Countdown of 150 Days of Awesomeness Continued: Volume Eight

May 23, 2017 -- Day 52:

Franco and I decided to venture back to the gym today, so we can all get some serious exercise. We both left sweaty and refreshed, and got home in time to ready ourselves for the Penguins' wrap up of the Eastern Conference Finals. Time to put away the Ottawa Senators once and for all...

HA! Joke's on us! We all sat in the right spots, drank the right beverages, used the right cheers, and somehow the Pens managed to blow it all to hell. Onto Game 7, whether our hearts need it/can take it or not.

May 24, 2017 -- Day 53:

Whether the fault of the terrible hockey game or something else, I woke up feeling absolutely awful. Sadly, we did not even make it to skating. We did manage to get to gymnastics, but that just about took it out of me. We crawled into bed and watched the iPad before taking a very long nap.

Later in the evening, the boys decided to order BRGR for dinner, and we all watched the Pirates game. After Franco ate his hot dog and poutine, he put away two bowls of Honey Nut Cheerios for dessert. We stayed up to see the Buccos lose, which did not hit, and then called it a day.

May 25, 2017 -- Day 54:

All was right with the world when we woke up, and we set about calming our Game 7 nerves straight away. We diverted ourselves with a trip to the library, where I convinced Franco it was high time we introduced him to Little House on the Prairie. We came home with Season Two complete on DVD, but we could not watch it because we had to get ready for hockey euphoria or despair, depending.

We all settled into our step-sitting/drinking routine in the basement, knowing it would be a long night. We were blissfully unaware at that point just how loooooong.

Here's one way we coped earlier on:

Stressed? Who, us?

Later on, as the Pens continued into the first overtime, some more coping strategies emerged:

Fairly healthy....

By roughly 11:30, the so-called adults in the house were just about going crazy. And then, as the clock nearly struck midnight, Chris Kuuuuuuunitz mercifully won it in the second overtime and sent the Pens to the Stanley Cup Finals!

I drank that. And I own every bit of it.

Yes, that is an accurate picture. Scott later remarked that it was impressive that I put all that away. (He totally did not put it quite like that, but that's what I heard.) I truthfully remarked that, given the circumstances of the game, it could have been far worse. My mom saw this photo and said, "Eh. Not that bad, really." So, thanks mom. For everything.

Holy moly!! Pens win!! Lord Stanley, Lord Stanley................

May 26, 2017 -- Day 55:

We all awoke on a cloud of excitement over a Stanley Cup rainbow. I showed Franco the winning overtime goal on the DVR and we cheered all over again. But, we had some big plans for this day, too, that went beyond just sitting around re-watching Chris Kunitz score.

We went to get current passports, where the passport lady told us how tired she was from staying up into the night watching the Pens, and we agreed. Fun!

We then headed to Kennywood to spend some time as a family, where most people casually remarked  how tired they were from staying up into the night watching the Pens, and we again agreed. Super fun!

Franco had a great time showing his dad all the things he rode with Drydie, and we ventured onto some new rides, too. Although it was breezy and cool, Franco and I decided to take the Pittsburg Plunge and get crazy soaked -- because he and I share roughly the same emotional intelligence inside of an amusement park, and it is clearly not all that high. (Scott opted out because he claims to have some sense, or something like that.)

We had a blast!

Family fun! 

When we got home, we played games and danced around to music. A celebratory Friday in the books!

May 27, 2017 -- Day 56:

Today, we ventured to Altoona to visit Auntie and attend a birthday party. For Teddy. He's a dog. I'm serious.

Gram and Pap were there, along with Uncle Steve's family, and Franco had a great time playing with the kids.

Kids, look at the camera.....

We ate tons of food and cake and generally enjoyed a simply lovely Saturday afternoon together. At a birthday party. For a dog.

Teddy's dog cake, made of dog-friendly ingredients. He loved it. The humans had an ice cream cake to ourselves.

This is the face Uncle Steve makes when we sing Happy Birthday. To a dog.

WTF?

Teddy slept well that night, to be sure. I think, all in all, he rather enjoyed his lavish birthday party. The humans did as well.

May 28, 2017 -- Day 57:

After spending the night at Auntie's (What? Did you think we stopped partying when everyone else left? Psssshhhhhhhh.......) we drove to Gram and Pap's to spend the day with them. Franco and Pap found an old loopty-loop battery-powered racetrack in the basement, which no one can even remember and which does not entirely work. Nonetheless, it shall become a fixture at 1394 Washington Road. Pap's vision of sending us home with all the old crap is slowly but surely coming to fruition.

Later on, we visited some dead people at the graveyard (they didn't seem too impressed) and I showed Franco all my favorite graves from when I was a kid. (It's a macabre tradition to be kept alive, if you will.) We ate dinner at Ruby Tuesday and then rummaged around to find the best card game ever invented: Busy Bee. It took some doing, and we also uncovered about a hundred other "treasures", but we did it. We found the elusive game, along with Old Maid. We set about teaching Franco all about these classics from my childhood, and he's now verifiably hooked.

We ended the day on a high note for certain.

May 29, 2017 -- Day 58:

Memorial Day. While packing up all our stuff, Scott discovered a coiled snake under the porch and we (i.e. Franco and I) ran around the yard screaming like a bunch of lunatics on our way to get into the car. Good times. (Pap threw that snake into the woods with his shovel. This is one of endless reasons I live in the city now.)

When we got home, we got out all the crap that we had schlepped from Gram and Pap's, and Franco had a big time. We made hot dogs, ribs, and corn on the cob for the big holiday, and settled in for Game One of the STANLEY CUP FINALS!

The Pens did not disappoint, putting us through yet another round of late-game stress. But, they won, keeping the "Drive for 5" alive. And we could all rest easy, for another night, at least.

***To Be Continued...