Thanksgiving in PA: Friday

{Even if you aren’t all that interested in Day Two of our Thanksgiving trip, at least watch the second video with all the fish.}

The McHusband and I went back to Uncle Ralph’s Friday morning.  I ran 5 miles along the roads by his house (and saw two horse-and-buggies driven by Amish people as well as an Amish girl walking) while the McHusband “played guns,”  by which I mean he participated in some target shooting,with the boys.

From left to right: Nate’s shooting, the McHusband, Uncle Ralph, Uncle Burn, and Cody.

My uncle takes his target practice seriously.

They all walked down to see how Nate did so I got this artsy-fartsy shot.

I left the McHusband with my trigger-happy uncles and drove back to my grandma’s house to get cleaned up because Bri, Shannon, and I were taking the kids to Lake Pymatuning.  We used to go there when we visited PA in the summer and now that Lyla and Owen are old enough to enjoy it, we were excited that the weather was nice so we could get out there and introduce it to the next generation.

You’re probably wondering what’s so special about this lake with the funny name.  Well, it’s because it’s touted as the lake where the ducks walk on the fish.

In addition to ducks and geese, there were seagulls out there.  Guess all those birds missed the memo about flying south for the winter.

Listen toward the end when Lyla says, “I just can’t believe this.”

Lyla, Owen, and the seagulls

Aunt Becky provided the bag o’ bread.  Or, rather, a (grocery) bag of bags of bread like hamburger buns and rolls.  Owen’s carrying his own buns.

There were a decent amount of fish here, but it wasn’t nearly as impressive as we remembered.  We briefly doubted our collective memory of this place – was it bigger and better when we were younger just because we were smaller?

Owen and Lyla were totally into feeding the animals so that made Bri, Shannon and me happy.  Nothing’s worse than introducing someone to an experience that you think is really cool and them  not being into it.  Even if those someones are three years old.

 

Turns out, the real action was happening down at the spillway.

Now THAT’S a lot of fish!

Thank goodness for video so you can get the full effect of Lake Pymatuning.  There’s just no way you can grasp how many fish there are until you see if for yourself.

So many fish!

Shannon took a picture of me with the kids.  I just realized – we’re all wearing stripes.

Then we traded photography services with a family so that we could get one with all of us.  I didn’t crop this picture; the lady almost cut my head off.  I guess you get what you pay for.

We went back to my grandma’s house to hang out after the lake.  The boys were still out doing their thing so we visited with Grandma and played on the living room floor.  Just like old times.

Eat your heart out, Maks!

Maxie had the best seat in the house: Grandma’s lap.  And Grandma was in her element with a baby on her knee.

My dad flew into PA that evening so he, the McHusband, Grandma, and I sat around catching up before bed.

 

What a great day in PA!  I had a fabulous run on a gorgeous day, I spent the afternoon reliving my childhood with some of my most favorite people, I had pizza for dinner, and my dad arrived safely from MO.  Maybe I should’ve bought a lottery ticket…