Christmas trip 2007/2008

Well, we're back and here's how our trip went:

As I mentioned in my last post, our cat Penny was having her annual bladder flare up and we were going to have to fashion a special traveling box for her. Well, Neil was ingenious and transformed the box that our new filing cabinet came in (good thing we saved it!) into a luxurious suite.



She even used the small litter box we put in it while she was in the car, so it's a very good thing that we made it. No leaking pee. No accidents. Good kitty.

We drove to Erie, PA the first day and stayed in the crappiest Super 8 Motel ever. It seems that they're building a new building...and that's a VERY good thing. There was a considerable slope to the floor of the room and it was the smallest double bed I've ever slept in - our feet fell WAY off the end. Arthur spent most of the night being terrified of the heater and eventually decided the safest spot was under the covers down at my feet. Poor Penny had to spend the night in the tiny, unheated bathroom because of her pee problem (she'd get pee all over the room otherwise) and she was shivering when I visited her in the morning. But at least she was spared the wrath of the scary heater!

Then it was back in the car for the drive through NY.

Because we were flying to FL on Christmas morning, we decided to offset our visit by a day to make Christmas morning in NY the 24th. That meant that the 23rd became the 24th and the 22nd became the 23rd, which is my mom's birthday.

We arrived on the afternoon of the 22nd (i.e. 23rd) and went to dinner to celebrate Mom's 70th. My good friend Teresa met us at the restaurant and we had a really great time catching up.

The 23rd (i.e. 24th) was spent making cookies in the morning and then in the evening, my friend Wendy and her husband Sean and their two kids and my friend Ruth came to visit. Some friends of my parents came over too and we had a little party. We ate meat pie and minestrone soup for dinner. We played Demon. We decorated the tree at 11pm or something.

On the 24th, we opened presents!


Abby likes Christmas presents!

Neil got a digital camera, so there will be lots of pictures from now on. Christmas dinner was steak and scalloped potatoes as well as green bean casserole and cranberries. Pecan pie.

We flew to Orlando early on the 25th. The direct flight on Southwest was perfect! We got to the airport and called Brian, who agreed to drive out and meet us for a visit.


Me, Neil and Brian at the Orlando airport

We also randomly ran into an old family friend as we passed one of the gates. So weird to run into someone totally unexpected in an unfamiliar airport!

A friend of Neil's family picked us up at the airport and we drove to Neil's parents' house. Dinner preparation was in full swing and eating happened not too long after we arrived.


Erik preparing the potatoes


Erik, Spencer and Neil in the kitchen

We feasted on turkey and mashed potatoes, cranberries, green bean casserole (again!) and broccoli salad.

Neil's parents have an awesome cat named Natasha. She likes to go on the dog walk, keeping her distance until she shoots ahead and pounces one of the dogs. She jumped up and perched on Joseph's head in someone's yard nativity scene, much to our amusement. No picture of that, so here's another one instead:


Me and Natasha

We went to the Kennedy Space Center on the 26th. The shuttle launch simulator is awesome.


Me and the big rocket

We were amused by these drawer labels in the space station exhibit:


Sweat, blood and saliva

After the Space Center, we had to go pick up a bunch of stuff at the family storage unit so the boys could go through some of their old stuff. We ended up moving the 10x10 unit into a 5x10 unit that evening because otherwise there would have been no help a few days later. We did it in about 45 minutes.

We ate dinner at about 10pm, I think. Then the brothers started to go through the boxes. There were some good finds!


Spencer, Neil, Erik and little friends

But all in all, it was a little harrowing.


Erik, Kathy and Neil have had just about enough

Everyone but Neil left on the 27th. We went to the beach briefly before heading to the airport. I did a silly dance.





Erik and Kathy's flight was first, then Spencer's, then mine. We spent nearly the whole day at the airport. But company made it good. Neil flew back the 28th.


Erik, Laura, Chris, Spencer and me at the Orlando airport

We were going to drive home on the 30th, but a nor'easter hit and dumped about a foot of snow overnight and then a storm from the west caused some weather in western NY that we didn't want to drive through, so we stayed until the 4th.



In the extra days, Neil and Dad played X-Box games. Note Neil's HUGE fortress...do you have to ask who won?



and we watched a lot of Dexter.

We also emptied and counted the money in my dad's various piggy banks. Neil's guess for the total was the closest and he got 10% of the booty.





I was able to go through two boxes of old family photos and date and label them. Phew! How satisfying!

Penny ventured downstairs to look out the window and watch the birds.



The trip home was pretty uneventful.



We stayed in a nice Red Roof Inn outside of Cleveland (near Mentor, OH). By the way, don't get food anywhere in Mentor, OH. They'll get your order wrong.