. 

Later we all went over to Anthony and Lori's again for dinner and the evening.  

We again enjoyed the beauty of sitting on the porch and the setting sun.

On Thursday we went to Sower's Harvest Cafe in downtown State College for lunch.  We met up with our friends Peg and Bill.  Last April when they were on their big trip to the west coast they had stopped in Portland and had lunch with Jeremy and Mike.  So they wanted to see them while they were here. 

After lunch we went to Capparella's Furniture in Bellefonte.  Jeremy has done business with them.

Tallyrand Park in Bellefonte was beautiful as always, but it was too hot to be outside and enjoy it. 

Mike started telling us that he would really like to have a cookout at Anthony and Lori's on this their last evening with us.  We would not imagine.  It was just TOO HOT!  But he didn't care, haha!   He went to Walmart and bought all the stuff.  And wouldn't you know?  A big storm rolled through that afternoon and it turned cooler!  

We had the most fantastic evening!  All summer long it has been either too hot or too rainy to eat outside, and we just couldn't believe how perfectly pleasant it was!

Austin provided security for the event, haha!

Mike was a great chef!

Trust me, those burgers and cheesy hot dogs tasted every bit as delish as they looked!

Ahhhh!!  We just love it out here.

The whole crew!

I had made Jeremy's favorite cookies that afternoon for our dessert.  Turns out even the little boys loved them too.  Molasses Ginger Snaps.   So soft and spicy and scrumptious!

Many times that day, and especially as we were eating, we were remembering Mike's mom Martha. It was one year to the day that she had passed away.  We had fond memories of being with her right here at Anthony and Lori's place several times.

Next the hot tub was put back into action - another thing we hadn't used over summer.  How about that - I was hot tubbing with my boys.   Doesn't get much better than that!

It was just so wonderful to be with them together this week.  Boys that pested and irritated the heck out of each other growing up, now sincerely liking each other and enjoying each others' company.  It's what every mamma wants.

As if there hadn't been enough good things for one day, there was a football game that evening in which the Philadelphia Eagles were playing.  Jeremy and Mike had never experienced seeing a game on Anthony's huge screen in the barn, so we had to do that too!

But the game had been delayed by a storm and we were all sleepy, so we only made it through the first quarter and then called it a night. 

What a good, good day!

Friday morning Dick went back to work.  Jeremy and Mike were heading back to DC for the weekend.  They went to Dick's shop to say goodbye to him and I went there too.  

At least this time I know it won't be a whole year till we see them again.  They are coming East for Bjorn and Jess's wedding in February.  Yikes!  So many things could go wrong with flights in February, but we won't go there, haha!  

Before long they were in their old neighborhood in DC enjoying that rooftop life!  Lots of people have patios, even pools on their roofs!

We had the boys last evening so Anthony and Lori could go out with their friends.  We took them to our church's spaghetti supper. 

After the spaghetti and cake.....

We came home then so Dick could mow our grass.  I took Hunter for a ride in this way-too-small toy.  He does not care.  He just loves it!  The funny thing is, when we got it for Austin at a much younger age, we could never push him in it because he insisted on putting his feet on the ground instead of up on the foot rest area.  So it just amazes me that Hunter likes it so much and I could push him all the way up the street. 

We had a pretty sky last evening.

And now I'm all caught up!  Until tomorrow!  I'll tell you about that next time.