A new year begins. It will be interesting to see where 2009 takes us. Last year was such a significant year in our lives with the addition of Liesl to our family and buying a new home in the Hudson Valley, in a region in which we have never lived before and moving from New Jersey to New York. Lot’s of changes. This year looks to be a year of many fewer changes (of which we currently know – although one year ago we didn’t know that we were having a baby or moving so who knows) but it should be a year of travel with a trip to Germany planned for September and a trip to Disney World in Florida planned for November or so with the Tocco clan.
Oreo and I slept in until a quarter after nine this morning. We were exhausted after last night and needed to just sleep until we woke up or we were not going to be ready to drive all day today. Just before going to bed Oreo had had a big accident which left me cleaning off the bed and changing sheets. He has been so nervous with all of the recent upheaval and schedule changes and travel that he has been having a lot of problems. He has been really had the last few days with Dominica being away. He is not a one parent kind of dog.
Danielle emailed me to see what my travel status was for the morning. I was not out the door as early as I had hoped but was not doing too badly. Yesterday evening I had said that we were hoping to be back to Peekskill by six in the evening and I was still looking good to make that happen. We were in the car and on the road by ten till ten this morning.
The drive up to Frankfort went well. We stopped at the McDonald’s on US6 en route to grab breakfast at ten thirty just before they stopped serving breakfast to go to lunch and then got gasoline at the Hess station there for just $1.69 which is amazing for the Hudson Valley. The drive was almost exactly three hours not including the food and fuel time which took at least twenty minutes.
It was about ten after one when I arrived at the Toccos’ in Frankfort. It took us about an hour to get Liesl ready and to pack the car so that we could get back onto the road. They looked all week for Dominica’s missing Nintendo DS but had had no luck. Dominica had torn apart all of the luggage and everything else looking for it but it was really missing. While packing the car, I immediately spotted the DS in its case in a pocket of one of the luggage bags that we were using. The DS had been in the luggage the entire time but in an pocket of which we were not aware and that was on the opposite side as the main carrying handle so that the luggage was consistently set down upon the DS so that it was never seen! Now only the book and the keys are missing.
It was around two when we got back onto the road to head back down to Peekskill. We made good time. I am very glad that we decided not to have me drive last night because the weather was pretty bad last night but today was excellent. There is snow but not on the roads. Everything is clear and perfect for winter driving. Really could not ask for better travel conditions.
We stopped at the Guilderland rest stop on Interstate 90 just west of Albany to take the opportunity to change Liesl, grab some late lunch for ourselves, feed Liesl, change her again, etc. The stop took just over an hour and really disrupted our travel itinerary. We are not used to having a baby at a rest stop yet and it takes far longer than you would imagine that it would take to do everything that needs to be done there.
We were back in Peekskill at the house by ten after six. Only missing my original window by ten minutes and I had not estimated for that long of a stop at Guilderland. We unpacked the car and then I went back out to go to Stop and Shop to get emergency dog food supplies (like celery, sweet potatoes and his chicken) so that we could whip up a batch of Oreo’s food which has has been out of since yesterday. This was really the only opportunity to do this shopping.
The Ralstons arrived at the house around seven while I was still at the grocery store. I was probably back around seven thirty.
We all spent the evening just visiting and hanging out at the house. We ordered in Chinese take away for dinner from down at the Beach Shopping Plaza and had it delivered to make things easier.
We stayed up far too late tonight. I am not sure how late it was when we finally went off to bed but it was definitely after one in the morning.