Sammy and Bianca visit, part two

Like I said at the end of my last post, I have two more days of fun with Sammy and Bianca to share here.  

First I'll share this collage of pictures I took today.  The clouds this morning were so interesting!  

On Monday morning I was amused by the way Bianca had tucked in some of her stuffed animals on the couch the night before.  There were certain ones that slept with her this weekend, but she took care of the others too.  Later she came out to the kitchen with the "special" ones who had slept with her. 

 

Our adventure that day was the arboretum.  They had not yet seen the new pollinator garden.   Of course, first of all we had to go to the children's garden.

Here are picture from the new part.

From there we went to the gardens near the fountain.

This time we were not chasing a storm like last time, so I got them to hold hands as they walked toward the fountain - so I could compare it to a picture I took in 2016!  Five years, and just like that they are so grown up and self sufficient already!  

Because they wanted more play time with Austin and Hunter, we went to their place next.  They had a good time together.  So many fun things to do there!  Hunter really cried when we left.

I made bacon cheddar burgers when we got home (that I had picked up at the store on the way home.)  

The kids had put the US map floor puzzle together when they first got to our place on Saturday, and there it remained the entire time they were here.  Each day they took it apart, reshuffled the pieces, and put it back together again, sometimes more than once a day!  We decided it's time for a world map floor puzzle now!  

Another thing Bianca gradually worked on was an intricate coloring picture.  She did not get it finished, but she wanted to keep it here so she can finish it next time. 

That evening I went to a potluck dinner that our women's group at GBRV had.  It was held at a pavilion nearby and we had a great time, and SO MUCH FOOD!!  But I didn't take one picture!  

Dick took the kids over to Anthony and Lori's again, this time to climb up into his shack so they could sit very still and watch for deer.  He said they did a good job, but unfortunately, no deer made an appearance that evening.  And he did not take any pictures.  

After we all were back home again, they watched Air Buddies while I got some work done.  

On Tuesday we went to Bellefonte.  First of all the library.   How about that bench at the entrance??  After looking at books for a while they created castles with the magnetic tiles.  

Then we went down the street to Maria's for our lunch.  Hawaiian Pizza - our favorite.

There was time to stroll around Talleyrand Park for about half an hour.  

Then we put gas in the van, went home to pack up, and headed down the highway around 4:00.  It's about an hour-and-a-half drive.  First we played the alphabet game, then we played, "I'm going on a trip..."   What a crazy game!  We laughed and laughed and laughed as we picked ridiculous things to go with the next letter of the alphabet to take on our trip. 

They wanted to show me their rooms when we got to Jenn's house, so I stayed a little while.  Then we said our goodbyes and I made the trip back to State College.  I got a few groceries before I went home, and that beautiful sunset greeted me as I came out of the store.  

Stuff keeps happening that I could keep writing about, but they'll keep till next time!  

Sammy and Bianca visit, part one

As I said at the end of my last post, Sammy and Bianca were coming to our house the next day.  Saturday morning I did some quick vacuuming, etc, then left at 10:30 to go pick them up.  I got to a McDonalds where we were meeting around 12 noon.  They had already eaten lunch, so we headed right back to State College.  

Our adventure that day was the lake at Greenwood Furnace State Park, about 45 minutes from here.  

Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was threatening to rain and people were leaving.  But it actually never did rain.  But was that water COLD!!  We would not have minded some hot sunshine!

The kids had just completed two-weeks of group swim lessons at their local swimming pool, and they had both passed!  They showed us their skills.  They had a good time playing in the sand. 

On the way back home we stopped to eat at our favorite BBQ place, Doan's Bones.  We hadn't been there in two years!  We were a bit disappointed that none of our favorite servers were there. 

We were amused by the picture of "pulled pork" above our table and also by the flying pig hanging from the ceiling. 

After we came home and showered, the kids and I played LIFE.  It had to be the craziest game we ever played.  We laughed so hard sometimes.  The house I bought was a fixer-upper, completely falling apart, and my salary was dreadfully low.  So when Bianca got a bit rambunctious and knocked my car and people off the board, I said, "What??  That car is my HOME!!"  They also decided that the paunchy guy at the gym looked like me.  But surprise, surprise!!  I ended up winning!!  Those LIFE cards that get added up at the end can be a game-changer, and they WERE!

On Sunday morning we went to church, then came home and packed up for a day at the lake at Bald Eagle State Park.  That is about 20 minutes from here.  What an absolutely beautiful place!  And it was sunny and hot!  We took our canopy along for shade.  

There weren't many people there when we arrived at noon, but it got much fuller as the afternoon went on. 

