Celebration Sunday

June 20 marked my parent's 58th wedding anniversary. Hard to imagine isn't it? Fifty-eight years fighting, loving, and living with the same person for over half a century. Blows my mind. But darn, are they happy or what! We gave them a card. Rick wrote a verse and then handed it off to me to make the card itself. Fifty-eight years together - what a blessing.

If the folks are celebrating 58 years of wedded bliss, that must mean I'm celebrating my 57th birthday. Holy moly, time is flying by. Sometimes I look in the mirror and wonder who is that old woman. Boy, was I ever spoiled with gifts. A gorgeous amethyst ring my Dad made, 3 jackets and a purse from Mom, Chanel #5 from Rick, and a laptop from Brent. Kera and Chris gave me a gorgeous framed piece of artwork from India. It's good to be spoiled!

Why not celebrate one more event while we're at it. Father's Day. Here Rick and I pose with Dad. One look at us and you know we're all related. Is it the nose?

To celebrate 3 important events like these, we needed an equally fantastic meal which my brother supplied. He is the seafood king. Crab legs, home made french fries, and Rick's fantastic garlic bread. Mmmmmm. My Mom ordered a delicious lemon cake from Pennsylvania Bakery. It was definitely a meal to die for! Can we do this again next week?

Cowgirl Kylie Turns 5

At 5, Kylie loves horses, cowgirl boots, and did I mention horses? This birthday was all about the things Kylie loves. Starting with the "cake" composed of a dozen cupcakes, Giant did a great job of incorporating that horse theme.

Cake is good, but presents are better. Great Grandma and Grandpa Redlich got Kylie an adorable denim dress.
Travis looks on as his cutie pie opens one of the four gifts from Jessica. Jessica really nailed it with kid sized horse brushes and horse figures.

We got Kylie a number of things, but the best was a pair of real cowgirl boots from Sheplers. Oh yeah. Hot pink, silver at the toes....these boots were a big hit!

Happy birthday, Kylie!

Finger Lake Wine Country

We have talked about our family trip to wine country in the Finger Lakes for so many years, and our friends have often asked us to put together a trip. The planets all aligned, and my knees are pretty good, so in January we finally started to put everything in place for a June trip with 18 of our friends.

We drove up Friday, and oh my, what a beautiful day. Blue sky, warm weather without the humidity, just a spectacular day. We met Deb and Wayne DeWolf at Bully Hill for lunch. While I don't care for Bully Hill wine, their restaurant is to die for. I highly recommend it.

We hit three wines on Keuka, including arguably the best winery in the Finger Lakes, Dr. Frank's winery. Dr. Frank was the first to grow vinifera grapes in this region, moving away from those Niagra and Catawba sweet wines. That move really put the Finger Lakes on the map for wine.

It doesn't get any better than this. Sitting outside, taking in the view of Keuka Lake.

Brent put a lot of work into identifying the wineries to visit, calling them all and making reservations. Over the course of the last few years, the wineries are expecting buses to make a reservation before arriving unexpectedly. It takes a lot of the spontaneity out of it, and it requires a lot of guesswork and timing. Brent did a great job, and everyone was happy with our selections.

Paul, Diane, Bobby, and Carrie Soltis listen to the description of the wine being tasted.

Todd and Sandy Shenk and Deb look at the offerings and start to decide which wines they'd like to sample.

Diane and I have been drinking together for a lot of years. Um 34 years to be exact.

StaceySedesse gives the boys, Paul Sedesse and Jim Mosca a little love pat.

Kim Miller discusses the current sample with husband, Matt. Meanwhile, Matt's wondering when we'll get to Wagner so he can forget the wine and indulge in some beer.

Neil and Terri Seis from Lancaster are big wine buffs. We were delighted that Neil's company could keep him in the country long enough to come along on our trip.

This is a pretty good pic of Brent. Any pic where his eyes are open is a good one! LOL!

Todd, Sandy, and Jim debate how many bottles they will be buying!

I think Paul and Stacey found something they liked.

We had a great time and the reports I've gotten back from everyone was that they had a fantastic trip. Whew.

NYC - Central Park

Central Park is another one of those "must do's" on Gwen's list of things to do while in NYC. She always wants to see Belvedere Castle and was excited to show it to her Grandpa. It was Brent's first time in Central Park and unfortunately the castle is closed on Mondays. Gwen was very disappointed.
I'm always amazed by the size of Central Park. It's pretty incredible that you can be walking through the woods and suddenly there's a beautiful lake. It's crazy to see this peaceful lake with people rowing their boats around with the city skyscrapers in the background.

