Another wonderfully fun weekend!

Last Wednesday I finally had some time to go around the house and visit my flowers.  Here's what I found.  How I love summer!!!

I probably said it before (too many times) but I'm sad that it's already August.  I do love Fall, but I dread what comes after that.  

Here are some fun pics from last Thursday evening when Destiny and Elizer came for a visit.  

We had another wonderfully fun weekend!  It's just one after the next this summer!  On Friday Dick took off work at noon and we drove to Lancaster County.  Our first order of business was my eye appointment at Modern Eyes in E. Petersburg.  We know some of the owners, so it's always fun to go there.  This time I was told that my cataracts are ready to be taken out, so I was given a referral, and I now have an appointment with a local eye surgeon for a consultation on August 31st. 

From there we went to Pleasant View Communities and had dinner with Grandma Arlene at the Hearth and Harrow restaurant on the campus.  What a lovely place, and the food was scrumptious!!  We had a nice long time to eat and talk and show her pictures.  Isn’t she the most beautiful 90-year-old lady??

Look at this food!!

We went to her apartment and visited some more after we were finished eating.  It was so nice to not be rushed.

After we left we got a few groceries at the Manheim Weis Markets, then stopped in at Kauffman Mennonite Cemetery where Dick's parents are buried.  This is the church he grew up in.  We went there too the first fifteen years of our marriage.  

From there we went to my sister Mary Ellen's house where we were spending the night.  We talked till we were almost falling asleep.  Then in the morning we made breakfast together and had a long, leisurely breakfast.  She took a picture of Dick and me.  I inserted her into the picture later!

We made an old recipe, Eggs ala Goldenrod from the Mennonite Cookbook.  We added bacon.  It was so very scrumptious.  

I had brought quite a bit of food along for the lunch we would be having at Bjorn and Jess's - "Grandma's Casserole" (another old recipe), a salad, a fruit tray, and a zucchini chocolate chip cake.  So after our long, leisurely breakfast Dick and I got ourselves ready and gathered up all our food from Mary Ellen's refrigerator, and we drove to Bjorn and Jess's house.  

Not only were we going to see their house for the first time and Jess, Bjorn, and Charlie, but there was more!  Bjorn's sister Katrina was visiting from Sweden!  She is here visiting them with their dad Krister and his fiancé Sarah. (Miki will be coming over the whole month of October, woohoo!!!)  

What a fantastic time we had for about three-plus hours!!  While my casserole baked in their oven we were taken on a tour of the house and the spacious back lawn.  And we started getting caught up on Katrina's life and education in Sweden.  Conversation and laughter flowed throughout our long lunch.  Lots of reminiscing of all the times they had visited us in the states and our visits in Sweden in 2002 and 2007.  

Of course Charlie was getting quite a bit of attention.  What a precious, adorable blue-eyed baby boy!!  He was very sleepy that day because he had had his first shots the day before and had a rather sleepless night. Of course so did mommy and daddy unfortunately. Remember those days?

Before we left I wanted a picture with Bjorn and Katrina.  More than a few laughs while getting that accomplished!

Katrina and Bjorn - our first two grandchildren!

We left their place around 3:00 and went to Bianca's birthday party at Jenn's house in Duncannon.  That should have taken an hour or less except for the fact that Dick missed the exit off the PA turnpike.  So we got there about a half hour late, but it was all good.  They had eaten hamburgers and hot dogs.  We weren't hungry yet anyway after our big lunch. They were ready for her to open gifts.

We got her a lava lamp, which Jenn had told us she wanted.  

There was a pineapple theme, complete with an adorable homemade “pineapple” cake!

Sammy gave her a lot of things, including a hand written card.  Bianca was having a hard time reading his handwriting, so Jenn read it aloud.  We ladies were all in tears!!!  It was so precious!  Jenn's brother said, "Sammy, you should start writing for Hallmark cards right now!"  Sammy was embarrassed.  He is such a sweet soul!!

"To the best sister in the world, AKA B, AKA tomato girl, AKA mom to 3 cats, AKA grandma to 5 kittens, AKA queen bee, AKA early bird, AKA stuffed animal queen, AKA Bianca!!!

  I know this card isn't as crafty or colorful as you are, but I hope it means as much to you as you mean to me.  I love you Bianca. I hope your birthday goes swimmingly - Sammy  "

Then it was birthday cake time!

