Buffalo, NY

It's been a few days since I wrote as we've been very busy since our arrival in Buffalo last Thursday, July 3! We got to Elaine's house about 3pm and after unloading the car and resting for a short bit, we headed off to the train station to pick up Nancy and Doug. Then we picked up Bocce's pizza (Andy's favorite) and brought it back to Elaine's -- after dinner, we got RJ settled in bed and headed to Duff's for wings. Elaine and Rick and Rose came with us and Daniel and Angelina stayed home to keep an eye on RJ! Andy's high school friends, Bill and Kathy joined us at Duff's and we had a great time.

We officially "closed down a bar in Buffalo" - ok so Duff's closed at midnight, we still were the last to leave! :-) (Most Buffalo bars close at 4am!) We got home and chatted for a hour or so and then we all headed to bed.

Friday morning once everyone was up and moving, Nancy and I headed to the store to get some shopping done for the weekend while Elaine met Rose at BJ's since Rose doesn't have a BJ's card. We went over to Rose's house that afternoon and Angelina and RJ went swimming all afternoon except for when they were eating. RJ did really well in the pool, especially considering that he hasn't had swimming lessons yet.

We watched the fireworks from the end of Rose's street and then I raided Rose's photographs of Nick for a project I wanted to do for his graduation party on Saturday.

Saturday morning I got up early and headed to A.C. Moore (Big Craft store), to buy some poster boards and some other miscellaneous items. When I got home, everyone was up so we had breakfast and then I started working on Nick's blanket, once that was finished, I got all the photograph's (mine, Elaine's, and Rose's) and put together two collages of Nick through the years! Everyone loved the collages and I was pleased that they turned out so well.

Everyone went in the pool once we got to Rose, and after a few hours RJ was swimming around the pool by himself, as opposed to sitting on the steps or being carried around the pool. RJ had both arm floaties and an inner tube on him at first and then after a bit took the inner tube off and swam with just his arm floaties on. He got out of the pool when he took the arm floaties off!

Saturday night when we got back to Elaine's house, we stayed up till 2am and played 80's Trivial Pursuit, which was great fun!

On Sunday we spent the day relaxing around the house and at about 5pm we headed for the Casino's. We drove there with Elaine and Rick and they stayed for a little while and then left to head home. Doug and Nancy who had spent the day at Niagra Falls met us at the casino and drove us home. A good time was had by all!

On Monday, we drove down to Rochester, NY to visit my friend Kathleen for a few hours. Kathy grew up two houses down from me in my hometown and we had a very nice day. Angelina came with us which was great cause she played very well with Kathy's oldest daughter, Caitlin who is almost 7; RJ played with Kathy's son, Conner who is 5. Joey is the youngest at 1 and he was up for lunch, but then went back down for a nap.

We got home from Rochester around 5pm and had dinner and then went to Friendly's for dessert -- after that we just hung out at the house till bedtime. Doug and Nancy had spent the day doing some geneology research as Doug had family in Buffalo at one time and then they headed to the airport as their flight for home left at about 5:30pm.

Today we are headed home to Memphis, Andy is sleeping at the moment and RJ is downstairs with Angelina. I've got to pack (my favorite thing) and then we are headed to pick up Aunt Nancy and her son Josh for lunch and after that we will hit the road. I booked us a hotel in Wilmington, OH which is about 6 - 7 hours away.

Ok - enough procrastinating on my part, I have to go and pack now!