My weekend in Buffalo

Headed up north to Buffalo for the weekend. I left work just before 4:00, stopped at home so I could change and drop off my computer. I thought I'd have plenty of time for my 7:00 flight out of Baltimore - but I was wrong. I was driving up on the Parkway and a light came on on my dashboard. Traffic was moving pretty slow so I was able take out the owner's manual - and realized that it was the tire pressure monitoring system light. I told myself I'd make it up to Greenbelt and pull off there to check the tire pressure. If I had any major problems, i.e. a flat tire, I was hoping maybe Nicole would be home and she or Karl could help me. But it ended up not being anything. I checked all 4 tires and they were all at the same pressure. The only thing I could think of was there was too much air in the tires and it couldn't monitor if there were problems. That set me back a little bit - and ended up cutting it pretty close at the airport. I got there, parked, made it through security, ran to the bathroom, and grabbed a muffin at Starbucks...walked over to my gate and they were starting to board the plane. The flight home wasn't that bad. I sat next to a little girl (like 6 or 7) who was like one of the last on the plane so she was split up from her mom & sister. We chatted, and then played - find that city on the map in the magazine. Made the time go by quick. Allison was at the airport to get me. We went home and hung out there.

Saturday morning we got up, planning to leave for Erie at 8:00. Mom, Allison, and I were all hanging out in the family room, and heard a weird noise. We all thought it was Dad upstairs showering. You could eventually hear the shower shut off, and that noise was still going. Come to find out one of our hot water tanks blew, and the water was leaking all over the basement. (Now mind you earlier in the week their air conditioner sprung a leak and they had water all over the place.) Got Dad to come downstairs and turn off the tank, and then we spent time moving everything out of the way...I should re-phrase that, mom, dad, & Allison moved everything out of the way - mom wouldn't let me touch anything, so I ran the shop-vac and tried to suck up all the water. Needless to say we did not get out of there by 8:00 - more like 9:30. Ashley picked up Chris, as well as Audrey and the met up at our place. We ended up pulling into the parking lot just as the walk got started. The rest of the DiLoreto's waited until the end to start, and we were able to join them in the parking lot. It ended up being a pretty good walk! We walked along the Bayfront, down to Frontier Park, circled around and made our way back to the parking lot. I am glad I made the trip into town for this!

After the walk we all stopped at Grandma's house to say hello. They did a very good job re-doing her house. The put all new siding on, redid the front porch, added a back porch, and redid everything inside. I think it looks pretty good! They're making the front closet into a bathroom so Grandma doesn't have to go upstairs all the time. After Grandma's we made our way over to Aunt Jane & Uncle Rick's for lunch. Had a good time hanging out with everyone there! From there everyone hit the road, and I stayed with Mom & Dad and we went over to Nana's for a bit. Papa was at the race track so I missed getting to see him. It's sad to see how Nana is doing - and how she doesn't remember much at all. Visited with her for a bit, helped her set the table, and chatted for awhile while she ate dinner. From there we went to Donna's house for Christopher's 5th Birthday. Hung out there for awhile, watched him open gifts, sang Happy Birthday, had some cake & ice cream and then we hit the road for Buffalo. The drive home wasn't bad at all. We decided to do takeout for dinner - pizza, wings, and subs. The 3 girls went to Dairy Queen for some ice cream. I had been looking forward to getting a Blizzard for quite some time. Ate that, and then stopped by Ashley's apartment since I haven't gotten a chance to see that yet. Then we made our way back home, to watch the end of the 'Cuse vs. Maine football game (we won!) and then called it a night.

Sunday morning we got up, went to 8:00 Mass, and stopped at Wegman's on our way home from there. Mom cooked up some breakfast for all of us - and before you knew it, it was time to head to the airport. The flight home wasn't terrible - it's never good though when the flight attendant makes a comment that they'll be keeping the fasten seat belt sign on because the ride will be bumpy. Made it to Baltimore safe and sound though, and made my way back home. We didn't do much the rest of the afternoon.

All in all it was a great weekend. Like I said earlier I'm glad I decided to make the trip up there. I got to see a lot of family this weekend - Grandma & Aunt Mary Beth...Aunt Jane, Uncle Rick and their entire crew...Nana...Donna, Michael & kids...Sue, Dan & kids...Aunt Judy...