8472

Give or take one or two and that's the number of times I heard "Mom, are we almost there?" on our recent road trip home from New York!

We just got back from our annual August trip to Endicott. We had a great time visiting family. Mike and Jeff finished first in their flight at the Binghamton Country Club member guest. I was able to work in a visit to my corporate office and I survived driving all the way home with the girls. I'd say the trip was a success!

Blueberry picking has definitely become a favorite tradition. I think Lindsay may have eaten her weight in berries!

We spent a day at the cottage, where the girls had fun fishing in the row boat, swimming, hunting for berries, and making "fern flowers". We managed to catch just a few fish and had to call it quits after Lindsay ate most of the bait. Yes, she ate the bait...luckily we were using canned corn!

We made several trips to Syracuse to visit Dziadzi (my grandfather) who is recovering from a stroke in early July. Seeing his face light up when he saw Katelyn and Lindsay was so special. I'm so glad we were able to see him and help brighten his day.

While I was away at work, the girls kept my parents and aunts busy with a trip to the midway at Sylvan Beach, countless trips to the park - in fact they completed the Broome County Carousel circuit, school shopping, visits to the book store, the zoo, the Discovery Center, and more.

Unfortunately, Nick's/Tony's was closed, but we managed to get our fill of Nirchi's and Roma's pizza, Consol's, Joey's Italian ice, Lupo's and even squeezed in a trip to the Cider Mill Saturday morning before we left. (I had no idea how many memories of childhood were centered around food until I moved away!)

Since Mike was already back home, the girls and I set out on our 2 day trek home on Saturday. With the benefits of modern technology - namely the dual-screen dvd player that strapped to the car headrests - we set off around 12:30. Before we could make it to PA, we made our first stop at Wendy's. 2 more stops followed in the next 2 hours and I began to wonder if we were going to make it to our hotel stopping point in daylight. We managed to make it to the hotel where Lindsay enjoyed yet another playground and tried to convince Katelyn and I that the pool was really warm enough to swim in --- it wasn't. Either VA has been getting some REALLY cold nights lately or we're truly becoming southerners! We set out the next morning, managed to find a McDonald's playland along the way and finally made it home around 3:00. Long gone are the days where Mike and I could make the trip in 10 hours with a single stop!