This past weekend we had our bi-annual sibling reunion. On Friday morning I heard that Barb had arrived from Idaho, Rose was leaving from the Atlanta airport, and Betty was about to leave for her road trip from New Hampshire - brave lady! I left mid-afternoon from State College and later we all descended upon Dick and Nancy's house. This picture wasn't taken till Sunday, but I'm putting it here to introduce the post.
After a dinner of taco pie and corn on the cob, we headed outside to try out the corn hole game that Dick and Nancy's grandson had made. Oh, how we laughed and laughed. We Witmers were never known for our athletic abilities, but we surely had fun trying!
The funniest time of the whole evening was when I somehow or other kept putting my beanbags right into the hole. Like six times in a row!! We were just screaming laughing! I had finally found my sport!
Later we came back into the house for some snacking and talking and catching up.
We sisters had our "dorm room" in the basement - some of us on air mattresses, one on the sofa, and one in the guest bedroom.
On Saturday morning, after a breakfast of "Grandpa's breakfast" made by Dick and Mary Ellen, we piled into Doris's van and headed to Longwood Gardens about an hour away. All but Dick. He had a very necessary repair to do on his tow truck, and besides, he wasn't that crazy about going to see flowers.
Just as we arrived they were starting their musical fountain show. So beautiful!
We did a LOT of walking, and it was a really hot day.
A woman, holding the most adorable baby, offered to take our picture all together.
Early in the afternoon we drove to the nearby picnic area to eat our packed lunch. It was such a lovely wooded area, and we had it all to ourselves most of the time we were there. We took our good old time relaxing there and talking nonstop, of course.
Then we went back to see more.
We were so hot and tired by the time this was taken. Not sure how Mary Ellen took it without us knowing. Something was funny, I guess!
We had intended to go out to eat that evening, but we were so tired and hot when we got back to the house, and we really weren't that hungry, so we decided to stay in and just eat leftovers from the meals we'd already had. We spent a lot of time looking through a whole lot of pictures that Grandma Mary had given back to us, deciding who wanted which ones. Lots and lots of memories and laughter!
Then we did another special thing. We watched the DVD of pictures Jeremy had put together for our dad's viewing ten years ago. We had never watched it since. Favorite pictures that we all had submitted for the slide show. I took pictures of a few of them that were special to me.
We had had plenty of laughs throughout the day, but bedtime was laughter on a whole other level. One thing after the next struck us so funny as we lay in our beds talking, looking at pictures on our phones, and trying to settle down. Even after everyone was completely quiet I started thinking about something that made me giggle again. Thankfully I was able to hold it in or I'm afraid we soon would have started up all over again. Nothing like sisters, I'm telling you!! Sunday morning was slow and lazy. Nancy made us a delicious cinnamon bun coffee cake, and we had granola, yogurt, and fruit. And lots of coffee, of course.
Some of them went on a hike on a nearby rail trail after breakfast. I had already showered by that time and didn't feel like getting hot and sweaty, so I didn't go. Dick grilled hamburgers and hot dogs for our lunch. Then we headed to the front porch for our attempt at an official 2019 sibling picture. We had all kinds of issues, but Nancy's patience with us and her expertise and good camera produced this one! Thank you, Nancy!
Then we piled into Doris's van again for our trip to Richland Christian home to visit Grandma Mary. Some of the girls had never been there since her move last year. And most of us had not seen the new, bigger room she moved into a few weeks ago. It was a joyful time when we arrived.
First of all she took us on a tour of the home - the lovely deck, the dining area, the big sitting room. She and one of the care girls had us laughing as they bantered and teased each other. Mary brings so much fun and joy everywhere she goes.
There was a big, beautiful mural on the dining room wall, and Nancy set up her camera to get our picture in front of it.
We had reserved the craft room for our group to visit. What a wonderful time we had together! Mary had a few stories that completely sent us over the edge with laughter!
And of course, we had to spend some time singing together! This was our worship service. Here's just a bit of one of the songs we sang.
Then we said our goodbyes to her and went back to Dick and Nancy's house. Some of the girls were staying another night, but I needed to pack up and hit the road. It was hard to leave. I hate missing any of the fun!
On my way home I picked up someone special who is attending Broadway Camp here in State College this week! I'll do a blog post about that another day!
We saw the most lovely sunset that evening as we got near State College. Perfect ending to a most wonderful weekend!
I ended my last post with our trip home from Camp Hebron last Monday. So much has happened since then. So here goes! Wednesday, July 3 On Wednesday Austin stayed here for the day. Part of the time he worked on painting his spinners for Arts Fest.
