BINGO! - A Much Needed Trip, Part 2

I arrived in Binghamton just before dark (stupid time change--it was only about 4:30).  I was, of course, coming to see my oldest friend Heather and my sweet godson Mason.  As I mentioned previously, he just turned one!  And yet it's still hard to believe sometimes that he even exists!  Heather and Peter waited so long to adopt, and it almost seemed like the opportunity had passed.  But then, out of the blue, there he was...and now it's been a year!  Such a little miracle, and Heather has been documenting the ways that God's timing was perfect--from her unexpected career change a few years ago (allowing finances and schedules to work out better than imagined) to where things stood for her in grad school last year when this all happened.  It just all worked out so well, and what a blessing he is to so many people!

When I arrived, it was great to see Heather, of course, but Mason was still napping!  Turns out he'd been battling a cold (which he passed to his dad and grandma), but fortunately he was in good spirits when he woke up.  He wasn't too sure about me, but we got to hang out while dinner was being made, and slowly but surely he warmed up to me.  We hung out in the hallway looking at books for a bit.

Not too sure yet...

As the night went on I definitely started getting some smiles.  Eventually he dug into the bags I brought with me--one with shoes and a couple other little goodies, including our beloved "fridge farm" toy.  He had plenty of toys to keep us occupied and interested, so it was fun getting to play with a much more interactive little guy than the last time I saw him.  Oh, and he's crawling like a maniac now, and just starting to pull up a bit more, so it was fun watching him practice those skills.  It sure brings back memories!

Later on the tissue paper from his birthday gift caught his eye, and we let him go to town pulling it out.  It look him a bit, but eventually he figured it out.

At first he was like, "Are you sure I can do this?"

Then it was just fun!

I got him a basket/scoop for bath toys, which he needed, as well as a Sandra Boynton book, Dinosnores.  Can't go wrong with her stuff, in my opinion!  

He has this adorable and oh-so-soft Thanksgiving Snoopy blanket (they're a Peanuts household as well!), and he was SO cute with it!  He loved getting covered with it and playing peek-a-boo, but he would also just flop down and cuddle it.  I don't blame him.  It was so snuggly!

Eventually it was bedtime, which gave Heather and me time to catch up--which we can pretty much do endlessly after all these years--38, to be exact!  We celebrated with a little wine!

At bedtime, I had to laugh because I walked in my room, and the cat, Gypsy, was sitting on her cardboard scratch pad looking at me like, "Silly human, why are you in MY room?"  She just sat there while I got into bed, and eventually she fell asleep as I was looking at my phone.  I have no idea when she left once the lights were out, but no joke, the same exact scenario happened the next night, too.  It cracked me up.

We were excited for a busy day on Saturday!  I took Mason duty when Mom and Dad got ready, and then we ventured out to visit Heather's mom, who just moved to Binghamton last month.  If you'll recall, she lived in Western New York near my parents, which made for a good meeting spot when we were all in town.  Well...given that her only other grandchild is grown, and Heather and Peter were running into a little bit of a child care conundrum, she graciously hatched a plan to move closer to them.  It's a lot to take on at her age, for sure, but why not maximize her time with her new grandson, not to mention her daughter?  We took a drive to her new apartment, which is conveniently in the same complex as Peter's dad.  We got a bonus visit from Heather's cousin, who also lives nearby and was dropping off a new microwave after an unfortunate incident during the move.  I got the apartment tour and it was nice catching up--I've known Heather's mom forever as well, so it's always nice to visit.  I still think back to our sleepovers back in the day and how patient she was (parenting solo while Heather's dad worked nights) to watch our Hot Looks doll fashion shows and listen to whatever craziness we had up our sleeves!  

Back at the house we had lunch and tried to get Mason to nap, but he had his own ideas!  Here he is gleefully clapping together two puzzle pieces, which he very much enjoyed doing.  I kept pointing out the giraffe one, telling him he'd see a real giraffe that night!

Does this look like the face of a sleepy boy?  Certainly not! 

This wasn't nearly the cutest of our playtime, but he was having fun!

