Thanksgiving, Part Two

Okay, so it's been a while again...but you're all too busy to be checking my blog anyway, right? Anyway, from Lockport, we went to my mom's house in Rochester, NY. I have lots of happy Rochester memories from my post-growing-up, pre-settled-adult years. Our mom moved to Rochester after my second year of college, so the city was my scene every Christmas break and for a couple weeks every summer. I think back on those vacations as wonderful, long days that became short weeks. Mom would take a few days off from work, but I was often left to my own devices. I turned to my running shoes, temporary gym membership, library books, and the local coffee house to keep me occupied. Mom and I would always see a movie at The Little, a small theater that showed foreign and independent movies, and rent several from Blockbuster. I would scour the pages of her Entertainment book, looking for good deals on restaurants that might offer something vegetarian, and then, paradoxically, feast on Buffalo wings at Jeremiah's without shame. Every visit included a trip to Lori's, a health-food store, even though they carried pretty much the same inventory as the co-op where I lived.

I remember those visits as calm and peaceful, a balance between initiative (a jog to the gym followed by back-to-back kickboxing and pilates classes) and utter indulgence (a matinee at the Little followed by peanut butter pie at the Spot, then back home where we'd read for a few hours before deciding to add some extra butter to microwave popcorn and pop in a rental.) I began to fantasize about what real life in Rochester might be like. During my winter visit eight years ago, despite a couple of uninspired dates with one of my mom's co-workers, I found myself wondering if I'd have better luck finding a life partner in a bigger city, like Rochester. I brainstormed a singles ad in my journal, and made tentative plans to relocate. I didn't really want to live someplace snowy again, but from my window seat at the coffee shop, I wistfully observed couples smiling as they bounced in the cold. Love could sustain me through the colder months. Besides, it would be nice to be closer to mom. Ha. A few days after arriving home, I began dating a perfectly decent man, and that relationship kept me in place long enough for Jon to take over a few years later.

Needless to say, Rochester visits have changed immensely since becoming married-with-children. Certainly, they are far less frequent, and I no longer whittle away the hours writing in my journal and staring out the window at The Spot. But Rochester still holds a certain appeal for me. Probably has a lot to do with Mom.

So, we arrived on Saturday, and the first order of business was playing in the snow. Zephyr and Jon went out at twilight to build these guys.


The next morning, my sister and her kids picked up Grandma Dorothy and we met at Sears for a torture-I mean photo-session. To be honest, it was mostly painless. (Trying to find a vegetarian entree at TGI Friday's afterwards was actually much more difficult.)

My sister, Corinna, and her kids, Derek and Kyra.
Is it just me, or are they gorgeous?

I asked Jon and Derek if they felt left out when we took the estrogen picture.
They responded with a decidedly unoffended, "huh?"

My favorite part of that day was later that afternoon, when we sat in my mom's living room, chatting while Grandma Dorothy and Derek watched the Bills game. "Go! Go!" Derek would start cheering a few seconds before Grandma would yell, "Run like hell!"

The Bills won

Eventually, the estrogen contingency moved on to Scrabble.
FYI-Corinna won, I lost.

On Monday, we went to the Strong Museum of Play. If you are in Rochester and you have children, you must, must, must go there.

The place is plastered with quotes about play. My favorite:
"A child loves his play, not because it's easy, but because it's hard." Benjamin Spock

There is a miniature Wegman's grocery store there.
Zephyr took his chance to rebel against his vegetarian upbringing.

Jubilee didn't like the "only five things at a time" rule.

And she especially didn't like the "can't leave the Wegman's with your cart" rule.

I think we could spend a week at the Strong Museum. They should have rooms for rent upstairs. We never made it to the National Toy Hall of Fame, the Butterfly Garden, the Time Lab, or Reading Adventureland.

We went once before, when Zephyr was two and I was pregnant with Jubilee.

Zephyr still loved flying the jet

We came home, completely played out, with just enough energy to wash our clothes and pack to leave on the next leg of our trip. But before I finish up this entry, there are two more things to note. One, Jubilee fell in love with my mom's big stuffed dog, Bruno.

Grandma Chris even offered to let Jubi take him home.
"Sometimes I go weeks without talking to him," she admitted.

Jubilee would carry Bruno around, even insisting we take him in the car when we went somewhere. She gave him food and water, and was mostly a very good friend to him. Grandma Chris wasn't impresed, though, when she learned that Zephyr could get Jubilee to agree to play occasional "attack Bruno" games. Bruno safely resides in Rochester.

Secondly, I had encouraged mom to make a little "to do" list for Jon. He installed her biffy and did a few other odd jobs. I was puzzled, though, when I came upstairs to find Jon, Zephyr, Jubilee, and my mom huddled around the laundry chute...and a bowling ball. "What's going on?" I asked. My mom spoke a bit hesitantly. "Jon just removed a bowling ball from the laundry chute." Jon says my face was priceless. I repeated slowly, "a bowling ball in your laundry chute?" "Something was stuck in there," she admitted, "so I dropped the ball in to dislodge it."

Nothing like being close to Mom!