Gasbarro Family

oh Bubba

Over the river and through the woods to Bubba's house we go. Many people have heard of the Johnstown Flood, but not that many people have visited Johnstown. Usually when we visit Aunt Susie takes us out to eat a little place, but for the most part we hang out at Bubba's house for a day or two and then go on our way. This year we had special tour guides, GG and Pap. Wait a second...why aren' GG and Pap in Alabama? This was Adelaide's question, but she was so excited to see them that the answer didn't matter.
One thing that is always the same at this house is the time we spend around the kitchen table. All of our visits include stories, pictures, games, songs and a lot of time being thankful that Bubba is still with us. It hasn't been long since we lost Pap John so seeing Bubba makes things extra special to us.

A little Penelope and Teddy love happening here.

This visit A learned about Candy Land and she was hooked.

A first for me was a trip to Johnstown Incline, in fact I didn't know this existed until recently. Aunt Chrissy went with us too, but she wasn't interested in the actual ride - afraid of heights. After the ride and lots of car watching by the girls we played at a park and then had a fabulous lunch. Not sure if the burgers we ordered were that good or if it was the fact that we didn't realize it was 2 hours past lunch time by the time we sat down to eat.

So I do have one complaint about our visit and that was the heat. Holy cow the first night we were in the house I got the girls dressed in their footed jammies, we all go to sleep in the guest room and then all of a sudden I woke up in a panic and a pile of sweat. I jump out of bed start frantically trying to open a window and oh crap storm windows are in. Here I go running down the stairs stripping off as much clothing as I can and end up on the porch where it was a whole 20 degrees outside. AHhhhh....much better. Thank goodness no one walked outside at that moment or I could be writing this with a whole lot of embarrassment. We had a great visit with everyone minus the literal melt down and we will be back again in 2013.

Chocolate Time

On this trip across the state I think we did a good job planning activities and not really giving much opportunity to get bored or the kids to break too much. What we didn't account for was the miserable sickness that would get the little ones. Adelaide had complained a little bit about not feeling well, but it wasn't until we were on the Hershey Tour when her fever hit and she started shaking and crying that we realized just how bad she was feeling. We packed everything up, stopped for medicine and hit the road for Johnstown. So there isn't much of a story here, but I did want to share a few photos.

Kind of Camping

When I was a kid we used to go camping with my Dad all of the time. Camping to us meant throwing some blankets and snacks on the back of the horse and riding until we found a spot that looked good. Well that was a long time ago and a lot has changed.
We've never taken the girls camping in fact I don't think that Grant and I have gone camping since college. Lucky for us we have a few family members who go camping all of the time, but their camping includes more than a tent and some snacks. There is heat, porches, cable tv, etc which meant a good chance to see how the girls felt about the great outdoors. I have to say that we had great success! Adelaide now tells everyone that she is the best s'more maker which isn't entirely incorrect. A would patiently rotate her marshmallow until it was golden perfection and then she would give it away because we discovered that she doesn't like to eat them. Good deal for me because you can never eat enough s'mores in my world.
So there were the s'mores, pumpkin carving with GGB, a ride in the golf cart at night, a chance to chase Aunt Jackie and Uncle D around and lots of fun family time. The girls would have stayed there all night if we had prepared, but it was cold and we had already had lots of plans for the week. There is no way A is going to let us go up there and not camp next time so make room family because this kid is persistent.