30 on 30!

I have arrived! Officially old now! I spent the last few hours of my twenties doing what I love to do - taking care of my two little ladies (see previous post) while their parents went out on a date. I did things in threes this year. Gifts came at three different times and we went out to eat three times. Once with the girls from work, once with my family, and once with my mom which was tonight. We went to Cracker Barrel, one of my favorite places to eat. I had Sirloin steak, hashbrown casserole, deep fried okra, and fried apples. We got dessert free for our birthdays. I chose the chocolate Coca-Cola cake and brought it home. I can't believe that I'm thirty! Time flies when yer havin' fun!!! I got lots of books, two Boyd's Bears, a gift card, money, and a teacher's mug.
A lot has happened in 30 years. If my eyes could talk about the places I've walked, I do believe I could write a small book about my travels. I've seen so many beautiful places in the past thirty years, so much scenery that it's hard to find words to describe it. I've been in 48 states, 8 Canadian provinces, Mexico City, and so many national parks - I think the one we visited most is Yellowstone, that being four times. I've met so many people, a lot of them being little people. One of those little people wished me a happy birthday today and I asked her how old she thought I was to which she replied, "42"! Oh, help! One of the other little girls guessed 3. I want to be neither of those ages so I have to be content with 30. I don't know if this age makes me an old maid or not. Oh, well if it does! All in all, it was a good day!

Leaving "The Roaring Twenties"

In a few short days I will be leaving the twenties and head into a new decade of my life. I've had to wait 30 years to be the same as my birthdate - 30 on 30! I told my sister that I'm leaving the Roaring Twenties and wondered what the Thirties were called. She calmly replied, "The Depression". That made me feel so much better! NOT! My birthdays have always been interesting since I share the day with my mom. What a gift she got on that day! ha ha Anyway, for years we did something special around the time our birthdays. Whether it was hiking the Grand Canyon of PA, visiting Rickett's Glen, walking across Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg, enjoying the scenery of Hyner View, PA (yes, it is called that!), or any other place we went, it was always fun! Most if not all of those trips were with other family members - My Uncle Allen, Aunt Michele, and my cousin Misty, and sometimes a few others. What great memories we have of those days - some of those days were extremely cold, like the day we were at the PA Grand Canyon. We lived in coats and sweatshirts, wrapped up in blankets, and drank lots of hot tea, chocolate, and coffee to stay warm. When we visited Rickett's Glen, it rained most of the day. We didn't mind, we just bundled up and away we went, and went, and went, until we realized that we were probably lost. We took a wild guess on which trail to follow and thankfully it was the right one and we were able to find my parents and finally get in the warm car. Time went on and as I got into the age bracket of early twenties, the trips didn't happen as frequently. Not everything was going smoothly in family relationships, so we didn't go anywhere together for a long time, about nine/ten years. Other's had interest elsewhere and we sporadically went places, not every year as we did before. We broke that mold this year - thank goodness! I had this brainy idea to go somewhere this year, after all, it is my last twenty number that I can claim and I had to celebrate! Our original plan failed. We were going to go to Washington D.C. on a bus trip, but that went down the tubes. Instead we went to Gettysburg. I find it ironic that we went there, seeing as that was the last place we all went together nine years ago. Our day started out at Boyd's Bears. I had been there several times before but my cousin hadn't. It's a beary nice place! After that we went to the Outlets, my mom was looking for a new mixer for her birthday and yes, she found one, thank God! I'm done trying to mix with one beater! She got the real deal this year - a Kitchen Aid with everything she could ever want! We then visited the new visitor's center and what a place that is. It opened this past April and if you ever get a chance to go, you'll enjoy it! You could spend hours going through the new museum. The newly restored Cyclorama will have it's Grand Opening this Saturday. They also have a huge gift/book store and two theaters. The place is incredible! We didn't get to spend much time there, but we are thinking of going back in October and driving the battlefield again. After that, we visited the PA memorial which I think is one of the best that is on the battlefield. Then we went shopping, had a picnic supper, and took an evening train ride. We had a great time! Returned home very tired but that was okay, I wouldn't have wanted it to be any different. Took lots of pictures, but as I said before, dial-up is a mess to try to post something. Such is life! I'm glad summer is officially over! Although I do have to say that one good thing happened this summer - I got my Hawaii scrapbooks finished. Now I have to work on my sister's books. The good thing about that is, I already have a pattern to follow. That's all for now!