A Houseful of Fun

My last post was when we were anticipating the arrival of Jim's family for the celebration of Grandpa's 93rd birthday. We have been really busy so there have been no updates since their arrival. I will write this now while our guests are playing Wii.

Jeanne, Mark, Michal, Elizabeth, Terry and Britni all arrived in time for Grandpa's dinner. Jim drove to Syracuse and brought Corey to town for the festivities, so we were a table of 11 at the Home.

Corey and Michal outdid themselves with their get-ups for the evening. In some other post I will explain why Corey is wearing a sash that says "Mr. July 2010!"

After our birthday dinner we posed for a family photo.

We returned to their apartment for birthday cake and a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday!"

Some of us ended our evening by breaking out the Rock Band, at 10 PM! This was no problem for any of the others, but I had to get up and go to work the next day! It was great fun!

Jim has had a bit of excitement in the last 24 hours. He left for a race in Lexington, KY at 4 PM on Thursday. He was riding down with 45 of his teammates in a big bus. The weather was questionable when they left with high winds and intermittent snow squalls. There was some concern when it took them 1 hour and 45 minutes to get from Victor to LeRoy on 490, a trip that can usually be made in less than an hour. The going was really slow on the Thruway with the conditions deteriorating with every mile they travelled east. After about 6.5 hours they were on the other side of Buffalo, a trip that normally would take about 2 hours. They had been driving through lots of white-out conditions much of the way. When they got about 9 miles from the last exit on the NYS Thruway, they came to a complete stop, where they stayed for the next 14 hours! Yes, you read that right, 14 hours! A tractor-trailer had jackknifed at the toll booth, 9 miles ahead and no one could move. The Thruway was closed for the next 14 hours, then a turn around was opened up 3 miles ahead of where Jim's bus was parked. By this time, all 46 runners realized there was no way they were getting to Lexington on time and even if they did, they would be in no condition to run so when they were turned around on the Thruway, they all decided to have the bus driver just continue on east and bring them all home. So I picked up Jim at 4:30 PM and he has some funny stories to tell of this adventure.

He got home in time to spend some more time with his family. We had a good Ponty's supper and have been playing Wii for a while. Hopefully, we'll get some Rock Band in tonight!

For the record, we did get a nice Christmas tree last Sunday. And now we are really glad we did that when we did because this weekend will be much colder than last weekend.

Tomorrow is my spinning guild meeting and I am looking forward to going as it has been a very long time since I was in town for that meeting. Tomorrow night we will go to a RIT hockey game.

Hope all is well.

Catch-up Time

I feel like this has been a busy week, but there was nothing really unusual going on. We went to work, some nights had the usual evening activities, and then went to sleep only to repeat that protocol the next day.

We did have a new double bed delivered on Wednesday and Friday nights (one part was missing when the bed was delivered on Wednesday, so the guys had to come back on Friday) and Tucker's old room is now all set up for our guests which arrive on Tuesday. Here's what it looks like now. Someday I will make new drapes for the room so they coordinate with the bedspread.

Friday night I got Jim to help me prepare all the candy canes for making candy. He does good work.

Today we went out to Eastview Mall so I could order some new living room furniture and Jim could have our laptop computer checked out. Jim had tried to upgrade the operating system on our Apple laptop and had a series of problems, ending with a completely unresponsive computer. He made an appointment at the Apple Store in Eastview Mall for a time when I was going to be out there to order a new sofa and chairs. I spent an hour or so looking through lots of fabric samples.

I ended up selecting these 2 fabrics. The striped sample is for the 2 chairs and the textured solid colored sample is for the sofa. I really like my choices and think the new stuff will look good with our 4 year old carpet and the green wall in the living room. The furniture will be delivered in 12-16 weeks! I guess I had better forget about it for the time being. Here is a photo of the fabrics I chose, the colors are not quite true due to the flash, but it will give you an idea.

The laptop that Jim took back to the Apple store, was no stranger to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store. This laptop has had its troubles since we bought it almost 4 years ago and when the store employees reviewed the repair history of the laptop and heard about its current problems, they decided to give Jim a whole new computer!!! He walked out of the store with a new 15 inch Mac Book Pro. He was very pleasantly surprised and most pleased. So he has a new toy and is loving it!

This afternoon Gram and I made Christmas cookies, lots of Christmas cookies. We are a pretty efficient team and have a good system to get 4 or 5 different kinds of cookies made in an afternoon.

We went to the Greece Family Restaurant for dinner tonight and were a bit surprise to see some live music when we walked in! These 2 guys were playing country western music the whole time we were there. We recognized a Johnny Cash number and one by Willie Nelson. On our way out of the restaurant we noticed the sign that said this duo was there every Saturday night.

Tomorrow we are going on the hunt for a Christmas tree. We will go to Wilbert's in Webster with G & G and search for the perfect tree, or at least one that Jim and I can agree on! Stay tuned for a photo.

