Topsy turvy traffic lights

Another thing we did while in Syracuse this time was to visit one of the city's older landmarks, in the Irish section of the city, Tipperary Hill. There you will find various taverns and such, but the most interesting thing over here is the upside down traffic light. It has been there at least as far back as 1921, and is supposedly the only one in the country. This light is special because the red is on the bottom and green on top, opposite of what we all see everywhere. When the city tried replacing it with a "normal" one, city residents threw rocks and whatever they could to destroy the light until they put the special one back. Clearly it is a source of pride here. If you go on the west side of town, it is on Tompkins Street. I took a couple pictures of it:

Time in Syracuse, part one

Well, we spent the first of our 2 times in Syracuse at my dad's house over the last weekend in July. We had a fairly low key weekend, the weather being pretty nice while we were there. We went out one of the afternoons to Onondaga Lake Park in Liverpool, which is beautiful. There is a nice playground there, as well as the Salt Museum, and a few miles of paved trails for people to skate, ride bikes, walk their dogs, etc. There is also a small yacht club on the lake and we saw sailboats and stuff. Here are a few pictures:

Road trip to NY, second edition

It seemed like before I could blink and adjust to getting back from NY at the beginning of July, that it was time for our bigger road trip. Sadly, Chris doesn't get enough time off from work to be able to take 2 weeks off, so he stayed home while I packed the kids in the car and headed back up north. Since we'd gone to Chicago and Minnesota last year, I'd been looking forward to coming up north this time.

We made a flash of a stop in DC to drop off some stuff at Sara's and continued on our way. I was happy to get in and out of DC with no traffic hassles, but once I got nearer to Baltimore, we hit the first small delay on the road. The bigger ones, of course, greeted us with a devilish smirk when we got into Pennsylvania. Right outside Harrisburg, we lost about 1/2 hour due in part to a tractor trailer fire that shut down an exit and one lane. The other one was in the same unpleasant spot as when we drove up for Mom's party, in the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton area. I swear, 81 in Pennsylvania has had construction cones and zones since I was a child, and after 30 something years and counting, what else could they possibly need to do to that road after all these years? Ugh! We lost another 30-40 minutes there. If it weren't for the fact that I love Pittsburgh so much, I could easily stay out of PA altogether! hahaha...or at the very least, boycott the interstates there that had an 8 in them.

We crossed 4 state lines to get to Syracuse, which always makes me happy. Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York. There is some beautiful scenery along the way, and it reminds me how much I love living where there are hills, mountains and trees.




All in all, it took us 12 hours where I could have taken 11, but the drive was good overall. One of the cool things we saw on the way up was a truck towing a prop plane on a trailer bed. The wings were detached and stowed flat on the trailer under the plane. It was really cool and the kids took a few photos of it.

Party time in Syracuse, part 3!!!

Well, we gathered the next day for some breakfast and last minute visiting with some of the relatives before they headed home again. We kept it simple, just bagels,fruit, juice and coffee. Then we got some last minute pictures. Here are a few of them:

breakfast prep

all us cousins who were here

Mom and 2 of her sisters

Will and Dave...party on, boys!

Us 4 sisters

Party time in Syracuse!!! Part 2--the big surprise!

Well, we all assembled and hid out in the house when Diana called us to warn they were about back. You would have never known we had around 40 people hiding out quietly! Diana got Mom to put on her party hat and when she walked in and saw all of us, it was priceless! I got a short video clip of her big moment, and when I get a chance to upload it, I'll add it here. But in the meantime, here's a photo:

And here are a few pics of the party:

Party time in Syracuse!!!

July 4th weekend saw the plans that my sisters and I had made all come to fruition. We'd decided to throw Mom a surprise late birthday party and invite her siblings, our cousins and friends of hers. The beauty of the plan was that Mom and Ed had just celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary and she knew we were in town, so if she suspected we were up to anything, she'd guess anniversary, not her birthday! Diana was assigned distraction duty to get them out of the house for the morning hours we needed to get the house ready for guests. Here are some pictures of us getting ready:

Fun in DC (me playing catchup on blogging..again!!

Well, even though it was a month ago, before we made our trip up to Syracuse to throw my mom a surprise late birthday party, I made a solo side trip up to DC to see Sara and Ella. Andrew was coming home from NYC where he's been taking graduate classes, so I wasn't sure if I'd get to see him or not. Lucky for me, he got back late that Saturday night, so I did get to see him!

Anyway, since I got up to Sara's early enough in the morning, I was able to accompany Sara and Ella to Ella's sign language class. I was fascinated by how well Ella is able to communicate using signs, even though she does not have hearing loss, but what a smart cookie she is!

In that afternoon, I also had the chance to hang out with my best childhood friend, Mikko. He and I have known each other since the age of 8, and I hadn't seen him in 6 years, so I was really excited to see him! The weather was a sunny, hot day, and it was beautiful!! We spent a few hours together hanging out and it was like when we were kids, hanging out, talking, being goofy and it was so fun! I am going to have to make more side trips up there...I had such a great time! Mikko also helped me with some finnish pronunciation, since I have a close online friend who lives in Finland and has been teaching me some phrases.

Sara, Ella and I ate dinner in Old Town Alexandria after Mikko left, and we ate at a tapas place. Ella had fun playing with the wine menu while we looked at the food ones.

The next day, Sara, Andrew, Ella and I went to the National Zoo. It was nice in the morning and the animaals were active. Ella loved the cows and we got to see the pandas rolling around and climbing up and down the trees. Very fun! they even had a pizza themed kiddie play ares.

20 years, Mom & Ed!!! Way to go!!!!!!

JUST SENDING ANNIVERSARY SHOUTOUTS TODAY TO MOM & ED! 20 years married as of today. Pretty flippin' awesome!!! Hope you 2 find something really fun to do today!

I got the coolest present today from my cousin

I was having a really awful, no good, terrible, very bad afternoon here at home today and when I brought the mail inside, I found an envelope from Paul with the most awesome bracelet inside!!! His latest hobby has been jewelry making and he is really talented. He's made some really beautiful pieces. I previously received a Pittsburgh colored football necklace from him, also quite cool.

But this bracelet puts all else to shame! So I have something really awesome now to wear that celebrates the Penguins' Stanley Cup championship this year! The 87 on it is for Sidney Crosby, that uber talented (and uber cutie pie) Penguin! Tis' good to be a female fan! hehehehe

so, Thank you Paul! You rock!

a Happy Father's Day photo from yesterday

Kristen decided to make an edible Father's Day card for Chris, so she made brownies and her own little signs as a card. Here are the yummy results:

What else to do on a 100 degree day here

Well, later in the day, after skating, we decided to have a water fight outside. Alice was the only one who wanted to participate, so it was the 3 of us in the front yard. Matthew did eventually come outside and man the camera after Chris and I took turns. Alice and Chris ended up deciding to gang up on me, so I was the first one to get completely soaked, but it felt good on such a hot day! I have decided that even after dropping 20 since winter, the camera is not yet my friend when I am wearing a bathing suit. but here are a few photos anyway:

What to do on a 100 degree day here...

Well, we found a couple things to do yesterday when it was so hot out. Chris and I took Alice roller skating for a couple hours. The place had a sweet deal for the morning, just pay for Alice and parents skate free. Talk about cheap entertainment! We took turns with the camera and skated for 2 hours. Talk about a great workout for the legs! I'm not sore today but my feet hurt yesterday! :-) Here are a few photos from there, some better than others.