Trip to Buffalo

We just got home late last night from a long weekend trip to Buffalo, NY to visit Andrew's extended family on both sides. Many people had not seen Ben for a long time and several of them had never met Nathaniel so it was nice to be able to bring the boys for a visit.

Here we are in our hotel pool our first morning in Buffalo. Ben can be a bit, eh, timid when it comes to new things, to put it lightly, and he had not been in a pool for over a year. So, at first he was skiddish but once he warmed up to the pool, he really enjoyed himself.

Pushing daddy into the water is always lots of fun!

Having fun with daddy in the water.

Ben was intrigued with the 'no diving' sign since he has been noticing street signs more often lately and always wants to know what they mean.

Practicing swimming.

Having fun with Mommy, too, even though she doesn't let Ben push her into the water all the way like Daddy does!

Nate liked the water, too. Don't the boys look cute in their matching swim trunks?

Warming up after our morning swim in the hotel sink. I have a favorite photo of Benjamin taking a sink bath when he was 4-5 months old framed in the boys' bathroom so I think that this one may also make its way into a frame.

Our first day in Buffalo was spent with Andrew's mom's side of the family at Aunt Diane and Ian's house. Among the many people at the party, Andrew's grandparents were present and they really enjoyed seeing the boys.

Benjamin took an immediate liking to Grandpa Hank and kept bringing him snacks to munch on!

Ben giving Grandma Alice a big kiss!

Andrew's youngest cousin, nine-year-old Jacob, was the only other child at the party. Ben loved playing with Jake and Jake was a trooper for hanging out with our two-year-old for the entire day and allowing Ben to tag along after him!

Grandma, Aunt Polly, Jacob and Ben looking through some photos together.

Jacob out by the lake that Aunt Diane's new house backs up to. Unfortunately it was not the hottest day of the year while we were over so we were not able to go for a swim, but several people went out on their kayaks.

Jacob was one of the only ones who braved the water on this overcast day!

Andrew took one of the kayaks out for a spin.

Yummy, Nate relaxed with the ladies, entertaining everyone and enjoying some rice cereal.



On Sunday we visited with Andrew's dad's side of the family. We spent the entire day at Uncle John and Aunt Tina's house and had a great time visiting with everyone. It was Andrew's cousin Joy's 19th birthday on Sunday so we had a mini party for her after dinner, too. Happy Birthday, Joy!

Aunt Tina and Joy reading Benjamin his favorite book and below that cousin Pete is playing with Ben. You'll notice that Ben has no pants on in several of these photos. Well... he spilled juice on himself and I was not prepared with a change of clothes, so he had to be a free spirit for a couple of hours and run around sans pantalons!

Ben LOVED Penny the dog! TheArcaras are also babysitting for another dog named Madison so she was also there to be tormented by our two-year-old. I didn't get too many photos of her, though, since Madison apparently did a better job of hiding from Ben than poor Penny did!

Ben and Jordie, Andrew's cousin. I really think that Ben remembered playing with Jordie at the NJ shore a few weekends ago since he looked SO happy to see him again when the Martins arrived.

Uncle Dave and Aunt Loretta pose with Andrew and Ben. Somehow (don't ask me how!) Uncle Dave was introduced to Ben as "Uncle Bo Bo" so all day long Ben kept calling him by this name and now I think it has stuck! Since we have gotten home, Ben has been asking about Penny, Jordie and Bo Bo - ha ha!

Birthday girl Joy with Ben and below that, the entire Arcara family pose with Joy's cake.

Yum, Ben enjoys a piece of Joy's birthday cake.

Auntie Marian had a great time seeing Benjamin again and I loved that I caught her showing Ben a thing or two about playing the piano on camera. What a nice photo!

She also loved meeting Nathaniel for the first time. Luckily, Nate was his usual complacent self and barely cried for our entire trip, which made introducing him to so many new people very pleasant.

Here I am with Auntie and Andrew's great aunt Theresa. We had not seen Theresa and her husband Henry for several years so it was nice to catch up with them.

Aunt Retta gives her little man Ben a big smooch!

Yesterday was our final day in Buffalo and was also my and Andrew's seventh wedding anniversary! To celebrate seven years together, we spent 6 hours in the car with our kids :). Ha ha, just kidding. Well, not really since we did drive home from Buffalo last night, but before we left we spent the day at Niagara Falls and had a nice time. The Niagara Falls State Park is beautiful and Ben especially loved seeing the falls for the first time. I had only been one other time when we were engaged so it was a nice outing.

Happy 7th Anniversary to us!

The American Falls.

Andrew and the boys in front of the American Falls and below that, all of us. Ben wouldn't take his eyes off of the huge waterfall for even enough time to snap a photo!