CHEESESTEAKS.....BIRTHDAYS AND THINGS THAT GO "BUMP" IN THE DAY.

We just returned from a wonderful two weeks in the Motherland......

Celebrating two birthdays.......both mine and daughters....

October 8th. 1950

October 8th. 1975.......

We started out our visit with a trip to the apple orchard.....

Nothing says fall like apple picking....apple cider and ofcourse those wonderful

Apple Cider Donuts!!We had beautiful sunny weather almost for the entire time of our stay....


Here we are with "Miss B".......


Fall is my favorite season......I love the colors.....


I couldn't believe these flowers were real...aren't they gorgeous...

No shortage of apples but the picking out in the fields were over for the season....

So we were just as happy to drink cider and eat donuts....

Miss B had a ball.......ofcourse she did she was with her two favorite people next to the

Mom and Dad.....

I love this picture.....she insisted she had to pick an apple...

Grandpa also took her to the most wonderful park one day........the nicest playground I have ever seen.... she got to ride on every swing and see a gaggle of ducks!

She is so used to having her picture taken that all we have to say is.....

"Smile like Giada".......and this is what you get!!

I think a cooking show is in her future...

And then it was birthday day and for some odd reason we all agreed to drive to Philly for a cheese steak.....

This is what you see as soon as you get off the interstate....

Yes....Bobby Rydell's picture painted on the side of a building....and Fabian and ofcourse

Chubby Checker.....

I had read up on the best cheese steaks before the trip so our first eatery was

Tony Lukes.....it's suppose to have the best of the best.....

Until you see where Tony is working out of....

It gave new meaning to "Diners Drive-Ins and Dives"....

His location is directly off the highway and under the overpass....

I refused to get out of the car...it was horrible...so we drove on.....

Can you see our excitement.....we're about to have a dining experience that we'll talk about for years...........Or Not.

We had a choice......Geno's on one side of the street or Pat's across the street.

Geno's looked slightly cleaner so Geno's it was.....

The worst food I have ever eaten......the fries tasted like they came out of a vending machine.

The cheese steak was on a bad roll and had more raw onions on it then meat....

So what to do....After all this was our "birthday lunch"

Here I am saying......

"Is this the best you people can do to celebrate my turning 59?"

So the "Boss" not wanting to disappoint ran across the street to Pat's and I will admit it was a pretty good sandwich......But as he was leaving to go buy it daughter yelled....

"Don't get the Cheese-Wiz"........

He's 60 now...... you know and ofcourse he didn't hear her say this....

But it was good and we actually had the nerve to sit at Geno's and eat the sandwich from Pat's...

Talk about Cheese steak Wars.....

they are directly across the street from each other....

So what to do when you've just had a bad meal.....

Well.....you drive to the nearest IKEA and get a Swedish Meatball dinner with

Ligonberry sauce!!

The guys thinking I was crazy got the infamous 50 cent hot dogs then decided that I had made the better choice and helped themselves to some of mine....

This huge rusted cruise ship was right across the street.....

I just thought this was a neat picture....

And ofcourse you can't shop at IKEA without buying some kind of wacky hat....

Miss B as a Viking......with full beard.

Then there was the day we went to the Visiting Nurses Rummage sale....

I guess this lady got a good deal on those lampshades....

We were there on the last day of the sale and it was fill a bag for $10.

What bargains we found......I will post pictures of all our goodies in the next post....

but we hit the jackpot.....

bags and bags of crap.......

but the price was right!!

That great scale was only $12.00

One night I dined with the ladies and they were so kind to have a birthday cheesecake brought out and they all sang......Thanks Guys.....I love you all!!!

it was a very nice surprise....and the cake was pretty good too...

There is no way we are all going to be 60 next year.....

And lets not forget the complimentary visit to the grandfather........

or as Sophie calls him

"Big Grandpa"

And now is where the "Things that go Bump in the day" comes into play......

I bet you were all wondering what that meant......or maybe not...

Yes....that's me in the ER at Princeton Medical Center with some awful big IV in my arm.....

it's titled.....

"What the Hell"............

Daughter was driving home from store with me as a passenger....luckily baby was at home with the men......

She stopped at a red light to make a right turn and while she was watching traffic before turning some half wit came and just plowed into the back of the wagon.....

Her only comment to daughter.....

"I thought you were going to go".......

So....daughter got checked out for her neck...back and wrist.....

As for me having that pesky torn artery in my neck had to have a CT scan to make sure it wasn't bleeding......All turned out well....we both got prescriptions and sent on our way.....

Daughter Googled the girl that hit us when we got home and her Facebook page shows her with a Boa Constrictor wrapped around her neck....

Nothing else needs to be said about that.....

And poor Grandpa........well.....he had to change two diapers while we were gone.....

He's getting quite good at it......

And that ends our trip.......

But next year on my birthday I will demand real food......

ONE MORE THING..........A GREAT GIVEAWAY!!!

Visit my friend Ellen's blog.....

http://www.nouveaustitch.wordpress.com/

for a chance to win one of her gorgeous homemade pillows...

All you have to do is guess the number of throw pillows on the bed....post your comment and sit back and hope you win.....Her designs are beautiful......