Visiting Ithaca

I had a wonderful trip to Ithaca. While it was ramping up to winter in upside-down Australia, in Ithaca it was spring. The lush green of May was wonderful to see. The lilacs were in full bloom, and looked and smelled so good!

The flight to the other side of the world was long, but seeing my family made every second of it worthwhile. I was sorry to leave Shami in Washington DC, where he continued on to his conference in Green Bank, but I was eager to continue on my way to the Syracuse airport. My flight got in around midnight, and Caitlin and my mom volunteered to make the long, late night drive to meet me. We chatted the whole way back.


Since we got in so late, it wasn't until the next morning that I got to see my sister's kids... Devon, Kieran, Shannon and Mariah. It was great to see them all! Mariah, Caitlin's youngest (soon to be three), changed the most since I last saw her nine months ago - but she remembered me well. It was such a treat when a sleepy Mariah ran straight to me and wanted me to read her a book! My parents also came over, and we all had a good time together.

It was especially nice that for the Memorial Day weekend my brother Ian and his two kids, Eamonn and Molly could come down from Canada. We missed my sister-in-law, Wei, however, who sadly was not able to come. It was great to have all six of my nieces and nephews together at once. Also, my good friend Alex travelled from Boston to see me. It felt great to spend time with everyone.

It was too bad Shami only had a couple of days to spend in Ithaca, but he made the most of his time there, including work and play. I don't have any pictures of him working, but I do have a couple of him playing...

Left, playing a video game on the Wii with Devon and Kieran.
Right, giving Molly a push on the swing.

One evening we enjoyed having dinner with friends at the ABC Cafe, an old Ithaca favorite.

From left to right: Chris, Bill, Geri (almost 8 months pregnant here!) Nicole, Schultzie, Meghan, Shami, Jeanine, Sean and Bruce.

I did a lot of shopping while back in the US, since things can be so expensive in Sydney. It was fun to buy things for the baby! There were also boxes of baby hand-me-downs from Caitlin, as well as from Ian and Wei, to sort through. Throw in the great gifts we received at our baby shower (I'll post about this soon) and we ended up with quite a collection of stuff. On the eve of Shami's departure, Caitlin, Alex, and my mom helped me sort through the piles in order to send as much back to Sydney with him as possible!

Shami practices his parenting skills as he gives a doll a ride in a hand-me-down Baby Bjorn!

More pictures from the trip are coming soon.