Welcome one and all to our Christmas 2010 Newsletter on our blog. We hope this newsletter finds you well and happy. It’s been an another incredibly busy year for us, with the usual ups and downs and our share of fun and adventure. Read on to see what's new with us...
Valentine's Day weekend was a blast, but we didn't stop to rest after that. The very next weekend it was off to the Big Red Freak Out hockey game at RPI. It was our nephew Christopher's last year at RPI as an undergraduate, so we were sad when The Engineers ultimately lost to Princeton 7-0, but we managed to have a good time anyway. Hope we can continue the tradition and come back for future Freak Outs.
While Gary was hard at work with Quincy, Jean got called away to Jury Duty in the Albany County Court. As luck would have it, she was selected to serve as a juror on a DWI case, which proved to be extremely interesting. The evidence presented by the prosecution won out and our jury reached a guilty verdict. The jurors found out after the trail was over that this was the accused woman's fifth arrest for DWI, so we all felt relieved about our decision. The trial actually made the Times Union!
WINTER FUN
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| Who doesn't love to eat snow???? |
We decided to ring the New Year in right with a trip to see Wicked at Proctor's on January 2nd, and it was easily the best show we've ever seen there. Spectacular sets, great costumes and amazing voices made for a thoroughly enjoyable show. We kept the entertainment coming with the Jeff Dunham show at the Times Union Center on the 14th. Jeff and his gang of hilariously vulgar puppets kept us laughing the whole time.
Although we managed to get out a bit in January, it wasn’t long before we started to feel the cabin fever set in, so the first weekend in February we took off for our annual visit to our friends Marcy and Jeff in their beautiful home overlooking Lake Champlain. We spent a relaxing weekend on the lake, enjoying good food and great conversation. Sometimes it does a world of good to do nothing for a while! Thanks to Marcy, Jeff and Mozart for their hospitality—always a pleasure.
Once again we made it back to Albany just in time for the annual Super Bowl party at friends Andy & Linda’s house on February 7th, where we had some good food and good times even though our team wasn't playing. We’re hoping Eli and the Giants can make the big game this year, in which case we’ll actually have to watch the game!
The very next weekend we got together with the gang for our annual Valentine’s dinner at Hiro’s, followed by a night out at the Recovery Room sports bar in Albany. Some of us had a little bit too much fun... Nice hat, John!!!
Although we hadn't really recovered from our night out on the 13th, we went ahead and hosted a special dinner party for Quincy's 1st birthday on Valentine's Day. Of course, he didn't know it was his birthday, but he got lots of presents and we got a chance to say THANK YOU to our family for taking such good care of him whenever we are away. Quincy doesn't know how lucky he is to have such TLC from those who love him as much as we do.
After everyone left, Quincy had a great time playing with his balloons. Check out this video of our boy doing the birthday balloon dance:
SPRING IS HERE!
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| Waiting to go for a walk... |
It's true that February is the shortest month and with all the activities going on, it seemed to fly by. Before we knew it, it was Gary's birthday and we were happy to welcome spring back into our lives!
With the weather getting warmer, Quincy was anxious to get moving again, so we enrolled him in an AKC obedience class at the Schenectady Dog Training Club. He passed the Primary level a few weeks later, thanks to Gary's hard work with training exercises! He's working on Novice level now (some off leash exercises) and we're still doing daily focus games to improve his attention span. He's coming along splendidly, and he does a mean 'front' -- check it out:
While Gary was hard at work with Quincy, Jean got called away to Jury Duty in the Albany County Court. As luck would have it, she was selected to serve as a juror on a DWI case, which proved to be extremely interesting. The evidence presented by the prosecution won out and our jury reached a guilty verdict. The jurors found out after the trail was over that this was the accused woman's fifth arrest for DWI, so we all felt relieved about our decision. The trial actually made the Times Union!
After the trial was over, things got back to normal and we resumed our hectic schedule. Gary took a sewing class for several weeks (watch out, Martha Stewart!!) and now we're all set for Quincy's bandannas, not to mention minor alterations for us humans.
March also saw the beginning of what we hope is the last major remodeling project around the house -- adding a workout room to our basement. We found an excellent contractor who helped us with framing a new closet and sheetrocking the walls. Gary installed the rubber tile floor as well as the painting and finish work. We added a treadmill and bowflex, so now we have no excuse not to stay in shape!
Tired from all the renovation work, we decided to get away for a weekend in New York City, we headed down the second weekend in April for dinner, a Broadway show and some sightseeing. We had dinner in a wonderful northern Italian restaurant called Alto and took in a performance of the hit musical Promises, Promises with Sean Hayes (remember Will and Grace? ; he played Jack) and Kristin Chenowyth. Thoroughly enjoyable show, with a great Bacharach-David score.
