Family | The Beauty Around Us

Year in Review 2020

Bob, Wickett and me at our house on New Years Eve

Amazon Photos made this Year in Review slideshow for me. Please click on “slideshow” to view the video. Keep clicking until the slideshow begins.

The slideshow features Bob and me, Stacey and our two granddaughters, my brother and his wife, three great nieces, a few of our local motorcycle riding friends, and some of our friends with whom we were fortunate to spend a week with in the Outer Banks, and lunch with friends in Salisbury MD on our way to Chincoteague VA.

What great memories to remind me that 2020, with all that was bad about it, still had good things!

Nature Play Area

I have had this blog post in mind for almost two weeks, ever since my granddaughters and I visited our local Audubon Center. I wanted to share a few photographs of my granddaughters, as it has been a while since I did so in this blog. Also, I wanted to showcase the Nature Play Area at the Audubon Center.

According to its website the Audubon Community Nature Center “is a 600-acre wetland preserve that includes over five miles of trails, a native tree arboretum, picnic areas, a natural play space, and educational gardens for you to explore daily from dawn until dusk. … The Nature Center itself is home to the Blue Heron Gift Shop and three floors of interactive exhibits, including live animals, which inform and engage visitors of all ages. … You can visit Liberty, a non-releasable Bald Eagle, in her enclosure near the [Nature Center] building.”

The Audubon Center is located approximately 12 miles from our house at 1600 Riverside Road in Jamestown, NY. We walk the trails and visit Liberty frequently. We have visited the Nature Center building, as well, but just a few times. This blog post, though, is about the nature play area only.

The nature play area is located near the Nature Center building.

In Mar 2016 the nature play area had a tunnel made out of a tree and stepping “stones” made out of trees.

Mar 2016
Our granddaughters climbed through and on the tree tunnel.

Mar 2016
Bob and our granddaughters check out the stepping “stones” made out of trees.

I can’t recall if there was anything else to play on in the nature play area during our visit in March 2016.

During our visit to the Audubon Center on October 7th the girls found three new additions to the nature play area.

The girls had fun pretending they were stuck in this shelter.

The girls are sitting on Tank, a 12-foot and 1,500 pound concrete turtle.

Last fall, Tank the Turtle was created and donated to the Audubon Nature Center by Mike Whitmire of Whitmire Block and Outdoor Living, Starbrick, PA.

Spotted Salamander

The most recent addition to the Nature Play Area is this spotted salamander, which was also created and donated to the Audubon Center by Mike Whitmire of Whitmire Block and Outdoor Living. The spotted salamander measures roughly 14 feet from its nose to the tip of its tail. The spotted salamander had not yet been named.

Christmas 2018

We celebrated Christmas three times.

Christmas celebration #1 was held on Sunday at my brother and sister-in-law’s home. We left our home in Warren PA at 10:30 am en route Jim and Judy’s house. Jim and Judy live about an hour’s drive north of Pittsburgh. We arrived at Jim and Judy’s house at 1:00 pm. We thought we were the last to arrive. But that was not the case. While we were filling our plates, Judy’s brother Donald and his wife Gina arrived. Others who came to Christmas dinner, in addition to Jim and Judy, Donald and Gina and Bob and I, were our nephew Michael, his wife Kailey and their three children; our nephew Jared, his wife Sara and their two children; Sara’s parents; and Judy’s mother. Our niece Emily and her husband Dan and their daughter, who live in Minnesota, were not able to join us this year. Christmas dinner included turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, noodles, sweet potatoes, pickled eggs, and corn. Dessert included pumpkin pie, chocolate dream pie, cookies and a gingerbread cake. We departed Jim and Judy’s house at 3:30 pm, as gifts were being opened. Bob and I did not participate in the gift exchange; however, Judy made sure I didn’t leave empty handed.

Judy made this wooden sign for me. Great job, Judy, and THANK YOU!

We returned home at 6:00 pm. It was good to see my brother and his family and the others. We had a very good visit with everyone.

