Pipsquirt and the Great Arm-Off

We've been traveling again, this time to Pittsburgh to visit my sisters and mom - or, as William mispronounced, 'Pipsquirt'. Pipsquirt was a lot of fun, as it always is - we always stay up way too late & eat too much good food, and the kids - all eleven of them! - are exhausted by the time its all over. The little kids love visiting, for several reasons including 1) all the new toys to play with 2) staying up later than they normally do! and 3) Jason gets Mommy all to himself at bedtime - which makes for a troublesome time when we get back home, because he still wants Mommy all to himself. Sorry kid, we're home now, you sleep in your bed and I sleep in mine :)

William whipped Jason around the room on the Radio Flyer Rocket more times than I could count.
It was exhausting to watch.

Baby Joey, my oldest nephew, is now 15 and goes by 'Joe'.
He was 2-1/2 at my wedding, and the only child. I feel old.

Lilly and Evie sitting in a tree.
Carving something or other (Steve, were you aware of this??)

John doing puzzles! John was almost the youngest of all the kids.
Then I found out I was pregnant with Jason. Sorry John :)

I think he has chocolate brownies left on his face :)
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So when Becky, my younger sister, and her family came to visit in July for the 4th, out of the blue she challenged me to arm wrestle. In the kitchen, in the middle of the afternoon. While I thought it was odd, who am I to not rise to the occasion? There were no witnesses that time, but it ended up being a draw. We vowed to meet in combat again the next time we got together, so Sunday night began the Great Arm-Off - this time with much wine (clearly), witnesses, and photographic evidence.

We went three rounds in the course of the evening, the first two being draws. I swear the 3rd time Becky just threw it to let me win - we will be having a rematch come Christmastime, with results to follow. Stay tuned.... Stephanie, our older sister who DID wrestle Becky over the summer (another draw!), declined to participate this time. I think she's afraid of going DOWN.

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When we arrived at Becky's house, we pulled up to the garage & they put the door up for us to come in and lo and behold, there in the garage was one of these beauties:
Have I ever told you how much I love roadsters? This probably stems from the fact that my dad had one of these when I was little (truth be told, he still has it - it just hasn't been driven anywhere since I think 1976). I remember Stephanie and I riding around in it, top down, as kids - I think we shared the front seat :) Those were the days. Anyway!I love roadsters, always have, and I've always loved the Miata. They let me drive it on Saturday and I have to say - if I give up on riding the Harley - not that I've made THAT decision yet - I surely wouldn't mind having one of these to ride around in on a sunny day. At least I'm comfortable behind the wheel of a car :)