The rest of the trip

 In addition to hunting down Mr. Rogers paraphernalia, we found a lot of fun things to do.  We had to keep our plans fluid since the weather really wasn't cooperating.  Our first day in Pittsburgh was the best day we had, weatherwise.

We had planned to drive out to Shanksville and see the Flight 93 Memorial, but freezing rain deterred us.  So we ended up back in Pittsburgh at the National Aviary.  Most of it was indoors so we enjoyed the birds and stayed out of the rain.

Faced with another day of bad weather we switched it up and headed to Cincinnati for our last day of the trip.  After a morning at IKEA and Jungle Jim's we went to the American Sign Museum.  It was a really interesting place full of old signs, including a bunch of neon.  

And of course, no trip is complete without some geocaching!

Spring (sort of) Break Trippin' - Visiting the Neighborhood

Spring break time...even if the weather wasn't very "springy".  We took out for a short road trip (minus Aaron who had to work) to Pittsburgh.  Ahhh Pittsburgh, such a tropical location!  My goal was to take in all things Mr. Rogers.  With the 50th anniversary of the show this year there has been a renewed interest in the neighborhood.  I grew up watching Mr. Rogers so there was no small amount of nostalgia involved. 

Our first stop was the Heinz History Center.  A fun and interesting museum with the added bonus of a small exhibit of items from Mr. Rogers Neighborhood including a part of the original set, X the Owl's tree and King Friday's castle

A collection of puppets from the show

After our visit to the museum, we spent some time walking along the river and grabbing some geocaches.  The next day we headed to Latrobe, PA - Fred Rogers' hometown.  We headed to the Fred Rogers Center on the campus of St. Vincent University where there was another exhibit of items from the show.

Puppets

Mr. Rogers' sweaters...hand knit by his mother.

Daniel Striped Tiger's clock

The building also housed the archives from the show.  Although they were not open to the public, windows had been placed so that visitors could look in.  There were rows and rows of boxes filled with production notes, fan mail, and paperwork as well as puppets, set pieces, and all types of memorabilia.  

After our visit, we drove a few miles to Unity Cemetary to Mr. Roger's grave.  It was a small family mausoleum up on a hill at the back of the cemetery.

Our final stop on the "Mr. Rogers" tour was in downtown Latrobe to drop by the statue of Mr. Rogers in a small downtown park.  It was cold and rainy but we couldn't pass up a quick photo-op.

Such a fun nostalgia-filled time finding stuff from the show.  We could use a little more Mr. Rogers in our world today!

Hey 2018!

We rang in the new year in a low-key manner this year.  Rachel, Dusty, and I spent the evening playing card games and snacking.  We grabbed our traditional "Last Sunset of the Year" photo with Aaron before he headed out to party with Katie's family.

It was absolutely frigid for this photo.  The temperature was hanging around 3 degrees.  We had plenty of games to choose from.

And the night was filled with goofiness!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Our Christmas

We enjoyed several days in Illinois with relatives for Christmas.  With changing work schedules, potential weather issues, and a flu epidemic we had to keep our schedule flexible.  Fortunately, we were able to enjoy time on both sides of our family.  Joel's family was dealing with the flu before Christmas and Mom and Dad got taken down by it after Christmas. 

Santa has his work cut out for him here...

 Fun at the kid's table

When adults get Nerf guns in their stockings...

What you get when you are the grandkid that is too old for toys

A Snuggie Tail Christmas

When your aunt is a talented face painter

We ended the evening with a surprise that Daniel had arranged for Elle.  A Filipino tradition...karaoke!  And everyone got into the act!

December 26th and a trip to Flora for more Christmas fun!

Christmas Eve

We headed over to Mom and Dad's Christmas Eve morning.  Aaron had to work, so he would be joining us on Christmas Day.  Snow was coming in and the temperatures were dropping fast. 

Candlelight Christmas Eve service at Dad's church

After the service, it was back to Mom and Dad's and the traditional viewing of "It's a Wonderful Life!"