The next day we explored the top of the Empire State Building and then traveled out to Arthur Avenue to get lunch and load up our cooler with ravioli from Borgatti's . YUM!!!
We closed out our weekend by catching a Mets game at Citi Field, where the Mets lost 5-2 (what else is new?). But we enjoyed ourselves anyway and had a great weekend in the Big Apple.
May saw another landmark in the family. It seems like just yesterday that Chris was a baby and so it was hard to believe he graduated from RPI (B.A. / EMAC) this May. Congrats to Chris--all that hard work paid off! He’s out in the job market now, so if any of you know of an opening for our talented, hard-working nephew, let us know!
What with the graduation and related parties (Koto, here we come again!), a group birthday dinner bash for the guys at MezzaNotte Restaurant and a lovely Mother's Day dinner at the Desmond, May was a very busy month. Love to all the moms!
What with the graduation and related parties (Koto, here we come again!), a group birthday dinner bash for the guys at MezzaNotte Restaurant and a lovely Mother's Day dinner at the Desmond, May was a very busy month. Love to all the moms!
Although we were pretty tired out from all the partying, we couldn’t resist getting out in the nice weather, so we joined in the fun at the Bark for Life walk at Schenectady's Central Park. The Bark for Life is a Relay for Life fundraising walk that honors the care-giving qualities of canine companions Along with our friends Andy and Linda, we had a great time, got some exercise and met some wonderful people and dogs.
SUMMERTIME
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| Takin' a dip in the puppy pool! |
After an enjoyable Memorial Day weekend, we were ready for the summer and right off, June proved to be a memorable month. One day, Jean stopped off at Pet Supplies Plus to pick up some food for Quincy and while there, she saw a sign for auditions for a TV commercial for the store. Jean signed up and about a week later, we got a call back asking us to bring Quincy in for an audition. So we took him in and had his picture taken and sure enough, about two weeks later they called again--did we want to bring Quincy in for the commercial? Yes, we did!! So on June 25th, he joined several other dogs as part of two new Pet Supplies Plus commercials.
The commercials aired on Fox 23 and the production crew was really great. The dogs all did as they were told and got along splendidly. In addition to the fun of seeing Q. on TV, we received a generous gift bag with lots of goodies and a gift certificate to Pet Supplies Plus. All in all, we’d definitely do it again if the opportunity arose. In case you missed it, Here’s our boy in action:
June proved to be an extremely busy month for Quincy; the very next day after filming the commercial, he took his AKC Canine Good Citizen test and his Therapy Dogs International test as part of the Paws in the Park event at The Crossings in Colonie. Quincy passed both tests with flying colors--good job, Q. (and Gary)!!
These credentials allow us to take Quincy on visits to schools, nursing homes and other facilities, where he visits with any and all dog lovers. We joined the local chapter of Therapy Dogs International (TDI) in Schenectady and have made several visits to Kingsway Community with the club. Here’s Q. in action, making new friends at Kingsway:
After all the fun in June, we were ready for a bit of relaxation, which we found at Sacandaga for our friend Lee Ann’s birthday on the 4th. We enjoyed some beautiful weather and a great boat ride on the lake, not to mention cake and ice cream!
With the beautiful weather still holding out, we were able to have a BBQ/pool party the next weekend at our house. We were lucky everyone had the date free and could join us for food and fun. Good times!!!
Later that month we decided to take the plunge and take advantage of the 0% financing offer from Toyota to purchase a new pickup truck. We really loved our 2006 Tundra step-side, but the financing deal was just too good to pass up on the new trucks, so we decided on a 2010 Tundra, black with a ‘Red Rock’ leather interior. It’s a bit bigger than our old truck, which just means we get to carry more stuff!
We had some of the best weather we’ve ever had in Cape May—90 degrees and sunny every day. We really enjoyed our stay this year, just chillin’ out and watching the dolphins.
The highlight of this trip had to be Jean's karaoke debut at The Boiler Room in the Congress Hall hotel. Linda and Christina are karaoke veterans (you go, girls!) and Jean made her debut with Christina (for moral support) with a now-classic rendition of The Rainbow Connection. We'll spare you the video; suffice to say, as much as we had a blast, we won't be quitting our day jobs!!
On our last evening there, we had our traditional farewell dinner at 410 Bank St. and ended our vacation with a walk on Washington Street Mall. Can’t wait to go back again next year for more sun and fun!
On the way home from Cape May, we stopped in at the graduation party for Chris’s girlfriend Elise and her sister Claudette, held at the beautiful Art Omi facility in Ghent, New York. It was a wonderful celebration and we were so happy to be a part of the festivities.
As if all that driving weren’t enough, Jean ended the month with a trip to the Museum of Modern Art in New York with Lee Ann. We toured the museum and saw some of our favorite paintings (including Van Gogh’s Starry Night) and topped the day off with a delicious dinner at The Modern restaurant. Always great to take in a little culture in the city.