Gwen enjoyed taking pictures throughout the park. I think we'll be scrapping them in the near future!

One of the highlights, which I have no pictures of, was the time we spent on my cousin's rooftop on Saturday night. We stayed only a few blocks from Maureen and Dickie's place, so we wandered up there to visit. It was great to visit not only with them but my cousin Melody and my cousin Memory's beautiful daughter Jennifer and her boyfriend Ron. We don't have the opportunity to see them often, so we were happy they were all in town over Memorial Day.

Brent and I really enjoyed our weekend in NYC. Many thanks to Chris, Kera, and Gwen for allowing us to tag along.

NYC - Around Town

This is the Dakota where John Lennon was shot. We saw this building from inside Centra Park and Chris was pretty sure it was the Dakota. I'm not sure which side of the building was the site of the assassination.

And who doesn't love a little fashion show? Hats anyone?

We took a little break in our travels to sit and people watch while Chris and Brent went to some record store. There was a guy there feeding acorns to the squirrels. I think most of the folks sitting around us wanted to kill the guy because the furry little buggers became a real nuisance.

NYC - STOMP!

Chris and I spent some time checking out all the shows o see if there was one where the times and the price and all the planets aligned! STOMP seemed to fill the bill the whole way around. Believe me, we made an excellent choice with this show. Here Gwen poses with two of the performers after the show. They were great and kindly autographed Gwen's program too.

I would highly recommend this show. The precision moves, sounds, and the humor comgined to make this a fantastic performance. We all enjoyed it, but the two music buffs, Grandpa and Gwen, were totally into it.

Gwen had fun trying to copy all the moves afterward. She made me laugh as much as the show itself! I'm glad we had the chance to share this with Gwen.

NYC - Night and Day

There are several things that Gwen loves to do when she's in the Big Apple. The American Girl Store, H&M, Central Park, and Times Square at night. This kid just loves the whole hustle and bustle of the city. She will walk for hours and hours and never complain. She simply loves it.

Times Square is fantastic whether you visit during the day or at night. With all the lights, night could very well be day. It's just so fun, but you have to have a high tolerance for crowds. Mine is pretty low, but it's always fun to go check it all out.

Brent and I had just gone to see Pirates of the Caribbean a few weeks ago so we loved this. Kera said no to our usual forray into Toys R Us, but we did visit the Disney Store.

NYC - The Fleet Week That Wasn't

Ok, I admit it. I wasn't real excited about the whole Fleet Week thing. It's not that I have zero interest in seeing the ships, I just have very little interest in doing it with my darling husband. This is just one of those kinds of things that Brent is better off doing with one of his guy friends. While I'm willing to spend two or three hours wandering around, that's about my limit.
After breakfast with my cousins, we were a bit late getting down there. The line was ridiculous, and neither one of us wanted to stand in line that long.

Brent just couldn't make up his mind. Yes, he'd like to go, but perhaps Fleet Week would be far more crowded than he wanted. The schedule we made up didn't suit him. He didn't order tickets on-line ahead of time. But, trust me, it was all my fault that he didn't get on board the Intrepid.

NYC - It's All About the Food!

One of the best things about NYC is the incredib le variety of food. Going with Kera, Chris, and Gwen insures we'll get a real variety, including some fantastic vegan restaurants. I wish I had taken more pictures of food because it was great.

First stop on Saturday after getting the keys to our apartment was San Loco, a little hole in the wall Mexican place in the St. Mark's area. I love their guacamole, it's fantastic! Right across the street is Pomme Frites, a Belgian french fry place with a gazillion different dips. Of course, all those dips and Gwen's favorite is the malt vinegar! Ugh!

We wandered around Chinatown and ended up at a street fair in Little Italy. All these fantastic Italian desserts and what did we have? Unbelievable frozen fruit ices that were just so flavorful, they were to die for. Gwen got the last of the watermelon, that little stinker, although my mango ice was pretty darn good too.

Unfortunately I don't have pictures from Soy and Sake which is a great vegan place in the village. When will I learn that they give you so darn much food that two could easily split an entree. I had the bento box and OMG, it was fantastic!

Kindergarten, Here I Come!

Kylie is definitely a big star in a tiny little body. You can tell from the grin below that she was so proud of herself. She had some proud parents and grandparents in the crowd rooting her on too!

Quite the little artist, Kylie points to the picture she drew of her family: Mom, Dad, and Kylie.

Kylie displays and describes her artwork to her Mom and Dad.

It was so cute listening to her tell the story of her artwork to Travis. Congraulations Kylie! You're gonna take kindergarten by storm!