Holiday Greetings to Our Family and Friends
Christmas 2009
We hope this newsletter finds you well and happy. It’s been an incredibly busy year for us, with lots of fun events, a milestone birthday and new addition to the family. Since we mostly use our blog at holiday time, we’ll have to get you up to date all at once, so here we go!
2009 started out on a humorous note when we went to see Avenue Q. (http://www.avenueq.com/ ) at Proctor’s on January 24th. This was the first time we’d seen the show and it was hilariously funny and very well done. For those of you not familiar with the premise, it’s a musical performed by actors holding puppets, which you’d think would be distracting, but after a while you stop seeing the humans and just focus on the puppets. All in all it was a clever, amusing and thoroughly enjoyable show.
We kept the entertainment ball rolling the very next night with our first trip to EMPAC at RPI (http://empac.rpi.edu/about/ ) to see Bobby McFerrin. Best known for the novelty hit “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” in the ‘80’s, McFerrin is actually a classically trained vocalist who put on an amazing a capella concert. EMPAC is an impressive facility and proved to be a fitting venue for McFerrin. Near the end, he invited any singers in the audience to join him on stage and our talented sister-in-law Lorraine went up there to sing along with him and some other audience members. It was a memorable evening for her and for us!
Entertainment notwithstanding, it wasn’t long before we started to feel the cabin fever set in, so we took off to visit our friends Marcy and Jeff in their beautiful home overlooking Lake Champlain. We spent a relaxing weekend doing some snowshoeing and just generally chillin out. Thanks to Marcy and Jeff for their hospitality—always a pleasure.
Of course, we had to make it back in time for the annual Super Bowl party at friends Andy and Linda’s on February 2nd, where we managed to enjoy ourselves immensely even though the Giants weren’t playing. It’s really all about the food anyway, isn’t it?
Although our team didn’t make it to the Super Bowl, we made up for it by cheering on our other team--the RPI Engineers-- at the Big Red Freak Out on Valentine’s Day. This year, we were fortunate to attend the Alumni Ice House event before the game, which featured a yummy buffet dinner with RPI fans and alumni at the Heffner Alumni House. We decided to pass on the face painting, but couldn’t help but get into the spirit of things surrounded by a sea of fans dressed in red. The Engineers ultimately lost to Yale, but a good time was had by all. Go Red! Go White! Maybe next year…
The very next weekend we got together with the gang for our annual Valentine’s dinner at Hiro’s. As usual, a great time was had by all, but this year, Jean got the shrimp bunny!
The rest of February went by in a blur, as we were busy preparing for our trip to Disney World at the beginning of March. The trip was a special 50th birthday celebration for Andy and Gary, who both turned 50 in March of this year (hard to believe, isn’t it?????). We took off on March 3rd in FREEZING COLD weather and landed a couple of hours later in balmy Florida, where we spent 7 days exploring Disney, playing a little golf, catching a baseball game, feeding the dolphins and generally behaving like kids again. No matter your age, Disney never gets old, and it never changes; always the perfect place to re-live your childhood.
From our home base at Port Orleans Riverside, we made it to each one of the parks and saw some spectacular events. At the Magic Kingdom we caught the Light Parade and Wishes fireworks show. At EPCOT we had a great vantage point for the Illuminations fireworks and light show over the lake. Over at Hollywood Studios we got in to see Fantasmic, which as the name implies, is hard to describe—part live action, part laser light show, part animation, part fireworks, all intricately choreographed to music—an imaginative sensory overload. Even Animal Kingdom, which is much lower key as parks go, featured a colorful parade of huge puppets, each more elaborate and detailed than the last.
Just to take a break from the parks, we took a couple of side trips outside Disney. Our first road trip was to the Mets spring training camp in Port St. Lucie. The Mets lost to the Nationals that day, but the weather was sunny and beautiful and hey, spring training beats working any day! Later on in the week we stopped in at Sea World to feed the dolphins (except Jean actually had a seagull pluck a dangling fish clean out of her hand—sorry dolphin!).
Of course, no trip to Disney would be complete without a night out at Downtown Disney and the fabulous Cirque du Soliel show, La Nouba.
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/lanouba/default.aspx If you’ve never seen Cirque, we highly recommend it. The highlight of our vacation, Cirque is far more than a traditional circus. No animals here, just amazingly talented people performing in an elaborate, intricate set that challenges the imagination and inspires awe.
