Punxsy!

Punxsutawney, PA is one of the greatest places in the US of A. And this picture here is a little taste of what's to come! Clever eh? Eggs, bacon...taste? Lol to myself.

Let me give you a little background on the place. Punxsy is the official home of Groundhog's Day, and every year on February 2nd, the tiny town is flooded with THOUSANDS of visitors anxiously awaiting the weather prediction for the next six weeks! So obviously, the town kind of thrives on and revolves around the star of the holiday, who just so happens to be named:

And since Janet grew up just outside of Punxsy, I like to tell people that my Philip was named after the groundhog. And perhaps the only way he agreed to take the picture below is if I promised to never tell people that again, which I kind of haven't lived up to my end of the bargain on, because that coincidence is just too awesome! The town is very much dedicated to this blessed event, and has very cute groundhog themed things all over! Such as this adorable clock: The window painting:

The groundhog zoo:

And my personal favorite which happened to be the 30+ giant ceramic groundhog statues that are painted to coordinate with their surroundings! Such as the dollar phil outside of the bank:

I don't remember what or where this one was, but I was kind of obsessed with taking pictures of them whenever I could:

And as you could probably guess, Philip wasn't thrilled about or willing to be in all of these pictures. But lucky for me, I had our nephew Max to step in whenever possible!

Do you see the tiny french fries in his hand? In front of McDonald's? I love it!

The wizard in front of the library:

The fix it guy in front of the hardware store:

The fireman in front of the fire station:

And unfortunately the more giddy I got about these groundhogs, the less attractive I looked in these pictures. Proof:

And again:

And my favorite! New York and Punxsy all rolled into one? Amazing!

After running from statue to statue on main street, we took a five minute drive to Big Run, where we would kick off the reunion, and started out the first of the hugs and excited hellos when we saw Philip's aunt Nancy!

And then we got the official tour of Big Run, which included the house that Janet grew up in:

And Philip, JoDee and Nancie at the cemetery where a lot of their family rests in peace.

And this is Joe and Rose's backyard, which had the most amazing old barn I've ever seen, and I could have stared at and taken pictures of all day!

And before we headed into camp for the reunion, we made one last touristy stop, which was at Gobbler's Knob, where Groundhog's Day actually takes place and just so happens to be the weather capital of the world!

I love my Punxsy Phils!

Some very classy groundhog artwork that was gifted a few years ago:

And this is where the magic takes place! Phil the groundhog chills in the tree stump until the appointed time that they knock on the door and summon his expertise on what to expect from the weather for the next six weeks!

Like I said, Punxsy is the cutest place on the planet, and I was so excited to get a t-shirt as well as a few other key items at the gift shop, and am now going to be the weirdy at work who celebrates this kind of obscure holiday a little too enthusiastically by bringing in groundhog shaped cookies (I bought a cookie cutter) and wears her shirt underneath (or perhaps on top) of her scrubs and talks about Phil all day long! Seriously, I love it that much. It was seriously the best kick off to our reunion, and I can't wait to get new Groundhog's Day/Punxsy paraphenalia every time we go!

Next up, reunion! And it isn't even going to take me a month to post it, like it might have for this post...whoopsies. :) Stay tuned!

And one more... :) Gotta love it!