Rochester visit, Father's Day and Pittsburgh Pirates

Ok, I know it's been a while. So, I decided to write on a few things at once. First, we went to Rochester to visit with my family. We had a great time hanging out with everyone.
Art and I went down to Park Ave and walked up and down the street. For those of you who don't know, it's a very eclectic area of the city. We had lunch and visited the Parkleigh pharmacy. It's a neat place that has so much stuff in it, it's way more than a pharmacy. We bought some great bread and other tasty items at a local bakery. We had so much fun, I forgot to take any pictures. I kept telling Art that I needed to remember to take pictures, but the camera was getting left in the car, or in the room. So, I thought I'd put some old pics of past visits to Rochester.

I know Katie already put pictures on her blog of Father's day. But I thought I'd add a couple of the ones I took as well. The evening was enjoyed by all. Casey of course always steals the show. And why wouldn't he, he is after all the cutest baby in the world. But I may be biased. (And right)

Art and I went away to Pittsburgh for the weekend to see a couple of Pirate games. Friday nights game went to 11 innings with no score by either team. Finally in the 12 inning the Pirates scored a run. It was also fireworks night, so we stayed to enjoy them. Getting out of the city and back to the hotel was an adventure. It took us so long to get out of the city because of the amount of traffic and the construction. The road we wanted to take was closed and we had to follow a detour. Which wouldn't have been that bad if there wasn't wall to wall cars, and to top it off it was dark out and we weren't sure exactly how to go. The Saturday night game went better. To start out we found a parking lot that placed us right in front of the hi-way we needed to get on when we left the game. We scored two runs at the beginning of the game, and won the game as well. In fact we won both games we attended, that was certainly a plus. We got up on Sunday morning at 5:30 so we could make it back in time for Sarah's shower. The shower was very nice, Katie really did a lot of work to make it all happen without a hitch. It was a long day, and very busy, but enjoyable. I think that pretty much catches us up, until next time.....

Matt Home on Leave and Casey's 1st Birthday

I know it's been a while and this is going to seem a little old, but I had computer problems. I had to get a new mother board for my laptop, so I couldn't blog for a while. I never thought being without a computer would be such a hardship until I didn't have one for almost a month. I won't get into all the gory details how I finally got my internet to work once I got my computer back. Matt helped me out a lot when he was home getting my internet up and running. He also helped me go out and rent a rug machine to suck up the excessive water that seeped into the basement, and ultimately into our carpet from the downpours we had for a few days at the end of March. There is more to that story, but since I'm not sure how that's going to get ironed out yet, I'll hold off on the details for now.

It was great to see Matt again and difficult to see him go back to Iraq. But we know it won't be as long until we see him again. I've included a picture of one of the nights Matt, Katie and Casey came over for dinner. We went out and got a dining room table a week or so before Matt came back, so there would be enough room for everyone. It makes the dining room look so much nicer, and more formal.

We had Casey's birthday party today. It was fun time, thought Casey didn't know quite what to make of it. He enjoyed playing with all the new toys, but didn't seem to like getting messy eating his cake. I can't believe he is already one year old. It's all gone so fast, we've had such a great time learning to be grandparents and watching Casey grow into the cutest little boy. How can you argue with the pictures posted here today. We love you Casey!

Valentine's Day

I know it's been a while since I blogged. I thought I'd tell you about our Valentine's day. Those of you who know Art well will know he usually doesn't think much of this particular holiday. As far as he is concerned, it was invented by card companies to bring up their profits. Sometimes I get a card and sometimes I don't. So I didn't know what to expect this year. I decided to celebrate the holiday even if Art wasn't into it. I set the table with a red and pink theme, along with some heart shaped confetti. I topped it all off with a balloon I tied to the inside garage door knob, so he could see it when he came in to park the car.

He was plesantly surprised with all my efforts. I made him some of his favorite things for dinner and gave him a little polar bear wearing a sweater with a heart on it. I thought he might like it for his desk at work. That is in fact where it's home is now. Well, he had a surprise for me also. He not only gave me a card, he bought tickets to see the ballet version of Romeo and Juliet this past Sunday. I thought that was so romantic. That wouldn't have been one of the ways I would have described Art as of late. So, he threw me a curve. Needless to say we had a good time at the ballet, even though it did end in a tragedy. This Valentine's Day didn't.

A couple of new pics

I just thought I'd include a couple of new pictures of Casey. He was enjoying his afternoon snack when I decided to take a few pictures of him with the evidence on his mouth. He really enjoys having his picture taken. I had no trouble getting him to smile, he did it without any prompting. He seemed to like his garden vegetables. Pam

Holidays are over

Well, all is quiet after the holidays. We went to Rochester to visit my family for Thanksgiving this year. We were only there for three days, but it was worth the trip. We all met at Denise and Peter's home and had an enjoyable dinner, eating way too much of course. Our trip back and forth on the highway was uneventful, but a little long.

Katie, Casey and I went to the Cincinnati Zoo to see the lights just before Christmas. We actually did see some animals too, but in the dark we didn't see very many. It was a fun evening and one we will have to repeat in the years to come.

We went over to Katie's for Christmas morning. We had some great food for breakfast and opened presents. Then it was off to Cindy's for Christmas dinner and more presents. The food was great and so was the company. We are looking forward to many holidays spent with family and friends. We are especially looking forward to Matt's attendance at the next Thanksgiving and Christmas gatherings. Pam

Chistmas Greetings

I know I haven't posted in a while. I went out and got our Christmas tree on Friday before the snow storm. I brought it in the house and put it up in the stand by myself. I thought this was going to be a bigger feat than it was. It actually wasn't that heavy, and I figured it would be better to get it up without Art's help. He doesn't handle these things well sometimes. Well, here is a pic anyway. And a link to a special Christmas greeting. Pam http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1443699341

Visit to Pittsburgh for Steeler game

Well, I thought I'd finally blog about our trip to see the Steeler game back in October. The trip there was uneventful, however we spent a lot of time driving in the Pittsburgh area finding our way in and around the city. It had been many years since Art had to drive to the Stadium or find his way to area attractions, so we had a little trouble. Actually, I should start from the beginning. We arrived at the hotel where we met some friends from Philly, Bill and Barb. We worked with Barb at Access before we moved. They were meeting us there to go to the game together the next day. It was much hotter than expected for October, so shorts were in order for stay. This was a surprise for Bill for his birthday, thought he knew about the game about a week before, he didn't know there was anyone else involved in attending the game. So, needless to say he was a little surprised to see us in the lobby of the hotel, thought he said he kind of had a clue he was meeting someone there. But all went well, and we all had a good time. It was great meeting Bill and spending time with the two of them.

We went into the city to sight see a little. We rode the Duquesne Incline, the views on top of the mountain were great, we got some awsome pictures. We had dinner at Jerome Bettis' restaurant, "Bettis Grill 36". The food was great and of course the decor was Steeler all the way.

The game the next day was fun, though a little bit too hot. We did survive thankfully, the sun wasn't on us the whole time so it wasn't unbearable. The game was great to watch, and sharing it with fellow Steeler fans made it all the better.

We said our goodbyes on Sunday night since we were leaving separately the next day. It was had to know we weren't going to see them for a while, except we have already made plans to make this a yearly event. Hopefully I won't make it so long before the next blog. Pam