The 2009 International Bowl

UB v UCONN 1/3/2009
My first bowl game
by
JT Pilaf

The "true blue" came out in full force to the record setting International Bowl in Toronto. Unfortunately the traffic was insane and we arrived to our seats only 7 minutes before kick-off. Despite the traffic and the fear of not arriving on time, we were in good spirit and ready to root for our hometown team (and since no Pittsburgh team was involved, Zachary was more than happy to cheer for the good guys too).


Everyone was using their big boy voices to let the UB Bulls know we were cheering for them trying desperately to drown out the Husky fans from UCONN.

The team came out and received a huge ovation.

Then the 1958 UB team was honored for their brave and humanitarian decision 50 years earlier.

Even Zach who knew to boo in this game. Sometimes his allegiances are askew do to a few family members living in PA.

An early field goal and lead had the Bulls flags a wavin' and the fans feeling giddy in the moment..

Everyone was happy that UB had the lead at halftime thanks to the help of 5 UCONN miscues.

And this was just after a few Canadian beers.

Unfortunately the second half didn't fair well for the hometown heroes and we had to mount a 4th quarter comeback. With a little over 2 minutes to go Drew Willy led the team right down the field.

And then it happened, wide right, no goal, you now the story, as soon as I snapped this (knowing it was going to Naaman) thinking it was a TD... the DB for UCONN was already on his 30 running it towards our end zone. I asked frantically what had happened and insisted that the refs take a look at my picture, hoping that he had control. To no avail, the refs couldn't hear me shouting down to them and UUCONN was going to win 38-20. We quietly gathered up our things and made way to the exits for a long ride home.

We had an awesome time even though UB didn't win. They played their hearts out and we just thoroughly enjoyed the moment.

Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas Everyone! Thank you for such a wonderful day. Even though the pirate game was a little "cut throat" this year. We missed everyone who could not be with us today. But rest assured you were in our thoughts and prayers. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night.

Christmas Day Is Coming!

We are so glad everyone is coming to East Aurora for our family celebration. We know it won't be easy to be here by 10ish and appreciate the effort. PJs are acceptable attire. With that in mind, we decided to do brunch instead of dinner. Don't worry, there will be lots of delicious food so come hungry. We will mix our champagne with a splash of OJ and Bloody Mary's will be availble for those who dare. The 'nog is fermenting.

It's time to make more memories! Count down starts ....NOW!

Unkie & Antie's Big Adventure

Being the world wide travelers that we are......we decided to surprise Kristen on the opening day of her new office. What a surprise it was! We booked our plane flight and a room in Atlanta, packed our duffel bags and off we went. We had a VERY hard time not letting the cat out of the bag, so to speak. Neither Kristen or Adam knew what we were up too. We spent Sunday sneaking around Atlanta and resisting the temptation to call Kristen, which would have ruined the surprise. FINALLY, Monday morning came and we hurried to the new office checking out the location on the way. This is a very old and famous, or so the sign said, hotel about 2 blocks away from KDH R&C.

This is the world famous FOX Theater, a true masterpiece (think Shea's only bigger) which is about 2 blocks away.

At last we spotted the building.

Yup, this is it.

We took the elevator up to the 7th floor, excitedly knocked on the door of the office and........no one was there! I mean, no one! Now what? Down we went to wait in the car and as we stepped off the elevator, there stood Kristen. The look on her face was priceless. She was SO surprised. We laughed, we cried and finally we noticed people were looking at us strangely so back up we went.

This is the reception desk.

This is the boss.

This is the view from the boss's window

This is Unkie on K's porch where we went to drink champagne before it was time to hop on the plane and head back. All in all, one of our very best adventures ever.

A Family Trip To Willow Valley

A Peaceful Rendition of a Family Getaway
by JT Pilaf

The stockings were hung on Mickey Mantle with care...

I can do this anywhere (we have documentation) it's just nicer to do when there's no worries about.
Last week we traveled down to Willow Valley (Lancaster, PA) in our rented, gold Chevy Malibu to a conference Sandra needed to attend. Why did we all go down? Why not. Zach had off from school and I've got the PTO to use, so sure, why not. Oh Emma, yeah we pulled her from school. We probably shoulld have told them though. Rebels.

