Long Island Visit - Take II

Old Westbury Gardens
Saturday, October 4 was supposed to be the Fagella family reunion in Oyster Bay, New York.  Aunt Mary reserved the venue and the date had been on the calendar for months.  All the Fagellas and cousins were planning to come.  The weather was beautiful....except for on October 4 when a driving rain and wind converged on Oyster Bay.  Sadly, the reunion was postponed indefinitely; however, Anna and family were able to catch up with many family members during the long Columbus Day Weekend.

Once again, it was a rainy Saturday.  Anna hopped in the car with her parents for New York where the first stop was Uncle John and Aunt Yvonne's house in Yonkers for lunch.  Aunt Yvonne, knowing Anna's latest fascination with rocks, got her a hand-painted rock for her desk with Anna's name (a big hit).  After the rain stopped, the family decided to take a walk around the neighborhood.  As luck would have it, there was an open house down the street (Joe and Theresa are always up for an open house).  John proceeded to tell the real estate agent that Joe and Theresa were looking to relocate to the neighborhood.  Hopefully he gave her a fake phone number.  After leaving the house, another woman was standing outside with flyers for HER house that she was trying to sell.  New York is an interesting place.
Anna & Aunt Mary at Old Westbury Gardens

From Yonkers, the Virginia Fagellas headed to Long Island to Aunt Mary's house.  As always, Aunt Mary had cooked up a storm.  Aunt Loren joined in for dinner bringing and assortment of chocolate dishes (Anna was in food heaven).  Bonnie may have been more excited than anyone to see Anna and attached herself to Anna for the weekend....at least until James came home.  James arrived later in the evening with four of his college friends.  Anna, who is clearly unaware that she is not a college student, got in the middle of the group along with Bonnie, who was also loving the attention, and proceeded to hold a conversation with them (a big thanks to James' friends for including her as part of the group).   Unfortunately for Anna, it was her bedtime when the college students were just getting ready to go out for the evening.

Sunday was a picture perfect fall day, so Aunt Mary took the group to meet Aunt Loren and Cousin Margaret at Old Westbury Gardens.  This is an estate from the Phipps family with absolutely spectacular gardens (www.oldwestburygardens.org).  It was fantastic time exploring the house (Anna was intrigued by all of the secret doorways) as well as the beautiful English gardens.  The day concluded with a delicious dinner at a local Italian restaurant.

Bonnie protesting Anna's departure
Bonnie was definitely not ready for Anna to leave on Monday, and proceeded to lay on top of her in the morning so she would not go.  It is safe to say these two are buddies.  Hopefully Bonnie can come to visit Anna again in Virginia.

As for the weekend of October 4, Anna ended up coming up with some good alternatives.  Friday night was a movie at school, so she got to hang out with her friends.  She made the soccer game on Saturday and scored the only team goal of the game (we won't talk about how many goals the other team scored).  Saturday night she went ziplining with her girl scout troop and had an AWESOME time.  While she was ziplining, Theresa and Joe hit the local Greek Festival (that's right...Theresa chose Greek over the local Oktoberfest).  Sunday the family headed out to White Oak Canyon in the Shenandoah for a beautiful hike.  Unfortunately the most memorable part of the trip was not the hike but Anna slipping on some wet rocks and sliding down a small waterfall.  Fortunately she was able to stop herself before she landed in the pool at the bottom, but not before she got her pants and shoes wet.  It was a long 2 mile walk back in wet clothes and shoes.
Anna survives the slide down the waterfall...but is wet

We have been enjoying the Fall!  A big thanks to Aunt Mary & James, Aunt Loren, Cousin Margaret, Uncle John, Aunt Yvonne & Deborah for a great weekend visit!

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