Christmas celebration #2 was held on Monday at Stacey’s house. We left home at 1:30 pm and arrived at Stacey’s house about 15 minutes later. Chris (Stacey’s mother) and Jay arrived a short time later. Our dinner included roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and, for dessert, apple pie, ambrosia, and brownies. Harper and Juniper received a surprise visit from Santa Claus.

Santa Claus is showing our granddaughters that their names are on his nice list.

Santa Claus brought the girls early Christmas presents.

Harper and Juniper with Santa Claus

Stacey, Chris, Jay and I knew Santa Claus would be stopping by. Nevertheless Santa Claus took Stacey and me by surprise. We expected Santa to come to the front door. Instead he came to the back door. We heard bells and “ho-ho-ho” a short while before he made an appearance. At first we didn’t know what we were hearing. To me the noise sounded like it was coming from a radio. Stacey and I got up from the table (we were finishing up dinner) and walked into the kitchen. We were looking out the kitchen window, when Santa’s face appeared. He startled us!

After dinner we opened gifts. Everyone was happy with their gifts.

I took a few pictures, after we opened our gifts.

“Big Grandma” Chris and her granddaughters

“Big Grandma” Chris, Grandma Linda, and our granddaughters

Stacey and her daughters

While we were at Stacey’s house, it snowed.

Snow fell on Christmas Eve!

It stayed cold through Christmas Day, so we had a white Christmas.

Christmas celebration #3 was at our home on Christmas Day, with only Bob and I in attendance. Bob and I opened our Christmas gifts to each other in the morning. We are happy with our respective gifts. I prepared Christmas dinner, which we ate around 2:00 pm. Christmas dinner included baked ham, baked potato, whole berry cranberry sauce, cauliflower and broccoli medley and, for dessert, pumpkin pie. The ham was a spiral ham. We have lots of ham leftovers!

’Twas a very merry Christmas for Bob and me. We spent the Christmas holiday with the people who mean the most to us. We are so blessed!

Black Friday

We spent several hours with our granddaughters Harper and June on Friday, November 23.

We picked up the girls at their house around 10:30 am.

We drove to Friendly’s Restaurant in Jamestown NY, where we had an enjoyable lunch.

Friendly’s Restaurant provides kid’s activity placemats to entertain children, while waiting for food.

Our granddaughters, Bob and I at Friendly’s Restaurant

The girls ordered their usual meal–hot dogs and macaroni and cheese with an ice cream sundae. Both girls chose Rudy the Reindeer sundaes.

Rudy the Reindeer Sundae (photo obtained from Friendly’s Restaurant website)

Bob had a fish dinner; I had a BBQ chicken sandwich with fries. Both of our meals included a small sundae. Harper didn’t eat her macaroni and cheese, but she ate most of my fries. Juniper didn’t eat any of her hot dogs. I asked for a box, and we took home the macaroni and cheese and hot dogs for the girls to share later. By the way, when we returned home and I had a good look at our restaurant bill, I noticed that Bob and my entrees were reduced by 50%. Happy Black Friday to us!

After lunch we drove to our house, where the girls played for several hours with toys and on their tablets. We also watched TV. I had to chuckle, when June asked me what was in the gray plastic tote. The tote is the girls’ toy box. For a while now I have brought out only a few select items for the girls to play with, when they visit. On this visit, though, I brought out all their toys. June asked if she could open the tote, when I told her their toys were inside. I said sure. When she opened the tote and saw the toys, June’s eyes got big and she said “Wow!”. There was not one new toy in that tote!

The girls talked with Judy (my brother’s wife), too, via Facebook video chat. That was a fun call for the girls, as they put on silly faces and hats and played some quick games with Aunt Judy.

When I finished putting away the girls’ toys, after their Friday visit, I was missing one toy–the baby doll that Harper had been playing with. I found Harper’s baby on Wednesday morning.

Lost baby found

I found Harper’s baby in one of my kitchen drawers.

Grandpa Bob and Grandma Linda’s Special Day with Harper

Bob and I spent one-on-one time with our granddaughter Harper this past Saturday. We like spending time with both of our granddaughters at the same time, but we also treasure the one-on-one times that we have with this as well. We spent one-on-one time with Harper’s sister, Juniper, in late April. This past Saturday was special time with Harper.

We picked up Harper at her house around 8:30 am.

