What a weekend

I traveled to NY alone this past weekend for my brother's college graduation. The trip was a wonderful treat since I never thought I would fly again on my own. We were busy the whole time, so it was definitely not a trip for Graham. I left home at 4:15 Thursday morning and flew into Albany. My parents picked me up and we drove to Long Island. The drive included a slight wrong turn through the Bronx, but thankfully we made it on time for the graduation.


We spent much of Friday in a snowstorm. Before it started we helped James move out of his dorm and then later in the day my siblings and I spent some time at the mall. We had a celebration dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.

me and Julia

Kinnon and James

Joey and Amy

Aunt Gail and my Mom

my cousin Rob and his girl friend Tracy

My dad didn't want his picture taken :(

Saturday we took the train to NYC. It was so much fun. I've been there three times before, but that was all in high school with the performing arts group. I never went with my family so this was a fun adventure. It wasn't as busy as it would have been since it was freezing and there was still quite a bit of snow. We walked around all day, seeing Bryant Park, Rockefeller Center, the Christmas Tree, as well as Saks 5th Ave and Macy's window displays (I saw the HGTV special on these last week so it was fun watching, knowing that I could get to see them in person). I also enjoyed a street vendor hot dog and we had lunch at Spanky's (a bbq restaurant). It was a super fun day!

Bryant Park

The Tree at Rockefeller Center

Saks 5th Ave

Sunday brought quite the interesting turn of events. We left the island around 9:30 only to hit lots of rain which turned to snow as we headed north. Several times we wondered if we would make it to the airport. After passing 2 dozen cars that slid off the road and 5 1/2 hours later (the drive should have taken 4), I made it in time to find out that the flight was delayed. I was actually thankful for that because most of the airlines just canceled their flights. I waited in line to get a new itinerary since I was going to miss my connection. This involved spending the night in the airport in Detroit. I wasn't too disappointed with that because several people were told that if the flight to Detroit was canceled, then they would have to wait 2-3 days before getting out of Albany. I never thought I might miss Christmas as some of these people were faced with that possiblity. We finally left 4 hours late and made it into Detroit. Before I headed to the hotel I was going to stay at (I was willing to spend the night in the airport, but my sweet husband insisted that I go to a hotel) I checked the board to see if there happened to be a flight to Nashville. The Lord is so good. The flight that was scheduled to leave 15 minutes before I arrived was still there and I was able to head home on that flight. I got to our house around 2:00am and was ready for bed for sure.