We packed in a lot of activities and visits, but to spare you all the gory details, I will just mention some of the highlights. We met my good friend Ingrid and her family at The Discovery Center one day. That is the one place Paige asks to go to every time we are in NY. She loves it there and Alex does too, so it was a prefect fit. Paige and McKenzie are close in age, and Alex and Chris are only about 4 weeks apart in age and played like they had been friends forever. We visited a longtime friend of Dave's, Jimi and his wife Heather and even got to go out with the adults for an evening! (Thank you Gramme!) We had a fantastic time with our friends, Ingrid and Mike and Jimi and Heather. It was so nice to catch up with everyone.
We visited my Grandma Sandwick and the kids loved riding around on her Rascal. She also made a very nice lunch for us. After lunch we drove Grandma over to see my Cousin Brandi at her Ice Cream Shop and got to visit for a little bit. Not long enough of course, but I am so glad we could at least stop by. That night Dave's Mom made her famous Baby Back Ribs for dinner and as Ted says, they are better than any ribs you can get in a restaurant and Dave and I agree - delicious! 
Tuesday was a little more serious as we drove to Oneonta, NY for a Memorial Service for Dave's Grandma Manley who passed away in February. The service was very nice, but it was a sad moment, especially when we walked around the cemetary and saw the sites of Dave's Grandfather, his two Uncles, and his Brother Steve, who Alex is named after. Dave's Sister-in-Law Laura and our Nephews Grant and Zach were there from Minnesota, along with their sister Grace. After the service, we all went to the New Milford Inn and enjoyed a great buffet lunch while we visited with family. 
After lunch we went back to Dave's Dad's house and the cousins had a great time playing together. Dave's Dad and Rosa made a fantastic steak dinner for us. We had a really nice afternoon with everyone. Paige and Grace are the same age and had a great time playing together and Alex LOVED playing with his Cousins Grant and Zach. He was trying to keep up with them and actually did quite well considering he is 3 and they are 15 and 13! 
Another day we met Laura and family at Highland Park thinking that the carousel would be running, but it didn't open until late June unfortunately, so we ended up going up to Arnold park in Vestal where Dave used to play football as a kid. They just put in a huge new playground and the kids had a blast there. After all of our park fun, we went back to Dave's Mom's and had a spiedie dinner. You have to have speidies on a NY visit! Again, the kids all had a great time with their cousins, especially playing football. Thurday the rain did finally set in, but that didn't dampen our day as we went to see our good friends, The Holcomb's. Karen brought Gianna up and the three kids splashed around in the puddles and played with all of Gramma Jan's toys. Alex taught Gianna how to use a vacuum cleaner, which was pretty funny. Neither of the kids wanted to leave, but we had to get back and pack because we were leaving the next morning.
Our drive back was long, but good and Bailey was certainly happy to see us. We had a great week, although it always goes by so quickly. Thanks to Dave's Mom and Ted and Dave's Dad and Rosa for taking such good care of us while we were there! We miss you already!
