"Today is a Good Day to Drive!" .....Van-Go

December 25, 2006 Carmine and Robert hosted Christmas this year and a wonderful day it was. This year we had Brian's girlfriend, Jill's three children: Dentiny, Sky and young Weston. They enjoyed listening to Christmas stories and talking about presents and tree ornaments. Time to head downstairs for White Elephant, a fun gift exchange where we each bring a gently used gift all wrapped up. Taking turns each person must choose a present all ready opened by someone, or choose a new one to open. If someone chooses one you open you get to choose another. Each gift is proudly displayed to be "admired by all."The popular items this year were the snowball maker and the hot chocolate maker, but everyone walks away with something. Will got a battery powered blender and Kathy lost her really cool rope lites to Stevie and got hand lotion instead. Stevie's birthday falls at the holidays. This year was a big one; he turned twenty-one! Robert and Carmine made a yummy meal. They...

December 25, 2006 Merry Christmas One and All Kathy awoke to the morning bright, her cell phone still laying by her bed. Maria had not called in the wee hours of dawn, a tradition of decades was gone. It was late morning when we sat by the lighted Christmas tree sipping coffee and past around presents. Jayne got her M&M dispenser with lots of M&Ms, a toaster, enough Ensure to last a few months and stocking stuff too. Will got his Steeler shirt, an audio book, a computer mystery game and his stocking stuff too. Kathy got West Wing episode seven and her camera binoculars that she could hardly put down. We missed JMe who would eat so many doggie snacks then lay across all the scattered Christmas wrappings. We missed Justin...but Kathy is going to see him soon in Hawaii.

December 24, 2006 Twas the night before Christmas and all through the Bradley house, Finnaeus and Damiana ran romped and played. The stockings were laying under the tree, surrounded by presents and a big white kitty named Fin-i-ana. When in the livingroom there arose such a clatter as presents were opened and paper went flying. Time came to put our fingers a side of our noses and woosh ourselves over to the Dawsons. Relatives and friends were seated about, talking and laughing and not one single pout. Foods were a plenty and we munched as we talked. The children played zoo with their masks and entertained as the evening past. Michael and Finnaeus, cousins both three, ate cookies shaped like a Christmas tree. Katie and Jonathan played rug style Candy Land with the kids, then they all blew their "Here we go Pittsburgh" fog-horn whistles till the adults all went crazy. Jayne and her sister sat side by side, Will and his cousin tried watching the football game, Gislane gave Bob ...

December 23, 2006 The last shopping day before Christmas and we headed to the The Strip. We met up with Sueann and Don, Jen and Troy, Troy's Mom and boyfriend, Ed, Carmine and Robert, and Maria and Cliff. We filled the back corner of Primanti Brothers Restaurant. . Everyone loved their breakfast sandwich: fried eggs, bacon, french fries and coleslaw slapped between two large slices of Italian bread and served on wax paper. We presented Sueann and Don with their ceramic clowns...they had left them last Christmas hidden at the Bradley's. After a quick breakfast and a little chat we all went our ways. Some of the guys including Will stayed at Primanti's giving the others a head start. But they too soon joined the crowds. the street's sidewalks are lined with venders selling everything from clothing to foods. It reminded us of Progresso, Mexico. People walked about, shop and mingle. Pennsylvania Maccaroni is the most popular shop for picking up the needed supplies for Chri...

December 22, 2006 Kathy met with her friend and financial advisor, Ron Giesler. Ron works for The Advisors ( http://www.lpl.com/theadvisorsllc/Home.aspx ) and has been Kathy's advisor for some time. If you need help organizing your financial affairs call Ron 412-231-5500.

More pictures and a movie...check the galleries

Our play date with Stella and Silas was such fun! Presents were opened, stories were read, balls were tossed, Stella songs were played and masks were put on. With so much excitement Will had to take a nap! Stella amazed everyone as she played that she was a cat; she preens, watches, stalks her prey, scratches at the door to go out and eats food from Aunt Kathy's hand. Sueann made us yummy chicken dinner with roasted chickpeas for an appetizers. Don arrived and joined in the fun. Family times are happy times of building memories to last long into our rocking chair days.

All is well in Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Zoo has three new additions and we went to see them: two baby tigers and a polar bear. At the aquarium we love to watch the seahorses that look like seaweed. Check out the movies of the baby tiger cubs and the jellyfish in the movie gallery and more zoo animal pictures in the photo gallery. We had the Martinelli Cookie Day yesterday and baked cookies from 7am til 7pm! Jill and her two little ones, Stella and Silas joined in. Jessica and her boyfriend, Rick stopped by. Robert, Don, Rick and Will watched the Steelers play football and munched yum hot sausage sandwiches. Stevie stopped home after work to check on the cookies. It was a full house of fun and baking. See more pictures in the Photo Gallery.

