Our New York Trip!

We had the most wonderful time in New York. Being able to see our children and play with our grandaughter was just wonderful. She has grown like a weed since we saw her, the end of April, and her vocabulary has blossomed. Her favorite sentence now is " What is it?" Her pretend play is a year or more ahead of schedule. So Grandma and Grandpa spent hours being served meals at her play table. My son and his wife gave her a huge play kitchen and a whole bunch of food for it for her birthday. It is so cute to watch her take the potatoes and wash them at the sink, toast bread in the oven, make casseroles and stir them while she is doing it. She pours us juice and milk. I was truly amazed watching her. If a drawer gets stuck where she keeps her food, she asks for help. My DIL is a truly wonderful mother and has taught her to say help when she needs it.

We spent a week in the Buffalo area and a week in the Albany area. It is just 5 hours door to door on the Thruway. Not a bad drive for DH and I. We enjoyed seeing the leaves on the trees starting to turn colors.

While we were in the Buffalo area, our DIL and son were so wonderful. Our son makes the best Irish Beef Stew with Guinness Beer. He also cooked us a wonderful turkey sausage and buttermilk pancake breakfast. I spent a lot of time trying Beef on a Weck at lunch time. I managed to eat it at 6 different restaurants: Wagners, Duffs, Andersons, The Anchor Bar( the original wings place), Carlson's and at an Irish Pub in Lewiston. In my estimation, Anderson's has the very best! It happens to be the closest one to where our new home will be built so I will have to schedule in once a month only or I will be a blimp before you know it.

My DIL and I were able to go shopping for the new baby and took a detour for Lunch at Panera Bread. The four of us managed to go out to dinner at DeFlippo's and Shamus. We hadn't planned on Shamus but decided to celebrate the evening of the day we signed to build our new home. I am glad we went there. The ambience, service and food were outstanding. DH and I have found a restaurant that we will frequent when we move.

Our son took everyday off with us, so we spent a lot of time with him which was wonderful. He drove us all over town so that we could get a feel for the area. He took us to look at the lot that we had chosen online to make sure that it was the right one for us. It is perfect. He drove us to appointments with the builder. Our DIL and son went with us to the design center to help us pick out all of the colors of tile, carpeting, cabinets, countertops, etc. So many choices to make in such a short period of time. They were a tremendous help! I also want to thank my son for all of the time he spent the past 6 weeks or so with the builder getting questions answered for us and putting money down for us to hold our lot. Thanks so much to my son and DIL for your wonderful hospitality while we were there!


We spent a week in the Albany area with our son and his wife and our grandaughter. Even though my son has only been working for his company a few short months, they allowed him to take Thursday and Friday off with us. It was wonderful! We went to Indian Ladder Farms, took a ride up through Thatcher Park to Warners Lake to see the old family camp. We ate out at our favorite Italian Restaurant in Troy, Verdile's. I have been going there since I was a little girl. We did some drive in stand eating and ordering of pizzas. My DIL, who is a fabulous cook, made us wonderful breakfasts including banana pancakes with real Maple Syrup. She also had a family dinner with the 5 of us and her sister and BIL. The food was terrific( BBQ'ed chicken, mac salad, corn on the cob, baked apples, etc.) and the company even better. I hadn't had much time until that evening to get to know her sister and BIL. We had so much fun; I haven't laughed like that in a long time. Thanks to my son and DIL for a wonderful time and for your great hospitality.

This past Saturday, all 4 of us took my grandaughter to Hoffman's Playland in Latham. We had 3 generations on the train ride. I took my boys there all the time they were growing up so it is a family tradition. I think we will spend many times in the future there with my grandaughter. She had her first ride on the Merry Go Round and the Caterpillar too.

While we were in Albany, friends of ours who we have known for over 40 years, had a cookout for us and 16 of our friends. We had such a great time catching up with everyone. We spent 7 hours together and it was like we had never been apart. Thanks to them!

My only Aunt had us to her place for cocktails and dinner. My cousin came and we had a very nice evening. It was so good to see them! Thanks to them!

DH's sister and BIL had a family gathering at her home which included us and my son and DIL and grandaughter, and DH's brother and his wife. DH's only living Uncle and Aunt, who are 89 and 90 years old drove up to see us from New Jersey. DH's cousin and his wife also came. We had a wonderful pork loin dinner and lots of great conversation.

We also spent an evening with friend's of ours. We caught up on old times over a bottle of wine.

We were fortunate to be able to see so many people: family and so many of our friends who we have been close to since the 1960's. This was the best trip ever!

The entire trip from airfare, rental car, 15 days for our cat at the Pet Hotel at Petsmart, 15 days at the Park N Ride for our car, gifts for hostesses, family and my grandaughter and expected grandchild, meals, entertainment, etc, came in at a whopping $ 2700.+ but it was worth every dime! This is the kind of money we will not have to spend traveling a few times a year when we move so that is a bonus.

I have lots of laundry to catch up, dusting and vacuuming to do,a quick trip to the store for staples, and 15 days of mail to deal with, so I must get moving. I will try to do a post about our home that will be built as early as tonight or tomorrow.