After our arrival in PA each time we'd see a new relative they would ask, "How long are you staying?" And, before we could get an answer out Uncle Al would say, "They're staying all summer!"
Although we had a general trip itinerary in mind, truth is we hadn't yet decided how long we were staying.
Next thing we know Annie started getting all worked up about turning 30 and wanted a lot of attention and presents to celebrate.
Then Uncle Al got envious of Annie and went and turned 88 so that we would all get together and have a party!
In between all that, there was a celebration for Cousin Lena who had just graduated High School,
Cousin Alex is a chef and there was a restaurant to try, we partook in lots of other visiting and hanging out and...
we even took a couple of days out to teach Cousin Cassidy how to ride a bicycle. Look at her go! She's a real pro now.
Then there was a new cousin to meet and cuddle with...
Ava Grace is a cutie patootie.
We really aren't sure where the time went just that it has been really nice.
When we weren't away from the house visiting or having folks visit us here we tried our best to get some projects done for Uncle Al like new front yard lighting which looks really great if we do say so ourselves. But since it only comes on at night we didn't take a picture.
His Rhododendrons were overdue for a trim so we cut them down to a reasonable level which brought some nice light onto the back porch. We patched a few other things here or there too and
Nicole took an old door, cut out some puzzle pieces
and built the Tri-plex Bird House that Uncle Al had drawn out on a piece of paper.
Here it is all painted and mounted and ready for some first time occupants.
Speaking of birds and bird houses, of course we took time out to watch the latest round of baby birds grow up and leave the nest. Two groups of House Sparrow babies and
these adorable baby Robins...
who were even cuter when they left the nest!
We spied some other winged things like
Spilosoma virginica (the Virginia Tiger Moth)
and this well worn Cabbage White Butterfly - Pieris rapae.
While we were visiting, we gave Frankie and Luke a break from coming over to tend to the lawn.
Darlene took care of the weed eating and blowing
while Nicole hopped onto the mower.
Nicole on a lawn mower is something like Tom Hanks and a box of chocolates or Johnny Depp with scissors for hands. You never know what you're going to get!
One day it is stripes, the next it is curves. Then there are the days she tried mowing the whole thing without going into reverse. Oh, and on another day she made crop circles! You can't say she didn't keep it interesting.
At one point, Uncle Al commented that Luke and Frankie come over and are done in 20 min. Well, of course they are, they aren't making lawn art patterns or trying not to use reverse!
They probably also don't mow wearing their camera or take breaks to photograph...
Butterflies
or stop...
to catch...
Baby Rabbits!
We actually had plans to return to the road one of these days, a few days ago, yesterday, last week, today, etc. Then we woke up and looked at the weather where we were going, remembered that we live in a metal box and changed our minds... a few times. We also realized that with all of our focus on Annie we hadn't done the bicycle maintenance that we needed to do before our next ride. Sounds like a good enough reason to wait out the latest hot spell and delay a bit further.
Hop-a-long has continued to be plagued by some pedal / crank noise issues.
So, Nicole took the whole crank assembly apart, checked everything out and gave the bearings and races a good cleaning and re-lubing. It seems to have done the trick for a few rides around the block. Only time will tell once we put them to regular use again.
It went so well that Darlene decided Boneless could use the same job and completed the task on her steed, too.
One of these days we'll get out there and put Annie's interior back together. She's quite a mess right now with all of her bays open and stuff everywhere. Suppose when we get her all cleaned up, we will know that we no longer reside in Pennsylvania.
Uncle Al has already told us that he sure will miss us when we go.
At least he'll have some company from his two new Birthday Presents.
Meet.... Darlene and Nicole!
Cassidy named them after us so that when we leave Uncle Al wouldn't miss us so much. There's only one problem.
They talk way more than we do!
So, he just may still miss us quite a bit after all. If we ever manage to move out of Pennsylvania, we'll miss him and the rest of the family, as well.