Of course he spent lots of time playing with the cats. I finally told him that I thought they were ready for a rest. So we played Scrabble. One thing Austin often does is hold on to letters that he hopes to be able to use when he hopefully gets the rest of the letters he needs to complete a particular word. I always tell him that's not a good idea, because in the meantime he makes low point words and might not ever get the letters he needs for that big word. WELL. He did it! He was waiting and waiting for the rest of the letters to make the word "original." And then he had what he needed, making a 22 point word, PLUS 50 points for using all his letters. 72 points!! I wish I had taken a picture of his face when he realized how many points he got!
Later we met Lori at Hunter's daycare. She sat in my van for a while so we could catch up. We're like two ships passing in the night most of the time. In and out of the same house most days, never seeing each other! Of course Hunter needed to read a book to her!
Beautiful sky that evening.
Thursday, July 4 Thursday was Independence Day. But no vacation day for the men. Dick and Anthony and friend Pastor Vern have been working on a big project in the woods. They're building an elevated "hunting shack." Those corner posts have been firmly cemented deep into the ground. I haven't seen it in person yet. That would require walking in the woods (no trail) in the summertime. I think I'll just look at pictures until winter, haha!
I spent hours writing my camping blog, then I cleaned the house. After Dick came home and had showered and rested for a while, he grilled steaks and we had our first dinner on our porch for this year. Steak and baked potatoes. My favorite!
Anthony and Lori came over and hung out for a while, then we went to find a spot to watch the State College fireworks. It was a foggy evening, but we still loved watching them. All but Hunter. He really did not like the loud noises at all. I couldn't even persuade him that they were beautiful. Guess it's good we didn't take him to Longs Park in Lancaster where we sit right under them!
Friday, July 5 On Friday morning I saw the greatest little hack on the Today Show, and I just had to try it out. When I realized it really did work, I decided to make a video to prove it! I love cilantro and use it in lots of recipes. I used to take it strand by strand and cut the leaves off with a scissors. Then one time Lisa told me she just holds the whole bunch tightly together and cuts it with a scissors. That is how I always do it now. Maybe I'll try this method next time, although I'm not at all sure it is a time saver.
Saturday, July 6
On Saturday morning Dick and I left at 7 AM, headed to Lancaster County for another funeral. It started out foggy. Because it was the weekend, we did not have to take a detour, so we got to see the progress on the road construction project on 322. It's been ongoing for over a year and we never cease to be amazed at the amount of earth-moving that goes into a project like this. That bridge in the lower left is brand new. The lower right shows the one side of a future bridge. I can't even imagine what will go into building the other side of it, because there is nothing but a deep valley on the other side of the road.
The funeral for Bishop Howard Witmer (not a relative!) was held at Landis Homes Retirement Community. Howard was ordained bishop of the Mennonite churches in the Manheim area when I was a teenager. (I remember being SO glad that people thought he would be a better candidate than my dad. It was bad enough being a preacher's daughter, and I did NOT want to be a bishop's daughter!!) I always appreciated him, but became much better acquainted with him in the mid-eighties. Howard and his sweet, feisty wife Miriam listened to us and heard the cries of our hearts for "more." They invited us and a few other couples from various churches in the Manheim district to join them in a monthly prayer group. Out of that group was birthed the vision for Grace Community Fellowship. He asked Dick and I to be the praise and worship leaders. Our first service was the first Sunday of January 1987. After a few months, when his son Dave had finished seminary in Virginia, Dave and Carol and their little girls moved home and he became our pastor. There is so much more to the story, but this is not the time or place. Those were exciting, wonderful, courageous days and years!! We loved these people dearly.
Dave and Carol eventually went on to help start a few other churches, always adventurers! Their little girls grew up to be awesome women, each with four children! Two weeks ago Carol's five-year battle with cancer came to an end. We have been following on Facebook, and have been awed at her attitude in the midst of it all. Incredible testimony of complete trust in God. Unbelievably, just a few days later, Dave's dad Howard passed away at age 93! We were unable to attend the service for Carol last Wednesday, so we decided to make the trip for Howard's service on Saturday. I have even more love and respect for all of this family than I ever did. They are really fantastic people, every single one of them. It was so good to get to see all of them in person that day. I'm so glad we went. Afterward we went to Dick's parents for lunch. They are gradually trying to get rid of things. This time it was Dad's hunting box. Dick has fond memories of it and enjoyed looking through it. He brought it home, a little against my wishes. I keep reminding him that everything we bring into our house/shed, someone sometime will have to carry out, haha!! But I knew it was special to him. There was a hunting hat that dad put on his head one last time, then he gave it to Dick. It's really hard to get rid of special things. He told Arlene, "Don't bring anything else out now."
