Flyin' the friendly sky

Well, we are off. Off to Ithaca, NY that is. Yes, this is where I grew up and we are even staying in my childhood house no less (above pictured). We arrived Wednesday night. We being Kiira and me. We are having a girls weekend with Nanny since neither Alan nor I jumped at the chance of traveling with Evan at this age (he just turned two). Alan volunteered for home duty aka boys weekend. Besides, I think it's nice to have some one on one time with the kids. Alan took Kiira to Boston in March so they got a little one on one time then. Now it's my turn. We've had a marvelous time thus far. I have to say, she is quite my little buddy and we genuinely have fun traveling.



Well, Thursday was just another rainy day in Ithaca. It's ironic because I try to time my visits for beautiful weather. Also translated means I travel in the summer. I have no desire to trudge through snow, sludge and ice. Well anyway, drag. So, on a rainy day we decided to head out to Sapsucker woods where Cornell University has their lab of Ornithology. Well, I hadn't seen the new building and I will say that it's QUITE slick. It's got a big window with fancy telescopes to see the birds, it has a sound lab where you can go in and hear different animal sounds and a movie theatre to see some more interesting things that they do. Kiira loves birds so it was a perfect way to spend a rainy day. And, had it not been rainy, they've got some lovely walks where I'm assuming you can bird watch. Needless to say, we didn't hit the trails in the downpour.

Today, July 4th, looks to be a beautiful day. We'll head down to the cottage and do some fishing. This is what Kiira has been talking about nonstop. My mom's boyfriend, Rick, got her a bright yellow fishing pole so now we just need a hook and some bait.

A few cottages up the lake, we will see some friends (Yengos/DiGiacomos) that we've known for four generations. Yes, our grandparents were friends, then my mom became close with their children, then my sister and I became friends with their kids, and now we all have our own kids. They have a VERY large family so Kiira will have her pick of kids to play with. There is a big field next to all of our cottages and there is usually a game of baseball, some rocket launching, frisbee, and well, you get the ideas. No shortage of stuff to do.

My aunt and uncle, Marilyn and Jeff will come down to the cottage today and we will hang, probably talk horses knowing Kiira (Marilyn and Jeff have horses) and nibble. Then as night approaches, we will get our flares out on the dock and break out the sparklers! If everything works out, we will even build a bonfire and have s'mores!! Yippee! Stay tuned for pictures of above activities!