Family and friend time back east

Beavertail State Park, RI

The end of September and the beginning of October was time for us to reconnect with so many dear old friends and to see our families back east. Our friends Erik and Britton's wedding in Vermont was the reason for the timing and we were thrilled to be in Vermont at the start of fall foliage. All of our trips back east are too short even with just family visits, so it can be hard to sneak in time with friends we care deeply about. But not this trip - this trip was fantastic because we got loads of time with our friends and our families.

 Old URI friends....Christine, Julie Fidler?, Julie Barber?, and Lance

 

Jay, Julie, Julie, Caroline, Tom, and Timmy. The last time we saw Julie Fidler and Tom, Caroline was an infant!

Allison and Jay on the beach in West Falmouth - yes - we swam right at the end of September and it was lovely!

We even managed to sneak in an entire day with our dear friend Tim around Hyannis. We left him at his car dealer to pick up his car at the end of the day where this photo was taken, I promise we did not spend the day at a car dealer. We went to the beach and swam! We ate great food! We sipped lovely cocktails! We spent precious time together catching up on life...... every minute was worth it.

 West Falmouth sunsets are the best sunsets

There is always so much to celebrate at the White household!

We somehow managed to visit Christina, Sara, Henry, and Jackson without getting a single photo of Christina or Sara. =( But we did get a shot of Jay pulling off some serious air guitar on the trampoline with Henry and Jackson.

Things got serious when I was challenged to a game of chess by Henry, who eventually lost interest (I was too slow for him) and Jackson took over. I love the lecture I appear to be getting from Jackson here.

 Jackson, Julie, Henry, and Jay - nephews with their new Slow Loris shirts!

 Boat time on the Hudson with my awesome parents

 The mighty Hudson

 

We finally made it to the popular newish bar in Valatie with my parents. We have only been hearing about this joint for a few years now! They had good beer on tap and it was a cute set-up for little ol' Valatie. I can't get over how Valatie is getting cooler and cooler stuff in town, while historic old Kinderhook has empty storefronts because of a crazy landlord who charges his tenants too much, resulting in empty stores. I hope someday that will change because sweet Kinderhook is such an awesome old town.

And now we are in Vermont crushing apples to make cider for Erik and Britton's wedding.

  Rochester, VT and the view from Erik and Britton's wedding barn

 Old friends - Jane and Jay

We (J&J with the Bradleys) rented a hilarious old house stuck in the late 70s with amazing views and wonderful roads all around. The morning of the wedding saw us playing with our friend's kiddos (memory games that they could beat us at) and going on walks around the wonderful town and property of the rental house.

 Erik and Britton pulled out all the stops....this barn was gorgeous and ready for a party!

 The wonderful couple

 Rhode Island friends

 Prim and proper: J&J, Mike, and Eric

 Better representation of our friendships

 Sad to leave our friends and New England in fall..... but we loved the brunch in a gorgeous area of VT.

 Anacortes beer festival (poor Jay had an awful cold and stayed home).....but Jake, Kat, Liz, and I had fun

Fun with friends continued! Mike D. came to visit from AK and we got to take him on a local walk with our favorite pooch, Denali. This was a pretty funny walk.....I was the gimp with the bad knee, Mike was recovering from the Anacortes beer festival, and Jay had a cold. We didn't make it too far but we had fun!

September photos: https://goo.gl/photos/Ywtz9d1isjSSDkv7A

October photos: https://goo.gl/photos/rAvBYvSVAZkLjTmNA

Happy 70th Dad!

I had a great October - fantastic fall weather in Washington followed by even more stunning fall colors in Upstate New York. It had been about six years since I'd been in the Northeast for the best autumn colors in the world and I was thrilled to have an excuse to fly east around the peak colors - my Dad's 70th birthday! And the most exciting part was that my Dad had no clue I was coming and somehow we all managed to pull off the big surprise!

