.: Val and Ami's End of Summer BBQ!

We're back! What a whirlwind trip... We left a little later than planned (I forgot about my friend's endearing penchant for tardiness), but we still were on the road with plenty of time to get there and get some sleep for the weekend ahead. The drive TO Pennsylvania was horrendous. It took a little over 12 hours and the last 5 were in the densest fog I have had to deal with in a long time. Monica drove through it for a couple of hours in the early morning. I needed a cat nap. We arrived about 5:30 or so and sleepily trudged in with blankies and pillows. We really saw nothing of Pennsylvania or their property that night. The house is old Colonial--looked like it was right out of any of the documentaries on the Salem witch trials! The staircase up to our sleeping room was just about a vertical spiral. The steps were triangles that narrowed to nothing! I really hoped no one had to get up in the middle of the sleep! I wound up getting up a bit before 10:00 the next morning. Don't ask me why. I wanted to sleep... The heat and humidity was oppressive to say the least! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves--good company, good food and fun games! The drive home was a lot better--no fog at all and we actually got to see the mountains we were driving through. I was surprisingly alert and wound up driving the whole way back. It didn't take as long--only 11 hours. We spent our actual Labor Day at home doing nothing laborous and enjoying Gary's day off.

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Ami, Val, Jake, Zac, Betsy, me and Daisy.

Everyone + Monica

The Game Room was a BIG hit! Val and Ami rennovated the upper floor of their barn. They filled it with amazing furniture: a poker table with comfy chairs, a pool table that was absolutely gorgeous, and matching both of those pieces was the bar. Betsy loved the pinball machine, while her sister spent most of her time playing the Wii. Zac and Jake could usually be found in front of the XBox 360 playing Rock Band. The most entertaining situation for me was to watch Zac (sax player) attempt the drums on Rock Band. I don't think he will be so critical of his brother the drummer any longer. Jake had very little trouble playing along to the rock songs they attempted.

Pool shark?

Mmmmmm.... I can still smell those burgers!

These ladies know how to throw a party! There was no skimping anywhere--food, beverages and hospitality! I did have to do a double take when they explained that there was a kid's keg. What? They had a little keg of the most awesome root beer I have ever tasted! The kids loved it. Well, other people's kids loved it...none of mine are big root beer fans. I sampled out of the grown ups' keg more than the kids'. They had a bouncy tent (came with a guy in a lawn chair) for the kids. Betsy had to be pulled out to take a break because she got overheated.