Canandaigua, NY

WE HAVE PICTURES NOW

Sun Oct 7-Wed Oct 10 in Canandaigua, NY - days 30, 31, 32, 33.

What a treat these next few days were. We stayed with Tomie's cousin Deb and her 5 kids. Oh, wait, Stephen is her husband!! We visited Deb and Stephen and their 4 kids!!! Tomie had not seen Deb and Stephen for 9 years or about that. A really, really long time. I wouldn't have known it. The bond between them was renewed instantly. It was like Tomie was just there. Tomie couldn't wait to begin taking photos at Zachary's 5th birthday party. For us not having a schedule for a month, I think our timeliness was pretty darn impressive. I think we arrived at 4 pm and the party started at 5pm. Check out the bouncy house and Tomie's gorgeous family.







Tomie and I were sent to sleep in the barn. Hold on, that was a good thing. It is a completely remodeled barn. We felt as though we were at a bed and breakfast.







Monday was Columbus Day. We all went to a park and Tomie again shared her photographic expertise with the Sicilianos by recording their smiles and laughter with her camera. Tomie and I got to let our inner kids play a bit on a seesaw too. The weather was unseasonably HOT and HUMID.







We were treated to a tour of Lake Canandaigua aboard Stephen's boat. Beautiful. Beautiful. Ben, age 6, was the only one courageous enough to take a dip - also, he was the one with the most appropriate undies.







We finished the day with a 45 minute run during a downpour with a perfectly circular bright orange sunset and then back home to Deb's tender-as-can-be baby back ribs. I think Tomie and I each ate 7 ribs. Don't know if it was mentioned that we had our first ice cream of the trip while visiting Eric outside of Detroit. Well, the floodgates were opened and they have not shut. We ate lots of ice cream after the ribs. MMMMMM. Remember my comment about how much I love milk, well, ice cream is one of my favorite forms of milk!







Tuesday, Tomie and I rode our bikes around Canandaigua Lake. We saw more cows, goats, roosters, horses, sheep. We stopped along the way for a homemade blueberry tart at a roadside stand in the wine country and at a 'must stop' diner for a coke. 50 miles and about 4 hours later we safely returned back to our home away from home to enjoy Ben, Zach, Rosalie, and Julia. Anyone who is thinking about having 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 kids and wants to know the secret of a sane household, Deb's your gal.