We ended our vacation with a 50th birthday dinner celebration at Disney’s Victoria and Albert’s restaurant in Grand Floridian, which seemed like the perfect way to mark the occasion. Check out the highlights of our Disney adventure on Photobucket at:
No sooner did we arrive home from our 50th celebration than we joined friends Brian and Debbie for Brian’s 50th birthday party at the Victory Café in Albany. Guess it’s official—everybody’s over the hill now!
Although Gary's 50th birthday was significant milestone for us, perhaps the biggest change in our lives came on April 10th, when we adopted an 8 week old Boston Terrier puppy.
It’s still pretty hard to believe—Jean has been allergic to dogs her entire life, so even though we both loved animals and really wanted a dog, we had resigned ourselves to the fact that it just wasn’t meant to be. But a chance encounter changed all that. One day we were on a mission to find some exercise equipment and we answered an ad on Craig’s list for a seller in Altamont. When we got to the house, the owner came out with a tiny Boston Terrier puppy. The puppy was so incredibly cute, we both went over to her immediately--and without thinking, Jean started to play with her and even held her for a while, with no ill effects! We got the name of the breeder and the rest is history. We later learned that many people who are allergic to dogs can own Boston Terriers because they are considered a ‘low dander’ breed (it’s a protein complex in dog dander that causes the allergic reaction, not hair or fur).
We’ve had Quincy for 8 months now and while it’s been a huge adjustment in our lifestyle, we couldn’t be happier—he makes us laugh every day and keeps us guessing every minute. We’ve met a lot of nice people on our walks and in our training classes and we look forward to making more new friends as we continue with training. You can catch up with Quincy’s antics in his photo album at:
Although we had our hands full with Quincy, we managed to get down to New York for a Mets game in the new Citi Field (thanks Dennis and Lorraine!!) on May 13th. The new stadium is impressive, with modern facilities and all kinds of food and beverage choices. The Mets lost (what else is new?) but we had a great time anyway and hope to make it down again next year.
The very next day, Jean and Linda caught the Springsteen show at the TU Center, which turned out to be the first full concert featuring Max Weinberg’s 18 year old son Jay as the drummer for the E-Street Band. Jay did an amazing job and the concert was the usual rock ‘n roll revival/love fest between The Boss and his fans. Bruuuuuuuuuuce!!
Later on in the month, we were feeling the need for another Cirque du Soleil fix, so we made a road trip down to the City with Dennis and Lorraine to see the Kooza show under the big tent.
This show featured more traditional circus type acts (acrobatics and juggling), once again set in a magical environment. Each Cirque show is different and fascinating in its own way and this one was no exception.
May saw the close of another bowling season and this year, and Jean decided to take the entire summer off due to severe tendonitis in her right arm. Three months of physical therapy and a cortisone shot produced some improvement, so we hope for the best.
After all the fun in May, it was time to get back to work in June. Gary is as busy as ever with Bank of America, in his current position as Change Management Coordinator. Gary’s still working from home and loving his job (although he does miss seeing people in person day to day, he’s so busy he rarely has time to think). Jean had an especially busy month, serving as Chair of the Capital Area Library Assistants Coordinating Committee, who acted as regional hosts for the 31st annual New York State Library Assistants Association (NYSLAA) Conference, held at Sage College and RPI in Troy on June 10th – 12th. Hosting a statewide conference was an entirely new experience for Jean, who also served as Workshop Chair for the event. Attended by over 150 library assistants from all across New York State, the Conference featured 31 workshops, a welcome mixer, a dinner cruise and a keynote luncheon for participants. The keynote speaker was Sister Anne Bryan Smollin, CSJ, Ph.D., Executive Director, Office of Counseling for Laity, Albany, New York. The Conference featured unique opportunities for continuing education and networking for library assistants state-wide, in keeping with NYSLAA’s mission and goals. More information about the Conference and about NYSLAA is available on NYSLAA’s website at
http://www.nyslaa.org/conference.html. It was a ton of work but ultimately a very rewarding experience. Once Jean recovered from the Conference, we decided to set out on another road trip with Lee Ann and the boys to visit Orange County Choppers in Newburg, NY. Home of the American Chopper TV series on TLC, the showroom and production facilities were amazing and we got to see many of the bikes created for the show up close. They are even more impressive in person than on television, with incredible craftsmanship and attention to detail. The kids loved it and we all took home biker T-shirts, though I don’t think you’ll see us on a custom chopper anytime soon…
Shortly after returning from OCC, we switched gears and began to prepare for our annual vacation in Cape May, NJ. Since Quincy would be enjoying a staycation with Auntie Lorraine and Uncle Dennis, we were sure he would be safe and sound. This year, we decided to bring Gary’s mom along to Cape May for the fun. We rented a two-bedroom, two bath condo at Regent Beach, which proved to be the perfect setup for our needs. Although we went earlier than usual this year, the weather was perfect for mid-July. We took mom to re-visit many of the sites we’ve seen and enjoyed over the years, including the lighthouse, the Emlyn Physik Estate, a whale/dolphin watch, Sunset Beach and the Cape May Winery. We even took her on a surrey bike ride around the city (we pedaled, of course!). On our last evening there, we had our traditional farewell dinner at 410 Bank St. and ended our evening with a horse-drawn carriage ride through the gas-lit streets. Can’t wait to go back again next year for more sun and fun!