We stopped at our favorite Sheetz near Duncannon on the way home and met up with Sam and the kids. He had just gotten off work. I can't believe I didn't take any pictures!! We had fun sitting in their new cafe area. They were planning to go hiking to find an old tower after we said goodby, but before long we were in a heavy storm. I wondered how that might affect their plans.
Later I found out! This is what they encountered! No hiking that day.
Sunday, July 7 Sunday was a wonderful day from beginning to end. We went to our service at GBRV first. The choir sang for the first time since the beginning of June. I give them the summers off, but this summer we are singing the first Sunday of each month. Brenna (flutist) and I did the most gorgeous arrangement of Let Us Break Bread Together for the offertory. Gorgeous, because the flute part was really difficult, and she just sailed right through it. I am so lucky to have her!! Then we went to the service at Calvary. Afterward I took pictures of the boys. Davion, from NYC, is spending two weeks with them again, third or fourth time! He's the sweetest guy.
We took Hunter home with us for the afternoon. That evening there was a monthly "Flood the Valley" service at Calvary, a service of praise and worship and prayer. This time it was a joint service with Unity Church of Jesus Christ, where Anthony and Lori used to go, where they met. Their worship leader, Duane (far left) asked Anthony to consider joining the team that evening, and he said yes! He has taken a break from playing at church for many, many years, and not because he wasn't asked to play. What a night!!! This joint team was AMAZING!! And so was the worship and the felt presence of God. They will definitely be doing this again.
Monday, July 8 On Monday morning, after Lori had gone to work, Hunter to daycare, Austin and Davion to YMCA camp, Anthony heard noise outside. And what to his wondering eyes did appear, but a bear walking off with a bag of trash that he had taken from their trash can! He quickly started taking a video, and when he stepped onto the porch, the bear dropped the bag and took off into the woods. Yikes!!! I hope that bear doesn't figure out that almost every time I come there I am bringing food!
One evening this week I took a tour around the house to take pictures of the different lilies we have. Aren't they so beautiful?
Wednesday, July 10 Yesterday was Kids' Day at State College Arts Fest. Davion and also Lori's nephew Will had each painted some spinners too, so all three of them manned the stand. They each kept a separate cash box. One time when Austin was selling a $3.00 spinner, the customer gave him a 20 and asked him, "Now do you know how much change to give me?" Without answering he opened his cash box. The children that were with the customer started talking to Austin, and she said, condescendingly, "Now, just let him figure it out." I heard Austin mutter, "I've given 17 dollars change before." I thought it was funny. She didn't know she was talking to a boy that's been a mental math whiz for years already! Just because he doesn't have social graces doesn't mean he doesn't know how to figure out change!
It was a hot day, but they were lucky to have a stand under some trees, and there was a breeze. But walking to the food stands, and back and forth to the car was hot and exhausting.
I don't know how much money they made total. I do know that Austin said he had $165 in his box an hour or so before closing at 3. A tremendous amount of credit goes to Lori. She is the brains behind all these ventures. She sees ideas and possibilities, provides Austin with all the materials, registers him for the event, and his creativity flourishes. She may or may not have painted a few of them too, haha! (Update: I just heard from Lori that they made $280.00!!) Of all days, Lori was in terrible pain as she awaited her 3:00 appointment for a root canal!! You would never have known it. She was there the whole time, talking and laughing with people until she had to leave at 2:30 to walk to the nearby oral surgeon's office. She's wonder woman, I'm telling you! Anthony and the boys cleaned things up at 3:00, loading some things into his Jeep, some things into my van. He took Will home, I took Austin and Davion with me. First of all we went to Growing Tree, a toy store downtown, so Austin could spend a little of his money on something he was wishing for. More walking in the heat! Then we went to McDonalds drive-up for a little food and ice cream. Then I took them home. This was one of the pictures from Arts Fest in Centre Daily Times this morning. Must have been taken early before they had all the display set up.
And now I'm making plans for my upcoming sibling weekend at Dick and Nancy's house!! Can't wait! I'll be leaving tomorrow, coming home Sunday evening.
Happy Independence Day! It's a hot, beautiful day here, although we had a foggy start.
So last week I was busy preparing for our annual Stauffer Camping weekend, and now I want to take the time to write all about it so I don't forget the good time we had. On Friday I left here around 11:15 and headed out to pick up some grands. The Grandma wagon was loaded down!
