Philly Big Snow Storm 09

This is why I'm still in Philly and not on my way to Bismarck today. Beginning 1am Saturday morning and ending 6am Sunday a huge snow storm rolled into the area and blanketed SE Pennsylvania, southern NJ, northern DE, southern NY, and all the way down to Virginia. At first they were predicting 3-6 inches. That turned into 6-8, then 10-12, then 8-14, and finally 10-20. Yesterday they said Philadelphia received 16 inches and it wasn't even finished snowing yet. They say it is the second biggest December snow storm on record here. Here is the aftermath in my neighborhood..My doorstep. Lazy landlord

In front of my apartment. Looks like the red car tried to get out and failed. Now they're up on the curb!!

It is hard to see but those are garbage trucks with plows hooked on the front plowing the snow off the street!

One block away

Two blocks away. All I can say to the owner of the car in the forefront is - good luck!

As you can see the trolleys are still able to plow through the snow and go down their tracks.

People waiting for the trolley on the street because the sidewalks aren't cleared.

Heidi's First Thanksgiving

Grandpa and Grandma Gross went to visit Heidi (and mom and dad) for Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful meal at Brian's boss' house on Thanksgiving. Kelly cooked a wonderful Thanksgiving meal on Saturday because she had to work Thursday and Friday. Brian, Joe, Heidi, and Meredith went Christmas shopping on Friday.

Heidi sat up at the table with the big people and ate solid food while we were there.

She helped Grandpa check out the fireplace to see what was wrong.

She took a spin with her car to go Christmas Shopping. She took her Target ad and stopped to check her next stop.

She told Daddy how to fix her crib so she wouldn't fall out.

She helped mommy decorate the Christmas Tree.

Mostly, she played and played and played. She discovered how to really get around even without crawling. She enjoyed being able to sit in front of her toy box and choose the toy she wanted to play with.

Heidi

On Halloween night, cousins Cordelia, Torrie, and Fred Ryan came to trick or treat. Cordelia and Heidi played cat and mouse.






Grandma gave her baths in the kitchen sink since it is too far to bend to do the big tub.








Promised Jennifer that I would post some pictures and blog some on Heidi's visit here. So here goes. Grandpa and grandma had a blast with Heidi here. She is such a joy. We wanted to make sure she had her pictures taken when she was 6 months old, but she wasn't cooperating.









Grandpa had her help with making beer for Christmas.

We took her to her first Mustang and Fords of the Dakotas meeting and she tried out the twactor.
Here she was trying that new fangled stuff called solid food. She wasn't liking it.
Grandpa put her down for a nap. When grandma went in to see if she was sleeping, she found a pile of blanket and no Heidi. She peeked out from underneath, smiled, and covered herself back up and went to sleep.

She loved her new bouncer. She played and played and played while she was here. She almost sat up on her own a couple of times, but grandma was too slow to find the camera, so you will just have to believe me. She helped at church too by greeting people as they came to the Festival of Faith program on Women of the Old Testament. She especially enjoyed all the babies and kids. She was so happy there.

Mom and Dad visit Jennifer overdue

Dad wouldn't admit it, but playing with my kittens was the funnest part of the trip!

Such a pretty beer, right dad? Good thing dad found Blues Point beer otherwise the crack addict at the bar might have lured him into conversation.

Top of the Empire State Building!

I know you can't tell, but this girl is about to pee her pants!



The biggest fireworks show in the country. Over the Hudson River NYC - 2009

People finally showed up

Waiting for the show to start. I think we got there 3 hours early.

Beautiful sunset over New Jersey.

John Lennon's apartment building where he was shot by Central Park.

Me Rock Climbing!

Look! A tourist!

Brooklyn Bridge - boy that sucker is long!

And of course I had to take mom and dad to Pat's in South Philly for a REAL cheesesteaks. Substitutions need not apply.

Heidi learns to drive

This is Heidi,
To see me better, click on the last two pictures to enlarge them.
bye, bye

Heidi learns to drive

Hi, this is Heidi.

I just want to tell you about my visit to Granpa & Grandma Gross the weekend of August 22., 2009. It was pretty fun, but everytime I go there everybody tries to kiss me, give me toys & play with me. It can get kind of anoying!! Too unwind, I try to find fun things to do, like seeing how far I can throw toys, and spitting up on people. A fun thing to do is when I get to fly like supergirl. This is how it works. Grandpa helps me fly around the room, which makes my mouth drop wide open, (it's the ramjet effect, more propulsion) This is the fun part, while we're flying, we try to drool bomb grandma!! The hard part is getting the timing down, so we are right on target when the drool bomb drops. Next month when I get to stay at grandmas, grandpa & I will fly more sordis to practice.

After that grandpa took me out to his shop to show me his Boss mustang, wow, that baby is sharp!! I figured if I play my cards right the old guy would let me drive it. So I put on my cutest face & smiled at grandpa, sure enough he put me in the Mustang. Grandpa was telling me in the old days before air conditioning, (man he must be old) you had to hang your arm out the window to look cool. So I thought I would try it. I must have looked pretty cute so he ran in the house to get the camera. He told me not to touch any buttons. While he was gone I couldn't help noticing that shiny metal thingy hanging on the steering wheel so what the heck I gave it a turn. All of a sudden I heard a loud VAROOOOM!! Just then grandpa came in the shop with camera & snapped the picture.

Busted!


Yup, I was busted, but at least I got the arm on the door like grandpa told me.

So I'm telling you, if you ever get the chance to drive grandpas Boss, I highly recomend it!! Next time, I'm going to try to reach those things on the floor to see what they do!!

bye, bye,

Heidi

Progress Pics

My big news is I've been working on getting back to where I was before I moved to Philly. I've been cooking all my meals and working out during lunch. I've lost 15 lbs! Who wants to arm wrestle?

Heidi's Baptism

Heidi was Baptized May 24, 2009, 9 a.m. mass. Her Godmother is Stacy and Godfather is Chris. Father Gene dunked her.