Lots of Pictures

It's been awhile since I posted anything. We've been keeping ourselves busy. Here are a bunch of random photos from the last month and a half. 

Eric's Erie Canal documentary debuted when we got back from vacation. It was very well received. And was also the most watched program on their station all year. (And perhaps longer.) 

Some of the decorations.

It was a very well attended event. 

We did a couple of boating trips with the Pelo's in September. 

They are always fun to hang out with. And great boat hosts. 

I got to attend a couple of cross country meets to cheer on Laura. It was so fun going to meets again. She's doing really well in her first season! 

Me and Paula trying to cool off in the shade during one of the XC meets. I think it was 85 degrees that day.

This also happened this month. Alex turned 21!

That cake was delicious. 

I took him to a liquor store on his birthday and he made a bee-line for the whiskey. Hmm. 

This was his first "legal" purchase.

And this was his first "legal" adult beverage, a Mojito.

Eric and I went to our favorite Movie Tavern one Sunday. We love that place. 

We also attended a black-tie dinner, the annual Crouse Foundation dinner. This was the only photo I took the entire night. I'm really slacking in the photo department lately. 

And last but not least, Alex got a job! He's a cashier at a local Tops Market. He's waiting to head back to Albany in January, so he's now working until then. He's also taking a class at OCC, just to get some more credits in. He was doing some landscaping over the summer, so he needed something else to get him through until January. 

So that's about it, for photos anyway. Eric had blood work last week, he got another all-clear. That's 6-months cancer free. He'll be having a full scan in December to make sure everything is still clear. He's been feeling good overall, but still having issues with his hands and feet. But his appetite is back and his tastes buds are cooperating for the most part. 

Boating with the Pelo's

I didn't get a chance last weekend to post anything. So I'm playing catch-up.

We went boating with the Pelo's last Sunday. It was a gorgeous day. 

It's so wonderful to have such great friends who invite you to do fun things with them.

Louise piloted the boat on the way back.

This was either the Oswego or Oneida River.
(We were on both, don't remember which this was.)

We also attended the Fulton Jazz Fest last weekend. Both Friday & Saturday nights. Also with the Pelo's. It was a great show each night. The band shown above was "Classified."

State Street Cafe

We found a fun little café recently. It's in Phoenix, NY. It was quite by accident that we stumbled upon it. It might have been the "We sell Wine Slushies" sign on the front door that got my attention. We stopped in last weekend for drinks, then this weekend we went for brunch.

It has a very cute, eclectic feel. 

I ordered the apple caramel crepes, they were fantastic!

Eric enjoyed his breakfast sandwich. We also got some gigantic cinnamon rolls to go. This will be on our "regular" places to go list from now on.

Update

A little more than 2 weeks til we're at the Cape! And this guy (and his lovely wife) get to join us this year!! We got together tonight to discuss our plans. Lots of fun ahead for us! Can't wait!

New Endeavor

So, I have a new blog. (I know, I have too many blogs...) This is a fun one. It's a travel blog! And it's on WordPress. I prefer to work with that than BlogSpot, which is what this blog is on. Anyway, I probably won't update it that often, only after we travel, or take a road trip. But I wanted to share it so you could see details of our weekend in Wine Country! And details from the cruise too. It'll be a nice place to store our trip memories.

Click here for the link. Enjoy!

Weekend Happenings

We had a fairly quiet weekend. The weather was being wonky, but it never really rained, although they said it would. Friday night we went to a nice gathering at Eric's old bosses house. It was a reunion of the old crew.

MariRae was his boss (in the pink) back in the "Pappyland" days. She was also our realtor when we moved into our home. Which was 9 years ago this weekend! It was very nice to see everyone again. She likes to have these get-togethers every couple of years.

On Saturday we ran some errands and went on several walks throughout the day. Trying to keep in shape and get those steps in!

Last night we went to dinner at Pizzeria Uno. Had some great pizza and beer. Then went for another big walk after dinner. 

This coming weekend, we're taking a little trip to the Finger Lakes for our anniversary. We'll be staying here. It'll be nice to get away for a night. (I know, we were just "away" but still... it'll be nice!)

