Back home again

I had a fabulous trip to Texas and Utah. I saw all four children and their families. I missed some grandcats and a granddog but otherwise saw the whole clan. MF had just had her fourth and I went to Texas to help out there. Then I went to Utah for the baptism of GL's second-born. The photo is of one of the dance moves of GL's fourth. What a doll! All ten grandchildren were unbelievably cute and charming.

I loved the weather in both places, ate Mexican food in Texas and hit up the Provo Bakery in Utah, played games, helped with art projects, and got to rent a very cool Fiat 500.

The only glitch to the trip was that there was rain in Philly when I arrived there from Denver on my way home. This may not mean anything to you, but the Philly airport is notorious for shutting down for weather. We got stuck there two days in December and I would have been stuck there for almost twenty-four hours if Michael hadn't decided to come pick me up. I guess he missed me! It's a two and a quarter hour drive one way. Instead of getting home at 6 we rolled in right before midnight.

I realized how much I love Texas on this trip. Yes, I love northeast PA. It is beautiful, lush, green and the possibility of seeing a gorgeous waterfall is never more than a few miles away. But I do love that open Texas sky, the cloudless days and the general look of the place. It drove right, smelled right and sounded right. Which means, of course, that that is our final destination once Michael finishes his career up here.

The other big news is that my book (Snarky and Sweet)  is coming out in print very soon. It's already available as a Kindle book. It will be on Nook soon and then the print versions will be available. I'm waiting for my box of books from the printer. It's been a fun thing to go through this process.

Knoebels

Knoebels is just one of those things you have to experience. I couldn't begin to explain. So click on the link, visit their website or find some other way of getting an idea of what it's like to go back into the past to one of the "real" amusement parks your parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents went to.

Son-in-law NL took extra duty because our daughter MF is expecting our precious grandbaby number 10 and so wasn't riding much. And Michael and I aren't as good as this as we used to be. But we were there to lend a hand when an adult was needed to accompany V or E who were both raring to go. Michael adored riding the sail plane which took him back to days spent at the amusement park on Pontchartrain Beach. He even remembers the price of this ride back in the day. Evidently you have a lot of control over your plane as you manipulate the wing. He and V had a quiet ride. NL and baby E had a rollicking ride and grandson ML flew solo and did great. I had the thrill of doing a smaller roller coast with V. It packed a surprising wallop and she enjoyed every minute of it.

Our grandson ML is just over 48 inches so could ride almost everything by himself. V is just in the middle and could enjoy both grownup rides and ones for the "yiddle" kids. E was up for everything and rode a lot of  kiddie rides but also went on some of the biggest rides. She is pretty tall for her age so I'm pretty sure she was one of the few two-year-olds on the big rides. Her dad taught her to raise her arms to heighten her experience on "The Whip." But I think her absolute favorite was the kiddie fire trucks with a bell to ring and a steering wheel to turn.


First photo is of son-in-law and grandson in the battle of the bumper boats. Then Michael in his sail plane. V is in there but we could only see her on the upswing! The last ride is called the "Italian Trapeze" was a particular favorite of all the grandkids and the colors on this old Italian ride just knocked my eyes out. Plus as  the thing telescopes out to gain height, lurid copies of naked Renaissance goddesses come into view. It's like an enormous hallucinogenic birthday cake.

It was a beautiful day at the park. The weather was just perfect, everyone there was having fun, I heard almost no one yelling at a kid (very unusual for a theme or amusement park) and except for an abundance of visible upper-arm tattoos on hairy male arms, all was beautiful. The food is even superior at this park with good healthy options alongside the requisite funnel cakes and pickles on a stick.

Sorry Texas, Pennsylvania wins.

Mystery PA location

Moi at Dairy Barn opening

Callas on the slate in our side yard

Waterfall at Ohiopyle

Random view on our way to Ohio

The callas Michael bought me to replace the Mother's Day ones I killed

So sorry, Texas. But big news flash. Pennsylvania wins hands-down on natural beauty. Here are a few photos from our recent trip and of the yard after we got home. There's really not much contest. 

When we first moved here we had no idea where we might retire, and we talked about how beautiful it was here and when the first summer came, we decided to enjoy every minute of it as it was so gloriously moderate in temperature and so very green.

Now we know that Texas will be our home when Michael retires, but we also talk wistfully about how nice it would be to keep this house so that we could come here for the summers. 

Not all of these photos are in PA, but enough of them are that I think you can see what I mean about wanting to be here forever.

The mystery location is that beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright home we visited. We're not allowed to post photos of it, but I think we can safely post this one as no one is going to recognize it.

The Dairy Barn photo is obviously in Ohio but all the rest I think are in PA. Not quite sure about the view as we crossed through Maryland and Kentucky to get to Ohio. 

We hope the weather will cooperate when our grandkids, daughter and son-in-law arrive on Tuesday. We've had some uncharacteristically scorching days. Michael has actually had to water a few times!