After FORCING Bubbles and Sprout to catch up on their blogs I told them I would guest blog today and tomorrow. Dad and I were SUPER excited to pick them up. Dad was really worried that we wouldn’t be able to find them (he doesn’t understand that smart phones get maps on them… not that I don’t love a paper map… but we can call each other!!)
We headed to a hotel in Morgantown which held a lot of great memories for our family. Sprout, Bubbles, and Smudgy Cheeks spent the weekend hearing dad and I reminisce about one of our favorite family trips to this hotel. Dad took Mom and the oldest four kids on the road with him (leaving the three youngest at home with our grandma). The hotel was connected to a mall! This was the coolest thing ever because Dad usually dropped us off at a playground, which would maybe have two swings that were operational, with a loaf of bread, a jug of kool aid, a jar of peanut butter, and a jar of jelly! This hotel also had an incredible indoor pool with a Pacman arcade machine that was the best kind of broken… it wouldn’t accept coins so we could play as many games as we wanted to!! Also, at some point Dad left us each $2.00 to spend at the mall (even back in the early 90’s this was NOT a lot of money). The four of us pooled our money and bought a HUGE at least 3 foot diameter bouncy ball. We thought this was hilarious until we left the hotel and the four of us, sitting across the back of a sedan, had to hold the ball in our laps the entire way home!
 |
| We spent A LOT of time trying to throw our ball off the fourth story without the front desk seeing us (circa 1990 NOT 2016!) |
We got up on Saturday morning and headed towards Philly. We got about 10 minutes down the turnpike before Bubbles realized that she FORGOT her boots at the hotel!! We had to drive another 15 minutes down the turnpike to turn around and grab them. They really needed to be replaced because the sole was coming off of them. Even though they’ve hiked 200 miles the sole should not already be falling off (it started to come apart around mile 100).
Once we were back on the road to REI we decided that we needed to find a bakery that sold butter cakes, mom’s favorite bakery item from when she and dad lived on the shore in New Jersey. I found one with the highest rating on google, called them, and reserved the last four for us to pick up (yes, four, hindsight tells me that this was a little overboard!)
We went to REI and Bubbles was so excited to trade in her boots. She went up a size, to a men’s 13 (hahaha, not going to quit teasing her about that ~ although she doesn’t really care!) We were all really hoping that this would cure Bubbles incredibly horrible foot (more toe) pain! Bubbles also found a pair of trail runners. Those are shoes which have a lot more traction, a deeper sole, and more protection on the front of the shoe for accidentally kicking rocks. They didn’t have them in her size so we ordered them to be delivered to dad’s house. We were ready to go but Dad was still searching for something to buy. They didn’t have any shoes that would fit him that he didn’t already own (size 15 men’s) which really disappointed him (he seriously has more shoes than ANY of us in the family, combined!) We found him in the clearance section checking out light fleeces, which he REALLY needed! He was a happy camper!
 |
| Bubbles at REI in her new boots |
We left REI and headed to the bakery. We didn’t get out of the parking lot before Bubbles realized she couldn’t find her phone. Dad turned around and we searched the car looking for it. Bubbles and Sprout went back into REI to search for it. Luckily, a good Samaritan found Bubbles phone on a random shelf and turned it in. Thank you!!
At this point I want everyone to know that my dad will NOT let me drive him around… As soon as Kathleen (the oldest sister) and Jimmy (oldest brother but still younger than me) get near my dad’s car he hands them the keys. Apparently he does not trust me so he drove and hates city driving with a gps (my favorite kind of driving!) After almost getting us killed several times we made it to the bakery. I stayed in the car to continue editing Bubbles blogs (while dad drove I typed as Bubbles told her story) and dad and Bubbles went into the bakery. Dad came out with two HUGE bags of baked goods. Typical!
 |
| Dad was so happy, especially because the bakery looked just like the ones on the Jersey Shore! |
 |
| Butter Cakes, Cheese Cake, cookies!! |
We left there and decided that we couldn’t leave Philly without a cheese steak. We went to the famous Pat’s and Geno’s Cheesesteak stands so that we could compare the two. We got four of each (for the five of us) and headed back to the hotel. We really didn’t have a definite winner… they were both really good!
 |
| Bubbles got pictures of the Pat's King of Steaks sign. The oldest Cheesesteak spot in Philly! |
 |
| Better know how to order a Cheesesteak in Philly! |
We were exhausted at this point but knew that we still needed to stop at Walmart for some last minute staples. We picked up the usual, tuna fish, rice meals, candy bars, and hair clippers! The plan was to cut Bubbles and Sprout’s hair a bit shorter (not even kidding, Bubbles hair had this little unicorn spot where it stuck up in the middle about an inch longer than any hair around it!)
We made it back to the hotel and started to make sure that everything was plugged in and charging. Bubbles and Sprout have these awesome flashlights that can be solar powered. While making sure that everything was charged I plugged one into my computer to chart it and my computer went black. Because we were in the car and I was typing EVERYTHING Bubbles had just told me was in a Word document NOT BACKED UP!! I pretty much tried not to freak out! The hotel handyman and a random person that Bubbles and Sprout met in the laundry room tried to help me find a screwdriver to get my macbook to open. They didn’t have the correct size so I went to Lowe’s. Miraculously, when I opened it and followed a few simple directions I found on the internet, the macbook turned back on! I was so happy (especially since this macbook is only two years old ~ I spilled a bowl of wonton soup on my last one). I did not want to come home and explain to my husband why I needed another new computer! Crisis averted!
Bubbles and I continued to catch up on her blogs until the wee hours of the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment