Syracuse Weekend

October 31st - November 2nd

On Halloween, we headed back to the 'Cuse to see old friends (and pick up the last of our belongings in storage in our friends' basement!)  We spent Friday evening at Patty & Tim's house, where we hung out with them, Paige, Lynn, Maureen, Laura, and Austin.

Miss Patty

Aaron & Tim - the Syracuse boys!

Laura

On Saturday, we hung out over at Jason & Mandy's house for a bit to see them and the girls. Tayler is getting so big and we finally got to meet Mia! After that, we thought we'd hit up Clark's Ale House for some pre-game brews and their famous roast beef sandwiches - yum! We went down with Tim and Patty and Paige met us there, Craig met us there and Jim & Michelle met us there! It was fun to hang out for a bit with all of them.

Michelle, Patty & Paige

Aaron & Jim

After Clark's, Aaron, Tim, Craig and I *tried* to tailgate, but it was so cold, we ended up heading to the old Dome! We weren't sure how long we'd stay, since the Orangemen haven't been doing so well, or doing well at all. Surprisingly, it was a pretty good game against Louisville and Syracuse won 28-21. It was nice to be back in the dome for a win, but sad to see half of it empty. Now that they're again replacing the coach, we hope to see some good recruits come in and the team to become what it used to be.

Back home in the Dome!

Our Sunday mornings in Syracuse always consist of packing up to go and meeting the Patti's at Stella's Diner for brunch. This time, Tayler came along with Jason and Mandy (Mia stayed home with Grandma), and Craig came along even thought he hates breakfast foods. It was delicious as usual and always fun to spend some time withe the Patti's!!


Another good Syracuse weekend - we'll head back when their snow is gone ... maybe in May or June?!!

Meeting Luke

October 19th

We happened to be in Vermont the weekend Luke was born.  I was excited to be able to go to the hospital to meet the little guy ... I was always in Massachusetts within a week or two of the other three kids, but the timing was never right.  The last time I saw a baby in the hospital was when Spuds was born in 1988!!

Luke Stephen Senesac

Our 1st Anniversary!

October 12th

Well, we hit our 1st wedding anniversary!  It flew by and it was quite the year.  It didn't start off so well, but we made it through everything life threw our way and know we can make it through anything ...

... okay, ALMOST anything.  We did not dare to eat one bite of our cake-top that we carted from the wedding in VT to our freezer in NY and carted once again from NY to our freezer here in NH.  Would YOU have dared to eat this thing??!!  :o)

The White Mountains Trail

October 11th

For our anniversary weekend, we decided to head up into the White Mountains.  Unfortunately, we didn't plan early enough (6-12 months ahead!) to get a room ANYWHERE in the area.  So we decided to make the 100-mile drive through the mountains in one day.

It hit us at the exit we had to take for the start, that peak foliage means tourists, tourists, tourists here!  We had to wait about 10 minutes just to get off the exit and could see the cars lined up - all who had the same plans we did.  Fortunately, we started the loop in the opposite direction from most, so it wasn't too bad at the beginning.

We saw a TON of NH's greatest attractions and still have so many more to see (we got stuck in traffic toward the end of the loop and it got too dark). The foliage was GREAT for it all!

Indian Head Rock

The Basin - 30 ft in diameter and 15 ft deep.

It began about 25,000 years ago, when the ice age came to a close.

What's left today of The Old Man of the Mountain.

Boise Rock - Thomas Boise was stuck in a snowstorm and couldn't continue his travels.  He killed and skinned his horse and slept beneath this rock to stay alive.  The next day, searchers found him alive and had to cut the frozen hide off of him with axes to free him.  

The Mount Washington Hotel at the foot of Mount Washington - (where we wanted to stay and plan to reserve for our next anniversary) - built in 1902 in a grand manner to attract the fashionable and the rich.  It has been host to presidents, royalty and scores of celebrities.  

A covered bridge in Bartlett NH built in 1790, which has now become a gift shoppe!  

It was a perfect fall day in NH!

October in Vermont

October 3rd-5th

Aaron and I headed up to VT (again) with our new wheels, for a beautiful fall weekend.  It was so nice out and the foliage was perfect.  Aaron and Spuds were able to go golfing and Mom, Dad, Shelley, Tori, Trey and I went apple picking!





I also brought Trey outside for some fresh fall air to try and get some cute pictures. This is mine & Shelley's favorite!

Our New Ride!

October 1st

Well, since we've moved into snow territory once again, my Altima isn't going to cut it.  After a couple months of having only one car between the both of us, we decided to go LOOK AT the Honda Pilots (I'd had my heart set on one for a few years now).  I preferred the look of the '08s over the new '09s, but a week before we were ready to buy, they were all pulled off the lots.  So, we were going to see how much we actually liked the new models.

Buying a car here was certainly a different experience than going through Clint up in VT!  When we pulled into the Honda dealership, there were 4 guys standing outside (in the misty rain!) ready to pounce.  A small young guy, Eddie, approached us as we pulled up to the row of Pilots.  We told him we were just there to try one out and see if we even liked it - he pulled it out and proceeded to give us a 30-minute show of *some* of the features before he would even allow us to get in!  After that, Aaron drove (Eddie was with us - very unlike Clint having cars in Dad's driveway for us to test drive for a weekend!) and then I drove it.  We were very impressed with how it drove and all of the fun features.  As we started to talk money, we were told that they don't usually play with numbers until they know we are ready to make the purchase - weird!  So we went inside, crunched numbers, and 3 hours later after paperwork, insurance call, and ANOTHER 1-hour lesson on the car!!), pulled out with our new wheels!

We LOVE the Pilot and are still learning new features of it every day.  We are READY for that snow now!!

Windham NY Weekend

September 26th - 28th

A couple times a year, the Carrier crew heads over to Windham Mountain in NY - (one of Aaron's old co-workers parents own a condo on the bottom of the mountain). We go once during the fall so the guys can spend the weekend golfing, and once in the winter so people can go skiing. This trip was a fall weekend, and the boys had a full weekend planned for their tournament.

The girls usually hang out around the condo and go for walks with the kids (there were two more babies this time!) We all bring in some food and drinks and just relax and have a good time.

The boys avoided the rain most of the weekend - amazing with the skies the way they were!

Here's the crew (Mike is behind the camera though)

We were happy to be invited this year, since Aaron was no longer working with them in NY. Glad to know we're still considered part of the crew!