Visiting Annie

On Saturday, the three of us went to visit Anne, Mr. B and Alex down in Binghamton. We hadn't been there since last October (what's wrong with us??) so it was nice to see everyone and get caught up.

We celebrated Xander's 6th birthday and Alex's 2nd birthday (July and March, respectively) with presents and cake. Mr. B cooked up a really good London broil on the BBQ and the kids played together. I was so proud of Xander, he played so nicely with little Alex!

Anne, her mom and I took the boys to a local park, which was a nice walk. We all hopped on the indoor carousel - Xander loved it! We took three spins on it, until my head was spinning! LOL!

Then Alex and Xander played at the playground, climbing and sliding and generally running amok. Before we knew it, it was time to head on back home. Luckily, we'll be back for a return visit next month...our annual trip to the pumpkin farm!

Yankee Candle Factory

Joe, Xander and I made the trek to the Yankee Candle Factory in Deerfield, Mass. this weekend. It was a three hour trip, but the weather was clear (frigid, but clear) and the trip was easy.

The first good thing about this trip was meeting up with fellow Cherry (ACOT member) Renee. It was my first time meeting someone from the boards and she was so nice! She could only hang out for an hour, most of which time was spent on line waiting so our kids could see Santa. And he was an awesome Santa! Don't expect to see any pictures, though...I'm saving them for the Christmas card this year! Anyway, shout-out to Renee for meeting me! You're awesome!

After Xander had sat with Santa and fondled all of the toys in the toy department, we wandered out to the rest of the Yankee Candle experience. If you've never been there, I have to recommend it! There's a Bavarian Village with cute store fronts, a band of backwoods robot singers, and scores of those little Christmas collectible villages all set up with lights and everything.

Xander and Joe made wax molds of their hands, and they each got new ornaments for the Christmas tree (Joe got a guitar, Xander a set of drums). We had lunch at the Candlewick Cafe, and Xander made me sniff just about every candle scent in the place. Whew! I spent an insane amount of money on votives. But a good time was had by all!

Mostly, I just enjoyed spending the day with my family doing something new and fun. And there's a very high chance we'll be back again next year!