Time to get caught up on everything we did last week in NY.

Tuesday – We went out to lunch with my Teri, whom I’ve known since first grade. Isn’t that neat? My oldest friend. We don’t have a lot in common anymore, but she’s a great person and it’s always nice to get together and catch up and reminisce.

When we got home, both of my sisters had arrived: Donna with her husband Mike and their four kids (Megan, Matthew, David, and Emily) and Debi with her beau Steve, whom we’d not met before. The rest of the day is a blur—all I really remember is that we had ham and mac-and-cheese and corn and salad for dinner. I might have gone swimming. Ken probably worked on Mom’s computer more.

Wednesday – Hey, it’s our fourth wedding anniversary. Whoo hoo!

We went out on the boat in the morning, but it was really too choppy to ski. (Megan did on the first round; we were in the second round to go out.) Finally we all managed to get showered and dressed and pretty, and headed out to have the Great Family Portrait taken. It turned out to be less stressful than I expected, which was nice. After the full group portrait and the one of my parents and their three daughters, we got to do couples portraits. Ken and I changed: Ken replacing his khakis with black leather pants and I abandoning my sage green linen dress for my black stretch lace tank and long black lace skirt. I can’t wait to see how those come out.

Then it was off to Montréal for dinner at a Greek place. We rode with Donna and three of the kids. See, Matthew had finally pointed out that he had this bullseye shaped mark on his side, and it had turned out to be Lyme disease from a tick bite. He and Mike had spent the morning in an urgicare centre, and Matthew wasn’t feeling up go going out to dinner, so he and Mike stayed home. Pity, because the food was quite nice. Not as good as the Agean in Cardiff, but still very good. We had a ton of appetizer platters, and I ate most of what was on two of them because people were being picky, and then I had a Greek salad. Yum. They didn’t have hummus, sadly, and no pita bread, just regular bread. The moon was low and full as we drove home, and if it hadn’t been chilly, I would’ve gone for a moonlit swim.

Thursday – We met up with Debi and Steve in Saranac Lake (they were staying at our log cabin in Keene) and headed out to my cousin Pam’s summer home on the lake for the Reunion Picnic. There we met Pam’s husband Milt for the first time, and joyously said hello to my aunt Alice and cousin Rick, and Pam’s kids Alyssa and Jeffrey. I hadn’t seen Pam and her kids for ages, either. We had a lovely relaxing day paddling in the lake, going out in canoes and kayaks and Milt’s powerboat, and ate tons of food (fruit and veggie platters, a shrimp platter, crab and cheese hor d’oeuvres, hamburgers and bratwurst, chips, coleslaw, and a huge celebratory cake). Pam had framed a really early picture of my parents (and we got to tease Mom ‘cause there’s a cigarette dangling from her fingers); Alice and Rick gave them beer and wine with old pictures of them on the labels; and Dad gave Mom a diamond ring (she’d never had a proper engagement ring). Afterwards, Donna et al. headed to their home, and the rest of us headed to the condo and cabin for a much-needed rest.

Friday – Debi and Steve arrived for lunch, then headed out to do some errands, so Mom and Dad and I ran some errands as well. We all regrouped for dinner; I made pandemonium tacos, to some people’s amusement. Hey, it’s not my fault some people can’t fold tortillas!

Saturday – Ken and I went out for lunch with my buddy Lohr and his wife Brandy, whom we hadn’t met before. We ate at the Butcher Block, a Plattsburgh institution. I had yummy French onion soup and a decent but not spectacular Reuben sandwich. Ken had some sort of chicken sandwich; even he didn’t remember exactly what it was afterwards. We then finished packing and headed to the airport, said our goodbyes to Mom and Dad, and that brings us to the end of this monologue, because the Saturday entry tells you the rest of it!