We just figured it was the perfect oportunity to go swiming and relax. Emma gives the thumbs up approval sign. So it must've been a good idea. They had two pools and trust me, we got our time in.

After the pool time we drove 20 minutes down the road to Strasburg to see PA.'s Railroad Museum. It was a really nice setup. They had an inter-active area for kids and adults and then a huge warehouse filled with old passenger cars, engines, freights, everything from years past. They even had the Engineer Hall of Fame. I didn't see any woman engineers in the HOF and that got Emma mad.

They also had a gift shop there... hmmm... pirate gift???

The kids got to play and spent close to two hours in the inter-active room going from one diisplay to the next. Sandra and I saddled up to a bench and just watched them for ever.

I just love it when my little girl wears Yankee stuff. You know, she's a lefty. I'm just sayin'.

Adm, doesn't she look good in that hat? CC would look almost as good in that Yankee hat... almost.

Usually Emma has to stand back as Zach dominates the display, but there was enough to go around for everyone here.

Then on the way home on RT. 15 westopped off at the Little League Museum in Williamsport, PA. The price was right and we had a good time there. They had a Jackie Robinson display, early LL world series displays, when it started, who's been in it, what countries have won it, very informative. Did you know Pierre Tourgeon is in the Hall of Excellance for Little League? Neither did I.

As you can see Emma's opening up her stance a little early. I'll work on that with her. In the batting and pitching cages they had a camera set up so they replay back to you what you just did for 60 seconds. The kids loved it.

I just love watching them play, they both totally get into it.

See, eye on the ball, nice weight shift, balanced bat. I guess it's easier in the batting cages than on the playing field.

They also had a gift shop there... hmmmm.... pirate gift???

We had a nice time on our mini-vacation.

Every Journey Starts with One step and a scratch off.

So we were graciously invited back to San Antonio, to the Eagle Ranch Bed and Breakfast, and so we packed up our wares and headed south. Cookie was flying that day also, much to our surprise!

Flying with Gramma is never really a challenge as long as you bring her scratch offs and we have a wheel chair!

Notice we are all in jackets, sweatshirts, etc. It was snowing that day on our way to the airport and our plane was delayed as it had to be de - iced!

Of course it is common knowledge that Gramma thought she had won 20,000$. No she was convinced she had won 20 grand! Here is Cousin Barb holding her "winning" ticket. Barb was pretty much the only one, Gramma would let touch her golden ticket!

Chores are a part of each day on the ranch, Gramma and Barb were given the job of "stuffing" our scare crow for our Halloween decorations. Gramma was pretty much stationed in her rocker for the duration of our stay.

Here is my sister, busy at work on the porch of the quest house. Notice the bright sunshine, sigh! This is just one of the many photo's I took of the garden. Notice the 15 foot high plant in the middle of the garden? It is a century plant, it blooms once and only once at about 10 years of age, it is getting ready to bloom, unfortunately it did not happen while we were there. But the local paper did come out and take pictures!

Gramma, cousins Pat and Barb after our pumpkin hunting outing. Notice the "jug" on the truck!
One of the fun things I like to do is, put different hats on Gramma's head and take her picture! She fusses, but she is always a good sport. I find this picture one of the better ones! You can fill in your own caption.
In addition to the Bed and Breakfast and all the community organizations the Col and Pat belong to, they also have the Corny Colonel Business. This is a food vendor stand that is set up at local fairs and festivals. They sell corn dogs, popcorn, fried snickers bars, funnel cakes, pop and water. This was the Fall Harvest Festival that Sue and I helped with. It was a gorgeous day, and a lot of fun, but whoa, a lot of hard work.

I am not quite sure what she is talking about? But she does have a captive audience.

The Col was paying no attention to what Sue was talking about. Come to think of it, I don't think any one was....

All in All, Gramma at 91 years old, is pushed and pulled from pillar to post, shoved and wheeled all over, kept up late to take our money at poker, and is one of the best seasoned travelers! We thank from the bottom of our hearts our gracious and generous hosts, we had a ball!