I'm back, bitches!

Oh yeah. You know it. I'm back from the Northeast after a much needed (and surprisingly relaxing) vacation. I've been almost completely removed from technology for a week now and it's been awesome. Although, I've spent the last two hours reading blogs, checking facebook, checking email (and responding if I felt like it) and all that other crap. But the vacay was all good and really nice to be home.

The Boy and I headed North on Friday. We left at around 9am and were making kick-ass time until we hit PA. And traffic stopped. For an hour and a half. On a major interstate. It took us 90 minutes to drive 9 miles. For those of you slow at math, that is A MILE PER TEN MINUTES!! I was super pist. And of course it happened during my shift of driving. Our 9 1/2 hour trip turned into 11 hours. Woo hoo. But, traffic jams just seem to be less shitty when sitting beside the one you love.

See how happy we are?!?!

Saturday was WEGMAN'S and Ithaca Coffee Company and Ithaca Beer! I'm like a friggin' kid in a candy store at Wegman's. It is THE BEST grocery store ever created. No joke. It really is a destination. We stocked up on "Northeastern" goodies (like Dinosaur Bar-B-Que and good cream cheese ... mmmmmm). The Boy bought 5 CASES of beer at the beer company, we bought 8 bags of tea at the coffee company. I just love going home and getting things that you can't get anywhere else. No one makes bagels like northerners, and there are just some comforts of home that cannot be found sauces and State Fair sauces and nuts and cheeses and bagels -- which Bailey and my mom's dog ate 5 of! -- anywhere else.

The View From Home


My Pops - The Man, The Myth, The Legend

Sunday was the family picnic with all of the brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews. It certainly gave me my fill of "kid time" for the next few weeks (or, at least until Sawyer comes to visit me!). The kiddies played in the pool and chilled out in the sun. It was supposed to rain all day, but the sun was out and the weather was gorgeous. It was a beautiful day.

Trying to explain that grapes will KILL my dog


The "Short" men, hard at work, "supervising" their kids

Afterwards, when all the familia left, The Boy took me to "our" place, Madelines, for tapas, cocktails, dessert, and wine. It was one of the highlights of my trip. The food was, as always, spectacular.

Monday was wine tasting and touring with the 'rents. We went all the way around Cayuga lake, and hit about eight wineries. Some were fantastic. Other's were meh. We did pick up a fantastic bottle of lemoncello from Six Mile Creek Winery. Who knew, right?

My Favorite Place with My Favorite People

Tuesday was the late-night trip to Beantown. We left Ithaca around 10pm and finally arrived in Boston at 3am. I drove the whole trip, and it was pretty tiring. But the cool thing about driving all night is that there is no traffic! Yeah! My nephew Corey slept the whole way, crumpled up in the back seat. I would have been paralyzed if I had tried that. Oh to be young again.

After about 4 hours of sleep, we all got up and started the day. Corey and I chilled out by the pool while The Boy and his Pops cooked a massive cookout. When I say massive, I mean MASSIVE. I had been warning Corey about the food situation, but he didn't seem to believe me. But when lunch was served, he began to see. We had veal chops, lamb, giant top-quality burgers, grilled chicken breasts, salad, fruit, canollis ... all for lunch. It was INSANE. Corey was in his glory because he loves red meat, but after three days of eating like this at EVERY meal, he was a bit warn out. It was funny to watch his face literally drop every time I called him to dinner. He just had no more room to store it all! It was pretty hysterical. Those Eye-Ties like to eat.

The BoSox game was at 7 that night. We headed to the train around 3 and spent time showing Corey the park and the shops around it. The sun had finally started to set when the game began. He loved it. He was having a great time. At least, I think he was. It's hard to tell with teen aged boys. They are so, "yeah, whatever." Our boys won the game, and it was a fantastic game! They brought Papelbon out to get the last out, and the whole park stood up and clapped in rhythm until the out was made. Some very good playing on both teams. The weather was gorgeous, the game was fantastic, and fun was had by all.

Corey, the nephew

The Boy and His Pops

Me and The Boy
We're still happy and we've been together 24-7 for a week straight!

Nite games are always pretty.

We walked to the Common after the game (it was still relatively early and the weather was phenomonal) and took the train the rest of the way home. We got back to Peabody around 1 and collapsed.

The next day was shopping and the liquor/cigar run to New Hampshire. The Boy bought himself a box of nice cigars and us a few cases of booze for the bar. We are happily replenished. After running the usual errands, we returned home for another monster meal. I thought Corey was going to die. But he was a trooper and pulled through.

We returned to NY the next afternoon, and I attended my former 7th grader's graduation. She was valedvictorian. Oh yeah. It was all me and my amazing teaching. You know it. The it was back to NC on Saturday morning.

Bailey says, "Car rides bore me!"

Phew. I'm tired.

And now my air conditioning is broken again. But, happily, all of the fish survived my absence!

(How ya like all them pics, Kirs?! )