Cayuga Lake Wineries

Jon, Lisa, Steve, Bill, Missy & Erin

We love visiting the wineries when we visit Ithaca. It's even more fun with our Ithaca friends can join us! While we missed having Eric and Susie with us we were glad that Lisa, Jon, Bill and Erin could spend the day sampling!

Lisa, Erin & Missy - Cheers!

We spent our time of the east side of the lake where we are less familiar with the wineries so try something new. We also found a new brewery that had just opened. The beer drinkers decided that they have promise!

We also stopped in adorable Aurora for lunch, super cute little town on the lake.

Perfect photo bomb

We love the logo at Heart and Hand. Reminded of us of our many years spent watching Irish dance classes and competitions.

When someone can't remember the word "vineyard", you pose in the wine garden!

We ended up back on our side of the lake at Americana for dinner and music with the kids too.  Rachel was playing with the dogs and she threw the toy and somehow it landed on top of the pavilion roof. Luckily AJ has his volleyball with him (the kids were playing earlier) and on his first try managed to have it roll off the roof.

AJ & The Office...

AJ is a huge fan of The Office. He figured out that we were driving almost past Scranton and begged us to stop so we did. Interesting fact Scranton moved the welcome sign to the mall because too many people were stopping on the side of the road to take photos with it!

We also drove by Alfredo's Pizza Cafe and Poor Richard's but we drew the line at eating there! AJ did get a Poor Richard's t-shirt!

Delaware

We had a whirlwind visit in Delaware. A quick four days while Steve worked. We fit in some friends but not as many as we would have liked, some shopping, a college visit to UD and a little downtime.

The kids and I were thrilled to catch up with the McGraths - although we all moved to Germany from Delaware we didn't know each other until we got there. We spent a fun afternoon catching up!

Cheryl & Missy

Loved catching up with my former partner in all things Fun - Jill. She used to say she was the Indian to my Chief when we were Brownie leaders; but really she brought all the fun!

We also met up with a few of our old neighbors too. It was fun hanging out with them on the Chesapeake and comparing notes about what our kids are all up to now versus when they were toddlers and kindergarteners when we all met!

The kids also met up with some middle school and high school friends but no pictures! (probably only on Snapchat) The only problem with visiting Delaware is there never enough time to fit in all the friends!

Windians!

A night at the baseball game always fun! Even more fun, the Indians won and we got to see their RockNRoll spectacular show - fireworks set to music and video!

AJ would say the BEST part was getting his hat signed by Frankie Lindor. He insisted that we go to the game two hours early so he could try to get an autograph. So we all went and waited by the third base line for the players to come over after practice.  After 90 min the rest of us were bored and hungry so we went to find food and our seats but AJ was patient and of course his patience paid off. He was pretty pleased with himself.

I had waited a little long to buy our tickets so we were just about at the edge of the stadium so we had to move for the fireworks show. Since the game had been so hit filled it had run long which meant plenty of people left so we were able to find perfect viewing seats!

Cedar Point!

Another super fun visit to Cedar Point! We spent the day there riding roller coasters, eating yummy junk food, riding fun kid rides and just enjoying the day!

We even introduced Jack to his first roller coaster. The Mine Ride was a hit! The second roller coaster - Gemini - not so much. Maybe next year...

Waiting for The Mine Ride

And of course no one can leave Cedar Point without playing some games and Granny is always happy to fund that adventure. Nathan wanted this snake. To win it you had to toss a ring on a bottle. Nearly impossible. So Nathan is tossing away and Rachel and I are talking to the nice young man running the game about Spain where he happens to be from.  Nathan is almost out of rings and is telling us the wind is too strong so he moves to the other side.  As he does the nice young man throws a few more rings in his bucket. With four left Nathan nails it!  Bells are rung, people are cheering and my mom is wondering how she is going to take that snake on plane back to Atlanta when she returns the boys to my brother and his wife.

Nate will forevermore play the ring game at every chance!

The perfect toss!

