Adventures of an M&M

Monday, September 3, 2012

Sweet Summertime (part 2)

Just Fishin'- Over the last couple of years I have really decided that I enjoy fishing a lot. So my dad is off on Monday's so he suggested we get up early and go fishing! That sounds like a great idea to me! We set off with our tackle boxes and fishin' poles and headed to Keystone. We fished for a couple hours and the running total ended with me at 6 and dad 4. It took him a while to catch up, but I took the better spot so I can't brag too much.

If you aren't someone who listens to country music then shame on you...just kidding but then you might not realize that Just Fishin' is the title of a song by Trace Adkins. Here is part of the song....

I'm lost in her there holding that pink rod and reel.

She's doing almost everything but sitting still.

Talking bout her ballet shoes and training wheels, and her kittens.

And she thinks we're just fishin'.
I say Daddy loves you baby one more time,

she say's I know, I think I got a bite.

An all this laughing, crying, smiling, dying here inside is what I call living
An she thinks we're just fishing on the river side

throwing back what we could fry,

drowning worms an killing time,

nothing too ambitious she ain't even thinking bout what's really going on right now

but I guarantee this memories a big one

and she thinks we're just fishin'

With me loving country and all, this song was playing in my head all day. It was perfect that we got to spend that time together and I could turn it around and say that "he (dad) thinks we're just fishing" but really it was memories that were created of us spending the day together and talking about his past when he would go fishing and canoeing with Pappap and all their adventures. Even when we were done fishing and packed up and went home the fun did not stop. Our neighbors have a polaris ranger or something like that and so we went on a ride through the back woods behind our house. I had never been that far up the mountain back there and we got to a spot on the top where you could look over and see Ligonier. It was such a beautiful sight to see.

Seriously I love Ligonier and living there with so much beauty all around!

Growing up these are what I thought mountains were...man was I wrong!

Oh yeah...there is a reason you must be a certain age to drive. I learned to never let a 5 year old drive me anywhere. He told me he was a really good driver of that thing and I figured as long as we didnt got far and anywhere near the road then we would be ok. He took me up on the hill and tried going over these massive mulch piles, he got us stuck and then hoped off and ran away. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or be concerned so I laughed. Oh Lane!

Amish country USA- My mom wanted to go to visit the Amish one day to shop around and see this new town that we have never been too. I knew it wasn't going to be good when driving there I got stung by a bee! But really it was a lot of fun walking around the little shops and seeing everything that is homemade and very elegant. Usually my favorite stores are the furniture ones because they have the most amazing things made out of wood!

Oh yeah start churning that butter! I had a teacher in high school that churned her own butter :)

I thought this was interesting how the Amish start preparing food for a wedding a year in advance, that is some crazy planning.

Just another day at the post office

This is one of my favorite cities to pass and see signs for because it the place is called Home. Home 8 miles :)

Mini golfing- my family thinks I'm crazy! First of all my family is pretty big into miniature golfing. My dad played some growing up and both my brothers think they are professional (not really). But needless to say they are all three pretty good, Then there is my mom and I. We put in a good effort but usually fight for fourth and fifth place. Rules are always followed and rarely do we allow mulligans. Anyway my mom thought it would be fun for my last night in town to go play some golf. I love when we do stuff like this and she was right it was a lot of fun. About halfway through the course I asked if everyone knew what there happy dance was for when they got a hole-in-one. This is why they think I am crazy, they all just looked at me and said no. So far up to that point no one had gotten a hole-in-one but some were close. Then Kevin got one and I was so excited I was hoping to see a happy dance but I got nothing. And then for just a single second he did a little move and I begged him to do it again so I could take a picture but he refused. He was the only one up until the 18th hole, out of no where I was not expecting it but BAM I got a hole-in-one and you better believe I showed my family me dance. They may or may not have been embarrassed to be seen with me, but if they aren't used to that by know then they may never be :) If you are wondering how it turned out in the end....Kevin came out on top like usual, followed by a tying score between Nick and I!!!! then my dad behind us by one point and last came my mom! It was a ton of fun the whole night!

We are such a good looking family! I love them

She may have had a hard time skipping over the crick, but it was a good effort

Look at that form!

Pirates Game

So far this is the first winning season the Pirates have had in 20 years! But games are always fun to go to...even if it was 107 while we were sitting in the sun for the first half of the game.

This is a famous Pittsburgh Sandwich called Primanti Brothers sandwich. Pretty much instead of the coleslaw and french fries as sides they are just piled on the sandwich too.

My brothers and I all have the same shoes Nike Free's and they are so comfortable! Not all the same color but same brand.

One of my favorite parts of the game is in the top of the 7th inning when they have the perogie race!

I love my brothers! It was a good sibling night and I am lad that we usaully get one every time that I come home. Those are usually some of my favorite times at home.

Virginia Trip
My best friend Erica had a wedding to go to in Virgina and so I went along so that I could get to know her boyfriend better since I am rarely home to really know him. We had a fun weekend gallivanting around Maryland and Virgina. We went to a lot of the museums in DC which was alot of fun. While Erica was at the wedding Jeff and I saw Spider Man and then had a nice little adventure driving around in the car. Needless to say it is hard to drive without headlights.

This is for real....Frying Pan road.

This is the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in! The place was crazy awesome, but there is no continental breakfast but we could pay $15 for eggs...no thanks.

National Air and Space Museum. We may have museum hopped all day because most are free and all have air conditioning and with it being 106 outside we really needed to be inside. It was not the best day to be walking around looking at monuments.

Got dinosaurs?

HOPE diamond!