August came in on a high note with the Bark in the Park event on the 11th. Sponsored by the Tri-City Valley Cats baseball team, dogs and their owners get to enjoy a game together, along with lots of vendors and contests. We brought mom along and had a great time. Quincy had yet another brush with fame, landing on the local news at 11!
Later on in the month, we made our annual trip to Giants camp at SUNY Albany. We took Q. to see a practice and made sure he had on his team colors to show his support:
Although we had a lot going on in August, we had the most fun starting Quincy on agility lessons. Agility is the sport where dogs and handlers run an obstacle course in a timed event at various skill levels. Quincy is a beginner, but he has no fear and loves to run. Gary has trouble keeping up with him!! We hope eventually to enter Q. in a trial through Canine Performance Events, where he and Gary would run a timed course to qualify in progressively difficult levels of competition. For now, though, he’s just a beginner, but doing extremely well. Check out one of their runs at beautiful High Goal Farm in Schuylerville, where we take classes:
FALL IS IN THE AIR
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.
After the Labor Day festivities, we geared back up for another season of bowling. Jean took the summer off again, nursing tendonitis in her right elbow, but resumed bowling once a week as usual. She’s managed to maintain a 155 average with the tendonitis; so far, so good…
This September saw a landmark birthday—Mom’s 80th!!!—which we celebrated with a lovely party at MezzaNotte Restaurant in Guilderland. Gary, Dennis, Lorraine and Jean organized it all and managed to pull off the surprise. Making Mom happy makes us happy!
Check out the rest of the pictures in our PhotoBucket slideshow. Happy Birthday, Mom!!!!!
We capped off the month with a trip to Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Mass., where our niece Jessica works as a historical re-enacter in the village.
Plimoth is a fascinating place and Jess gave us a personal, guided tour of the houses and gardens, explaining how the Pilgrims lived, all the while in character for the 17th century. We learned a lot and had a great time touring the village, the Mayflower II and the beautiful town of Plymouth.
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| The Mayflower II, in Plymouth Harbor |
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Jess in character, tending the flock
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We left Keene in the afternoon and drove to Providence, Rhode Island for dinner and the Jack-O-Lantern Spooktacular at the Roger Williams Park and Zoo. This festival made the national news last year and we totally understand why. It featured hundreds of hand-carved pumpkins along a winding trail in the zoo, complete with special effects and music. The lines were over an hour long to get inside, but it was totally worth it!
The next morning we set out for the Culinary Arts Museum at Johnson and Wales University in Providence, which was a real treat for Gary. Exhibits covered the history of cooking in America, from the 1800’s to the present day and included replicas of famous diners.
Perhaps the most amazing were the reproductions of incredibly intricate wedding cakes made with icing, which is rarely used nowadays (fondant is more popular). Check out this cake—a work of art way too beautiful to eat!
Perhaps the most amazing were the reproductions of incredibly intricate wedding cakes made with icing, which is rarely used nowadays (fondant is more popular). Check out this cake—a work of art way too beautiful to eat!
We capped our trip off with a visit to the Halloween Outlet in Worcester, Mass., where we picked up a couple of things to add to our annual display (more on that, below).
Of course, no October would be complete without a Halloween fest of our own, and this year was no exception. We kicked off the season by entering Quincy into not one but two Halloween costume contests—one in the Times Union (Honorable Mention—thanks to Mark Ramirez of A Dog Owned-Life) and at our vet, the Guilderland Animal Hospital, where he won first prize! Nice job, Q!
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| Q. in his Spider pup costume |
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| Q. helps Jean with her Time Warp moves |
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| Michelle, Jean and Elise doin' the Time Warp again!!! |
After Rocky Horror, we re-grouped and got ready for the trick-or-treaters. Gary spent a lot of time getting the house ready this year, expanding our display to include even more spiders and a spectacular cocoon of twigs and webs leading up to the front porch. Gary’s mom came to help us hand out treats and puppy-sit our boy Quincy. Everyone had a great time and we look forward to even more fun next year!
With November upon us, Jean celebrated another birthday with family and friends and a delicious carrot cake from Quintessence (YUM!!! thanks, Dennis and Lorraine!!). As she said on Facebook, this one gives new meaning to the song, I Can’t Drive 55!
The next week we had a very happy Thanksgiving 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. Once again, we’re grateful to have you!
We capped off November with a 'class reunion' at Pasquale's with Sal and Sue--so good to see you after all this time! Let's not make it another 15 years before we see you again...
Well, here we are again in 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 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 in our hearts.
We wish you peace and joy this holiday season and always.
Jean, Gary & Quincy
Special hugs for Linda and Geo—we love you!!!!!
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