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after finding out thursday evening that john did not, in fact, have to serve jury duty friday, we booked a flight, in the hopes that we could try to coincide our flights with john's cousin and cause less inconvenience for those that would be picking us up. we got close.
that is, until friday came along and the storms in albany delayed us quite a bit. sat in the buffalo airport for hours, bonding with others in our predicament. one guy told them he was getting married and his bride was waiting for him. they bought him a ticket to boston on another airline. nice.
so we finally get to albany where they are holding the flight to manchester, presumably because five of the six passengers on the manchester flight were also on the one from buffalo. so we're on the tiniest little prop plane and then we hit some nasty thunderstorms. john was totally fascinated with the lightening in the sky. i was just trying to keep completely still so i wouldn't throw up. thank god for seatbelts.
we got picked after getting there by john's aunt judy and uncle lauren, who already had john's cousin scott and his wife beth with them. beth and i sat in the back of the cramped van and chatted it up for the two hour drive back to grandmom's. it was late and we were inadvertently locked out. so we made lots of noise and flashed key lights into the window of john's cousin lauren. lauren's wife joy woke up and sent lauren down to get us. time for quick hugs and on to bed.
saturday we all rolled out of bed and drove on down to aunt sistie's lakeside property, about an hour south of grandmom's house. saw a couple moose along the way, one dead, the other alive and probably the dead one's yearling. so they tell me. i thought it looked like a pretty damn big moose, but what do i know.
we were all there with the total extended family because john's 2nd cousin marianne is suffering from the same brain cancer that killed her brother a couple years ago. she's not one to wallow so she was jolly and fun, as usual. she's doing well, but talks very slowly in order to make sure it all comes out right. she joked with me about how some of her synapses must have gotten cut during her surgery.
i ran around with my new camera taking pictures. john and the boys had a lego contest. they had two minutes to build whatever was declared and the best one won the glory of winning.
when they were younger, john and the boys would build things and blow them up with fireworks. the younger boys seem to have taken on the tradition, building a pretty excellent cardboard replica of fenway park, complete with a citgo sign and players in their correct positions. a fun time was definitely had by all, including me, who enjoyed the feature on my camera that allows me to take continuous shots in quick succession without having to wait for the picture to be written on the memory card. i took over 100 pictures of it and watching it play back quickly makes it look like you're watching a movie. it was then that i realized how much i love my camera.
also took some pictures of the evening's amateur fireworks that they shot off before the professional ones started across the lake. john's mom had one of her "Debbie Downer" moments when she commented about all the heavy metals that were being released into the environment. the town's display lasted for well over an hour with way too much time in between each one. there were nearly ten times that we thought the grand finale was going on, only to discover that we were wrong. it was weird and got tedious, but it turned into quite a big joke. finally they ended and we all cleared out. another late night.
we all slept in the next day, me especially, and then went for a short hike with john's dad, who is in such good shape that he always puts the rest of us to shame. i used to excuse of taking pictures to stop and rest a few times and let everyone get ahead of me and john.
we also took a walk after lunch down the road. it's nice to get out of the house sometimes and since we all flew in this time, none of us had a car to take into town.
we took a walk after dark with scott, beth, and john's other cousin eric. that was probably the highlight of the visit. we really got to let loose and be ourselves rather than the front we all put up around the parents and grandparents. we exchanged drinking stories while watching to make sure we didn't get hit by cars coming up the dirt road. we saw a couple of owls. that was cool.
when we got back to the property, we noticed the stars were just awesome. amazing how much more you see when far away from any lights. so we all laid down in the grass and watched for shooting stars while we vented about the various family members that make us all crazy. it was a good bonding moment for all of us and we weren't trying to be malicious for the most part. it's just good to know where you came from in order to know where you're going as a person in this world. another late night.
mostly just chilled out the next morning, although john took a quick hike with his dad and eric. i was feeling way too bug bitten already so i opted out and just read my book in hiding. when they got back, eric had some old version of snaps. you just pull the two strings apart and it's supposed to make a popping noise. or so we all thought. so i figured i'd give it a try and wound up burning a small hole in my favorite gray shirt. oops.
john's parents dropped us off at the airport, although john's mom clearly didn't want to really just drop us off, but hasn't been in an airport in years so didn't quite get that she can't go past security with us. scott and beth's gate was only three down from ours so we all chatted some more and planned for our upcoming trip to see them in montana.
got on the plane and headed for home.
that is, until friday came along and the storms in albany delayed us quite a bit. sat in the buffalo airport for hours, bonding with others in our predicament. one guy told them he was getting married and his bride was waiting for him. they bought him a ticket to boston on another airline. nice.
