Lions, Tigers and Bears....Oh, my!!!

We had a great trip from Elysburg to New Stanton, PA near Pittsburgh on Wednesday.  On Thursday we drove with all the McCurdy's to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium.  We had a great day visiting all the exhibits and watching the Sea Lion show.  The zoo is quite hilly and the layout is in a circle.  I guess you are supposed to start at the gate and go around clockwise.  Our gang, however, had specific goals in mind as "first on the list" so our trip was a little haphazard and we covered a lot of ground a couple times, including a hike to the parking lot for lunch in the van.  We had a great day and enjoyed seeing all the wonderful animals.  It was a fairly hot day, so a stop for ice cream on the way home tasted really good...and we were off to the pool when we got back to the campground.  Dinner was followed by a campfire and S'mores and a surprise visit by some of our old Bounder buddies.  On Friday we met some more Bounder buddies for lunch and then had a family birthday dinner at Dino's in Greensburg...where our friends had told us they serve the best "wings" in Pennsylvania...and they were quite tasty!   Saturday we go our separate ways and will miss and remember or visit in Pennsylvania!

Shop till you drop!

We've had two "girls' day out" adventures this week.  On Monday Tom and I had run errands in Bloomsburg and done some grocery shopping.  As we returned to the RV in mid-afternoon we got a call from the bored McCurdy girls.  They had decided, since Matt would be working late, to go shopping and invited Grandma to go along.  So, we were off to Hershey.  Of course, any trip to Hershey means a stop at Chocolate World...so we took a ride through the "factory", got our chocolate inspiration tasty treat, and then headed to the outlet mall.  We closed the mall down at 9:00 and headed home with a few good bargains.             On Friday we were a bit more organized, had goals in mind, and were on the road earlier in the day headed to the town of Muncy which has a nice Target Store and a mall with an Old Navy, Borders, and JCPenney among others.   Meanwhile, Tom was painting the basement stairwell at the McCurdy house and when Matt called around 2:30 to say he was on his way home and suggested a game of golf, it didn't take much to get Tom to agree.  We were all together again by 7:00...an enjoyable day for all!

Crash, Bang, Boom!!!

It's definitely not something to make light of....we've been up close and luckily not personal to three major traffic accidents this week already.  We had commented earlier this month that the daily paper has large color photos on the front page every day of another accident...and now we've seen it all before it hits the front page.  Not good!  I skipped taking photos, however!   And the problem around here is that there aren't that many "through" roads...and all the roads are curving, winding and hilly (6% to 9% grades)  So, when there is an accident,  traffic is a total mess...for hours!   One on Sunday as we were leaving the amusement park was the most graffic and tragic...it still haunts us.  Wednesday's caused us to turn around and drive about 10 miles back to Elysburg, go south a ways and then take another road  15 miles to Sunbury to get to Coffey's ball game...getting there just in time...and then having the game rained out after three pitches.  Today's was at the intersection just down from the McCurdy's home as we were coming for the day.  One of the crashed vehicles looked just like Ann's and I madly made unanswered phone calls trying to make sure it wasn't her.  It wasn't!!!   And so, life goes on.....multiple ball games and practices, dental appointments, music lessons, flag corp workouts as well as cleaning, cooking, painting and dog walking at home.

The Big Chill

Yep.......the refrigerator seems to be working.  The new cooling unit was installed on Tuesday.  It ran about 36 hours on electric power and then we switched it to gas this morning....and it appears to be maintaining appropriate temperatures.  We made some ice cubes and bought some milk, eggs and ice cream yesterday...and they are all in great condition.  Meanwhile we have continued to participate in the "day to day" at the McCurdy house....today was Coffey's Flag squad practice and Ann had to work.  We gathered for dinner and then took all three girls to evening "day camp" for Girl Scouts.  It's still plenty hot an humid, and the days busy!

The circle is unbroken......

That's the circle we've been driving...round and round from the campground, to the McCurdy's, and back, again and again and again!  On occasion, we make the circle a bit wider with additional stops at the mini-grocery store (near the house), the school (next to the campground), a ball field (several in the area for two girls), a doctor's office (dentist, surgeon, dermatologist, lab in four towns), a library ( two towns), girl scout day camp (held in the evening) and the gas station.  Just today, I think it was 5 circles.  Ann has probably 75% recovered from oral surgery...the surgeon told her today that she was just a few weeks past having had the surgery when she was 18, and thus it was a little more difficult :-)  She went to work today - her usual 4 hour shift - but was glad to get home and rest before a doctor appointment.  Yesterday she had minor surgery at the dermatologist, so that didn't add to any comfort today.  Matt has been working lots of hours, but we all had time to rest and relax over the weekend...and enjoy some pool time.  We're keeping up...more to come!

Whew, it's HOT!!!

It's been 105* the last two days...the granddaughters want to know "Is this how hot it is in Arizona?"  Yes, every day at this time of year.    But, at least, here in Pennsylvania right now, the humidity is cooperating.  We've managed to stay in air-conditioning most of the time, and that helps!  The girls vounteered to wash the cars on Tuesday...so they could play with the hoses!  But Grandpa made sure they did a good job on the cars, too.  Ann even ran over to the Dollar Store and got a new "Slip 'n Slide." 

Today we went to the McCurdy house mid-morning and Tom took Coffey to her oboe lesson and the rest of us waited around for the oral surgeon to call and say that Ann was next up on the list.  After she and Matt went in for the surgery, the rest of us went to the campground pool and then dinner in the RV.  Merrick and Close are having a sleep-over with us tonight, after we all went to say hi to Mom, who is feeling pretty groggy, but had no problems with the wisdom teeth removal.

The car is all repaired...hope it lasts!  They replaced the part that had been repaired in Alabama.  We're still waiting on the refrigerator...and lugging coolers back and forth to Ann's daily.    Life is never dull!

Things come in Threes - Round 2

We thoroughly enjoyed our visit in West Virginia and the adventures with our son, Reid and daughter and son-in-law, Ann and Matt and of course the three granddaughters, Coffey, Close and Merrick.  When our fun there was over, we moved on to Pennsylvania and a campground near Ann and Matt's home.  That's when things begain to fall apart....AGAIN!      1) We'd had the car repaired in Arizona before we left, again in Alabama a month ago and once again it is flashing all sorts of lights indicating trouble.  It has an appointment on July 6 for repairs, Pennsylvania style.     2) The morning after our arrival in PA, our milk for the cereal was pretty chunky.  Not good!  After several calls to repair services and a few experiments with equipment it was decided that we need to replace our cooling unit - which had been replaced in March.  So, we are awaiting arrival of the new unit, under warranty, from Tucson.  Meanwhile, all food is room temperature.     3) On the evening of our second day in PA, Mary's computer froze up and "died."  True to their word, agents at the Geek Squad based in the Selinsgrove, PA precinct of Best Buy, got all data retrieved and the computer all reformatted and operating once again.  A new external hard drive came along with the deal.

We did enjoy a great family 4th of July celebration...going on a picnic to the Bloomsburg, PA Town Park and enjoying the live band concert and fireworks display.  We're getting into our "summer mode" with ball games and trips to the pool with the granddaughters...more fun to come!

Our site at the J&D Campground in Catawissa backs up to the Roaring Creek. 

The girls enjoy exploring in the shallow water