There is major construction on 322 about ten miles from State College, and Dick noticed online that there might be an hour or two hold-up. So I reluctantly used a suggested detour, first of all going over to Pine Grove Mills near Anthony and Lori's place, going over the mountain and across to Belleville (not to be confused with Bellefonte, which is our address), then eventually over to 322. It took so long that way, and I felt tense the whole time because I was unfamiliar with all the hills and curves. But at least it wasn't raining. I got to Destiny's house near Columbia around 2:45. I was so glad for her company because I was getting sleepy by that time. However, she had gotten off work at 6:30 AM and had not yet slept, trying to conform to our sleep-at-night schedule. As we talked, her answers were becoming mono-syllables and I looked over and saw her eyes looking droopy. I said, "Just let yourself take a nap, Destiny!" I was so happy she wanted to come spend the weekend with us. I was in Duncannon a bit before 4:30 to pick up Sammy and Bianca, and from there it was only 15 minutes to Camp Hebron. Dick was there and already had our camper all set up. It's rare for us to be among the first to arrive, but Dick had taken a vacation day, so that made all the difference. I walked with the kids to the playground and the lake. Eventually others came and we had a nice evening, especially when it was time for roasting hot dogs and making S'mores.
It was a really hot night and we certainly did not need to worry about staying warm in our camper as we had some years. It was our turn to provide breakfast Saturday morning for about 35 people, so I was up quite early making sure the Kuering was ready to go. We put the sausages I had fried earlier in the week into two cast iron pots to heat over the fire. The blueberry sauce went into another pot. We had brought both our electric griddle as well as Anthony and Lori's, so we got busy making the pancakes on those and keeping them warm in my big slow cooker. We were ready to go at 8:30 and everyone declared it a delicious breakfast, which is always good to hear after all the work!
Jess and Bjorn were there and took the kids up to the pool around noon. Dick and I joined them a little later. Unfortunately, the forecast was calling for dangerous storms. Because of that, Anthony and Lori decided not to come down to camp for the day as they usually do. And sure enough, while we were at the pool the sky started getting dark, then there were rumbles of thunder, and after a while they made everyone get out of the pool. But we were there long enough for Bjorn to do some really great swim instruction with Sammy.
I got these adorable pics of our sister-in-law Carolyn with two of her grandbabies. I had to laugh at baby Liz doing a yoga pose in her carrier!
It did storm pretty hard, but thankfully not the dangerous winds they were forecasting. The kids and I hung out in the camper for an hour or more. Sammy had his tablet, Bianca her toys, and Destiny some puzzles. I even napped part of the time. It was actually really nice and relaxing.
At some point that day Dick took the kids to see a huge stuffed snapping turtle in a building at the camp. Dick has a history with that turtle! He was on the camp staff the summer before our wedding in 1971 when that turtle met its demise. I am not sure how that happened, but it's a huge one you would not have wanted to meet in the lake!
Around 5:30 we had dinner around the big table, provided by Steve and Faye. Delicious pulled turkey sandwiches with various vegetable salads. The only picture I got that meal was this one of Destiny across the table from me! Now I'm hungry for that broccoli and cauliflower salad she's got there, haha!
The kids kept hoping to back to the pool, but alas, another storm was brewing, one which never really came. Jess and Bjorn took the kids up to the gym for a while instead. Those two were a GODSEND!! So with shortened time at the pool, a lot more game playing occurred this year. Even I got to play games! We had the craziest time playing Encore. Coming up with songs that contain certain words sounded like such a cinch to me, but wow! It's not as easy as it sounds when you're on a timer. I resorted to making songs up, haha!!
Sammy and Bianca had so much fun with our niece Laura's children. They were in Jess and Bjorn's wedding together and got to know each other quite well because of that.
That evening we had S'mores again and whatever else we could rustle up from other snacks. Our kids were tired and very ready to go to sleep that night. So was I! On Sunday morning Jim and Carolyn provided a delicious breakfast of fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. Then we got things set up for "church" around the campfire. It was our turn to lead the service this year. Dick used to bring a guitar along, but the arthritis in his fingers keeps him from being able to play anything but a bass guitar anymore. So we brought my portable keyboard along. I first led some familiar worship choruses and children's songs. Dear Bianca "felt" it, and did her adorable choreography as we sang! Sammy enjoys following along with the lyrics now that he can read.
Here's a video Destiny took of one of Bianca's favorite songs from preschool.
Then Laura and Jess took the kids to do an activity, and the rest of us sang a couple of acapella favorites. Dick put his phone on a chair facing the treetops as we sang "It Is Well with my Soul."
Then we sang #606, otherwise known as the Mennonite Anthem or Festival Doxology. The Witmers sing this every time we're together. I told the Stauffers that at my funeral, I want all the Stauffers and Witmers that are still living to sing this song together, so this was practice, hahahaha! Niece Heather stood in the middle of the circle and took this video.
