Southern Long Island Tour

On Saturday morning we left Charlie and Judy's to go have lunch with Adam's Aunt Valerie in Patchogue. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures while we were with her. We also stopped off to see Adam's cousin, Jason, at work before we headed back west.

Before we left Long Island entirely, we stopped off at Uncle Steve's house in Levittown. This is the same house where Adam's grandparents raised four boys ( I won't repeat any of the stories I was told). Apparently, the house doesn't look much different on the outside than it did in 1954 when they moved in.



It was good to see everyone even if it was a very quick visit, but Adam had to be at work on Sunday. As Drew told me on the way to church, we need money to pay for the house and buy food. See what his father is teaching him?

Happy New Year!

Nana and Grandpa's House

We got to Charlie and Judy's house around 2:30 on Thursday afternoon. We made a critical error by stopping at a shopping center in East New York to have lunch before we got there. It turns out that we weren't in the best area, and Adam's car got hit in the parking lot (while he was sitting in it). The response of the woman who hit him was "Too bad. I'm going shopping" and she left. The police were almost as helpful -- sort of a "Wecome to New York" type of response. Oh well, at least no one was hurt.

After that excitement, the trip was pretty tame for Adam and me. Drew on the other hand had a belated visit from Santa who left several LARGE (Judy-sized) toys for him. One of the toys he got was a My Grandpa's Briefcase which he got to take along to work with Grandpa on Friday. He had a great time (I'm not so sure it was so great for Charlie, but he was a good sport), and I enjoyed the quiet while Adam got to sleep until almost noon.


I had to post the next two pictures, because Drew actually took them. Since I'm taking so many pictures now, he wants to take pictures too. We'll probably have to get him his own camera soon.

Here's Drew in some of his Cars attire (did I mention he got a lot of Cars stuff for Christmas?)

I managed to get a picture of Adam, Charlie and Judy all together, but Adam didn't seem to be taking the situation seriously.

Merry Christmas!

On Christmas Eve, we went to church and then went over to Andy and Carole's for their annual Christmas Eve Open House. We came home around 9:30 so we could get ready for Santa Claus. This morning, this is what we found when we came downstairs:


Drew was very excited about all of his presents, but he was very polite when he was opening them. When we would tell him that a present came from Mommy and Daddy, he would say "Thank you Daddy. Thank you Mommy" while he was opening it.

The movie "Cars" was a recurrent theme this Christmas, Cars cars, Cars bubble bath, Cars pajamas, etc. Thanks to Santa and everyone else for the wonderful presents!

Tree Trimming

Last night was Brian's (& Sue's) annual tree-trimming party. The kids did a great job of putting the ornaments on the tree even if they did sort of lob the ornaments toward the top of the tree.
Of course, the food was wonderful, and we had a very good time. Drew wasn't the youngest one there, either. Sue has a new nephew, Steven , who was keeping everyone on their toes. He tends to walk a 10 steps or so and then throw himself at whoever's leg is handy.

Trains and More Trains

Today we took Alex and Drew to the B&O Train Museum in Ellicott City to see the Holiday Festival of Trains. I am always amazed at the effort that goes into creating these model train displays--I would never have the patience to put all of those tiny pieces into place. The museum wasn't very crowded, probably because the weather was lousy. Last week, Andy and I took the kids to the Ellicott City Fire Station to see their train garden, and it was hard to see because it was so crowded. I think the favorite thing today was climbing all around inside the caboose rather than looking at the trains.

When we got home, I finally set up the train to go around our Christmas tree. This train set was Brian's and he and Sue were kind enough to pass it on to us. The track is much larger than we have here, but it would take up our whole living room so I just made it large enough to go around the tree.

How many candles?!?!?

Tonight was Dad's birthday dinner (his birthday is actually tomorrow). We had a very kid friendly meal -- baked ham, macaroni and cheese, peas, applesauce and rolls. Everyone enjoyed their food and the kids actually ate (although I vote for a return to roast beef next year, but it's not my birthday). We had shortbread instead of cake for dessert (a nod to our Scottish heritage) as well as ice cream and cookies.

The kids behaved fairly well and enjoyed singing Happy Birthday to Granddad.

Unfortunately, Carole had to work late and didn't make it, but Adam was able to get off of work early so he was the surprise guest. Jodi and Robert and the kids couldn't make it this year, because they just arrived home from Disney World this morning. We missed them, but a good time was had by all!

Dinner at Andy's

These pictures were taken tonight on Andy's new Palm Treo. The picture quality isn't as good as my digital camera, but it's so handy to have a camera with you at all times (especially if you're like me and forget it half the time).

Both Carole and Hailey had other plans this evening, but the rest of us enjoyed a delicious steamed shrimp dinner. Alex and Drew got along amazing well tonight, too -- wonderful if unusual. Tomorrow night I better have my camera handy because it's Dad's birthday dinner, and I'm sure there will be photo ops galore.

Christmas Cookies

Adam made it home last night in time for my 8 year celebration. It was a wonderful evening spent with good friends. Drew was happy because Anna came over to babysit (for the second time in a week!) Apparently, she was looking for a re-match of Candy Land since Drew kicked her butt on Monday night.

I've finally started my Christmas baking. I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and a batch of jam thumbprint cookies. My biggest problem is keeping Adam and myself from eating them all before we can give them away.


I took this picture of Drew just a few minutes ago. I don't know why we even have a bed in his room--he's completely uninterested in sleeping in it. You can see his new Lightning McQueen lamp in the lower left. It makes the whole room glow red when it's on, but you can't tell with the camera flash.

Decorating to Bing

We've finally got the Christmas decorating finished. As you can see, our tree is not very tall (about 5 feet), but it was the one that Drew picked out. He really enjoyed helping to put on the ornaments, but he didn't understand that they needed to go ALL OVER the tree instead of just one spot. We listened to Bing Crosby while we decorated, because that Adam's one requirement. After Bing, we listened to Jerry's 2006 Christmas mix CD which is outstanding (as usual).

Adam is on his way to Pittsburgh for flight training until Wednesday night. We already miss him and can't wait until he's back home!

Oh Christmas Tree

No post for over a week. What is going on here?!?!? I actually haven't taken any pictures, either which is another reason for no post. The prose is not all that interesting without some other visual stimulation.

Well, it's the holidays. So that means peace and joy and time with family, right? Or rushing around trying to do the seeminginly hundreds of self-imposed tasks by an impossible deadline? I don't want to think about it right now.

Anyway, last Friday (December 1st) was our 5 year wedding anniversary. We had a lovely dinner at Louisiana in Fells Point (Thanks, Pat!). We practically had the restaurant to ourselves -- Friday night is not a big night for them plus the weather was nasty.

Yesterday, we went and got our Christmast tree. I tried to get a better picture of Drew helping to put it in the car, but it was so cold that no one wanted to linger (including me!) Tomorrow we're going to decorate it before Adam heads to Pittsburgh for his flight training.