Hello All!
Last night we got home from a great week with family in upstate New York - the land of greenery, mountains, clean air, and mosquitoes! I love going to visit up there. It's just so different than our beautiful, flat home state. Lush, lush, lush - the only word that keeps coming to mind!
We arrived late Wednesday evening after a day of traveling and rested that night with wood-fired pizza at my grandmother's home. She was actually in the hospital that day, and had been since the previous Monday. We went to visit her the next morning, and she was doing better and was released the next day, Friday.
On Thursday, after spending the morning/afternoon with her, we visited my cousin who lives in Albany and stayed with him that evening.
Do you know what makes you feel like a kid again in .28 seconds?.... a TRAMPOLINE! 
And oh.my.word. After about 2 mins. on the thing, my heart was pounding and I was a sweaty mess! We had a trampoline as a kid and we'd bounce and jump on it for hours and never stop. It was insane to me how worn out I got so quickly on it last week! Not how I remember at all! Things have changed since my childhood.... (my metabolism!)
Crack the egg...
I commented that we were getting pricked by little sticks that were falling on the trampoline, thinking my cousin would go get a broom or something...oh no, he comes back with a gas-powered leaf blower! He makes me laugh.
Oh, and see his shirt, "Microbiology Lab - STAPH ONLY"....he's a pharmacist...
:)
My cousin's little boy had his blocks out, but after he went to bed, somebody stole them... see his concentration!
So proud of his masterpiece!
Guitar Hero Challenge!
Friday morning we loaded up the car and went on our scenic journey to Cooperstown - The Baseball Hall of Fame!The husband's portion of the trip. He is a lifelong baseball fan, so being so close to the "mecca", of course we had to treat him, and it was a wonderful day! 
My little brother looking at historical gear. That is my favorite in museums - when you actually get to see old artifacts. To look at them and think, 'somebody ___ years ago actually used this!'
We took a break after looking around the first floor of the museum and left for lunch. Cooperstown is SO quaint! It is such a cute little city, with tree and flower lined streets, and little cafes and shops....adorable! We ate at the Doubleday Cafe, named after Abner Doubleday who is credited with inventing baseball in 1839. (See what going to the HOF will teach you?!)
Just outside of a little shop - yes, everything there is pretty baseball-related!
When we re-visted the museum post-lunch, we walk up to the next floor and an elderly worker starts telling the crowd that 'in just a minute, there will be a speech about ballpark-goers' favorite foods at a ballpark, and how much a hot dog cost at different times during baseball's history', etc. So we walk over to see this kid dressed in a deli-looking outfit, and he stares at us. We 4 (myself, the hubby, my little bro & his wife), stare at him. I think the kid who was supposed to give the presentation wanted to talk about the history of hot dogs as much as we cared to listen to it! It so awkwardly funny...so he pulls out his sheet of facts and starts reading. After a couple minutes of listening to how certain foods became synonymous with baseball, and what odd foods are served at different ball parks around the country, there came a lull in the conversation, so I jump in, "well, thank you, it was good talking with you!", and he says " wait, I'm not through!" We were trapped! It was like he didn't really enjoy doing this part of his job, but he was told to do it, so once he got through his paper-o-facts, he was free to be finished with it for the day. So we stuck around and heard more about what hot dog toppings are most famous, then the kid said "you guys can go if you want", making us all feel bad! So then, to complete his job, we join in group participation! My little brother was told to (and did it!) yell right there in the museum "GET YOUR HOT DOGS!" Then my husband got to pick up a hot dog carrier and feel how heavy it really is....
...that was clearly Stuart's highlight...
As soon as the kid finished our presentation, he took off his deli hat and jacket and left! He had done his requirement for that portion of his day!
:) *When we walked out of the museum to leave at the end of the day, the same kid was then performing a different task of his job requirements and was a greeter at the door. We caught each other's eye, and stared for a minute - he looked different without his deli hat & jacket! - then we smiled knowing that we shared a funny (awkward!) time inside.
Next to his childhood hero's plaque - Nolan Ryan.
My little bro pointed this shot out - it's kind of hard to see the engraving on the wall of the HOF emblem, but I love how the lines/shadows turned out.
Making his best old-timey ball player face...
Resting in the kids area. I need a baseball glove chair in my house, it was comfy!
The entrance to the museum.
On Saturday, the main reason for our NY visit, one of my cousin's was married!
In the church before the ceremony...
At the reception, I look over and see this - my husband was helping my cousin push his niece...I thought the three of them made a cute, little family.
The reception was on some family land. They put up a tent, and let the beautiful landscape decorate itself. Gorgeous.
They gave the kids bubbles, and my cousin's boy decided that the only way he could get the bubbles to come out is if he put his mouth RIGHT ON the bubble stick.
He made himself a bubble goatee from all of his bubble eating. It was funny to see the faces he made while tasting the soapy mess!
On Sunday, on the way to our family picnic, we stopped at my grandfather's grave site.
This is my cousin with his boy, telling him of his namesake.
On Monday, we just relaxed at my grandmother's home, and my father and husband decided to play landscaper. My dad looks like a fierce hedge-trimmer here!
The family homestead. This home was built in the 1800s. My grandparents moved here in the 60's, when my dad was a kid. I think it's neat for him to get to visit the home he grew up in, and of course this home contains all of my memories with my grandparents.
They didn't have a ladder, so this is their effort to clip the top of the bush...
Just some of the scenery as we drove around Monday evening near my grandparent's home.
They live out in the country, about an hour south of the city-life in Albany.
Just a random, pretty home, but it sums up how their "neighborhoods" look around there. A house in the middle of tons of acreage!
Pulling up to my grandparents' farm...
Well, that's it! It was good to see our loved ones, but of course, it's also nice to return home to our puppies.
Thanks for looking through my trillions of pictures! It was a fun week, but man, it's overwhelming to return to work with a hundred emails and patient clients waiting for their pictures! I'm anxious to catch up. I'm working on it!
:)