We arrived at the Erie Zoo at 10:00 am. The line to get into the zoo was long — longer than I have even seen it. It was Big Equipment Day at the zoo, but it wasn’t crowded like this last year! We decided to come back later in the day.

Leaving the zoo, we drove to the Tom Ridge Environmental Center (TREC). The highlight of our visit to the TREC was being on top of the observation tower. We rode the elevator to the top of the 75-foot tall tower.

Harper on top of the observation tower
The bit of blue you see in the background
is Lake Erie.

Harper and I on top of the observation tower
Lake Erie and Waldameer are visible from the top of the tower.
(photo by Bob)

Inside TREC, we quickly walked around the exhibits. Harper pushed buttons on some of the exhibits and showed some interest in other exhibits. We probably spent half an hour or less inside the TREC.

From TREC we visited Presque Isle State Park. We made two stops on our drive around Presque Isle: at North Pier Lighthouse and at Waterworks Playground.

Harper enjoyed walking with us
on the pier to the North Pier Lighthouse.

The Waterworks Playground is located adjacent to the Rotary Pavilion and across from Beach 7 (Waterworks Beach). Bob and I have passed by this playground many times. I always thought it would be a good playground at which to take our granddaughters. We didn’t take Juniper here during her one-on-one time with us because it was raining. It is a very nice playground, but the climbing ropes were somewhat scary for Harper. A bumble bee flying around didn’t help either!

This is all the further Harper climbed.
She was frozen in place. I helped her down.

From Presque Isle State Park, we drove to the local McDonald’s Restaurant and ate lunch. After lunch, we returned to the zoo.

It was 1:30 pm, when we made it back to Erie Zoo. There was still a line at the entry gate, but the line was at least a quarter of what it was at 10:00 am.

We had a good time at the zoo seeing the animals, riding the Wildlife Carousel, and riding the train.

It was 4:15pm, when we left Erie Zoo. We stopped at Country Fair for cold drinks, before making our trek back home.

We returned Harper home at 5:45 pm. Juniper was excited to show me that she got her fingernails painted. While Bob and I had one-on-one time with Harper, Stacey had the same with Juniper. Stacey said that she and Juniper had a good day, except for the hour she spend arguing with Juniper over why she can’t go to the mall. Harper and I had “a moment” too. She was not going to sit with me in the zoo train; she was going to sit behind Grandpa, not me, on our way home. Harper was mad at me because Grandma wouldn’t let her sit on top of the bronze statue’s head at the zoo. Through no effort on my part Harper did sit with me on the zoo train, and she sat behind me on the way back home. Life with 5-year-olds….

It was a long, but fun, day. I think our next family adventure will include both of our granddaughters.

Our Twin Granddaughters’ Fifth Birthday Celebration

Harper and Juniper’s 5th birthday was earlier this month. Yesterday, Stacey hosted a party to celebrate her daughters birthdays.

The girls’ birthday party was held at Betts Park, here in Warren PA, from 3:00 pm until 6:00 pm.

Bob grilled hot dogs,
which were accompanied by light refreshments.

The party had two themes: Trolls and Beauty & the Beast. If I remember correctly, Juniper chose the Trolls theme and Harper chose the Beauty & the Beast Theme. Both girls, however, like Trolls and Beauty & the Beast. Stacey’s choice of pavilion was excellent, as it was close to a playground. All the children had a great time playing on the playground equipment, while waiting on the hot dogs to cook.

Highlights of the birthday party included a pinata filled with toys, an appearance by Belle & her Prince, and the opening of presents.

Juniper hit the pinata.
The pinata fell but did not break open.

Belle and her Prince with some of the birthday party attendees

Juniper wasn’t thrilled with Belle and her Prince.

Lastly, here are three pictures of the girls opening birthday presents. The girls were thrilled with each present that they received.

The party was well attended by all three sets of grandparents, as well as other family members, and Harper and Juniper’s friends.

Preschool Graduation

Our granddaughters graduated from preschool this afternoon.

Congratulations Harper and Juniper!
Job well done!

Harper and Juniper will enter Kindergarten in September, this year. My oh my! How time flies!

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