A Long Island Weekend

The summer is flying by and would not be complete without a visit to Long Island to visit Joe's family. For Anna, this means some quality time with her aunts who are happy to entertain her (or in many cases Anna entertains them). The purpose for the trip was to attend a Fagella extended family picnic on Staten Island. We were able to take a few extra days to enjoy some quality New York time, which usually translates into several good meals.

We began the trip early Saturday morning with the threat of rain hanging over us. We expected traffic to be o.k.; however we hit a major snag in Maryland. Apparently the American Motorcycle Association was having a motorcycle rally in Maryland and one of the rallying points happened to be the one rest area we stopped at. Fortunately, we had some good luck on our side and managed to be the last car that made it out of the rest area before thousands of motorcycles hit I-95 (incidently, is a rest stop really a good place for a rallying point, expecially when Cal Ripkin stadium was a mere two exists down????) The motorcycles delayed us for about half an hour, but we made it to Staten Island by 12:30 just in time for the first of what would be several rounds of great food. After finally determining that we could eat no more, we headed out to Long Island for a visit with Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe and their new puppy, Bonnie.

Sunday still had some rainy weather, but there were sufficient breaks to get out and enjoy the surroundings. On Sunday morning, Aunt Mary took Anna and her parents on a lovely, winding road passing mansion after mansion until we reached a farm market (these were not the farm surroundings Theresa grew up with in Ohio). The farm was owned by a Dutch family and seemed to be run by a very angry Dutch woman. Anna hid behind her mother when she saw the farm stand owner, especially after Aunt Mary began a debate with the woman over whether her watermelons were seedless (Aunt Mary purchased a "seedless" watermelon earlier in the week that had seeds, which the Dutch woman emphatically denied). Perhaps the watermelon issue angered the Dutch woman so much that she proceeded to fire one of the workers shortly after the discussion (Theresa watched the yelling going on behind the farmstand while all of the other New York shopppers acted as if there was nothing going on). While some of the conversation was in Dutch, Theresa believes the victim was responsible for the watermelon display. We left with our corn (which you were not allowed to open to inspect....the Dutch lady kept an eye on the customers) and our potatoes before anyone else was thrown out. The biggest surprise during this trip was that there are actually farms on Long Island. The rest of the day was spent fishing (JOE CAUGHT A FISH!!!) and enjoying an excellent meal prepared by Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary.

You will notice that Cousin James has not received mention on this trip. That is because James is now 16 years old and really only sleeps at Joe and Mary's place these days. All other times he is "out." James was kind enough to show Theresa how to play "Guitar Hero" on his Wii before departing for his friend's house. After Anna went to bed, Mary, Joe and Theresa headed to the basement to try their hand as a rock star. Uncle Joe, the only person that really knows how to play a guitar, claimed that he was "tired" and did not join the group, which was probably a wise choice. First, Theresa could not remember how to start the game, which resulted in an emergency call to James at his friend's house (highly embarassing for all parties involved). After the game started, the rock stars quickly realized that they were really, really bad. The high score became 25% (that would be 25 out of 100). Aunt Mary finally called James to pick him up, so that he could come home and show the aging rockers how it was done. While waiting to return, Theresa successfully mastered "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" by Pat Benator with a score of 86%. When James returned, he immediately put it on the advanced level and proceeded to attain rock star status. Mary proceeded to embarass him with her rock star stage show, which involved the thrusting of several body parts. Aunt Theresa has requested that James get "Rock Band" so that everyone can play together next time.

On Monday morning, Theresa awoke to a sore wrist from her guitar maneuvers and Anna awoke not knowing what was going on in the basement. Aunt Mary seemed to be o.k. Everyone said goodbye, including to Bonnie the 40 pound puppy (who Anna was a bit intimidated by) and Joe, Theresa, and Anna headed to Long Beach to visit Aunt Loren.

Aunt Loren has a great location overlooking the beach. Fortunately, the waves from Hurricane Bill subsided and the beaches were re-opened after closures all weekend. Cousin Margaret joined in for an afternoon of blue skies on the beach. Anna enjoyed making sand castles, drawing in the sand, and jumping in the waves. The night was rounded out with dinner at a clam shack on the inlet and a lovely sunset. After some fresh New York bagels in the morning and a walk on the boardwalk, we loaded up the car and returned to Virginia.

On the beach with Aunt Loren (left) and Cousin Margaret (right)

A big thanks to Aunt Mary and Aunt Loren for a great weekend! Next stop: Ohio.