Summer of Frozen Drinks

Last weekend my friend Danielle and I trekked on up to Albany (aka Awwwbany) to do some shopping for our good friend Jennifer-Marie's Baby Shower.  Danielle, in case you've forgotten, is the mother of my favorite little person.  Jennifer, if you are reading, no worries as I will not disclose the date/time/presents purchased.  I will say that Danielle and I must have looked like two tools wandering around Babies-R-Us trying to find stuff from the registry.  What a hoot.  So that was the highlight of our Saturday morning.  We then treated ourselves to lunch at Olive Garden before heading over to the Christmas Tree Shop in the Colonie Center Mall.  I tell you, I forget how awesome the Christmas Tree Shop is.  I have to measure some windows at the house and make a special trip back over there for some new curtains.  Their home section is rather nice!  

Midnight Train to Georgia

I hope you all had an excellent holiday weekend.  Mine was jam packed with multiple personalities, train stations, emergency rooms, four hour delays, and a wedding.  Sounds like a movie (Four Weddings and a Funeral) but sadly this is just my life.

Friday

6:55am -  my family and I board a train to Georgia for my cousin's wedding.  So far, so good.  No hiccups.  We have a two hour layover in Penn Station where we have Tim Horton's for breakfast and the kids get to experience the hustle and bustle of New York City.  Our train is on-time and we all find seats around each other and settle in for the long ride.  Somewhere around Virginia we pick up Creepy McCreepo who is high as a kite and carries a duffle full of vending machine items.  He tries multiple times to pass off candy and other goods from his bag to my nine year old sister, each time with us politely declining.  Sometime after dinner the train stops briefly to allow another train to pass.  McCreepo gets into a heated argument with one of the train attendants about needing a smoke.  Because we were not at a platform he was not permitted to leave the train and was told if he couldn't behave himself he would be ejected at the next stop (one could only hope...)  He proceeds to kick the door and mumbles obscenities and such directed at the attendant who has since left the car.  And it only gets worse.  Come 9pm it's as if a switch has flipped and he now has a direct channel to Satan.  He is having obscenity laced arguments with himself, turrets-like outbursts, grunting, and seemingly uncontrollable jitters in his arms and legs.  He proceeds to tell me my sister is his "buddy" and "she's in trouble".  Needless to say, I don't get to sleep the entire ride for fear he'll try something on one of us.  Instead I proceed to read "The Help" with one hand in my purse on a bottle of mase.

Saturday

6:55am - we detrain in Jacksonville, FL.  My Uncle is already waiting for us and takes us to the hotel  in Kingsland GA which has agreed to check us in early free of charge.  We all cycle through showers, iron the wrinkles out of our packed dress attire, and then head to Cracker Barrel for brunch.  The wedding is at two o'clock and goes off with out a hitch.  Shannon and Joel are husband and wife in less than an hour's time and every one heads to the reception hall which is beautifully decorated.  After all is said and done, the family decides to meet at a local bar/restaurant afterward to continue the party.  Unfortunately my Grandmother takes a spill off the median in the parking lot and spends the next four hours in the ER (side note: she is fine aside from some bumps and bruises and a split lip).  The Bride and Groom, of all people, end up driving her there because she refused an ambulance.  I must say, Joel (the groom) is a really good kid.  In the moments following Grandma's slip up he managed to grab napkins for the blood and draped sweaters over each of our shoulders to keep the chill off.  He's really too nice for our family. 

Sunday

After sleeping off the excitement from the day before, we check out of the hotel and chillax at my Uncle's house until it's time to head to the train station for the return trip.  Our train is scheduled to leave at 5:00pm and arrive in Albany no later than 3:30pm Monday which happens to be my two year wedding anniversary.  Well, we end up delayed 4.5 hours in the Jacksonville train station due to a fatality on the tracks.  The girls keep occupied playing skip-bo and other assorted card games that they packed.  The train does not pull out of Jacksonville until 9:30pm.  Fortunately there were no creepy passengers keeping us awake for this leg of the trip.  Upon arriving in Penn Station I quickly exchange out our tickets since we've long since missed the connection we were scheduled for.  The only train they can get us on for the return trip to Albany is the 3:15pm, so we hustle to find our gate and are excited to be only 2.5 hours away from home.  However, between Hudson and the Albany station we are stopped again for 1.5 hours due to an "obstruction" on the tracks (lord help me if another body is found on the tracks...)  We don't arrive in Albany until 7:30pm and meet my husband for a less than romantic (although delicious) pizza dinner by 8:30pm. Justin surprised me with flowers which provided a nice ending to an otherwise miserable day of traveling.  I must say, it was nice to finally be home with my boys.

How was your Holiday weekend?  Do you have any horrible travel stories to share?  Misery loves company...

Furry Friday: Riding Shotgun

Among the many great things about Riley, his ability to take long car rides is certainly something Justin and I count ourselves as lucky for.  When we first got him, we had a 3+ hour ride home from New Hampshire which he took like a champ.  He rode, or rather slept, the entire ride on my lap.  Riley never gets car sick. The worst he does is leave a few nose prints on the windows which is par for the course.

Because we lived in Albany when we first got Riley, many of our weekends and holidays were spent traveling in the car to see family.  Our little Rye-guy was completely unphased by this.  In fact he gets very excited to go for a car ride.  When we start packing up a bag for a weekend trip or even just a few essentials for a dinner over at my parents, he gets so antsy.  He just can't wait to get outside and make a dash for the passenger side door of the car.  

Recently I purchased a safety harness from Agway so that he can ride solo.  Normally he rides on my lap, however, on the rare occasion that just he and I are traveling together it's much safer for him not to be in my lap.  It was a bit of an adjustment for him.  He couldn't decide if he wanted to sit or lay down, but eventually he settled in for the long-haul. Fortunately he's light weight enough that he doesn't trigger the air bag to be on.    So all in all, it ends up being a win-win. 

Do you take your pets for car-rides?  What type of safety gear do you use?

Awwwbany Shopping

Oh how I miss Albany shopping ("Awwwbany" as a friend of mine says).  Albany has the convenience of being 5 minutes from just about any store you could want or need.  Don't get me wrong, where I live now I kind of have the best of both worlds.  I live on a country road but I am still 5 minutes from a Price Chopper, a Wal-Mart, an Agway, a handful of pizza places, a movie theater, and a small shopping plaza.  However, as you can probably already guess, the store selection is very limited and most close around six p.m.  A new store is in development by my workplace and it was rumored to be Target (aka Tar-Jay).  Boy was I excited!  Well I was until I heard officially that it's TJ Max instead.  Don't hoot and holler - I like TJ Max too, just not as much as I love me some Tar-Jay.