Uncle Buks Comes to Visit

Andy's Uncle Frank, aka Buks, came to visit us the past few days. He came Friday afternoon and stayed until this morning. It didn't take Brady very long to warm up to him when he arrived and within 5 minutes, he was sharing his animal crackers with him (Buks was addicted by the time he left). Saturday, we went out to lunch at J. Peter's (a local restaurant) and when we got home put Brady down for his nap, Buks stayed at the house and we were able to sneak off to see a movie. The last time we went to see a movie was January 2010 and it's been so long that I can't even remember what we saw. We are big movie people, so not going to the movies is a bummer. We went to see the Hangover 2. We were laughing hysterically because some of the jokes tied in with some of our personal jokes. A lot of people said it wasn't as good as the first, but we watched the first one when we got home and thought the jokes in the new one were better.



Sunday, Andy and Buks went to a BBQ place and brought home food. Brady loved the beef brisket and ate a whole piece himself! Andy and I had pulled pork and it was awesome! We saw on the radar that there were storms headed our way in the late afternoon and it was hot, so we woke Brady up and headed to the pool. He was a little apprehensive because it's cooler than the indoor pool (even though he's loved it in past visits), and he obviously has very little meat on his bones to help insulate his heat. A light bulb went off in my head and I remembered that I had a Gymboree beach ball from last summer in my beach bag, so I blew it up and it was a huge hit! He went into deeper water with no complaint and even went under some of the sprinklers.


Monday was our first day without Andy since he was heading back to work for the week. In the morning, we went to Walmart and Buks came along, helping push the cart and keeping Brady entertained. After we were done checking out, the cashier wished Buks a Happy Father's Day. She thought he was my husband. He was very polite, just smiled and said thank you. He's so good with Brady and has obvious affection for him, so it's not hard to believe that someone would think he was his dad. After Brady had his nap, we headed into Greenville so Buks could see Brady in action at Gymboree. Our class is on Fridays, so he'd missed it, but open gym was Monday afternoon so we were able to use all the equipment. He was nervous when Brady would climb up ladders and stairs.

Buks had planned to stay until Wednesday, but his inbox was filling up with messages for jobs (he's a teacher at a Vo-Tech in Pittsburgh and does HVAC in the summer to keep busy). He left this morning when Brady and I went to swim class. He always has a hard time leaving since his nephews are his life. He wouldn't come to visit us if we didn't have Brady. It gets harder now that we only go home every 3 months instead of at least once a month, if not more. We hope he will be able to join us in Virginia Beach in a little over 3 weeks.

The biggest news of the day was the announcement of Pitt and Penn State football resuming their football rivalry in 2016 and 2017. Pitt will host the first meetup and Penn State will host the second. This proves a problem for our family. Up until now, we have put the rivalry aside in our household (at least since I met Andy), because the last time they played in football was in 2000. The main reason the two teams haven't played in so long is because Penn State was insisting that they get two years at home for only one at Pitt and that was a deal breaker for Pitt (many PSU fans are very upset now that they have granted a 1 and 1, when I feel it's ridiculous for them to get more). We will definitely be at the game in Pittsburgh in 2016 as season ticket holders. I asked Andy which jersey he would wear at the game and he said of course, Penn State. Brady will be 6 1/2 at that game and will have been to Pitt games all his life and never a Penn State game so he better show his loyalty, along with any other children we have by that point. He will only get a split jersey made for him if he requests it (if he wants to wear his Pitt jersey, I won't argue with him). I told Andy we will go see the victory lights and he will cry himself to sleep, since Joe Pa will be 90 by then and most likely not coaching, which means the talent will suffer.