Trip to Pittsburgh for Krista’s “50th!”

I left home on June 30th to fly to Pittsburgh for our daughter Krista’s 50th.  To start my journey Air Canada was an hour and a half late leaving Terrace and I almost missed my flight to Toronto.  I was receiving texts on my phone saying I’d been put on another flight etc, etc but in the end those of us flying to Toronto ran from one end of the Vancouver airport to the other and made the flight.  The seat I’d paid for had someone sitting in it but there were three empty seats by themselves and I got a better seat and I could curl up and get a bit of sleep.   When I got to Toronto they’d rebooked my morning flight to Pittsburgh to the afternoon flight and no one knew where my luggage was….nice!  A pleasant efficient Air Canada lady helped out by rebooking me to the morning flight and found my luggage as well.  Sweet…..and…..

….here I am in Pittsburgh.  Daughter Krista and grandchildren Shane and Ava picked me up and we went to the Cracker Barrel for breakfast. 

The rest of the day (Sunday July lst) was spent getting the house set up for the rest of the company.

Daughter Erika and grand daughter Abby from Terrace arrived late on Sunday evening as they were delayed by thunder and lighting in Chicago.  Here they are on Monday morning and we are all outside on the patio.  The weather was hot, hot and steamy.  No complaints as we all made it.

Later Monday afternoon we all loaded up to head off to Krista’s good friends (Pam and David) pool.  Yip is on Ava’s lap and that’s Lola up front. 

Everyone is in the pool and Lola is getting ready to do her famous “ Dog cannonball!”

She doesn’t actually swim she just keeps getting out and hurling herself back in.  Yip doesn’t like the water and wore a life jacket. 

Now for the fun part.  We’d planned to order supper in but it clouded over, the thunder and lightening started and then it poured and poured and poured.  We were stuck in the pool house which flooded (never had before!) while we waited it out.  We finally left around 9pm and when we got down the bottom of the hill from Pam’s there had been flash floods everywhere.  Yikes!  Cars floated away, swimming pools filled with mud and roads closed.  When we got back to Krista and Jeff’s (about 10km away)….it hadn’t even rained!  Jeff picked up pizza for dinner and all was well.

Tuesday.    Everyone needs to do a little shopping …right.  The mothers are shopping and the kids are watching TV!

We finished up with a lovely lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and we were so full we had to take our cheesecake home and eat it for breakfast the next morning.  That’s Abby (18) and Shane (13.)

Wednesday and it’s Krista’s 50th.  We are back at Pam and David’s house for a birthday pool party.  Here I am with our two daughters and three grand children.  Erika and Wade’s oldest Holly was working and couldn’t come with us. 

A beautiful day and everyone had a lovely time.

That’s Pam and David up front and Erika, Krista and Abby behind.

Everyone brought food and no one went hungry!

That’s Erika sitting on the edge….looks pretty good for almost 49!

This is some sort of crazy noodle race and that’s my toe at the bottom since I’m in a lawn chair taking pictures.

Ava and Shane up front and they are having a whale of a time. 

No one seemed to be able to get up on this huge floaty.

Some popular game where whoever is it has to find and tag a person while their eyes are closed.  Everyone has to keep repeating a phrase( can’t remember it) and then keep diving out of the way. 

Hmmm…..the clouds are forming again. 

That’s son-in-law Jeff relaxing in the lawn chair. 

It did it to us again…..poured and thundered and lightening flashed again and again.   So….

We called it an early night and went back to Jeff and Krista’s.  That’s all four of our grand children….Holly is on the computer even though you can’t really see her.

It’s dark and our two girls are snuggled up in the living room chatting.    It was a good party even though we got rained out…..again!

It’s Friday now and there was finally no threat of thunder, lightening or rain so we were off to the Kennywood Amusement Park.  This has become a family tradition most summers but I have never been.  It’s an old park that is about 30 miles from Jeff and Krista’s and so off we went.   It has been in operation for over a hundred years and started out as a “trolley” park attraction at the end of the Mellon family’s railway.  The rides date back to the 1900’s and it is designated a National Historic Landmark for its history and historic rides and is one of only 13 trolley parks still operating in the USA. 

It’s a hot day but there is a cool breeze and we’re ready to ride!

120 years of fun!

George Washington was here.

And now for the Phantom!

Jeff, Ava, Shane and me….ready to ride.  Krista and Erika chickened out!   Didn’t scare me at all….I just thought it was huge amount of fun and….Gramma impressed the grandkids!

A blue tongue!

Ava went on this one by herself but later she and I went on it together. 

Here we are heading off to the Racer and Jack Rabbit.

We had a stupendous day and by 5pm we were tired and ready to head home.

Bye-bye Kennywood.   We really had fun.

Saturday afternoon and we are off to the ballgame.  The Pittsburgh Pirates are playing the Philadelphia Phillies and we have tickets.   Yahoo!   This was my choice for the trip as I just love a live ballgame.  I’ve been to ones in Montreal, Kansas City, Denver and St. Louis and enjoyed them all. 

Heading down the street to the park entrance.  Ava had a horse club meeting today and she couldn’t come. 

Legacy square and we couldn’t bring in our guns or knives!!! Just kidding.

The whole family is wearing Pirates shirts except me in my red Canada maple leaf T-shirt.  Wouldn’t you know it…the Phillies were in red and I looked like their fan.  Rats!

A beautiful hot day for drinking beer and eating hot dogs!

The sky line in the distance. 

Hey ….that’s the Pirate Parrot.

Jake Arrieta is pitching for the Phillies and they win the game but ….not by much. 

Shane leans back and you can see Erika and Abby.

There’s Gramma the traitor in her red shirt!   I had fun!

They were giving out free Pirates hats but we were too late to get one.  However…there was one left under the seat in front of me and I gave it to the birthday girl. 

Abby, Jeff and Shane.   The only one in our immediate family who is shorter than me is Ava and she’s only 11 and growing fast! 

A beautiful evening and the end of a great week.

Krista and Jeff work so hard at their riding establishment that they hardly ever take a off.  Jeff works full time as well so it’s a busy life. 

Abby and Erika.  This is about 6pm on Saturday night and we had to get up at 3am to go to the airport so not much sleep that night.

A nice lady took our picture so I could be in it.  Thanks!

Even closer!

Not sure what these furry bunnies are all about but they were a hit.

Holy….that’s a lot cheaper than the $11 beers inside the park!

Trooping off to the car and off home for a few hours sleep before we fly out in the morning.

It was a super visit and we all had so much fun.  Krista took the whole week off work and we all enjoyed our quality family time.   Really special.  

Jeff and Krista manage (Krista trains and teaches as well) and are in the process of buying the Silver Crest Equestrian Centre so they are a busy pair.  Google Krista Tycho-Noone to see her many accomplishments.  Erika, Abby and Ava are all accomplished riders as well….what a talented family we have!