This weekend was wonderful. Despite weather in the 90's with high humidity (which Jon isn't used to and I almost forgot), we had a great time. Before I get in to the details of the weekend, I must add that Amanda is doing great and is almost back to normal. No more fevers, no more ear goo, just a little bit of maintenance ear cleaning to make sure she doesn't get another infection. Aidan has been running a bit of a fever this week but no other symptoms. We're keeping an eye on him to make sure nothing gets out of control. I'm happy to say that things are slowly getting back to normal.
Anyway, on to the weekend!! We found out late on Thursday that my step-sister, Diana, was visiting from L.A. for the weekend. She works for DIC entertainment who produces shows/products like Strawberry Shortcake and Inspector Gadget. Anyway, she had to work in their NY office for a couple of days so she was able to stay with us for the weekend before heading back to Cali for work on Monday. Friday night after she arrived, we took the whole clan to Casa Mia, a wonderful Italian resturant that we all love. Aidan and Amanda ate almost an entire kids pizza while the rest of us pigged out on a ton of wonderful food. We were so stuffed at the end of the meal that we could barely move! There was a lot of fun conversation and laughter. It was the first time in many, many years that my mom, Oscar (step-father), Taryn (sister), Diana, and I were together. Add Jon, Aidan and Amanda and we had a great crew. We were only missing our other sister, Jen, who lives in Australia with her husband, Andy, and their son, Rory. There will be another nephew arriving soon as Jen is expecting baby #2 in a few weeks. Just a little history, Jen, Diana, Taryn and I have been together since we were barely teens. We're all very close in age. Jen is the oldest and a year older than I am. Diana is a year younger than me and Taryn is a year younger than Diana. We are now 33, 32, 31 and 30. It was definitely interesting when we were 18, 17, 16 and 15 in high school. I wasn't sure if Oscar would survive 4 teenage girls.
After dinner, Jon and I put Aidan and Amanda to bed (they were absolutely exhausted) and we went to visit a friend of ours, Kelly, who was celebrating her birthday on Friday. Kelly is absolutely hilarious. She was born 6/6/66 and she has flaming red hair (yes, it is entirely natural although starting to get a bit of gray, hehehehe). She always loves to say that she has "one better than the devil." We always have a good time with her and the rest of the clan from Beacon. Most of the people involved are related to me in some way. My cousin Mary and her husband were there as well as my dad and step-mother, Linda. We had a huge group of people and we had a few drinks and some great conversation. We didn't call it a night until almost 2 and we knew we'd pay for it on Saturday.
Saturday morning wasn't as difficult as I had anticipated. One of my best friends, Jen, from high school lives a few miles away and when I told her that Diana was in town, we decided that we'd have to do coffee in the morning. Since I have been away from New York and away from Dunkin Donuts for so many years, that was the plan! I ran up the street and picked up coffee and donuts for everyone. Jen brought her 6 month old son, Michael (or "Small" as we like to call him) over and we got to visit and take a time machine back to the early 90's. After a few hours and a lot of coffee and laughter, it was time for Aidan and Amanda to take a nap and for Jen to get Small in his carseat and go grocery shopping. We put the twins down for an early nap because Oscar wanted to take the family out for a cruise on his boat!
After a nap for the kids and a bit of planning, we were off to the marina! We fed the kids, Diana went to the deli and got sandwiches, snacks and drinks and we were off. We didn't get the boat ready to head out until almost 4 but we were ready! The temperature on Saturday was around 90 and the humidity was a bit high. We got to the boat at about 2:30 but we needed to get it ready. It has been in the water for almost a month but Oscar has been so busy with work and everything that it hasn't had a maiden voyage yet this year. We had to put up all of the canopies and sweep up the decks from the winter. Oscar has a pretty good sized cabin cruiser with a nice living area below deck and a bathroom and small kitchen area. After a bunch of sweat and hard work, we popped a few beers and hit the river. We headed north toward Kingston and we had a great ride. The breeze off of the water was wonderful and we had lots of fun. I'll try to post pictures later if I can figure out how that works. After getting to Kingston we headed down the Rondout Creek to refuel and get some dinner. It was about 8:00 at this point and we docked up and walked around the area. We stopped at a great little Mexican restaurant and had a wonderful meal complete with Margaritas! After dinner and a nice walk to enjoy the evening, we got back on the boat to take the 3 hour cruise back to Newburgh. The kids were able to fall right asleep in the cabin. It was great. We settled them down there and they had fun poking their heads out the front hatch. It was a perfect size for them. The hatch opened at about shoulder level so we didn't have to worry about them climbing out, they could just do a fun game of "peak-a-boo" until they passed out. Boy did they every pass out. They had so much fun and excitement that they were out cold after about 15 minutes. We went up to the top deck and had a great ride home. At about midnight I was exhausted and went and joined the kids in the cabin for the rest of the ride. I slept soundly until we docked at about 1. It is a good thing that my step-father loves boating in the dark because we had a wonderful, long trip!
We all slept in on Sunday morning and Diana arrived at around 9. She stayed at her grandmother's house a few miles away since we literally have "no room at the inn" since Jon, Aidan and Amanda and I are staying there. She came up to say goodbye to us. Mom and Oscar were going to take her to the airport for her flight. I made bacon and pancakes for everyone and we had another great morning and breakfast. After they left for the airport, Jon and I took Aidan and Amanda to Walmart and Sam's Club for a bit of shopping. The rest of the day was nice and relaxing. I got the rest of the laundry and cleaning done and we just had a good time!
This was a good weekend! Now it is Monday and we're all back to work. We're supposed to reach 100 degrees today and all I can say is "thank god for air conditioning!"
I am really going to try and post some pictures this evening! I know that I'm not supposed to finish a post without pictures so I'm going to try to get better :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
First off I am glad to hear that Amanda is feeling better. I know it was really scary to go through that hell week and I am glad to hear that she is back to her normal self.
I must admit, being back east is great when you have those days that take you back to your youth. It sounds like a fantastic time with Diana and your buddies and out on the boat. It sure is nice to have everyone so close by.
Hey Lisa, Thanks for the link to your blog. I loved reading about what you and your family are up to! And I loved the pictures of the kids. I want MORE MORE MORE of that! They are precious. Sorry you went through all that with the ear stuff with Amanda. My goodness. But she is better now, thank goodness. Jon told me about Aidan saying (when he bumps or falls) "I awright!" Too cute. I love you guys. Hugs and kisses all around! Aunt Mary
It sounds like it was a great weekend--I'm sorry we missed seeing Diana! Very glad to hear that Amanda is feeling better now, also, and hoping that Aidan doesn't get anything more than that little fever!
Post a Comment