While no one made out quite as well as Nathan; Granny, Rachel and Jack all came home with some great prices. Granny was pretty happy when the Guess you Age girls (she played twice) guessed her age way under her actual number!

Jack, Rachel, Nathan & Granny

And yes the snake made it home to Atlanta, courtesy of Stefanie's extra-large-I'm-moving-to-the-US-for-college suitcase!

Happy 70th Birthday Granny!

It's a big birthday this year for my mom - SEVENTY!! My personal theory is aging is WAY better than the alternative!

She decided she wanted to celebrate with her children and grandchildren, so her wish was our command. Unfortunately the Army didn't deem her birthday an event Dominic needed to be at so he was training at USMA instead.

We all gathered in Hudson where the kids as usual enjoyed their time in the woods behind my parents' house. AJ has built a fort back there and with his cousins Nathan and Jack has started adding some smaller forts around it.

New Fave picture of Steve and Jack!

Then to celebrate we spent the day in Cleveland. First on the Nautica Queen on a lunchtime cruise and then on Lolly the Trolley for a tour of a revitalized Cleveland.

The cruise around the lake was great and it allowed us to see Cleveland from a different view.  Including the new Browns stadium and the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame.

AJ, Jack, Stefanie, Granny, Nate and Rachel on the Nautica Queen

Grandpa Teddy enjoying his lighthouse views from below decks!

Afterwards we hopped on Lolly the Trolley for a two hour tour. There was so much we didn't know about Cleveland and it was exciting to see how hard the city has worked to make it a great place. It was also interesting to hear the history and what a center of industry Cleveland once was.

Granny & Grandpa Teddy

Steve & Missy

Melanie & Doug

Todd, Rachel & Jack 

Jack, AJ, Stefanie & Joe

Jack needed a little rest during the tour!

Ithaca - Take One!

As has become our summer tradition we headed to Ithaca as soon as school was finished. This year we had more than just the Fourth of July to celebrate!

We started with a joint high school graduation party for Stefanie and college graduation party for two of her cousins. Laura had just graduated from Syracuse University and Brian from Rochester Institute of Technology. It was a fun day celebrating our three new graduates!

We were all entertained constantly by the newest DelRosso generation. Our great niece is 4, her twin brothers are 10 months old and our other great nephew is 6 months old. And let me tell you, the reality of twins is something to behold. We may have had our kids close together but our niece and her husband are superstars at managing their three kids.

You trying getting three babies to look at the camera!

Let's have some fun!!!

Of course the Fourth of July week was tons of fun. The annual DelRosso Family Washers Tournament was played, once again with random partners.  AJ took a repeat win with new partner Aunt Rita. She was happy not to disappoint him and he was of course happy to win!

Our kids love to visit Taughannock Falls when we are home. They particularly love when they can do the mile walk in the creek leading to the falls. I take the path!  The falls are truly amazing and are actually the tallest single drop falls east of the Rockies. 

The girls took some time to get ready for Katie's Wedding too. We took Grandma and our two nieces to get manicures and pedicures. It was a nice treat for everyone, the young mamas got a nice break and Grandma spent some great time with her granddaughters!

Veronica, Rachel, Stefanie, Missy, Kay (Grandma) & Bethany

And of course there was plenty of time for downtime at the lake too.  We added a paddleboard and a giant duck and pretzel rafts to our water toy collection.

Dominic, AJ, Rachel & Stefanie

AJ contemplating life

Stefanie taking relaxation to new levels.

As we were in winery and brewery country we did take our new 21 year old off for a little tasting. Dominic tried wine at our favorite vineyard Americana and of course a flight of beer at Ithaca Brewery. Rachel came along to the winery because she knows they have fun dogs.

We also were there to celebrate Steve's brother's birthday. Lovely dinner and dessert celebrating the oldest DelRosso sibling. But we won't tell how old...

Steve, Motty, Jeanie, Stefanie, Missy, Rachel, Kay & AJ

It was a fun two weeks and started our summer off perfectly, all thanks to this lady!

And a different look at Taughannock Falls. At the top of this post what it looked like when we arrived in NY and below is after a massive storm!