We drove up to NY to visit Andy’s family a few weeks ago. The weather was really nice, and we had all sorts of fun things planned. First, we went to the county fair. Compared to our county fair, okay, our county fair is not really a fair. (I think there were more people at the Erie fair than there are living in all of our county.) Anyhow, we watched sea lions and real lions and pet goats and watched dancers and looked at bunnies and chickens and drank lemonade. Anya was just tall enough to go on a bunch of kiddie rides. She didn’t like rollercoastery type things much, but loved the gentler rides. Her aunt and uncle took her on the ferris wheel, and I guess that was okay because there was no shrieking (at least that we could hear).

We also went to Niagra Falls. Neither Anya nor her uncle had been before. Anya, Chris, and Rebecca trekked down into the cave of mist or the misty caves or something with caves and condensation. During the trek, Aunt Rebecca promised Anya a purple lollipop if Anya behaved. After the trek, we hunted all the gift stores for a purple lollipop. Rebecca finally found a rainbow one, and that worked just fine.

The next day, we all went to the town beach. It was pretty awesome. I reprimanded Andy for having never taken me there before and then wondered if he spent all his youthful summers there. It was an awful lot like a real beach and only a few minutes from his house. How did I not know about the place before?!?! While Anya chased seagulls, Kenny dug a really big hole.

On the last full day of our visit, we all went to a family reunion. We hadn’t been to one in several years, and I was surprised I actually recognized people. Anya and Kenny played with their cousins, and I ate a bunch of frito dip. Andy got a soda he thought was a coke but was orange, and he was sad. I got a soda I thought was coke but was orange, and I was happy.

On the drive home, we made our traditional stop at the FiestaWare outlet. This time we scored 8 plates for $2 each and a big, green fruit bowl that Buddy likes to sleep in.