  

Sammy really wanted to show me some new things in his collections in the basement.  So we did that for a while.  I seriously have never met a child like him.  In addition to his collections of old things he has files of things he's saved - pictures, awards, all kinds of sentimental things. 

Bianca and her friends were having fun in the pool.  It was a hot day and looked very tempting, but I didn't have any swim stuff along.  Her day was indeed going "swimmingly" as Sammy had wished!

We headed home to get ready for an early Sunday morning.  It's about a 90 minute trip home from there. Our church service starts at 9:00 and we usually get there by 8:30.

On Sunday afternoon we went to Tudek Park in State College for the first time this year. We were hoping the horses would be in the nearby meadow as they had been last year.  A woman we talked to said there were horses in the meadow just a few weeks ago, so we were hoping.  But first the guys - Dick, Alex, and Elizer, haha! - had to shoot hoops.  That was fun to watch from a nearby bench.  Elizer truly acts like he's a grown up on the court!

After Elizer got tired of trying to shoot hoops he had fun at the playground for a while, especially swinging.  

Then we went for a long walk around the park.  To our disappointment there were no horses in the meadow and we were getting really hot, so we took a shortcut path back to the park.  I had my eyes peeled for anything that might be crawling under those bushes, haha!  (Bottom left picture.)

After we left the park we went to nearby Sweet Frog to cool off!  Perfect!!!

We spent the evening at Destiny and Alex's place.  Her neighbor has a bouncy house that she blew up for the kids.  They had so much fun.  It was a really pleasant evening for sitting outside.  

Destiny was mending a pair of shorts by hand.  I could have done them on my sewing machine, but she wanted to learn how to do it by hand.  I told her she's turning into a good Mennonite lady!

Last evening Elizer was here for a little while.  He went right to the toy cupboard where the saxophone and guitar are.  He handed one to me and he had the other and we were jammin' in the kitchen for a while.  Dick took a short video. 

Today is Bianca's actual birthday - eight years old!!  What a beautiful, FUN and funny girl she is becoming!  Growing up way too fast!!  How we love her!

I made a JibJab video for her.  

And finally, that's it for now!! 

Bellefonte/State College KOA 2022

I need to sit down and share all about our weekend!  SO MANY PICTURES!!!!  It was so much work, but SO much fun!!!!  I'm starting my post with a picture I took from the pavilion, because I don't want my top picture to be the one of all our stuff ready to go!  When I link my blog to Facebook, the top picture is what appears, and I try to have a pretty one.   So here it is!  We had perfectly beautiful weather almost the entire weekend!  That's the beloved jumping pillow (yellow), and below that a brand new bike park.

 

Like I said, getting ready for a fun weekend of camping is A LOT OF WORK!!!   On Friday I decided it was almost as bad as getting ready to move! It takes a lot of stuff and food!

Getting set up is no picnic either.  This time we needed our pop up camper and our tent.  We were so thankful for Alex and Destiny's help.  Even Elizer tried to help!  There was a food truck at the camp Friday evening, and when we were finished setting up we got our dinner there.  Really delicious cheese steaks and fries.  Alex got a Buffalo Chicken Wrap.  There was a nice seating area in front of the food truck.  

Dick had to leave after we had eaten to meet Sam at Centre Hall, about 20 minutes away, to pick up Sammy and Bianca.  When they arrived they immediately wanted to go to the jumping pillow, and soon Anthony and Lori and the boys had arrived too.  They had such a great time!!

There was a new bear statue near the jumping pillow, and they had fun climbing on it.  It actually made a nice place for picture taking.  Elizer wanted to see the bear's eyes, so Sammy lifted him up!

Then we walked back to our camp sites and the kids asked to walk up to the playground.  We were so pleasantly surprised to discover a brand new playground!  It was so much bigger and nicer than the one that had been there in previous years.  And another bear statue/bench!

We ran out of time and energy that evening and did not start a fire.  Dick had discovered that he'd forgotten to bring his pills, so he had to go home (less than 20 minutes away) to get them.   

Sammy, Bianca, and I slept in the tent!  We had both a queen and a twin air mattress and plenty of blankets.  Or so I thought!!  The temp dropped down to at least 60 degrees overnight, maybe lower, and our summer jammies and the blankets we had were not keeping us warm.  We woke up to bright sun and started complaining about how cold we were.  We couldn't believe it was just 6:00!  I told Sammy to come over to the queen mattress with us and we would snuggle.  So he did and we tried to go back to sleep.  But we couldn't.  So we made a video instead, hahaha!  These kids are so much fun!

I made a collage of Bianca's 2018 and 2022 mosquito bites that we were talking about in the video!  We decided there must be a mosquito that recognizes her and always "kisses' her at the same place!  

We finally crawled out of our tent, and after a while Grandpa came out of the camper, and then we could hear Elizer in there talking too.  I gave the kids a "first breakfast" in the camper - Fruity Pebbles.  I took a picture of Grandpa's "suite."  You might remember that last summer Lori refurbished the camper - new flooring, new ceiling tiles, painted all the cabinets gray, new covers for the upholstery, new curtains and counter tops, nice touches (you can see the cute lamp hanging from the ceiling in the top left corner.)   

Meanwhile Lori was making our breakfast over in their cabin, and after a while we walked over there.  We found Austin sitting outside working on a Rubik's Cube and Hunter in bed with his iPad.  We ate breakfast (French toast and sausage) on their deck, but I did not take one picture.  Boohoo!

The first activity the camp was providing was magnet painting in the pavilion.  

Here are a few of the finished products.  Destiny's is top left, Elizer's is top right, Bianca's is bottom left, and Sammy's is bottom right.  I wish I had gotten Austin's and Hunter's, but they had already taken theirs to the cabin by the time I thought of taking these pictures. 

We ate a quick sandwich lunch at our campsites and then went down to the bubble machine!  Always so much fun!

The obvious next activity was the pool!  Ahhh!!  It felt so good!  In fact, we were having so much fun we forgot about the next activity in the pavilion - slime making.  Destiny REALLY wanted to do that, so she went over as they were packing up the stuff, and they gave her the last two kits that had not been used.  Destiny and Bianca made those, but I didn't get a picture of them.  Meanwhile Lori went to the camp store and bought ready-made slime for the boys. What FUN!!!  Slime turned out to be the most fun toy of the whole weekend!

The next activity was tie-dying tee shirts.  We really did not have to do all the activities they offered, but the kids wanted to, and the pavilion is right next to the pool, so it was easy to go back and forth. 

 

After that was done we hung out at the pool for another hour or so.  Elizer had fallen asleep and slept for hours on Grandpa and then Lori!  He was konked out!!  Lori got slushies for the kids at the camp store.  The kids ended us with blue teeth and red tongues!

Anthony grilled his famous hamburgers at their cabin and then brought them over to our campsites.  I took a picture of Biana's because Sammy said it looked like an advertisement!  I told Anthony they were the best burgers he'd ever made.  SO juicy and scrumptious!  

As we ate our dinner, two hay wagon rides went by us.  Of course Elizer is crazy over tractors, so when we were finished eating Dick decided to go to the office to see if they were going to be taking a third load.  After a while we heard the tractor coming, and sure enough there was a third load - Grandpa and the kids, hahaha!!  Talk about special treatment!

While they were on the hayride Destiny and I walked down to the new bike park where Anthony, Lori, and Hunter were.  Hunter was trying it out.  After the hayriders returned we hung out at the jumping pillow for a while.  

At 8:00 we went to the pavilion for ice cream.  They serve Berkey Creamery ice cream!  There was a long line and certainly not enough tables for everyone, so we decided to take ours to our campsite to eat.  

We finished out the day with a campfire and s'mores and sparklers.  Such a good time.   

I was a very, very tired grandma, but before going to bed Dick and Destiny helped me to give our air mattresses a bit more air.  Anthony had brought more heavy blankets from their house, so I remade the beds a bit.  By the time that was done I was too tired to do anything but take out my contacts and brush my teeth.  I slept in my clothes!  Sammy, Bianca, and I slept GOOD that night, as cozy as a bug in a rug!  

Of course the kids were awake bright and early.  Once again they had a "first breakfast" of cereal, and they had fun playing with slime.  They also went to the new playground near our campsites.  Sammy and Bianca were so very helpful with Elizer all weekend!

Dick started a fire to fry the bacon.  I fried some potatoes on the camper stove and then added a whole lot of scrambled eggs.  Dick also made toast on the camp fire. 

Breakfast is served!  Look at that little monkey eating his banana!  He really was pretending to be a monkey! 