The kids found friends to play with in the sand.  We ate our packed lunch, then I went in the water with them for a long time.  It's so relaxing, now that they can both swim. 

Dick had discovered a crack between two of his toes the night before and, because of his diabetes, did not want to risk being in lake water.  So he hung out under the canopy.  Definitely not what we would have liked. 

Later in the afternoon Anthony and Lori and the boys came.  What fun for the cousins to finally play together for the first time in about a year-and-a-half!  We all had the BEST time!!  It was so beautiful in the late afternoon sun, we felt like we would never want to leave.  

We finally left around 6:00, planning to eat together at the Twin Kiss down the road.  When we arrived we found out that they had closed early because they had run out of food and ice cream!!  What????  We were so disappointed!  So we each just headed home, but the kids were really sad.  

I made burritos while the kids showered, and we also had ice cream here, so that wasn't so bad.   Sammy worked on something he was creating on his tablet.  Bianca worked on the intricate picture she was coloring.  She also modeled the dress and sandals she had worn to church so I could take the picture I had forgotten to take in the morning.  Silly girl!

Well, I'm going to wrap this up.  There will be a part two, because I have two more days of great times to document here!

A week full of fun

Friday evening already!  Please slow down, Summer!!!  I'm enjoying the beauty so much!!  Here is a collage of pictures I took this week - mostly my flowers, but a few from our granddaughter Destiny's work place too. 

We stayed home this past weekend.  On Sunday afternoon Dick went over to check his trail cams at Anthony and Lori's.  He had a little hiking buddy.  Then they went up into his hunting shack.  Dick took this video of Hunter climbing the ladder.  Hunter knew Dick was taking a video and wanted to see it when he got to the top, so there may have been some theatrics involved here, haha!

This view of their pond never gets old!

This is zucchini season!  One of my favorite recipes is this Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake.  I gave Anthony and Lori at least half of this.

Here's a rather poor quality picture of my recipe.  

Destiny got her second COVID vaccine on Monday afternoon.  She had asked if I could come down in case she would get sick from it like I did.  So I drove down to her place Tuesday morning.  It was her day off work, thankfully.  But also thankfully, she did not have any side effects beside her sore arm, a head ache and tiredness!  So we had a great time together!  

This boy!!!  Eleven months old now, walking, running, getting into EVERYTHING, "talking" - even on the phone, haha!  He accidentally learned how to drink through a straw and it surprised him!  

This video is so funny.  He seems to be having a conversation with Destiny, maybe even arguing.  Yikes!

Destiny also had a zucchini to use up.  So the other evening I talked her through the making of that cake while we were FaceTiming.  I snapped this picture of her grating the zucchini.  

She didn't have buttermilk, so I told her how to make sour milk with vinegar and milk.  She doesn't have a mixer either, but that's not a necessity.  The cake was a success.  Alex liked it when he got home from work until he realized it had zucchini in it. Ugh!!!!  So she took some of it to work on Thursday, and her co-workers loved it and said she had to bring the whole rest of the cake to work on Friday.  So she did, and it's all gone now!  She said she gave a piece of it to one of her regular customers, and a new customer saw it and asked for some too!  

On Thursday Hunter was here.  No end to the funny things he says.  When he wanted me to watch him play a game on his iPad, I told him I'd watch for 15 minutes, then he would have to do something I want to do for 15 minutes.  He said, "Fifteen minutes is 900 seconds!"   I had to use my calculator to check, and he was indeed correct!

We had fun down at the little playground behind our house.  It was such a beautiful day!  While he was walking across the balance beam he was counting by millions up to a billion and then by billions up to a trillion!  His head is absolutely filled with math!  At one point he said - just out of the blue - "16x16 equals 256!"  I guess he never forgets anything he learns.  

That very day the picture of him on the left was in my Facebook memories from 2017.  I just had to compare it to his current big smile, haha!

Austin came along when Lori came to pick Hunter up that evening.  This boy is just half a year away from being a teenager.  I cannot believe it!  

More food pics!  This afternoon Destiny and I were Facetiming as I was making Zucchini Lasagna and she was making scallops and garlic butter pasta.  I told her maybe someday she'll own a little restaurant!  She loves to cook.

And before I finish here I must share these pics!  This week Lisa, George, and Sophie are in Portland visiting Jeremy, Mike, and the kids!!  Their first time there.  I guess they definitely are not having the outrageous heat they'd been having a few weeks ago, because in most pictures I see they have jackets on.  They're having such a great time going to all the favorite spots - the coast, Multnomah Falls, trails, etc. 

