Days 137 - 142, May 17 - May 22

I contemplated doing this as all separate posts, just to keep things uniform for the year, but that's more trouble than I want to deal with tonight after two nights in a row of going to bed around 2am. Family gatherings are fun, but they don't let you get much sleep!!

So I'm going to catch up going back to last Tuesday when we got to NY and I started having no internet connectivity!

Day 137 - May 17

We rolled into Oswego just after dinnertime on Tuesday night, after a lovely day of traveling. Our first stop, just outside Oswego, was, of course, Dunkin' Donuts. We can't get the authentic thing around us, even if we visit the closest one in Pensacola. Somehow it's just not quite right in the south, so we were happy to get some a little closer to the source. This was day 1 of (so far) 6 - we WILL be visiting Dunkin' every day while we're north.

Day 138 - May 18

Wednesday was Jason's birthday. In honor of his birthday, he got to choose our activities for the day in Oswego. Well, most of them. First we stopped at Dunkin' in the morning (told you - every day) and then headed to the zoo in Syracuse. From there, it was all about Oswego-area dining (and bringing back Jason's childhood). Most importantly was our dinner at Rudy's - a restaurant on Lake Ontario. The best part of Rudy's isn't the food, though... it's the chance to throw rocks into the lake - a past time that Jason happily passed on to his daughter.

Day 139 - May 19

Our food tour of Oswego didn't stop on Wednesday. On Thursday night, we hit up Canale's for dinner. This is a favorite Italian place in the Dorval family, and the place where my father in law gets the jars of sauce and salad dressing he sends us periodically. The food was great, but the entertainment - Michaela - was even better. I got her to do "big eyes" which had us all cracking up! (iPhone pic, backlit at that... so not very good!)

Day 140 - May 20

Friday found us on the road from Oswego to Scotia. One of the two real reasons for our trip was to go to Maryanne's (my mother in law) retirement party in Scotia. She's retiring this year after 31 years of teaching, mostly second grade. I caught this shot as one of her best friends (also a retired teacher!) whispered something in her ear during the festivities. I wish I knew what was said! (In her lap is my niece!)

Day 141 - May 21

The second real reason for the trip was to celebrate Jason's grandmother's 80th birthday. She'll turn 80 at the end of the month, but since she was making a rare trip north of I-10 to go to one of Jason's cousin's college graduation last weekend, Maryanne planned the party for this weekend. Forty of Nana's closest family and friends showed up at a luncheon to celebrate her - a surprise, no less!! - and then headed back to my in-law's house to keep the party going. We had to take the opportunity to grab a family picture.... this is everyone related to Nana in some way who made it back to my in-law's house! Of course, not everyone is looking at the camera and it's a little shaky, but everyone's there and that doesn't happen often!
Day 142 - May 22

Finally back to today! I'm cheating since I actually took this picture yesterday. But the only ones I took today were a few of my nephew making a mess out of a teething biscuit and the lighting's off a bit. Besides, I couldn't choose between this one and the one I used yesterday for yesterday, so there ya go...

This is my in-laws with all three of their grandkids. I love how my nephew is looking up at Jim like "Hey, Papa. What's going on up there?" This was the best of the bunch - I consider it a victory that three out of five are looking at the camera and two of them are actually smiling!

So now I'm caught up! Hopefully I'll be able to stay on track now. Things have calmed down here since all the family is gone except for us.... and we have internet! Hope you enjoyed the catch-up!