I did this when I was in Ecuador and I was successful!

one of my teachers growing up let us play this game and I loved it! 24

Original Ruby Red Slippers

One of the responses on the board was that woman should just stay in the kitchen! I really hate that some people still think that or at least think its funny.

KERMIT THE FROG

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Sweet Summertime

SUMMER!!!

Casino- This was actually before leaving for Ecuador. Erica and her family were leaving for Jamaica and I hadn’t seen them much since being home. So I met them in Pittsburgh where they were staying for the night before their early flight. The evening started by an adventurous drive downtown which is almost one of my least favorite things to do! But despite getting lost and almost getting run down by a bus and angry people yelling at me, we finally got there J The Rivers is a new casino in Pittsburgh and from what I have heard it is really nice, and after seeing it I feel the same. The main reason for my going was to hang out with Erica and eat at this awesome buffet everyone raves about. And again, those people are right. This buffet was huge and had every kinds of variety of food you could think of. Man that was some good eating that night!

After eating we went downstairs to the casino and I gave myself $20 to gamble with, if I won I won, if I lost it I would stop. I wanted my twenty to go further so I played the penny slots and it was a lot of fun. No worries I am not addicted or anything but it was fun! I ended up leaving $5 down and I am really okay with that.

Funny story: Erica’s dad Eric is a really funny guy and I love his humor and how quickly he comes up with some of the stuff he says. Anyway we were at the slot machines and Eric was on a roll (like up $10) and then he kept pressing his luck and lost all of it. So he pulls out his phone and on every machine is the number for gambling hotline if you have a gambling problem. Erica dials the numbers and starts talking to the guy telling him that he has got a problem. The guy asked how much he spent and lost and Eric replies $10! I can tell the man on the phone is instantly confused because that’s when Eric starts laughing and sarcastically asking for serious help. I was dying laughing already at their conversation so far and then even harder when the guy hung up on Eric! You just never know what’s going to happen with Eric around.

Anniversary Party- A few days after returning home from Ecuador, Erica threw her parents a surprise 25^th wedding anniversary party. Now if you know Donna, nothing gets past her, so this would be big if it did. And Erica and her grandma pulled it off! They were so shocked and could not get over what was happening. It also threw them off that it was a month early, because they planned it around a time that I would be home! See how much they care about me! It was a blast and I hope Donna and Eric had fun.

Dinner with family- The next day I went to Pappap and Grandma’s house for a family gathering! When I say gathering I mean my grandparents and aunt and uncle that we get together with at least once a month if not more! These are the closest family I live to and they are my favorite, but don’t tell them that :) It was kind of a celebration of my birthday that we missed for my being in Ecuador and for everyone to hear about my trip and see pictures and stories. We had delicious steak and macaroni salad which is like the best dinner combo ever, oh and bread! I think when it comes to my family we could sit around and find things to talk about forever and that’s one reason I love them so much. I don’t like that now I live in Utah I don’t get to see them too much, but for sure every time I go home we always get together.

I haven’t told many people this but every time I leave home (which to me is still Ligonier), I make sure I know when my next trip home will be, or I get real freaked out. I don’t like not knowing when I’ll be back next. So my next trip home will be for Christmas break, but I will get to see all of my family in September when we meet up in Ohio for my girl (cousin) Rachel’s wedding!!! I am so excited for that as well! So until then family, we will talk on the phone, text, and maybe even skype!

(this isn't from our dinner but its the same family!)

Biking- It seems to be a tradition that my parents and I started a few years ago, but that is to go biking at Ohiopyle right before I leave for the west. We started it 2 years ago and then last year we allowed my brothers to come and we added in kayaking as well. That was a lot of fun! And this year it was back to just biking and the 3 of us. 2 years ago was also when Pappap and I had started planning our biking trip to Washington DC. It never was able to happen things fell through. But I started thinking of it more and more lately and I brought it up on our bike ride. I am not sure if my parents were just going along with my crazy dream but as we biked dad and I planned things down to what we would need to bring and how we would go about doing this adventure. With luck the 5 of us will together be able to make this trip or at least part of it! My parents don’t think they can last more than a few days and I agree with them on that, but someday it is my ultimate goal to do the whole thing start to finish all 358 miles of it. And since getting back for Ecuador I have this desire to keep setting goals and going after them, because I now know that there is really nothing standing in my way.

No bike ride in our family is complete without getting ice cream afterwards. We have this one little shop that we always go to and it never fails. Funny story: Last summer after we went kayaking my family met our grandparents who then were going to bike with us. Before we went and got our bikes Grandma was like who wants ice cream?! Grandma had not been biking with us before and we told her we usually saved that til after the bike ride. She replied with yeah we will get it then too! I love how much my grandma loves her ice cream!

After we biked about 8 miles we drove over to Cucumber falls which is a sweet waterfall, but with the lack of rain and 100+ degree days lately it was not much more than a trickle. But it was still pretty great, but then again I think that about all nature!

How can you not absolutely love nature!

This is going to be me someday. We talked about it while biking and hopefully next summer we can start by doing some of it.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Hakuna Matata

When we were in the jungle our motto should have been Hakuna Matata but we stuck to Do Something Everyday That Scares You. Sort of the same thing right...well today was a day to do something really big that scares me. The day before I had deboned and eaten fish so I felt like I could do anything! Today that included eating grub! Just little the big fat juicy ones that Timon eats in the video. I figured I would only be in the jungle once so I better live it up and eat even the delicacy!

I'm not sure I expected to do this, but it happened. Watch the next video at your own risk.

I do not think that it tasted like chicken like Timon and Pumba said, I actually don't remember what it tasted like I was just trying to get pasted the texture! If I tried describing that I would say it was almost like chewing icing through a plastic bag...weird I know!