No sooner did we arrive back home than Jean headed back up to Saratoga on July 27th to catch the Coldplay concert at SPAC with Lee Ann and friends. Postponed from an earlier date, the band was in fine form and played all our favorites, even coming to the back of the amphitheater within a couple of rows of our seats! The open air theater made for the perfect setting near the end, when the band released thousands of colorful paper butterflies over the crowd. It was all Yellow…
August proved to be somewhat cool and rainy and though we didn’t get as much time in outside as we’d like due to the colder weather this year, we still managed to spend some time by the pool. Hopefully, next summer will be warmer and we can have all of you over for a BBQ and swim.
August wasn’t a total loss, though, because Jean managed to get hold of a last minute pair of tickets to the Springsteen concert at SPAC on the 25th. We did a tailgate party in the parking lot with Quincy—his first time at a Springsteen concert! As usual, the Boss put on a great show that was entirely different from the gig in May at the TU. If only Jean could just be a Springsteen/Coldplay groupie, life would be good!
Well, the next thing we knew it was September and time for the annual BBQ / end of summer party at Sacandaga with Lee Ann and family. This year’s party featured the usual food, fun and games for young and old alike. The ring of fire around the lake at night heralds the end of another summer and though we’re sorry to see it go, we’re glad to be able to share this annual event with our friends.
We took the sting out of the end of summer with a visit to the beautiful Liberty Ridge Farm with Lee Ann and the boys. Liberty Ridge features the largest, most elaborate corn maze in New York, and it was a doozy! Besides the maze, the Farm features a nice restaurant/general store and lots of fun things to do outdoors for young and old alike. Check out their website; maybe we'll see you there next year: http://www.libertyridgefarmny.com/index.html
October found us celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary with a trip to New York to see the Broadway show Rock of Ages http://www.rockofagesmusical.com/broadway.php. It’s a musical loosely constructed around lyrics from the major arena rock hits of the 1980’s, featuring songs from Night Ranger, REO Speedwagon, Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Twisted Sister, Steve Perry, Poison, Asia and Whitesnake. The plot is fairly simple—boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy reunites with girl—but the music was great and the cast, including Constantine (from American Idol fame) were spectacular. We ended our day with a delicious dinner at Becco on 46th St. If you’re ready for a trip down memory lane, we highly recommend it!
We also shared our anniversary celebration by attending our neighbor Kate's sons wedding on the 10th. Held at Altamont Manor, it was a lovely outdoor ceremony on a beautiful day. The reception was great fun, with delicious food and plenty of tunes for dancing. We were so pleased to share their special day with them and wish Jeff and Heather all the best in their married life.
The rest of October was spent getting the yard and pool ready for the winter and once again gearing up for Halloween. Although the weather didn’t cooperate, we had a good time anyway, playing host to all the ghosts and goblins in our neighborhood. Gary’s mom came to help us hand out treats and puppy-sit our boy Quincy. This year we expanded our arachnophobia theme to include the dog, and Quincy certainly rose to the occasion! Check out our haunted house at
With November upon us, Jean celebrated her birthday on a sad note. Our friend Nick Lauria passed away quite suddenly on the 14th. Nick was the person who introduced us 26 years ago, at Skinflint’s in downtown Albany. We have many fond memories of Nick and will miss him dearly.
Thanksgiving passed by peacefully at mom’s house, with the usual bounty of food to enjoy. Each year, we reflect on how lucky we are to have such a wonderful family and friends to share our lives and shape our memories. We’re thankful to have you in our lives!
Well, that brings us in to December. It’s amazing how fast this year has flown. We hope your year has been everything you’d hope for and next year, even more. We would love to hear from you, so let us know what you’ve been up to by dropping us a line on Email (gguyon@nycap.rr.com ) or giving us a call (861-5768). Although we may not see you or hear from you as often as we’d like, you're always in our thoughts and hearts.
We wish you peace and joy this holiday season and always.
Jean, Gary and Quincy
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