KENNYWOOD MEMORIES
After we brought Katherine up to PSU yesterday we came back and I had to rush to get to work... By get to work - I mean - GO TO KENNYWOOD.  Seriously. I get paid to do this. ;-)  We were all mesmerized by the Black Widow ride.

It's been a few years since I've been there...  When did they start serving cheese and bacon fries??

ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
Road snacks...

...and experimental paint lines...

We  must be having a PSU adventure!

GIFTS OF SUMMER... 
You know when you go on vacation and you bring something back to all your friends and family... a shirt or some taffy... What's that all about?  Like how did that start? LOL Anyway, Chrissy, much like myself, is truly an expert gift giver.  She is always very thoughtful in her gift giving.  I have gotten some fab tokens of her beach vacations over the years including this starfish ring holder...

...and, since David kept our Spirit Shaker we had bought in OBX together, she got me my very own!  Love this guy so much. Love, love, love.

One year, she got me a Story People print from one of our favorite stores we used to go to in North Carolina... love me some story people too!

This year I got something delicious. A barrel of CONES from Doumar's! Doumar's is this carhop in Norfolk.  We became fond of it during our stay there. They have this thing called a Ringo which is really just vanilla ice cream, hot fudge and crumbled cones with whipped cream and a cherry on top. They have a strawberry version too - Strawberry Willy.  Yum-O.  The cones are made on the original waffle machine from 1904.  Story here.

JULY CONTINUES...
Back posting July... The boys and Uncle Jimmy came over to put a new roof on the porch and to help me with a flower bed and to fill the trug...

There was a lot going on. The Bud supervised and made sure everything was in order...

The Dad stayed busy by making chicken parm and cavatelli with broccoli...

Yeah, if you look close, that's half and half on the table - among other things.

AND SO IT GOES
We had a Wedding Week at work... we've been collecting wedding photos from some of the residents and it was my job to display all of them... I can't really show it here but my display turned out really nice. Everyone loved it. I, of course, put Aunt Gloria and Uncle Norman's photo on there... it's kind of sad that she often doesn't even know that her wedding picture (which is on her dresser) is actually her.  She sometimes says it's her parents or will say it's her and her dad.  This whole wedding week preparation has been making me uneasy.  I think I'll save that for another post, though.

Anyway, the photographer that photographed my former niece Angela's wedding also did Lizzie's friends Rossilyn and Shane's fabulous Pittsburgh wedding.  Lizzie was in R & S's wedding as well as other Collegian pals - Alex and Andrew as bridesmaids - well they were brides-bros. ;-)  You can see his work from their stunning art deco wedding here.

I've been following this photographer for awhile and saw Angela and Mike's photos were up on his blog today. Check them out here as well as the links to the video and such. I have to say I just love the one of her dancing with her Dad. From what I hear, it was a spectacular event.

Awhile back, fearing it would hurt his case, my husband sent out an email to friends and family requesting everyone de-friend me on social media and to not talk to me in general. Only a handful obliged. The bride was one of them.  Regardless, I wish her well.  It's hard to believe she's all grown up now. She'll always be the little girl we took to the zoo with her sisters.  I'll still remember them, at least for the moment, in their cute handmade matching dresses for the holidays. They were all sweet girls. It's definitely been a difficult week prepping for this wedding stuff.  It turns out family isn't really forever - at least for me... and with what I'm witnessing with Aunt Gloria, I guess memories aren't either. ;-(

HELLO, JULY
All in all it was a pretty chill July...  Lily got a new seahorse toy to commemorate the Summer...

I'm cracking up that now I see that The Godfather is on behind her but, really, when isn't it?

The Dad and I met Chrissy and Katherine at John Anthony's for dinner... Katy and The Dad shared their meals and dessert - ate from each other's plates. So cute.

I was sick for the Fourth of July - I don't think I did one thing... The Bud and I sat around in bed all day...

... then sat around on the couch all night and watched the fights which was fine with me - fireworks actually make me nervous.

The Bud went into work with me on Saturday and shook her little behind in her cute little red, white and blue dress.  They love when she gets all dressed up. Here she is taking time to smell the flowers before she started work.

We finally got the Veg Trug assembled!  Whoo-Hoo. Let's get ready to garden...