Random Update

For those who are still faithfully checking on the blog, this post is for you.

Eric had blood work this past week and received an 'all-clear' once again. So we celebrate his continued remission.

We really haven't been terribly busy, but we have been doing a few things here and there.
We made it over to the Movie Tavern one day last weekend and had a fabulous time, as always.

We've had massive amounts of rain this summer. This was our backyard last week. 

We went to Kelly's birthday party! She's 12 now. We left the giraffe with her, she seemed pleased.

The classic blow-fish photo.

We went to the annual Margaritafest yesterday.

We were joined by John & Louise this year.

And I snuck in my new favorite Martini while at Margaritafest.

The Retreat

We went to The Retreat last night with our friends Bob and Robin. It was so good to see them again. We were having so much fun chatting away we didn't realize we'd been there for 3 hours!

This was my dinner, the Chicken Francaise. It's my favorite and I always get it. It's always delicious and I always have leftovers. 

Summer Time

We've had a quiet week and relaxing weekend. Last night we had a date at Smokey Bones, one of our favorites. I had a fabulous Berry Sangria. (And steak tacos for dinner.) We had a nice evening.

Friday night we watched the Phoenix fireworks at John's house on the river. (In Phoenix) (NY) It was a fun time as always. It's always the "first party" of the summer, kind of a kick-off celebration.

And in other news... 

Alex cleaned his room!
It took 3 days. There were 3 bags of garbage, 2 bags of clothes for the good will and 2 bins of "stuff" to save. 

And he finally starts a summer job tomorrow, he's going back to the same place as last year, The Great Outdoors RV Superstore up in Fulton. He'll be doing landscaping, and probably be asked to clean some RV's again too. 

We're back!

Ok, we've been back for 2 weeks now. I've completely neglected the poor blog. The first week back was a whirlwind of activity with reunions, parties, colonoscopies (all clear for Eric!) and concerts. The second week back was complete exhaustion. And now we're just getting back in the swing of things, so here I am.

Not really much going on, we had an amazing trip and didn't want to come back. The weather was perfect, and the overall vacation was fabulous. Couldn't have asked for anything better. We're now planning the next adventure. (Ottawa in July, Cape Cod in September and possibly Bermuda in April???) One thing we've learned this past year is that you have to live while you can, life is short. Get out there, experience the world, and enjoy the time you have with loved ones. So hop to it! Get up and get going. And who wants to go to Bermuda with us next April?? (Cruise from Baltimore, stays 3 days in port in Bermuda, how fun is that?!) Let's goooo!

Bon Voyage!

Pre-Cruise Fun

Here are a few pictures from our day in Baltimore. We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

We explored the Inner Harbor.

Lots of boats in the harbor.

Eric made a new friend.

And this was the view from the hotel room.

We're looking forward to boarding the ship at noon tomorrow. We'll mostly be out of the Internet world, but hope to check in on Wednesday from Grand Turk. 

Extended Birthday Celebration

We went to Sheila's on Sunday for a family celebration for Eric's birthday.

Sheila made another fabulous cake. It was a red velvet cake with heath bar crunch and caramel!

Kelly got the assist for blowing out the candles.

And we got a 2-for-1 blow fish photo!

* * *

We're in the final stages of the vacation countdown. We're counting down in hours now... we're trying to get Alex all set with taking care of the house and Jenny while we're away. All the neighbors know we'll be away and several friends will be doing walk/drive-by's while we're gone. You can never be too cautious!

And speaking of Jenny, she's not doing well. She was recently diagnosed with degenerative spinal disease and is in a lot of pain. The vet has her on pain medication and muscle relaxants. We go back in 3 weeks for a check up. The vet says it's not reversible, so we'll have to see what the long-term plan will be, if there is one. She's almost 11, but unfortunately, this is a fairly common disease for Corgi's and dogs with long backs and short legs. Her sister had it 3 years ago at 8 years old and the outcome was not good, so Jenny got a few more years on her anyway.