New Year's Weekend

After a nap and a diner-style lunch at Perkins, we arrived in New Jersey for the weekend. Our first stop was to see Diane (and Janice too). It was so nice to see them. Austin got to visit with them and expend some built up energy from the long car ride. Austin enjoyed continuing the Christmas gift onslaught and was happy to have a new book and a cool new bowling set. Christine was happy to visit with Diane and spend some time (although too short) with her. We then went to see the Levin’s.


Liz, Jeff, and Emily graciously opened their home to us for us to spend the night. Austin and Emily had a ball together. They played very nicely together. We enjoyed a delicious dinner of chicken parm and pasta; we had bagels the next morning. We all definitely miss the tri-state area bagels…they just do not make them the same way in Chittenango. Many thanks to the Levin’s for being such wonderful hosts and for sharing their time with us.


Saturday was lined up to be a busy day. Our first stop was to meet up with the Hammerle’s and go bowling. This was to be Austin’s first time bowling (with bumpers of course). Austin was a trooper…he picked up his 6 pound ball all by himself and carried it to the foul line. He needed Keith or Christine to help him get enough "oomph" to push the bowling ball to the end of the alley, but he certainly enjoyed this new game. Austin scored a 73, Keith a 92, and Christine a 90 (embarrassing for Keith and Christine because we too had bumpers). The Hammerle kids were old pros at bowling. It was great to see Andrea, David, Ashley, and Peter show off their stuff and it was nice to catch up with Lauren and Dave as well.


After bowling, we were off to Joelle’s house for lunch. We arrived to see David, Danny, Joelle, Dave, and Katie. Austin loved seeing everyone and settled in quickly and began to play with all of David and Danny’s toys. Lunch was an assortment of cold cuts, fresh bagels, chips, fruit salad, and brownies and coffee for dessert. It was great to catch up with everyone and spend some relaxing time with good friends.


After that, a nap in the car was on Austin’s agenda, and we continued on our way to Queens to have our final Christmas/New Years celebration with the McKenna/Shewciw clan. Austin was again showered with many generous gifts. New clothes and gift cards were among the mix, as well as new food for his kitchen set. His favorites of the day were the Hess truck (which was really a race car this year) and his motorcycle riding Santa that played music.


Dinner was delectable ravioli and meatballs/sausage and garlic bread. Dessert was an enjoyable assortment of sweet treats including cream puffs and cheesecake among others. We planned to sleep at the McKenna’s that night, so when Austin decided it was ready for bed, off he went and Keith and Christine could catch up with family and enjoy time with them. We all slept great and after breakfast the next morning we got on our way to make a few more stops before heading back up north.


Sunday morning we visited with the Dunne’s. We had to meet baby Maggie, the newest addition to the Dunne family. Christine enjoyed holding a new little one, and Austin took to her and enjoyed pointing out all her little features – eyes, ears, nose, etc. Katie looks amazing already and it was nice to catch up with her and see Brayden too. (Mike was off at the Giants game.) After our visit, we headed out to our last stop of the weekend, the Rickard’s.


We arrived at Bret and Nicole’s house. Mikey was asleep, but Logan was awake and Austin and Logan hung out and did their thing. Austin enjoyed playing with Mikey’s new train table. Christine and Keith caught up with Bret and Nicole and we enjoyed a nice pasta lunch which definitely hit the spot before our ride back. After our nice visit, we were back in the car and off to Chittenango we went.

Even though it was a busy weekend, it felt relaxing and we truly enjoyed the time we spent with everyone. Thanks to everyone who made time to see us, and if we missed you this time, we hope to get to see you the next time we are through.