We didn't hit any traffic at all, except for some congestion around the DC area (and we wondered why, exactly, we want to move back to this area?!) We finally arrived in PA and spent the afternoon visiting with Tom's family and taking a much needed nap!
Friday evening we went over to visit Jay and Nicole in their new house and got to see Nicole's big sparkly engagement ring. I also had a little bit of TV envy over Jay's new 61" flatscreen tv. Yum.
We woke up early Saturday morning and drove up to Allentown for our friend Fay's wedding. The wedding was outside and it was a gorgeous day! We got to catch up with some old friends from Penn State so that was really great!
Instead of the Dollar Dance at this wedding they decided to do a Dunking Booth and the bride and groom were the ones getting dunked!! Tom dunked Fay on his first try!
Saturday evening we headed back to Philly and had a low key night hanging out with Tom's family. We woke up at 7 AM Sunday morning for the Eagles game and by 8 AM Jay drove up honking his horn with "Eye of the Tiger" blasting from his car. By 9 AM we were tailgating at the Linc and it was a beautiful day!!! I still had my boot on at this point so I tried to stay off my foot as much as I could, except for the occasional game of beer pong or bean bags ;) Some guy at the tailgate even brought his own Moonshine! I had one sip and let me tell you, that stuff was powerful! We were able to get a prime tailgate spot and hang out with a bunch of Tom's friends from home. Unfortunately, there was a tragic accident halfway through the day which involved my camera being dropped and then covered in beer (oops) so you'll have to wait for some of the pics until I can take my disposable to get the film developed! We finally went into the game to our Standing Room Only "seats" on the top ramp right by 95. Overall I was happy with the day because the EAGLES won!! (And Ben Worthlessburger was sacked 9 times!) But there were waaaaaaay too many Steelers fans around for my liking! We also both got what I now refer to as the Official Sunburn of the Philadelphia Eagles (face, forearms, and tiny little area on neck where the jersey comes to a V)!
On Monday we slept in......FINALLY! And made some of our numerous stops at Wawa. We seriously went to like 6-7 different Wawa stores - every chance we got! Thanks to Lisa and Rob for the Wawa gift card!!
Monday afternoon we went to the gym. (I went in my boot...haha). Monday night Tom's mom made our "Thanksgiving Dinner" and Tom's three oldest nephews/niece (Michael, Christine, & Charles) came over for dinner too. Later that night we met up with Tom's friend Tony and his girlfriend for a couple of drinks and to catch up.
Tuesday Tom's dad took us to Sam's Saloon for lunch, and then we went over to Lisa & Rob's house to visit for a little bit. Rob was able to work his magic and get a scrape and some paint off our car (Thanks Rob!) It now looks as good as new!
Tuesday night we went over to Tom's friend Rocky's house and hung out for a little bit while his roommate entertained us with Q & A from his 4th grade class...consisting of questions and answers like:
Q:"What is the Capital of Pennsylvania?"
A: "P!"
and
Q: "How many days are in a year?"
A: "12,000!"
Quite sad, actually.
Wednesday we drove up to New York state to visit Carrie and John and their new baby, Anne Marie. Little Anne is quite cute (with a name like Anne, she has to be, right?!) and was very good while we were there. We went up to the creamery in their town which was on a mountain and watched the sunset while we enjoyed some ice cream in what felt like 40 degree weather! We then sampled some New York brewed cider and met John's neighbor who is this old Polish guy who raises and races Homing pigeons. So crazy!! His next race was this past Saturday where he set them off from West Virginia and they fly right back to his little shed in his backyard in Warwick, NY, 360 miles away! He said the prize for 1st place is $50,000! Maybe I'm in the wrong field...... j/k.
*Pictures to come when my disposable camera film gets developed!!
After meeting and learning about the pigeons, we drove to my parents house and arrived super late Wednesday night. We spent Thursday relaxing at home and Thursday evening listening to Pappy tell some great stories followed by watching Oregan State (who we beat!!!!!) kick the snot out of USC!!
Friday was spent hanging out and running a couple last minute errands for the big tailgate/Dad's 60th birthday on Saturday. Andrew and Ciara stopped by with little Blake and their new baby, Lily. Blake was as cute as ever but I hate to say it, is definitely going to be like his dad's cousin Matt. Lily was sweet and cute and tiny and only 2 1/2 weeks old! We woke up early Saturday morning to some rain but amazingly it all cleared up by the time we got to good ol' Happy Valley. Joe and Laura and Aunt Judy and Sarah drove down to our house Saturday morning and all 8 of us piled in the oldest penn state van EVER to make the trek up to Penn State. We enjoyed some of the fine establishments downtown (and by "fine establishments", I mean "The Rathskeller") before heading up for an afternoon of tailgating, seeing old PSU friends, and celebrating Dad's 60th Birthday. Illinois gave us a little scare at the beginning of the game but Penn State hung in there and pulled off another victory!
Sunday we made the 14 hour drive back to Birmingham and arrived around one in the morning Monday morning. We had an excellent trip home and it was so great to see everyone. We're happy to be back in Birmingham!
