Puxatawney, I mean Puhnsatawny, nope, Punsatawney, rats, Ponxatawny, drat, Punxsutawney?

Ever since I was a child, the tradition in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania has perked my interest. But to tell you the truth, it was the movie "Ground Hogs Day" with Bill Murray that put this town on my map and on my bucket list!

 To add to the allure of the tradition is the name of the place it takes place in in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania: Gobblers Knob! Where do they (whoever they are) come up with these kinds of names? I LOVE it!

Just think, a ground hog put this place on the map, on the sight seeing route on the tourists list! And men dressed up in tops and tuxs!!!

And then to name the Groundhog Phil! Gave him a personality and took care of him and fed him and made him a celebrity! What a "DOGS" life!

You have to drive out of town, Punxsutawney, about 1 mile and on a little hill in a very rural setting is the site where lots of people come to see what Phil has to say.

In this little field, watching Phil on a little stage, waiting to see if he sees "WHAT" you say?

His SHADOW, of course! And if it would have been today...Happy Ground Hogs Day!

Saying Goodbye

So it was a laid back Sunday, hanging out, chilling out and just enjoying the moments with Thomas, Misty, Elyssa, Jackson, and McKenna! After our breakfast, we started watching NFL Football and/or sitting around the kitchen table talking and playing on our computers.

Wish we could have Thomas with us on Trivia nights, this guy knows Football!

Seattle Seahawks played and won!

After awhile, Elyssa went to the University of Pittsburgh to study for a Chemistry Test! She wrote this on the chalkboard of her Japanese class: it says Grandma Viki :)

This says Papa Bud, well I hope I have them correct?

And Jackson and McKenna went downstairs to play Playstation 4!

Two sisters having fun!!!

It was a relaxing, fun filled day! It was hard to go to bed knowing we would be saying goodbye in the morning as the kids left for school!

After we said Goodbye to Thomas and Elyssa and Jackson and McKenna, Misty went with us for breakfast! It was nice hearing her talk about school classes she is and has taken, practices she has learned and waiting to try out and student teaching to show her how it all comes together. Looking forward to hearing about her next adventure! And with the final goodbye of the day, we left for our next stop: Punxsutawney and Gobbler's Knob! Now why do these names sound familiar?

Cooking with Chef McKenna

Sunday morning, I joined McKenna in the kitchen! She loves to cook and while we were visiting she made herself a toasted cheese sandwich one night and pancakes one morning! I was impressed! So we thought we would make breakfast together for everyone. With McKenna's grocery list in hand, Papa Bud went to Giant Eagle to buy the needed items! We did not start cooking till 9:30am to let most of the family sleep in!

Pardon my pajamas! At least McKenna was dressed! She took over the job of making the french toast! As you can see, she is a pro, cooking 6 pieces at a time! She also whipped up the eggs for scramble eggs!

McKenna enjoys every step of the process and is very careful to not over brown whatever she is cooking!

I am heating up the oven to put in the bacon! Misty taught me how to bake bacon more efficiently, move the bacon so close that there is no space between the slices! That was helpful cause we only needed to cookie sheets full and they both fit in the oven.

The family so enjoyed eating our lovingly cooked breakfast and I so enjoyed lovingly cooking with McKenna!!! We shall do it again McKenna :)

Yardword=Teamwork+Jackson!

Thomas came downstairs this morning and went to his car. He brought in a PS4 gameplayer for Jackson. Jackson had saved up all his money and was going to buy one as soon as they came out but Thomas found one at Costco and picked it up. But the deal was Jackson couldn't open it up till all the leaves were raked in the yard!

Bud and Jackson started working on the yard first! They blew leaves, they raked leaves, they raked leaves into the tarp and dumped them over the hillside! Then we all went to lunch at King's and then when we came back, we all came out to help! Thomas, Misty, McKenna, Bud and I!

McKenna got a little carried away by all the leaves!! It was 60 degrees out, what a beautiful day! Thomas and Misty asked us if we wanted to go and see something while we are here. We said no, we hadn't planned anything, but this is what we want to do, just do what they do, everyday life and be apart of it :) Does it get any better than this?

Oh yes, I forgot the end of the story, Jackson was able to open his PS4 and with Thomas' help, he set it up!

