Awake: 6:07am sleep 7+56 cloudy…..then rain….then partly sunny
overnight @ Pittsburgh, PA.
Corn flakes, corn flakes & more corn flakes for breakfast with milk. Not
to downgrade the Microtel Hotels: they offer a bargain price with free
phone calls including long distance, free WI-FI & breakfast. And if you do
the park, sleep & fly thing, you can leave your auto in their parking lot
for 7 days or more with no extra charge. More about that breakfast: on
rare occasions, their breakfast options can be somewhat limited. Before we
leave the Microtel @ 9:45am, Kathy calls Melissa for a food shopping list
to be purchased @ Costco this morning before picking up Katrina @ the
airport.
Our GPS Lady Garmin guides us to the Costco store in less than 12 min.
Traffic @ this time is very light. We take our time looking @ all the new
merchandise items Costco has brought in for the holiday season…..some nice
stuff. Kathy takes care of the Foote food list & then we both ponder over
a few gifts that we might give to our Goddaughter & 3 grandsons. Not to be
ungrateful for her efforts, but I am not impressed with her selections on
gifts. Instead, I humbly suggest we visit a hobby store that I had seen
last night on our way to the Microtel Hotel. She takes my mild mannered
idea graciously. Just before we check out from Costco, Katrina calls from
Minneapolis to report that her next flight to PIT is delayed by about 30
min, but will call again when arriving @ the PIT terminal.
10 min drive to the Hobby Town USA store on Robinson Lane. We spend the
next hr looking around @ the many gift ideas with a much better selection
for the younger kids. After this Hobby Town experience, we realize that
only one gift from Costco will be acceptable so it’s back to Costco to
return the other gifts & have a lunch of pizza slices in the process.
Things have changed: now the holiday traffic is thick & slow moving.
Katrina calls from the PIT terminal & now on her way to baggage. She’ll
call again to give us the pickup area door number. We hustle out to our
Suzuki, program Lady Garmin & proceed to the PIT airport. The call comes
while on our way; she’ll be waiting outside entrance #2.
Katrina looks good & reports a comfortable flight. Now our trusty Suzuki
is really loaded down with an additional 3 of Kat’s bags. The Suzuki does
not show the extra burden & Katrina does not complain about her cubicle
being smaller than her airline seat, so we continue with a smile. To help
Katrina smile a little wider, we both left her morsels of Costco pizza to
nibble on during her next leg.
Our PA route 22 was not a good choice: holiday traffic, close to rush hr
time & highway construction really slowed our estimated arrival time into
Indiana, PA. When we do finally arrive @ 4:35pm, all the M & K family
members + grandchildren & Eriko are here for the holidays. Kevin is
working @ the university & will be home by 5:00pm. Everyone is looking
healthy, even the grandchildren. We were impressed with Matthew showing so
much affection, Andrew’s BIG smile & Jerry’s inquisitiveness.
Before we start unloading all the freight from the big Suzuki, Melissa
hands us a small homemade card that she encourages us to “read now!” I
open it carefully, trying to figure out…..why is this necessary? Oh, now I
get it: there’s a Wal-Mart shopping card that we can conveniently use for
getting groceries without using our retirement checks. But wait, there’s
more: “a Starbucks card” to help wake us up before we go food shopping for
groceries @ Wal-Mart. How thoughtful of our daughter Melissa & son-in-law
Kevin. Hold on, there’s appears to be a note inside this card that reads:
You’re great grandparents we wanted to say,
But that’s not the reason for this card today.
No riddles to guess, no games to play.
The third Foote child is on its way.
Wow! And “Congratulations to you guys” we tell them.
After a little more excited conversation about this next up & coming
miracle, we get busy & unload the heavy cargo from the Suzuki.
More news you can use: Nick presents a special bottle of wine for toasting
@ dinnertime: He & Zack are celebrating the successful IPO of their
company, Isilon, in Seattle, WA going public just last Friday. Another
thrilling chapter opens in the lives of the K & M family. Our 6:15 dinner:
Meat loaf, mashed potatoes & salad.
K & I, trying to set a good example: wash, dry & clean up the kitchen
afterwards with little fanfare. It was quite a job for us as we are
normally accustomed to using instruments for only a party of two.
After this laborious workout, we look @ some of Nick’s digital movies on
his computer of Jerry & Eriko. This rather quick & busy visit with our
family was a wonderful start for the holidays. Now we leave this busy &
very active environment, drive about 3.5 miles & check into our hotel
which is located very close to the Wal-Mart in town. We’re not finished
yet: more unloading & organizing & then, we relax for the night. It was a
good trip up here to PA & it’s even a better trip being with our family
again.
Lights out: 12:04am
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