Fancy a Trip to Punxsutawney, PA?

How ridiculous can a trip be? For Christmas, I gave Merril a trip to Punxsutawney, PA on Groundhog Day to see Phil. We've watched the movie every year and about 7 months before Christmas, I got to thinking that it would be a great trip! I've been stewing on this secret for several months and now it's time to fly! I got Southwest tickets because bags fly free and I wanted a whole bag of snow gear to stand outside in the cold all night. Some of our flights were not busy at all. That was nice.

Merril wanted to rent this new soft top Bronco for the trip.

We arrived late on January 31st and used February 1st to sight see at Niagara Falls on the Canada side.

That is so much water! I can't believe how much water just sails over the side every second.

I have so many layers on! Lol.

We paid extra for a look down below and went through some tunnels under the falls.

This is an old historic tunnel that was blocked off but you can still look at it. Creepy.

Because Punxsutawney is such a small town, there are hardly any hotels. We stayed about 40 minutes away in Indiana, PA. I downloaded the sound clip from the movie to make our alarm sing Sonny and Cher when we woke up at 2:30 a.m. on February 2nd.

It was bright and early when we arrived around 4 a.m.

It was pretty packed already. Originally, I was worried about how cold it could be but the weather was fantastic for February in Pennsylvania. It was around 35 degrees with no wind or rain or snow. There were several comments about how great the weather was this year! Yay for us! I was comfortable. 

It was like an outdoor concert in the wee hours of the morning as we waited for Phil to decide it was time to come out. Great fireworks too!

Merril wanted more winter but I was rooting for an early spring. Phil agreed with me. He did not see his shadow and predicted an early spring! 

There's no parking at Gobbler's Knob so we were bussed in. Afterwards, we decided to walk the 1.5 miles back to the car instead of waiting with thousands of bus riders.

We went back to the hotel and slept! Yay for me! We woke up in the afternoon and drove to Pittsburgh to sight see. We found a famous sandwich shop called Primanti Bros. 

We took a ride on this incline train, called a funicular, to a pretty overlook. This was the Duquesne (doo-cain) Incline. There was a self-guided tour of the machinery that makes it work, which we found to be fascinating!

After dark, we were driving back to the hotel and Merril kind of wanted to watch Groundhog Day, the movie. As he was driving, I was looking for a streaming service but stumbled onto a theatre that showing it. We decided to hop over to Oakland, PA to watch it. The theatre was more like a live theatre where you could see live music but it could also play movies. There was an bar at the back with tables on a raised platform. It was a fun set up.

People laughed at all our favorite jokes and clapped at the end. It was hilarious how much everyone enjoyed the movie. Merril said it was the most fun he's ever had in a theatre. :) 

Our last day there, we had tickets for lunch with Phil. We went a little early and went back to Gobbler's Knob and took a few more pictures.

At Lunch with Phil, we were able to take pictures with Phil himself. That's actually a live groundhog in the plastic enclosure.

We were talking to the Groundhog people and we asked about the crowd that night. They said it was huge this year and estimates came in at around 35-40,000 people. I thought I would see more children but it was almost exclusively crazy adults. So funny!

This trip was so silly. Merril and I giggled with each other several times because of how ridiculous it was. It was a great time! Loved it! We don't know if we need to go again but it was super fun to go with this guy! 

Tigers Got Talent 2024

Juliet couldn't compete at Tigers Got Talent because she won last year. She was still asked to play a piece during the judges deliberation. It's fun to watch and listen to her play. Plus, she didn't have the pressure of trying to win.

Friends on the robotics team convinced her to ask Nathan to preference during the show. It was adorable. He said YES!

Good memories!

 

Sandy's Awake!

Sandy has been hibernating (brumating) since the end of October. She's been asleep in her enclosure and we haven't had to feed her or do anything. We turned off her lights and we ignored her. It's a little disconcerting, I was afraid she was dead. She didn't stink and if you pet her she'd open an eye. So we just kept doing what we were doing until she started moving around more. Then we turned on the lights and began feeding and bathing her. She seems perfectly fine. Crazy. Mikayla has missed her. It's fun to have her awake again!

 

Winter Not So Formal

Juliet was asked to the Winter Snowball by Beauchene. For the day date, they went to laser mania. 

She was in a huge group, like 22 people! They had dinner in Laurie Scholzen's casita.

All the girls!

Merril in Puerto Rico

Merril was invited on a trip to Puerto Rico to visit Brian "Tomahawk" Sewel. He's been living there and they used to ride dirt bikes together because Brian moved. The guys decided to book a trip and wanted to rent motorcycles to ride with Brian. Puerto Rico looks amazing!

Unfortunately, their motorcycle rentals cancelled and they were forced to ride scooters around the island. Brian, Silver Beatty and Wade, and Ryan Roseberg.

They visited Old San Juan and there was a huge parade.

They went to this roasted pig place.

Merril said it was so beautiful he wants to bring me and the kids back here. They kayaked in a bay of bioluminescent plankton and he said it was super cool. It would glow when they would paddle through it.

First Snow of the Year!

We woke up to snow! Not enough to close school. Mark was able to play in the snow before school started. The wind kicked up and it was so blustery. Mark didn't stay out to play for very long. It's fun to see!

Maxine Had To Go Back To School. Boo!

 Maxine was told by Grandma Campbell that she needed to drive a boy from her ward back up to Logan. Maxine and I were a little weirded out but the boy's parents paid Maxine $100 so that was pretty nice!

The snow has finally arrived at USU and Maxine was invited to go sledding with friends.

And hot chocolate!

Yikes Maxine. Stay safe up there. It looks gnarly.

And she also is taking a snowboarding class. It's 6 weeks and the resort is called Beaver Mountain. The resort says to "ski the beav." Lol. I was worried about her being cold but she said she was sweating. It's hard work. 

Juliet Meets Mark Rober

The HHS Robotics team had the opportunity to visit Mark Rober and CrunchLabs because Rober's nephews are on the team. Juliet said it was super fun. Mark Rober is a youtuber that makes engineering videos for kids. It's fun stuff. 

Merril had to wear some safety glasses and these were the only ones they had.

This piano is named chopsticks. It's been in a Mark Rober video. Juliet had the opportunity to play it. Mark Rober said, "Wow!" and seemed impressed. She is pretty cool. 

Old Friends

While Maxine was here for Christmas break, Nate and Maxine, and Trentin and Paige went on a double date. It was just old friends getting together after everyone got home from missions and college. She said they were goofy and it was a fun time. They went bowling and went to look at the view from the old airport.

 

Maxine's Snowman

I was making a craft with salt dough and Maxine made this snowman with the leftovers. He's so cute!

I thought he'd be more robust but as the day went on, he started to sag.

And eventually "melted." Hahaha!

Jack's First Go Kart Ride

As a Christmas present to Jack, Merril and I gave him an adventure. He's wanted to drive a go kart for his whole life. When we would go to Fiesta Fun, he was always too small to drive the go karts and they were expensive. By the time he was tall enough, we didn't visit Fiesta Fun all that often. Also, most of the family went to Salt Lake area for a baptism and Jack had to stay home to work. The whole family went to the Rush Funplex with unlimited go karting. So he's missed out and I thought it would be a great gift! On January 1st, we were going to go ride with Jess and Luke's family and we sneaked this in. 

Jack had 2 races, which was good because I felt like he just got warmed up at the end of the first race.

He was faster the second race! He said it was a great Christmas present idea! He had a lot of fun!