And let the Play begin and probably never end all weekend!!! Have Fun!!!

I know Thanksgiving is not until November 28th but Misty wanted to cook a Thanksgiving Feast and we didn't argue with her! But sorry to say, and I felt guilty, I didn't get to help her because Bud and I were on the tour with Elyssa and Trixie. Boys and girls, did it smell good when we walked into the house!!!!

We had it all!!! Turkey, mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, Gravy, Magical Corn, Cranberry Sauce, and rolls! Dinner was YUMMY!!!

Isn't this a thing of beauty? We were stuffed!!!!!!! But happy!!!!!

But wait! There was more! She had pumpkin pie and coolwhip and berry pie with ice cream!

Thank you Misty for a wonderful dinner! So delicious and it was fun sitting around the table and again, just talking and laughing and seeing them all and taking mind pictures and putting them  into the long term memory to take with us!
We love you!!!

Cathedral of Learning Part 2 with Elyssa!

In the Cathedral, besides looking like Hogwarts School, has something very special! There are Nationality Rooms that represent 26 countries of the world that represent the ethnic groups that settled in Allegheny County

While we Elyssa, Bud and I were looking into each room, we were joined by a very good friend of Elyssa's, Trixie! She is as nice as can be and easy to talk to. The tour of the rooms was so very interesting! What a great idea!

We were able to go into most of the rooms except for the ones that had classes being held in them.

Of course we had to act out different situations we thought would happen in some of the rooms! Professor Trixie was lecturing a nervous Elyssa!

Professor Viki didn't know why Bud was confused!

After the tour, we went to get a bite to eat the Panera Restaurant really close by! After visiting with the girls at Panera, they walked us to our parking structure and then we left them walking back to the college. It felt weird leaving them behind :) Thank you Elyssa for the tour!!!

My Favorite Places, Old and New with Elyssa!

Last night, Thursday, we landed in Pittsburgh after two pretty good flights! We drove our rental car to Misty's house and got there, after a few wrong turns, at about 10:30pm! Misty, Thomas, Elyssa, Jackson and McKenna were still up but barely!!! We received our much needed hugs and talked just a little bit and then everyone went to bed! It felt so good to see them all again! If felt so good to hear their voices, to see their drowsy smiles and to see that they are doing great!

It also felt so good to lay down and close my eyes! But for some reason sleep evaded me for quite a long time! We also wanted to make sure we got up in time to see Jackson off to school, so we needed to be up by 6:45am. I would love to say we made it, but we missed him by 5 minutes! We were able to talk with McKenna before she left at 8:00am. Then it was Elyssa's turn to leave. She told us to come down to the University of Pittsburgh at 1pm and she would take us on a tour! Yeah! We were ready to go then!

After the kids left for school, Misty suggested Cracker Barrel for breakfast! My old favorite place to eat almost anywhere but Oregon and Washington, because we don't have any!  Has anyone ever ate at a Cracker Barrel? As you travel around the US be sure to look for them! We enjoyed the breakfast so much and visiting with Misty. It is always nice to catch up with her life, schooling, and doings with Thomas and the grandchildren. She loves photography, we can tell because she lights up as she talks about it! She has many pictures beautifully displayed on her walls!  Thank you Misty!!!

We took Misty back to her house and then left for downtown Pittsburgh to the University of Pittsburgh to meet Elyssa at 1pm in front of the Cathedral for Learning!

First we went into this beautiful Heinz Chapel! We were lucky enough to be able to go inside because there was going to be a wedding here in 5 minutes!

This is the inside of the Chapel! The stained glass windows were so very beautiful! Elyssa said we were lucky because normally the doors are closed!

After the Chapel, we went over to the Cathedral of Learning!!!This is a place for the students to hang out and study and/or take classes! This is my new favorite place!

Inside looked like Hogwarts Castle!

Can't you just see Harry Potter, Ron and Hermoine discussing their strategies for fighting evil???

Can you not visualize the Owls swooping down to deliver the mail???

And then I come back to reality, that our beautiful grandaughter Elyssa is taking us on a tour of the Cathedral,

which is part of her world, University of Pittsburgh...I wouldn't change a thing!!!