I want to be sure to show these videos to Dad and Arlene. This is the first year they were not at camp with us. It felt sad. I did email the #606 video to Dick's brother Bob and his wife Doris in Minnesota. They replied that they really enjoyed it, but it was unsettling that they didn't know everyone in the video. So I sent them a list of the people in the order they appeared in the video. For anyone that curious, here's the list. Dick, Jim, Bjorn, Fred, Eric, Pete (Krista's husband), Mike, Krista, Jill (Josh's fiance), Lindsey, Carolyn, Kendra (Greg's wife), Greg, Mark (Laura's husband), Steve, Josh, Suzi (Eric's wife), Faye, me, Chrystal (Mike's wife), Deb.
After our singing we had a time of sharing and praying together. Then Fred and Deb got busy prepping their Frogmore dinner (low country boil), the favorite meal of the weekend. Last year Sammy and Bianca ate mostly corn. This year Sammy ate mostly potatoes and Bianca ate mostly shimp. Hmmm. Which one might be cheaper to feed???
After lunch Bjorn and Jess took the kids up to the pool for a little while, and we helped to get things torn down, cleaned up, and put away. Then we needed to hit the road. But not for home this time. Dick and I were actually going to be spending another night at camp.
We went to Columbia first to take Destiny home. She would be starting her work week at 10:00 PM and wanted some down time at home before that.
Then we went to a fun place called Oregon Dairy near Lancaster where we would be meeting Sam. The kids had so much fun there. I wish I had thought to take pictures of the adorable little fawns.
From there we headed toward Longs Park, our favorite place to watch fireworks. But on the way we had to wait for the geese to cross the highway! Someone should teach them to cross at the traffic light ahead, haha!!
Dick and I have a very long tradition of going to Longs Park the Sunday evening before July 4th. They have a concert in the amphitheatre followed by the most phenomenal fireworks display we have ever seen anywhere. We have of course needed to miss a few years since we moved to State College ten years ago, but we try to make it if at all possible.
When we realized it was the Sunday evening after Stauffer camping, we decided Dick would take a vacation day on Monday. Of course we envisioned some of our kids and grandkids joining us, as they have often done in the past. And we certainly envisioned sitting with my sister Doris's big family, which we have always done in the past. But believe it or not, NO ONE else of our regular people were able to go this year!!!
I almost felt like not even going. Just go back to Camp Hebron, pack up our stuff and go home. But I'm so glad we decided to go and have a good time all by ourselves. It was WONDERFUL to feel the excitement as we arrived. The heat of the day gave way to a lovely humidity-free evening breeze. We enjoyed ourselves so very, very much. Even if we didn't even see that many people we knew, which surprised us.
We had fun catching up with Dick's cousin Dave Stauffer and his wife Barb for a bit. The concert by the army band "Pershing's Own" was FANTASTIC!! The entire hillside was filled with people.
One of the last songs in the concert is always the 1812 Overture. They used to set off live cannons during the song. Now they use howitzers as substitutes for the cannons, but they're still really loud, which we love. Watch for the grandma conductor in my video! Her enthusiasm was cracking me up!!
Then the fireworks began right in front of our faces!! We LOVED it!!!
After it was over we had a very long wait to get out of the parking lot, but we had totally expected that, so it wasn't that big a deal. When we finally got out of there we went to a nearby convenience store for a few things and headed back to Camp Hebron above Harrisburg, arriving at midnight. It felt kinda weird to be the only campers there, but the host couple in their RV were nearby.
We slept good and woke up to a beautiful day. I had the entire bathhouse to myself! Unfortunately the pick-up truck needed a repair, so Dick had to go for a part and then fix it. Some vacation day, ha!
We did not want to go home via the detour we had used on Friday, so we went a different way, which turned out to be longer of course, but so beautiful and much easier driving. Route 11/15 along the river and then Route 80 to Bellefonte. I followed that little camper alllll the way home!
Of course, the work wasn't over once we got home. Dick unloaded a bunch of stuff then headed over to mow at Anthony and Lori's. I proceeded to slowly unpack and clean things up.
As I cleaned up my old 48-year-old camping kettle kit, I reminisced how excited I was to be joining the Stauffer camping tradition when I got this as a premium for having a Tupperware or Stanley party the summer before our wedding! And we are STILL using it!! Of course, we use a lot of cast iron pots and griddles, and now electric ones too, but these things still heat water for dish washing, etc. It's just a few pieces with an interchangeable handle and a frying pan that doubles as a lid for the big pot. It all fits neatly together when putting it away.