There were no activities that day, so we had a nice long time to be at the pool.  Anthony and Lori had to be out of their cabin by 11:00, but I was able to extend our checkout time to 6:00.  

We had such a great time in the pool!  Hunter has always been afraid to get his head wet, and thus has not been able to pass swim lessons.  Lori was trying to help him be brave enough to put his head under.  I HATE putting my head under water and haven't done so in YEARS!  But I decided to do it with Hunter.  Together we both overcame our discomfort and put our heads under water over and over and over!  He yelled over to Anthony, "Daddy, I can swim now!"  

Elizer, on the other hand, has no fear or discomfort.  With his floaty he was just bobbing all over the pool.  In fact, he loved jumping into the water!  Again and again and again!  Just couldn't get enough of the thrill of it!  I got this video.

Dick and I left the pool around 1:15 to heat the chili and get stuff ready for our lunch.  The perfect last meal of a camping weekend - Mexican pile-up.  I made an assembly line for everyone to add to their chili whatever they wanted.  

At some point Anthony took Austin to the camp pond to look for frogs.  I got these pictures from him.  I have never walked to the pond at this camp, as many times as we've been there!  One of these years I will!

All good things must come to an end of course, and after lunch everybody worked together to clean up, pack up and tear down.  After a while we were trying to beat the rain, but we did not succeed.  We probably finished up with half an hour of light rain.  Not too bad.  

We went home and unloaded just a few things, grabbed some food to eat, and then hit the road to take Sammy and Bianca home.  We met Jenn about ten miles from Duncannon at Newport Plaza.  Poor Jenn!  Her ears were inundated with stories and stories and stories!!  So many fun things to tell!  

Believe it or not, I did not even shower or do my hair and make up that day!  I made breakfast in the clothes I had worn the day before and to bed, and by the time breakfast was all cleaned up I just changed into my swim suit.  After the pool I made lunch and cleaned up in my swim suit and cover up, and when we got home I quickly changed into some clothes before taking the kids home.  Just too much fun to care how I looked!  

And that's the story of Bellefonte/State College KOA camping weekend 2022!

The rest of our visit with Lisa's family

 

First of all, a picture of last evening's sunset as I was leaving Destiny's house!  We've had amazing sunsets several evenings this week.

On Sunday morning we had the joy of having Lisa, George, and Sophie at church with us!  Afterward I was taking pictures of people for our new church directory, so it was the perfect time to get pictures of them as well!

And it was a good time for Lisa to take a picture of us for the church directory.

After church Destiny called and invited us to come to their house for brunch.  So that was fun!  She made bacon and sausage links, pancakes, and her Sazon-flavored scrambled eggs.  Everyone gave them a thumbs up!

Later in the afternoon we went to Berkey Creamery.  George was meeting up with a college friend and his family.  It was an extremely hot and humid day, so we were so glad we could get tables indoors. As always, the ice cream was the BEST!!  I always get the WPSU Coffee Break on a cone.  I could have eaten a second one, it was that delicious!!

 

In the evening we went to Anthony and Lori's.  Anthony made his scrumptious grilled burgers. Lori made shrimp tacos.  Once again, it was surprising how pleasant the patio was after such a hot day.   The view of the sunset was spectacular.  By the way, Elizer is in this photo - barely.  He was sitting on the ground digging in the stones right behind Anthony.

Sophie wanted a picture with her cousins.  They weren't feeling the most cooperative, lol!  

Dick and Destiny both needed to work on Monday, so we left for home before the Haags did.  These were our views as we drove away.

The championships were on TV again.  Anthony offered to project it onto his big screen in the barn.  I was glad their families got more chance to enjoy being together.  Here's another picture of the cousins that George took in the barn. 

Monday morning was their last one here.  They probably left around 10:30 for the drive to the Baltimore airport.  I wanted a picture of them before they left. 

I liked the way Lisa's outfit coordinated with my flowers. Sophie decided her outfit coordinated with my car, hahahaha!!

After they left I realized that it was their 24th wedding anniversary!  I texted her that I was sorry I had not thought of it.  She replied that they hadn't either.  Too funny!!  

I felt sluggish that day, but managed to get the necessary things done.  In the evening I went to a potluck picnic with the ladies from church.  We always have so much fun.

My focus this week is getting ready for another big weekend - our annual camping trip to the local KOA.  Lots to do tomorrow!  

One last picture I took this evening of my marigolds.  I love these variegated ones.