December 15, 2006 After taking our morning walk around the block we got domestic and cleaned the living room; we ran the sweeper, dusted and made room for the Christmas tree. Then we drove over to 380 Auction and picked out our special tree and did a little shopping. Will cut the bottom few inches off the tree so it could drink water and we put it into a stand in the living room. At Pittsburgh Mills we got dinner at the Chinese Wok then went to the movies. We did triple-header: Erogon, Santa Clause and James Bond. It was five hours later when we came out and headed home filled with movies and popcorn!

We will be traveling to Pittsburgh for the holidays and want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. We are thinking.....snow! We departed Texas Hill Country at 2 in the afternoon. Gray blurr, truck lights like giant bugs coming at us, occational Christmas lights shining, a few rush hours of sitting and taillights, more gray blurr and then it was afternoon the next day! We arrived in Pittsburgh; the weather was warm. Buffalo Wild Wings in Monroevilled called to us as we drove along so we stopped for some hot food and trivia. As we were pulling into the parking lot Kathy recognized an elderly woman walking down the road. She walked up to her and said, "Mrs. Brownmiller" to which the woman replied, "How do you know my name?" Kathy told her she was Justin's mother. They talked a while and Mrs. Brownmiller, Justin's grandmother, joined us since she was looking for a place to have dinner. While her order was prepared she sat with us and talked; she asked about Kat...

December 11-12, 2006 Our days were busy getting ready for the trip north, but we visited with co-workers at LBJ, found time for some trivia and listened to musicians at Luckenbach and that all made our time here in the Hill Country pass very quickly. Buc O’Brian’s is the bar that just got NTN a few months back. The crowd plays poker so we had the board to ourselves. Van Go made the local board! Mary, when you get to BWW you will have to check out our total score and let us know. Seeing everyone at LBJ was like homecoming seeing all our friends and co-workers. Hugs, sharing travel stories and catching up on happening over the last seven months was fun. We got to see almost everyone and to see the park decked out for the holidays. Luckenbach is a very unique place where musicians come together and blend their souls in making music for the rest of us to enjoy. Walt, our poet friend was also there and presented some of his new stuff; he has been busy over the last seven months and has some...

December 10, 2006 The sound of cars crossing the bridge about 60 feet above us woke us. The sound of cars crossing the separation seams come down like clickity clacked. Flocks of turkey and vultures, herds of horses and antelope, a few deer with white tail flapping, and a zebra grazing on short grass. We climbed a hill into the white rain, a cloud. We made our way past Luckenbach, drove thru town, then on to Fredericksburg. Will connected the battery for the MR2, poured in what gas we had in the spare can, filled the tires and off we went for a ride around the hill country. The MR2 started right up! It was like we had just driven it yesterday. We stopped in Fredericksburg and did a little Christmas shopping then headed back to the Roadtrek. We spent the evening at the storage area; movie was First Knight.

December 9, 2006 We spent the morning thinking about leaving. The sky is still covered with a blanket of clouds, but the sun burning holes and is peeking out from time to time. Outside Hondo, just east of town, we stopped along the railroad tracks waiting for a train with three engines to get going. We saw a red tail hawk and a kestrel and used our computer bird program to identify them. After 15 minutes the train never moved so we did. Going from small road to small road we worked our way north and east. Lots of new development was found. The tall heavy new electric lines are being strung. We watched as a man standing on the helicopter strut attached hooks way up on the top cross bars of the tall heavy poles. We came into Boerne and found a little park along the river where we made some dinner. Kathy fed the geese and ducks some flax seeds; they didn’t like it so well. During dinner we watched the food channel and it was being taped in Pittsburgh! Carmine, were you watching too? We p...

December 8, 2006 The day was wrapped under gray cloud cover and it was cold. We stayed indoors working on Justin’s graduation present and just hanging out. It was afternoon when we ventured out, not really out, but driving from our parking spot. We found a wifi hit and sat somewhere else for a while internetting. Then we went back to the Waldorf and spent the evening. Our movie was Castaway.

December 7, 2006 We made coffee and headed out. Will was watching vehicles enter a gated area; maybe going to work. Each one stopped, unlocked the gate, drove through, locked the gate and drove off. This went of the whole time we made our coffee. We turned off on route 39 and just before crossing the Guadeloupe River a flock of two dozen turkeys were walking a long the road, some on one side of the fence and others on the roadside. As we got closer they took off and FLEW. Yes, we saw them fly up and over the fence. Down the road we saw another flock of a few dozen. These turkeys are big and fat. The windy two lane roads through the hill country are not busy. The scenery is just beautiful, but it is being taken over by big mansions with elaborate gates. Some are massive built of stone and windows of stained glass. The road follows the Guadeloupe River wiggling through valleys. We shopped at the Wal-Mart in Kerrville; did some Internet. We ended up in Hondo because it was going to be in...