My peeps

We left on Tuesday to head to Niagara Falls. Flight was uneventful although super early. We got into Niagara and went to a grocery store and promptly ran into my cousin Debbie Lyn who was in from Houston to help her brother Mike who had a stroke recently. It was her first time meeting Elden and it was so nice.

The night before the funeral, all my dad's siblings (and all their kids and their grandchildren) had dinner at my aunt Ann and Uncle Rocco's house. It was really nice to let Elden play with the other kids ( 7 other small children in all there).

I forgot our camera so I will have to wait to get some photos from other people to post these. I'm so sad as its so rare to have everyone together like that. Elden had only met 1 of my cousin's children prior to this.
I did a reading during the service (which for those of you who don't know, was a full catholic funeral service with communion). It was really hard for me being the first funeral I've been to since my mother's. Hearing my uncle eulogize his mother brought me back to the sad task of writing a eulogy for my own mom.

Afterwards we had a beautiful lunch at the Niagara club. It was elegant and the room was full of family and love. So many people. Grandmama would've been proud.

We spent the rest of the day at the falls. It was beautiful. There were giant chunks of ice at the base. They were at least 20 feet tall. I can't remember ever seeing anything like it before. Elden had fun running around the park and picking up sticks.

We were able to stop at my aunt Bonnie's house and visit with her, my uncle Rolly, cousins Debbie Lyn and Mike (who was doing well considering)and my aunt Sherry and Uncle Dave. Of course we also saw the adorable beagles that my aunt and uncle are raising.

Later that evening, we went back to Rocco's for a repeat of the night before. Elden had even more fun.

On Thursday we headed home and in the buffalo airport there is a Fischer price play area (its an entire gate filled with Fischer price toys for babies and toddlers. It was fantastic. Elden had a blast. He even teeter tottered with some help. I was thinking of writing airtran / Rubbermaid to persuade them to put one of these in the Atlanta airport. Rubbermaid has headquarters in Atlanta and they own Little Tikes and Graco infant / toddler products companies. Fischer Price is headquartered near Buffalo hence the play area in their airport.

So I have more catching up to do, but we'll get there. Just glad to be home now with Elden napping on my lap.



Pictures of the ice at the falls from my phone: