It was humid, hot, busy and great. Sy said every night that that day was the best day ever. So how did the week go down? Well like this:
Day 1 - got in at 3. Christine and the kids picked us up at the airport. Went to my dad's and dropped off luggage. Went up to my brother's so the kids could swim. Had pizza for dinner and then headed over the hill to say hello to my dad's family. Sy was at the barn with Emily. He didn't mind petting the horses but opted to not get on them when I asked if he wanted a ride. Aunt Fay put in a very nice shed with a garden behind it. It looks great and her veggies are doing really well. We visited until dark and then I got my kid to bed.
Day 2 - Mom called. Let's go to NYC today since Sunday it's going to storm. Well okay then. My brother said Zach and Emily could join us. We headed for my mom's. We finally got into the city at 3:30 pm. Nothing like a late start, eh? But we accomplished our mission. See the Statue, ride The Beast, go to M&M World, and ride the subway. Since it was dark when we got back to Times Square, the kids got to see all the lights. They were very impressed. We fed them at Popeye's. Not a common fast food chain in the Northeast. I introduced them to red beans and rice. Yummy.
Day 3 - Christine and I took the kids to Montage Mountain. I looked up things to do before we flew and I noticed they had a zip line. You only had to be 50" tall and your were strapped into a seat, not a repel harness, and it was pretty reasonable compared to the zip lines in Texas. So I bought I our tickets and up the ski lift we went. Sy and Emily backed out. Christine and Zach went for it. I took Sy and Em back down the ski lift. Zach wanted to go again so I rode back up with him hoping to ride but no luck. A line got stuck and we pushed our wait out until we couldn't wait anymore. So we got back on the lift and down we came. I am hoping to do it next year. Maybe by then Sy will be ready to try it too. We headed to the park by my mom's house. They have a water feature the shoots water on the kids. It's really fun and Sy remembered it from a few years ago when I took him. Christine, Zach and Em had to leave so Sy and I stayed. We had dinner with my mom and then went to the Dalton Fireman's Parade. Sy was fascinated by the party going on at one of the houses on Main Street so he made some friends and went and joined them. We didn't go to the carnival grounds, instead when my mom dropped us off, we got Grandpa and went for an ice cream. A yummy way to end the day.
Day 4 - Zach and Em went with my mom to see my sister and her family at a friend's house about 2.5 hours away. I didn't let Sy go. We stayed with Grandpa. I cleaned out some boxes and Aunt Fay helped me load up the truck to drop the stuff off. We took it to town to the Salvation Army. I really wish they had a Goodwill. I like Goodwill so much more. But that's for another post at another time. We went to Walmart where I was surprised to not find refried beans in the bean aisle. My brother told me later, I needed to go to international foods. I had a good laugh about that because my bean aisle is dominated by refried beans. Anyway, we swam for a few hours in the afternoon then I got ready for the reunion while Sy helped my brother by riding on the tractor with him. They dropped me off at the reunion and went to the tractor pulls.
The reunion was good. Quite a few people were missing. We had 275 graduate but only about 80 showed up. Maybe next time we will have a larger group. It was good to see those who attended. Even with that small of a group, there were still some people that I didn't get to say hello to and others I wish I had more time to visit with. The dj was a good idea but I think background music would have been better so we could have visited more without yelling in each other's ears. Also, I think for next time, I'm going to suggest a "can you guess who this is" segment. One where you provide answers to questions and the rest of us have to guess who it is.
Sy came in right at the end. He helped pop balloons and get the candy off the tables. He wound up taking home balloons and candy.
Day 5 - We didn't do anything today but hang out. It rained on and off. In between the kids swam. My dad, Sy and I ran to town and did a few errands and I ran back to Brick's to get some things for dinner but other than that we didn't venture out.
Day 6 - We headed up to Seneca Lake where my sister and her family were camping with my brother-in-law's family. It was great to see everyone. His 4 siblings, parents, aunt, uncle, cousin, and all the grandkids were there too. So I had two reunions in as many days. Phew.
We stopped in Towanda and the store my mom went in had Texas Lone Stars on the display. I really think they were for 4th of July and left over but my immediate thought was "oh, they love Texas too". :-) They also had a Garcia's Restaurant. I didn't try it out or look at the menu but I thought it was funny.
We also stopped at Mansfield University where I went to college. Sy was in his Aggie shirt. I'm not sure that's acceptable but I did it. An Aggie in Mountie Country.
Day 7 - Time to head home. I got us packed up and we headed out. The trip home was uneventful. The pilot that flew us from Newark to Scranton the week before remembered Sy. His comment was "Hey, Texas. You're as full of energy as you were last week. Are you headed home today?" Yes, when he's tired, he has more energy than he knows what to do with. And he shared it many travelers coming in and out of Terminal C at Newark.
Roy enjoyed a case of the stomach bug and an outbreak of shingles while we were out of town. Poor guy. He was hoping to have a fort frame up by the time we got home. That didn't happen. But he did get the dishwasher installed. Very glad I don't have to hand wash a few times a day. And the dishwasher is working great. Our old one was not getting hot enough, the dishes were soppy wet when it was done, and it ran for what seemed like hours. This one gets hot, the dishes are dry and clean, and the wash cycle seems quick.
It was fun trip and we are already planning for next year's visit. And hopefully Roy will get to enjoy his week alone and not be sick.
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