so we finally get to albany where they are holding the flight to manchester, presumably because five of the six passengers on the manchester flight were also on the one from buffalo. so we're on the tiniest little prop plane and then we hit some nasty thunderstorms. john was totally fascinated with the lightening in the sky. i was just trying to keep completely still so i wouldn't throw up. thank god for seatbelts.
we got picked after getting there by john's aunt judy and uncle lauren, who already had john's cousin scott and his wife beth with them. beth and i sat in the back of the cramped van and chatted it up for the two hour drive back to grandmom's. it was late and we were inadvertently locked out. so we made lots of noise and flashed key lights into the window of john's cousin lauren. lauren's wife joy woke up and sent lauren down to get us. time for quick hugs and on to bed.
saturday we all rolled out of bed and drove on down to aunt sistie's lakeside property, about an hour south of grandmom's house. saw a couple moose along the way, one dead, the other alive and probably the dead one's yearling. so they tell me. i thought it looked like a pretty damn big moose, but what do i know.
we were all there with the total extended family because john's 2nd cousin marianne is suffering from the same brain cancer that killed her brother a couple years ago. she's not one to wallow so she was jolly and fun, as usual. she's doing well, but talks very slowly in order to make sure it all comes out right. she joked with me about how some of her synapses must have gotten cut during her surgery.
i ran around with my new camera taking pictures. john and the boys had a lego contest. they had two minutes to build whatever was declared and the best one won the glory of winning.
when they were younger, john and the boys would build things and blow them up with fireworks. the younger boys seem to have taken on the tradition, building a pretty excellent cardboard replica of fenway park, complete with a citgo sign and players in their correct positions. a fun time was definitely had by all, including me, who enjoyed the feature on my camera that allows me to take continuous shots in quick succession without having to wait for the picture to be written on the memory card. i took over 100 pictures of it and watching it play back quickly makes it look like you're watching a movie. it was then that i realized how much i love my camera.
also took some pictures of the evening's amateur fireworks that they shot off before the professional ones started across the lake. john's mom had one of her "Debbie Downer" moments when she commented about all the heavy metals that were being released into the environment. the town's display lasted for well over an hour with way too much time in between each one. there were nearly ten times that we thought the grand finale was going on, only to discover that we were wrong. it was weird and got tedious, but it turned into quite a big joke. finally they ended and we all cleared out. another late night.
we all slept in the next day, me especially, and then went for a short hike with john's dad, who is in such good shape that he always puts the rest of us to shame. i used to excuse of taking pictures to stop and rest a few times and let everyone get ahead of me and john.
we also took a walk after lunch down the road. it's nice to get out of the house sometimes and since we all flew in this time, none of us had a car to take into town.
we took a walk after dark with scott, beth, and john's other cousin eric. that was probably the highlight of the visit. we really got to let loose and be ourselves rather than the front we all put up around the parents and grandparents. we exchanged drinking stories while watching to make sure we didn't get hit by cars coming up the dirt road. we saw a couple of owls. that was cool.
when we got back to the property, we noticed the stars were just awesome. amazing how much more you see when far away from any lights. so we all laid down in the grass and watched for shooting stars while we vented about the various family members that make us all crazy. it was a good bonding moment for all of us and we weren't trying to be malicious for the most part. it's just good to know where you came from in order to know where you're going as a person in this world. another late night.
mostly just chilled out the next morning, although john took a quick hike with his dad and eric. i was feeling way too bug bitten already so i opted out and just read my book in hiding. when they got back, eric had some old version of snaps. you just pull the two strings apart and it's supposed to make a popping noise. or so we all thought. so i figured i'd give it a try and wound up burning a small hole in my favorite gray shirt. oops.
john's parents dropped us off at the airport, although john's mom clearly didn't want to really just drop us off, but hasn't been in an airport in years so didn't quite get that she can't go past security with us. scott and beth's gate was only three down from ours so we all chatted some more and planned for our upcoming trip to see them in montana.
got on the plane and headed for home.
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no subject
Date: 2005-07-06 01:55 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-07-07 12:35 am (UTC)From:anyway. i try to do more manually now that i've been playing with that for a little while. so i decided to splurge, using my birthday money and some of our tax return to get a digital SLR camera. it has automatic features, but i'm trying to use only the manual settings. if you've got some money to burn, i highly recommend it. oh yeah, it's a Nikon D70s.
no subject
Date: 2005-07-06 07:23 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-07-07 12:37 am (UTC)From: