Long Island Love

September 23, 2024.  I started working full-time today.  Life is definitely going to be different around here, especially since I'm also in school.  Everybody tells me that I have to let go of some things.  If I'm not ready to let go of the blog completely, perhaps I need to cut down on the pontificating.

So here we go, New York 2024, succinct style!

As sad as I was to see Brooklyn leave for her mission, I didn't have much time to mope.  That evening Annika and I boarded a red-eye flight to attend my Grandpa John Wells's celebration of life on Long Island.  Callie, Eila, and Anders were all on the same flight, making our airport wait time lots more fun, despite delays.

Driving out to Northport the next day with some tired travelers.

Alesia and Janet had our bedroom all decked out in honor of my graduation from nursing school.  They are the absolute sweetest!

Anders and Greg posing on the pretty new steps.

Despite our sleepiness, we headed to the beach that first day because the weather was the most promising.  Eila looks made for sun and sand.

The waves were so powerful that we only waded.  Good thing too!  The lifeguards were plenty busy rescuing other swimmers who were unwittingly being carried out with a rip tide.

Despite being right next to the action, Eila and Annika were so busy hunting for treasures that they never noticed what was going on.  Fortunately all the swimmers were swiftly brought into safety.

Greg helps Anders build sand castles.

Alesia joins the fun too.

The kids found five bucks from Honduras floating in the water and were ecstatic about their fortune!  (When we looked up the exchange rate back at home, we discovered that 5 Lempira are worth about 20 cents, so they may not be able to buy as much as they originally hoped.)

Still, Gregory was appropriately impressed.

Mother/daughter love, followed by a sandy Anders.

From left to right: Greg, Kara, Alesia, and Callie.  Greg and Alesia, thanks for sharing such a fun day with us all!

That evening we had an extra special treat when we got to meet Katelyn and Ryan's brand new puppy, Willow.  She is the sweetest and ever so smart!  More pics coming soon.

The next day Alesia taught us how to flood sugar cookies.  It was so fun!  So many thanks to Alesia for sticking with it, even when the icing was being obnoxious and she had to remake it all so the consistency would be right.

The end results are amazing!  Just perfect for our post-Fourth celebration.

That evening we headed over to Aunt Alison's lovely backyard for a family party.  

Her flowers are stunning!  Plants grow so well in the humidity of Long Island.

The next day was Saturday so Anders and I took a walk down to Northport's Farmer's Market.  The giant pretzels were too fun to pass up, reminding me of the elephant ears from the Henry Doorly Zoo.

We also took a trip to the Fish Hatchery is Cold Spring Harbor.  Annika had been there before, but was far too young to remember.

It's a fish eat fish world.

At least the turtles are less cannibalistic.

Back in Northport, everyone was busy putting the final touches on Grandpa's party.

Willow came back to play.  Hooray!

Here's Jeanette meeting her new fur-niece, along with some distant cousins.

Grandpa's slide show, his pipe, his golf club, and the Adwell Sharpie.

Here's Callie hanging out on the deck.  It was pretty toasty at first, but became lovely once the sun went down.  Hard to believe we'd been expecting rain!

Staying cool inside with the newly installed window air conditioning unit.  It arrived just in the nick of time!  Here we can see Emily and Alex far left (I LOVE Emily's hair), Nick, Kate, Alesia, Suzanne, and Janet hiding in the back.

Trying to arrange a family photo.  Chaos of the best kind!

From back left to back right: Alison's friend Christine, Alison's neighbor, Chuck (hidden), Alison, Alex, Emily, Chirsty, Ken, Janessa, Janet, Kathryn, Nick, Alesia, Suzanne, and Jeanette.

Sitting left to right: Greg, Alison's firends, daughter, Callie, Anders, NomiAnn, Eila, Annika, Isaac, Willow, Ryan, and Katelyn.

Same picture, except I swapped Christine on the far left.

Silly style!

More Willow love.

The LaFroscia Family: Emily, Alex, Chuck, Alison, Kate, and Nick

Proud new parents, Katelyn and Ryan, along with puppy Willow.

Being a puppy is so exhausting!

NomiAnn with her grands.

Janet with her crew: Greg, Alesia, Jeanette, Katelyn, and Ryan.  Jeanette lives in Chicago and doesn't get to visit that often , so it's great to see them all together!

I think Grandpa Grandpa would really like seeing everyone together too.  

I forgot to take a picture of the incredible fireworks that Gregory set off at the end of the evening in Grandpa's honor, so these firework cookies will have to do. The fireworks were the perfect way to remember Grandpa and his vivacious, daring spirit.

Okay, I'm failing miserably at brevity here.  Sunday was the last day on Long Island for Annika and myself because she had Girl Scout camp starting Monday morning.  Wanting one final adventure, we decided to take the train to get ourselves to JFK airport.  Our excursion turned into an impromptu delight when Alesia, the Wilhoits, and NomiAnn all came along.  We had just enough time to explore the High Line together before catching our flight.  Meanwhile, the rest of the crew went to see The Lion King on Broadway.  Prideland Perfect.

Anders seems pretty excited by this escalator.  Me too.

The High Line gets nicer every time I visit, maybe because I love the company more and more.

Public art installations are my favorite.

Selfie smiles.

Thanks to EVERYONE for the delightful days in New York.  They were both perfect and not enough--can't wait to come back with the whole crew to see you all again.

Love,  Kara and Annika