At Family Member’s Home | The Beauty Around Us

Posts tagged ‘At Family Member’s Home’

Surprise!

Bob and I went for a motorcycle ride on Saturday, May 24. We had only one destination in mind, when we left home – Lutzs Leather, located a couple hours’ ride south.

We made two stops en route Lutzs Leather. Our first stop was at Fountain Park in Franklin PA to stretch our legs.

The A.G. Egbert Memorial Fountain is the centerpiece of Fountain Park. The fountain was constructed in 1896 in memory of Albert G. Egbert, a local physician and one-time member of Congress.

I liked the beauty of this white-blossoming tree.

Our second stop was in Slippery Rock, at Sheetz, to fuel up. Our stop at Lutzs Leather was not long. Bob tried on a couple leather coats and found one he liked. Bob now owns a new leather coat. This coat “breathes”, a feature he is most happy about.

We decided to go from Lutzs Leather to The Chief Bar and Restaurant in Kittanning PA (another hour’s drive) to surprise six of my high school classmates who were meeting there to plan our 40th high school reunion.

Everyone was pleasantly surprised!
With the exception of one classmate, I hadn’t seen the others since high school graduation.

Bob and I not only surprised my high school classmates with a visit, we surprised my brother and his family with a visit. Before leaving The Chief Restaurant, I telephoned Judy to see if she and Jim were home and available to get together. We made plans to meet in a couple hours. With those plans in place, we made arrangement for a night’s stay at the Quality Inn. When we left home, we didn’t know whether or not our day’s journey would include an overnight stay. We packed a change of clothes just in case. Our visit with Jim and Judy lasted a couple of hours. In addition to visiting with Jim and Judy we were able to visit with our niece, Emily, and her daughter Elise, as well as with our great nephew Kaleb and great niece Anna. The eight of us ate a picnic dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, baked beans and fruit salad.

Anna and Elise

Kaleb got to sit on our new motorcycle.
By the way, Bob is wearing the new leather coat that he purchased at Lutzs Leather.

It was a good day. It was great to see everyone!

Two-Year Birthday Celebration

Yesterday afternoon Bob and I attended our great niece’s second birthday celebration. Elise’s birthday party was held at her maternal grandparents’ house from 2:00 pm through 5:00 pm. It was a 2-hour drive for Bob and me to attend the party. Thankfully the weather cooperated, and we didn’t see any wintry precipitation during our drive there and back home. The party was well attended, and I enjoyed chatting with other attendees. The highlight of our visit, though, was before the party began. Bob and I arrived 30 minutes early, and I had one-on-one playtime with Elise.

Here is a series of four photographs of Elise that I particularly liked.

Birthday Girl

Elise’s princess crown slipped down.

Elise is such a happy child. She smiles and laughs all the time.

I’m a Princess

Happy birthday Elise! Uncle Bob and I are happy that we were able to celebrate your birthday with you!

Day at Camp

Bob and I spent the better part of the day, Saturday (July 13th), at my brother’s camp in Jay Township near St. Marys, Pennsylvania. Most of my brother’s family was there, as well as a few of Jim and Judy’s friends. Everyone had fun that day, especially the children.

More Fun

My brother’s camp

My sister-in-law asked me to take a picture of all the children at camp. This photograph shows all the children that were at camp, minus one. My brother was gathering up the children for this picture. When these six children were in the wagon, I asked Jim if all the children were here. He counted them and said “yes”. We missed one … sorry Kaitlyn! I do have a photograph of Kaitlyn, though. She can be seen in the second collage displayed above, in the photograph of the hula hoop contestants. Kaitlyn is the girl on the far left.

We left camp around 7:45 pm.

We saw this deer within minutes of leaving the camp.

When we reached the end of the camp road, a right turn would take us home. A right turn also would make us drive into the setting sun. The sun was very, very bright. Rather than drive into the setting sun, we opted to turn left and go into Benezette to see if we could find any elk.

We saw a few elk.
This one lone elk, though, provided the best photo opportunity.

By the time we made it home it was 11:00 pm. What a great day we had! I am happy that we were able to spend time with my family. It had been six long months since we last saw them.

Mother’s Day Weekend Visit

Bob and I visited with Stacey and our granddaughters yesterday afternoon. It was nice outside, so we spent most of the visit outdoors.

Stacey and our Granddaughters

The girls will be 1 year old one week from today. Time sure flies!

I LOVE these two photographs that I captured of Grampa, Harper and June!

Babysitting the Twins

I had an opportunity today to watch our twin granddaughters for a couple hours, while their mommy went grocery shopping and visited her newborn niece. Grandma gave the girls several rides in a cardboard box; we played with toys; and Grandma laughed while the girls jumped up and down and all around in their doorway jumpers.

Thank you, Bob, for editing the video for me! You did a great job with the sound effects.

Grandma, Harper and June liked watching this yahoo video, too, about Little Red.

We watched this video three times, all eyes glued to Grandma’s tiny iPhone screen.

One-Year Birthday Celebration

Our great niece, Elise, turned 1 year old in December. On Sunday, December 30, we celebrated Elise’s birthday with family and friends. The birthday party was held at my brother’s house.

We left Warren around 11 am and arrived in Kittanning, PA around 1:30 pm. We checked into Quality Inn, where we spent the night, and left for Jim and Judy’s house shortly before 2:00 pm. We made a hotel reservation, even though we could have made it back home the same day, because weather conditions are always uncertain in the winter time. Also, staying overnight gave us more time to spend with my family.

We spent the next 5 hours eating sloppy joes, potato salad and cake; chatting and watching Elise open gifts.

Here are a few photographs from Elise’s birthday party.

The birthday girl
Look at those blue eyes!

I didn’t capture a photograph of Elise eating her birthday cake, only the aftermath.

Elise with her mom and dad

Elise, opening birthday presents

Rocking Horse!

The rocking horse was a birthday present from Elise’s grandparents.

Elise liked the rocking horse for a little while…until she didn’t!

It was a good party. I am happy that we decided to spend the night, rather than go home that night. I enjoyed the extra time with my family.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Stacey asked me to photograph the girls in their Thing 1 and Thing 2 onesies. Stacey and Mike wanted to make sure they had photographs of the girls in these onesies before the outfits had to retired due to being too small.

Juniper and Harper, 8 weeks old