just after the dust settled from hosting easter in north carolina, we packed up and made our way north to spend spring break in beautiful, sunny, western new york. i used the road trip time to finish reading “the anxious generation” by jonathan haidt and it’s a must read for any parent navigating screens and social media and teenagers. upon our arrival in batavia, as is our custom, a massive amount of pizza and wings and antipasto were ordered and stuffed into faces. then. it snowed.
our last trip to batavia was the previous july, and since then, my new nephew barrett has hit the scene. (always with the nephews!!). we couldn’t wait to get our hands on the little guy, who was already five months old (perfect baby age, if you ask me). we were also pretty excited to see his older brother, holden, who is five and quite a character. he and hazel are best buds and it was pretty adorable watching them play together.
during the week, we pulled out the old family photos and holden and i recreated a gem of jake and me from when jake was about the same age. so, you know, like 22 years ago or so. oof.
while we were home, i was able to squeeze in a trip to buffalo to visit my old college pal leah, who i see every few trips home or so. but, this time, our mutual friend missy drove out to hang. we had a great time. we obviously ordered wings and more antipasto. there was a lot of reminiscing and laughing about the paths our lives have taken. (a general vibe of “who would have ever thought?”). we looked through old photos. did a little shopping at a local bills shop. hit the hot tub. it was a great afternoon and evening and just what i needed.
ok. so one of the main reasons we decided to head to ny for spring break, which is not usually an optimal time of year to visit, was to for the total solar eclipse. we weren’t able to get in the path of totality for the one in 2017, but when the maps were put out for this one, we were pretty pleased to know we could get free accomodations and a front row seat.
unfortunately, western new york was true to form, and the day of the eclipse, or really the afternoon of the eclipse, ended up being gray and completely overcast. it was fitting. and disappointing. this was literally our view. the sun would have been just to the left of the tree branches. we did get to experience the total darkness and the creepiness when bats started flying around and all the night time creatures started all their noises.
the other really cool thing about the eclipse was we got to visit a bunch of extended family. my great aunt ann (my dad’s dad’s sister) is in her late nineties, and thanks to facebook, i have been able to keep in touch with her. her daughter hosted a pretty big family and neighbor party, and we dropped by and caught up with (and met a lot of) family members. it was so great.
we actually had to keep the kids out of school for an extra day to (not) see the eclipse, so the next morning, we loaded up on donuts and timbits and made the long trek home.
like usual, it was a super fun, but whirlwind visit.