The Empty Nest

Alex returned to school on Monday. He had a good summer. He worked in a Cafe washing dishes and took a summer class at the local community college. He kept busy and stayed out of trouble, I think it was a good for him before he headed back to Albany for his sophomore year. 

Meanwhile, the nest is empty again. We celebrated by getting the driveway sealed. We do know how to have a good time. 

Weekend Wrap-Up

Eric has been out of town since Thursday and isn't due back until later tonight. Alex and I shared some nice quality time together this weekend. We shopped, ate, watched golf (a lot of golf) and went to the Casino.

He had never been to a Casino, and since he turned 18 (almost a year ago), I had said I would take him sometime. So today we went. He got a nice $13 "welcome free play." Which he made last about an hour and a half. We played the penny and nickel slots, so money tends to last longer! I got a returning $5 free-play. And put in $20 of my own. I got up to about $50. And we ended up leaving $10.28 ahead. So I'd say we had a successful day! Alex said on his way out "I think I'll stick with athletics..." He noticed the atmosphere at the casino was a bit sad. So many heavy smokers and less-than-wealthy folks sat expressionless, in front of slots and poker tables, losing their social security checks... I think my plan worked. Going to the casino can be fun, but go with just a little bit of cash and leave while you're still ahead. 

And that's about it for this weekend. Alex leaves a week from tomorrow to head back to Albany, so it's packing time. And 2 weeks from Saturday, Eric and I finally get to have a vacation! Can't wait to be sitting in the sand on the beach in Sandwich.... 

Boating with the Pelo's

 We spent a lot of time with the Pelo's this weekend! Since we saw them Friday night, they asked us if we wanted to join them on their boat on Saturday. Of course we did! There's nothing better on a summer day than a friend with a boat! 

It wasn't a terribly sunny day, but it was lovely to be out on the water without a care in the world.

We went to this little "beach" area, usually it's crowded, but I think the lack of sun (and heat) kept people away. It was still lovely. We ate and drank and chatted for hours.

Then we headed back. Eric got artsy with his camera.

I love this sign. 24 miles to Oswego and 192 miles to Buffalo. 

Louise guided John into the dock. That's their lovely house in the background. They do have a fabulous spot to live. Although I'm not sure I'm jealous of that giant lawn they have to mow!

Fulton Jazz Fest

Last night we went up to Fulton for their JazzFest. It's a nice event. Eric always runs into people he knows. Although, we knew the Pelo's were going to be there (John & Eric, pictured above) since they called and invited us to join them. 

We arrived early... 

And stayed late. 

It was a nice crowd and a nice evening, as always. 

Alex Bay

Hey there! I've been guilted into posting again. I feel bad that people still check my sad, lonely blog. So here I am again!

This past weekend was our anniversary, so we decided to take a short road trip up to Alexandria Bay. It's a gorgeous area up in the Thousand Islands. And we got really lucky to have some beautiful weather to go with it.

We started the day with a wine tasting (at 11am!) at the Thousand Islands Winery. Then we headed to our hotel to park. We wanted to catch the 12:30 Uncle Sam Boat Tour - Two-Nation Tour...

This was the boat that we took around the Thousand Islands. The Two-Nation tour included The U.S. and of course Canada. There was an invisible line in the St. Lawrence River that we crossed and were in Canada. Our cell phones sent us lovely "Welcome to Canada" messages.. and kindly let us know they would charge us $15/mb for data usage. So we quickly shut the phones off!

This was one of the international bridges.

I think that's heading to Canada.

This is Boldt Castle. It has an interesting history. If you'd like to learn more about it, check out this website. It's probably one of the most talked about mansions in the Thousand Islands. A man built it for his beloved wife, but she passed away before it was finished. Heartbroken, he never returned and never finished it. We had taken a tour a few years ago, so we didn't take one this time.

This was one of the many gorgeous mansions along the river. 

This "little" house is owned by Abby Wambach. She was one of the U.S. Women's soccer team players who just won the World Cup. 

This is our hotel from the river. It was a great location. There was a pool and a Tiki Bar off to the right that you can't see. We spent a few hours at the Tiki Bar after the cruise. A lot of hotel visitors took their boats to the hotel and parked right there. 

This was the view from our hotel room of Boldt Castle.

On Saturday, we went over to Clayton, NY. Which was about 12 miles west of Alexandria Bay. It was lovely town. I didn't really take any pictures though. They were having an Antique Boat Show, so we wandered around that for awhile and headed home.

Some of the scenery in Clayton.

March 29

March 29 is a big day for me. I will have health insurance again! Not that I haven't been uninsured, I've been on "ObamaCare" since last August. Which means I pay way too much for nothing and have a giant deductible. So now I will only have to pay $40/mo for a great plan for myself. (Eric has his own, which would have cost a small fortune for me to join.) So I'm thrilled. The first thing I'm going to do is get an eye doctor appointment. I've been wearing the same contacts since December. They're 2-week contacts. Surprisingly, they haven't bothered me at all. Usually I can go 4-6 weeks, but this is definitely the longest stretch. I have extra ones for the right eye, but no more for the left. And my glasses need an updated prescription. So I'm thrilled that I will be able to see again. Only 11 more days!

Work has been quite busy. I feel like I've been there a lot longer than 2 1/2 months! I've been training in the Traffic department. My mom will probably find that amusing. I'm the back-up for the traffic supervisor. And she's been off for the last 5 days. It's a different world, but it's keeping me on my toes and making me use a part of my brain I haven't used in awhile. Especially since we have 3 stations that I have to keep track of. (We're NBC, CBS and CW.) It's good to learn new skills!

Alex is home this week. He has pretty much spent his days sleeping, watching tv and running. Oh, and eating. That boy can eat. It's nice that he's healthy again. He's been back running for about 2 weeks now. Oh, and how about UAlbany making the NCAA Tournament for the 3rd year in a row -- and the awesome way they got there. That was a fun game to watch.

Still waiting patiently for Spring to arrive. It didn't get above freezing today. I don't think it will tomorrow either. Hopefully, eventually, it will be warm again.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

This has been a VERY long and VERY cold winter. It's still cold, but we are beginning to see the light at the end of the very cold tunnel. I see 40's in the forecast for next week. That makes me very happy. It'll feel like a heat wave. 18 degrees feels warm to us now. 45 will be shorts weather! 

Last week we put a deposit on our 'summer' vacation spot on the Cape (For the week of Labor Day). It'll be just me and Eric this year. We're renting a small cottage on our favorite beach. And Jenny will get to join us this year. We'll celebrate her 10th birthday there! I think she'll like the beach. The above photo will be our deck and path to the water. It's nice having something warm and snow-free to look forward to! I do hope the beach didn't suffer too much erosion, you never know what it will look like there from year to year. Mother Nature can be very tough some years, and this year was one of the worst.