We made it to Buffalo, NY!!!! Wendy (Jordy's stepmom) had a little welcoming dinner party for us...but little did she know that she was going to be surprised with an EARLY 60th birthday cake.
And you can guess who loved that!
He even go to enjoy in a little EARLY b-day cake too!
And then he had to go to bed.
The following day we headed out to the Rock Quarry that Wendy *aka Cha-Cha owns...and gave Whityn a day to remember. He got to see HUGE dump trucks and even ride in them! Uncle Bruce...Cha-Cha's brother works at the PIT and gave us a FULL blown tour that included rides...views...reviews...rock crushers....facts and MORE! Whityn never even closed his mouth...he was in such awe and shock...he loved every minute of it.
Check Whit out in this 18 ton dump truck...
While in New York, Jordy's sister Blair *aka Beezy met us there...she came up from Palm Beach. She couldn't get her hands off Whityn. She wanted to eat him up. Who doesn't right?
Beezy took us to Smallwood Park...we carried on like kids and had a blast...it was hot!
Whitties didn't want anything to do with Beezy at the park...
cause he had things to climb
and bridges to walk. He was busy. He worked up a real red face and bossed us all around.
The next day...we all hit Buffalo Zoo. It was awesome. I sometimes have a hard time with the zoo, but I have to give credit where credit is due....GOOD ZOO! Whitty's favorite was the Polar Bear Exhibit maybe because they were giving a good show...swimming and fighting...and eating. Whitty didn't want to leave until we told him about the elephants.
Whitty made a little zoo friend...his name was Enzo. One of Beezy's friend's brought his little boy to meet us at the zoo. It made for some laughs and lots of chasing!
The zoo had this little digging area for kids called Dinosaur digging and we had a little family dig session...then beezy was ready to go...so we moved on. :)
to ride the pig.
And the carousel...which was Whitty's zoo highlight!
round and round he went with his daddy because mommy would barf.
after the zoo we got invited to ETS bike Enzo's daddy because his family owns the joint...we got to EAT up and Whitties had his first taste of rootbeer. I don't think he liked it. If you are ever in Buffalo....GO TO ETS!
the next day was a special day for jordy..he took me and whittles to Point Abino in Ontario, Canada where he spent summers with his grandparents...he loved showing me the house..the lighthouse..and telling me all about it. The following picture is the guest house where Gramps and Lol would summer. I loved it.
this is across the street.
and this is across the street to the right...this light house holds a special meaning to me even though I had never seen it...I had envisioned what it might look like...while I was pregnant with Whityn Jordy was writing a book about a girl named Diggory Clover who had to go and spend a summer at the light house with her grandma...however she wasn't so happy about it....I would read the story as Jordy typed along through my pregnancy...and towards the end we considered the name Diggory if it were a girl...because I loved the story so much...so I wanted to see this lighthouse and learn more about the inspiration behind the story of Diggory Clover. The light house at one time was pretty spectacular and is now being renovated and restored...more on that later.
by the way...the house where Jordy spent summers is for sale...anybody wanna go in on it?
here's the main house!
After walking around and listening to Jordy reminisce...we went to Crystal Beach to see Lake Erie and do what Jordy did as a kid.
We had fun just splashing around...digging...looking around and checking out the Canadian beach way.
Then we tried to get back on the bridge to the USA...but it WAS a line that looked like a day wait...because we happened to be in Canada on Canada Day! Oops!
So, we drove over to the falls...and ate lunch a snapped a few shots!
then we hoped in the line to head back home and we were there in 10 minutes or less....
The last few days were spent swimming and relaxing and EATING of course!
The last night in Buffalo we went over to the hospital where Jordy's dad Paul did his chemo treatments...and saw what Cha Cha had made for him...
This is the waiting room for patients who are in treatment...and it's a happy room!
Then we ate at Chefs...my fav!
CHa Cha turned on the back yard "prinkler" and off Whitty went.
More front loaders.
back on the road to see the parents for the 4th!
the 4th.
We went to a town in Vermont called Warren...where they have a creative...funny...and organic parade...and boy was it hot! We met up with Allison, Matt and their little boy Oliver.
The Reilly's used to live in Jackson and they moved a few months ago to Vermont so it was good to hook back up with them.
after the morning in Warren...we took it back to Stowe and did the local thing!
and Whit got a BIG RED BALLOON
from the balloon lady.
we took a wagon ride.
we beat the balloon.
And we had a great evening...we tried to stick around for the fireworks...but just couldn't do it...so we hit the grocery for the ben and jerry's and lit some sparklers and called it a night! What a fantastic trip!