We are reenacting the surprise here.... but we really did surprise him! Want to know the whole story? Well, I flew in on a red-eye flight, landing around 11am in Albany, NY. My parents had tickets to see a matinee ballet performance with another couple long before I planned my trip. So my mom got another ticket for me and asked the other couple, Bill and Kathy, to pick me up at the airport before the show. The plan was for my parents and Bill ad Kathy to meet up for lunch before the ballet - they would scoop me up at the airport, walk into the pub, and I would appear behind them and surprise my father. Well - it mostly worked that way except my flight was delayed! Eke! My father hates being late to things, so when Bill and Kathy called to tell my parents they were "running late" he was a bit huffy and decided to order his lunch without them. All the while - everyone is just waiting for my freakin' flight to land. The delay wasn't too bad and soon we arrived at the Irish pub. Bill and Kathy headed in and I waited in the car a few extra minutes before jumping out and walking into the restaurant. The timing was perfect! My Dad was looking down at the table as he was just starting to sit down. The chair across from him was empty...and I managed to slide into the empty chair right before he looked up. Then he looked up and saw me instead of my mother! His jaw dropped, the phone in his hand dropped, and there was a fantastic moment of shock, joy, and disbelief. It was awesome. Then we all cried and hugged. Classic Barber-family style. Does it get any better than that?

Happy to be home for my Dad! 

The next day Christina, Sara, Henry, and Jackson arrived. The whole family had also planned a surprise birthday party for my father and Henry and Jackson were part of the ploy to get my Dad out of the house. So these little 7-yr olds had to be let in on the secret! All day Henry kept giving us the thumbs up on the secret (as in this photo) and somehow my Dad never noticed - although he picked up on other hints and had a bit of idea of what was going on.  =) 

I managed to sneak a jog in on the morning of the party - I dragged along a small camera to take photos of the road by my parent's house and a nearby farm called Little Farm. Gorgeous colors!

 The surprise!

 Mike Kennedy, Sara, Christina, Dad, Mom, and my Uncle David (what a treat to see my uncle!!)

 The birthday boy! 

Our wonderful family minus the sleeping twins and Jay (Jay stayed in WA because he had flown back in March to surprise his mother on her 70th)

It sure is interesting and fun to try and get a photo with your very energetic nephews

After all the birthday fun had toned down, I went with my parents to their lakehouse and we relaxed outside by the fire - sipping mulled cider and staring at all the awesome fall colors.

I had one more full day in NY before I had to fly back to Washington and I requested that we spend the day leaf-peeping. The colors were already past their peak in the mountains, so my parents had the great idea of spending the day along the Hudson River where the colors were probably still at their peak - and they were! Anyone familiar with the Hudson River area knows that there are large areas of land occupied by historic mansions and their undeveloped lands. Here we are at the Clermont State Historic Site which was all fancied up for a haunted house tour.

We also went to the Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site - it was nice to see the good ol' NPS picklesuit back in action! I was amazed to learn that when the Guilded Age mansion (considered outdated in 1938), surrounding land, and smaller houses were put up for sale in 1938, the starting price was $350,000. What!??!!! When it didn't sell the price was dropped to $250,000! When it still didn't sell, the neighbor (only the famous FDR) called and suggested that the Vanderbilt's niece donate the mansion and lands to the National Park Service. She did...and for $1 the NPS acquired the mansion in its pristine Guilded Age state. Not a bad deal at all.

View of the Hudson River from the Vanderbilt Mansion

My mom's new house

 

I had a lovely time with my family and a wonderful time taking in as many fall colors as I possibly could. I'm thinking that Jay and I need to take more trips back east in the fall, as it really is the best time of year to be in the Northeast. A huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Dad!!! And a huge congratulations to my mother, sister, sister-in-law, and nephews for keeping everything a secret and pulling off a great party!

More photos in the middle of this album: https://picasaweb.google.com/111221596171793333099/October2013?authkey=Gv1sRgCOLO-O_-3pr-9gE

While this photo has nothing to do with my father's birthday - I couldn't resist putting it in the blog. This squirrel taunted our indoor-only kitties for about five minutes! What a riot to watch.