We are looking forward to next week's visit by Jeannie, Mark, Britni, Michal, Elizabeth and Terry. Jim is taking some time off from work while they are here so he can spend some quality time with them. We will have a 93rd birthday celebration dinner for Grandpa on Wednesday night.

Happy Birthday to nephew Zach, who turns 16 on the 6th! We will be glad to see you here for Christmas.

Hope all is well.

Rock and Roll in Albany

Jim and Corey made a quick trip to Albany on Saturday to see a Phish concert. After the concert they drove up to Jenny Lake to spend the night. It was a beautiful Jenny Lake day when they got up on Sunday morning. Here are a few photos from their brief adventure.

I stayed home and got some work done around the house. Next week Jeannie, Mark, Britni, Michal, and Elizabeth are coming into town to help celebrate Grandpa's 93rd birthday. They will be staying at our house so that was a great excuse to rearrange the boys' rooms and make room for more guests. So, while Corey was home he helped us move the twin bed that matches his twin bed from Tucker's room into his room. This involved cleaning up, which Corey did without too much resistance and a bit of help from us. I then bought a new double bed which will go in Tucker's room ( or the Yarn Room, as it is now known!). I spent a great deal of time going through the closet and throwing away stuff in there as well as moving several boxes of Tucker's stuff to the basement. I figure that stuff is one step closer to the trash barrels and when Tucker is home at Christmas he can go through all that stuff and decide what he wants to save and what can be thrown out. I also moved some furniture around and took the small desk to the garage. I will try to sell that on Craigslist. I have now cleared out a space big enough to accommodate the new bed that gets delivered on Wednesday evening. I think this new arrangement of both rooms will make our house more user-friendly for guests, so book a room now! We'd love to see you. We may even turn up the heat while you are here!

The wildlife is taking over the grounds around my school. This morning the staff received an e-mail saying that coyotes had been spotted on our athletic fields and to be aware if you are coming into or leaving school when it is dark! Later in the day we received another e-mail letting us know that the district had hired some "goose wranglers" to deal with the ever-growing problem of the Canadian Geese in our fields. These wranglers are some guys who bring their labrador retrievers to the fields and let them run free. I guess that discourages the geese from getting too comfortable on our school grounds. Apparently this is a problem at many of the schools in the district because the memo was originally sent to all the principals. I wonder if there are "coyote wranglers" we should look into hiring too!

Now that the cold weather is upon us, Jim is volunteering at a local men's shelter tonight. Our church provides coverage for this shelter a couple of times a month and give usually goes once every 6 weeks.

Speaking of cold weather, snow is in the forecast! Not much accumulation is forecasted, but snow none-the-less. The weatherman predicted bitter cold temps for next week so all you southerners who are coming north next week, you have been warned!

We received some good news yesterday and that is that Jim, Maryanne and Zach are coming here for Christmas. They will arrive a couple of days before the big day and stay until a couple of days after. It will be great to see them!

Hope all is well.

Thanksgiving in California

Yesterday I told you about our rather traditional Thanksgiving here at home. Well, here is what Tucker has been doing these days around Thanksgiving.

First there was rock-climbing in Pinnacles State Park near Solidad, CA.

The next is a photo of Tucker and Allison on Allison's sailboat.

And here is a photo of Tucker flying an airplane!!

Here is their view of the Golden Gate Bridge!

Looks like they had an adventuresome Thanksgiving!

Happy Black Friday. I went to the mall around 8 AM with the goal of getting a pair of my favorite sneakers, that I wear every day at school, that were on sale at Dick's. I had an easy time getting my size and only had to wait in line behind one other person. I got my Christmas cards at Hallmark for a great price and with minimal waiting in line.

Jim, Corey and I went to see the movie The Blind Side and we all really enjoyed it. It is based on a true story and was engaging for the two hours that it ran. Looking for something to do~check out this movie and you won't be disappointed.

Hope all is well.

Happy Thanksgiving!

What are you thankful for today? Research tells us that people who regularly take time to be grateful and appreciative of what they have are happier and healthier.

I am thankful for all my family and friends, for a job that I love most of the time and for my health and the health of those close to me. I am also thankful for some little things like having the leaves raked up and yarn!

Corey arrived home on Tuesday afternoon and thanks go to GrandDad for picking him up at the Victor exit on the Thruway. I quickly recruited Corey to cook dinner for us on Wednesday and he made Tilapia Tacos! Yummy!!

After dinner we took Corey to see Grandma and Grandpa's new digs. He got to try out the scooter!

Jim got up early this morning to run in the Race with Grace and he wasn't real happy with his time, but he won his age-group and the cash prize for that covered his entry fee. While he was running I made a grape pie for Thanksgiving dinner. Later, Corey and I raked up the last of the leaves. Jim and Corey cleaned out the gutters after lunch, but the rain came in before they could put out the Christmas pageant of lights!
We went to Gram and GrandDad's house for our Thanksgiving dinner and the smell of the cooking turkey that greeted us when we opened the door was sooo welcoming! As always, Gram made a great meal, with a perfect turkey at the centerpiece.

After dinner I documented who was celebrating Thanksgiving with us this year.

Tomorrow I will try to buy myself a new pair of sneakers. The brand/style that I like are on sale for a great price if I buy them before 1 PM so I will have to see how the crowds are. I hate standing in long lines and am generally a very poor shopper.

Happy Thanksgiving and hope all is well.

Home from the Big Apple

Our trip home from New York City was as easy as the trip down. We had a short walk to Grand Central Station, our train to Poughkeepsie pulled out of the station on time and it was a pretty ride up the Hudson River to our waiting car. After loading our luggage into the Vibe, we walked to the newly opened Walkway Over the Hudson.

This Walkway is a former railroad bridge crossing the Hudson River at Poughkeepsie. The bridge ceased functioning as a railroad bridge in 1980 and in 1992 a group was formed to raise the money needed to convert the bridge into a multi-use walkway. It is over 200 feet above the river and about 1.25 miles across. Here are some photos from our walk across and back this bridge which re-opened just this past October.

This is the Mid-Hudson vehicle bridge that includes a walking/biking lane so it is possible to walk/bike a loop between this bridge and the new Walkway bridge. What a great local resource!
It was a great day for our walk and we would recommend a stop in Poughkeepsie to do this walk if you find yourself in this area.

While we were walking on the bridge my cell phone rang and it was my Mom inviting us to dinner when we got home, which we quickly accepted! Thanks Mom (and Dad) for the great pot roast dinner.

Tuesday is Amy J's birthday. Happy Birthday, Amy! Is this one of those big birthday's that end in a zero?!

Back to school tomorrow for a short week.

Hope all is well.

NYC

It has been a few days since I have blogged and that is because we have been out of town and very busy!

Thursday after school we left for Verona, NY, so I could attend the New York State Physical Education Conference at Turning Stone Casino and Resort. We stopped in Syracuse to take Corey and his housemate, Mike, out to dinner. We had a good dinner and enjoyed our short time together.

On Friday I atttended my conference and came away with some good info and had a chance to see some PE people that I haven't seen in a while. While I was at my workshops, Jim had a phone meeting for work, went for a run and surfed the web while waiting for me. As we were on our way out of Turning Stone we had to stop and be amazed at the gingerbread village that was under constuction in the lobby area. It made my meager efforts look pitiful!


Later Friday afternoon we continued east on the Thurway, heading for New York City. Corey and some of his teammates were running in the Bronx on Saturday morning and we were glad to have the opportunity to see him run. We drove the car as far as Poughkeepsie where we parked the car and rode the train into the city. That is the way to go! Parking can be wildly expensive and driving is awful in the city so we were glad to use public transportation. We pulled into Grand Central Station about 7:30 PM and made the 6 block walk to our hotel. I talked the Radisson Hotel clerk into giving us a complimentary upgrade which has been nice. Friday night we went to a nice Italian restauarant for a late dinner.

This morning we took the subway to VanCortland Park where Corey and his teammates were running in the IC4A race.
Unfortunately Corey and most of his teammates did not have great races, so they were all a bit disappointed. However most of them were returning to SU and then re-boarding the vans for a trip to Indiana to see the "A" team run in the NCAA national championships. Corey and some of his buddies were consoled by the fact that Lloyd's World Famous Carrot Cake store was located right across the street from the race course and some of the guys lifted their spirits with a slice, and others needed a whole cake to do the job!! It was delicious carrot cake!


After saying good bye to Corey we took the subway back to the Times Square area. We thought we would try to get some discounted tickets to a Broadway show for tonight, but they did not go on sale until 3 PM. It was only 1:30 and we realized that there were Broadway shows starting at 2PM and the ticket line was fairly short. So we stood in line with a first choice and second choice in mind. Our first choice was Mary Poppins, but there were only single seats, no where near each other available so we asked about ticket availability for our second choice, White Christmas and we were able to get 2 good seats for that show.
So with a half hour to go, we had to find Jim some lunch (I was still working off my carrot cake piece) and use the bathrooms. But we got to our seats with 7 minutes to spare. We had "Sally" seats, meaning that they were right down in front, actually in the second row, on the left edge of the stage. Now normally I like to sit higher up but the stage was small enough that we were able to see everything and enjoyed seeing the action up close. The show was GREAT! It was different enough from the movie with Bing Crosby and Danny Kay that I didn't find myself comparing the 2 shows. The singing and dancing was spectacular and I smiled through the whole thing. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

For dinner tonight, Jim surfed the web and found a Mexican restaurant that got good ratings and advertised that they had the best margaritas. So off we went for a short walk to this place. The sign in the window said that the margaritas were so lethal that you may forget to eat! Jim had two! But we did not forget to eat and had another great meal. We walked the long way back to our hotel to walk off the margaritas and the dinner.


We will head back to Poughkeepsie tomorrow to retrieve our car and drive home. We've had a good time in NYC.

Hope all is well.