Well, that's it for this time.  Sammy and Bianca are coming for a few days, so I have lots to do!

Sibling Weekend, part two

Our Sibling Sunday was another good day.  It started out the same as Saturday - slow and relaxed.  Mary Ellen made baked oatmeal for our breakfast.  Again we had lots of time to keep on talking!  

Rose's father-in-law passed away a few months ago, and his burial service was being held Sunday afternoon.  Some of Rose's family had come up from Georgia and South Carolina for that, and we all were eager to see them.  

The burial was at Westminster Presbyterian Church near Lancaster, a really beautiful service.  He had served in the Korean War, so there were older former servicemen there to do the military ceremonies, including the playing of Taps, which always brings me to tears.  

There was a light reception in the fellowship hall afterward, which gave us lots of time to catch up with Rose's family.  Absolutely delightful!!!

Four (out of six) of Rose and Bob's children were there - Julia, Christy, Katie, and Matthew.  Two of their daughters, Maribeth and Olivia, were unable to come.  We aunts had the greatest time with these kids, now adults, whom we have known since birth!

From there we went to Dick and Nancy's place for the evening.  Nancy had her beautiful table set for us again. But I don't think anyone got a picture of us sitting down this time.

One really special thing we did together was looking at pictures of Grandma Mary I had compiled after she passed away in September.  Dick cast them up onto his TV, so we could all see them together.  Lots of discussion, some laughter and some tears as we watched.  How we loved her and her humor.  And her food and her love!  It's still hard to believe how quickly COVID took her from us.  

We gathered on the deck for the official 2021 sibling photo taken by Nancy, our photography expert!

In case anyone does not know us, we are Doris-5th, Jean-4th, Rose-8th, Barb-6th, Dick-2nd, Betty-7th, and Mary Ellen-3rd.  We were not in age order for this photo, so I added the birth order.  Of course, Janet had been 1st. 

Then we sisters went back to our Airbnb for one last night.  By that time we had thrown all caution to the wind as we sat and munched on every available food that was still left.  There was plenty of it!  Pretzels and cheese and sweet bologna and chips and donuts and cookies and leftover pulled chicken and fruit. I'm sure I forgot a few things!

Our bedtime was a bit earlier since we all had to be on our way home the next morning.   

Barb and Mary Ellen left in the wee hours of the morning.  Mary Ellen took Barb to the Harrisburg airport and then came back to the house before most of us had even stirred.  We ate leftover eggs and baked oatmeal and English muffins as we began to clean up everything.  We took a last picture before we all left, without Barb of course.  Rose and Betty were so surprised at how their clothes matched when they both walked into the dining room, hahaha!!  We agreed that if we had had two more days together we would not have run out of things to talk about!  

I took Rose to the Harrisburg airport and we sadly said our goodbyes for another year.   We knew Betty was on her drive back to New Hampshire.  Doris and Mary Ellen did not have far to go home.  I think we all felt like this had been our best time together ever because of the lack of pressure and having so much time to just relax and talk and be together.  

I went to Destiny and Alex's place.  She was at work.  At lunch time I took Elizer with me to the restaurant.  

Destiny's boss had made an ethnic specialty of his - Egyptian Moussaka, which I ordered.  It is a red sauce with eggplant in it.  Absolutely scrumptious!!  Especially with garlic bread. 

These hibiscus were blooming outside the restaurant.  I remembered how Sophie used to call them "hibiscuits" haha!!  

We took Alex to work when we got to their place, then came back and hung out for a while before I headed for home.  There was a storm before I left, and I drove through lots of water on the roads at first, but then it cleared and I had a good drive home.  All my sisters, including the three out-of-staters, were home before I was, haha!!  

I've been busy trying to catch up ever since.  Actually, on Tuesday I looked up a recipe for Egyptian Moussaka and made it for us and for Anthony and Lori.  It wasn't as good as what I had at the restaurant, but it was good!

We had a really bad storm in this area on Tuesday evening.  Anthony and Lori heard a loud crack one time, but their power did not go out.  However, the next morning there was tree bark strewn across their driveway.  Then they saw a tree that had obviously been struck by lightning, the bark peeled off, the trunk split part, but it had not fallen down!  They had a tree service with a crane come out to take it down.  

You can see on the left picture where it was in relationship to the basketball hoop on their driveway!!  We are beyond thankful it did not fall over onto the house!!

Yesterday I took the time to walk around the house to take pictures of the lilies and the first sunflower.  I love being with more loved ones this year compared to last summer.  But I definitely have less time to sit on the porch or tend my flowers.  Can't have it all!

Have a great weekend!