Before he finally went down for his nap, he spent some quality time with the bonus gifts I brought him.  We had the fridge farm on our fridge for many years--maybe 10?--basically from Jacob's first birthday until sometime in the last couple years because Carter would still make it play once in a while.  The farm has magnets featuring two halves of a handful of different animals.  If you get the right two halves, it plays you a congratulatory song about making a match and does the appropriate animal noise.  If you have mismatched halves, it sings a different song about the silly animal--a pig duck, a horse sheep, etc.--and tells you, "That's silly!"  The other thing (purple and green in the picture) was a similar magnetic toy using letters.  Pop a letter in and it sings you a letter song and gives you the sound.  We got that one as a hand-me-down (missing a couple letters).  He's still getting the hang of it, but he'll pick it up quickly and it comes in handy while making dinner!  It brought back fun memories to hear the songs again, and it will hopefully distract him a little from his new favorite skill--someone learned how to open and close a cabinet, and practiced it a lot!  Time to baby proof!

While he napped, Heather and I snuck out to get our paint on!  We went to a place where you pick out a ceramic item and paint it.  It will get glazed and finished up in the next couple weeks, and hopefully she can bring mine next time we see each other--which is hopefully in a couple weeks.  We landed on nativity scenes, which seemed like a fun idea until we found out we were supposed to do three coats of paint!  That was a lot of details for three coats!  But we persevered, and eventually I had to put the perfectionist tendencies out of my mind and call it good.  It'll be a little wonky, I'm sure, but handmade and memorable is always good!

Once we got into it, we decided it was very relaxing and fun.  I may not have great artistic skills, but I do enjoy stuff like this.  I'd possibly do it more if I had more use for the end products.  I will love using this one in my Christmas decor, of course, but it's sort of like my diamond painting obsession from early in the pandemic--I tend to wonder how many times I could do it without ending up with a serious clutter problem!  But at least most of the ceramics could be used in the kitchen!

Mason got in a solid two-hour nap while we were gone and then it was time to get ready for our next big activity.  We were going to Animal Adventure Park for their Jungle Bells light display!  If you recall a number of years ago, April the Giraffe captivated the world as we waited for her to go into labor.  There was a webcam, and millions watched in anticipation.  I still remember being at my parents' and casually checking the camera on a Saturday morning, only to find hooves hanging from her behind!  Labor had begun!  I watched the whole thing and it was crazy.  A few years later it happened again, but I missed it because I was traveling all weekend.  However, the video of the AAP owner coming into the barn and seeing hooves, then accidentally spilling his coffee in his rush to prepare was pretty funny.  Anyway, knowing it was so close to Binghamton I was always hopeful I'd have a reason to go, and while their main season was over, it happened to be the first weekend of their holiday event!  And what baby doesn't love Christmas lights?!

It was very chilly, however, as the 50s from the day before had turned into low 40s by Saturday evening.  Luckily, last time I visited, I brought with me a snowsuit that Jacob wore when he was one.  It has built in mittens and seemed like the perfect choice for a cold night--even if we did make comparisons to Randy in A Christmas Story because he had a hard time doing much of anything while wearing it!

We figured we'd just eat when we got there, so first priority was finding the concession stand and a place to sit and eat--ideally in warmth!  I snapped this while we were figuring things out.  Very appropriate!

We also attempted a chilly selfie!

We warmed up with hot chocolate and other snacks in a large enclosed shed of sorts, which had lights, inflatables, animated decorations, and...Santa!  The family pic I snapped of them was cute because Mason was just staring at Santa intently from his stroller!  Then, it was off to see the lights and the animals!

Silly donkey!

Scottish Highland Cattle are so cute!

Eventually we wound around to a giant building, and sure enough, it was the giraffe barn!  It was pretty surreal getting to see the wooden structure I've watched on webcam for so long!  A lot of people were feeding carrots to the giraffes, so it was a little crowded, but it was really neat to see the giraffes in person.  Sadly, April passed away a while back, but her mate, Oliver, was still there.

Johari was brought in to be a new mate once April had retired from breeding, and oddly they've suspected for over a year that she could be pregnant.  Apparently they connected in July 2019, but the 15 month gestation came and went.  Yet she was still showing certain signs of pregnancy, had a bigger belly, and people thought they were seeing kicks.  Bloodwork and ultrasounds were inconclusive, and they admitted maybe there was another connection later on that they missed.  But here were are all these months later and still no baby.  But she's still round and the religious cam watchers are still convinced.  It's crazy!

Johari craning her neck to see, and Oliver just hanging out

Oliver looking for treats!

Hi Johari!

That tongue!

She's so cute!

Figured I'd take a butt shot since people are always staring at it anyway waiting for action.  Could be famous one of these days!

Back outside, it was chilly, so we definitely tried to walk briskly and see what animals we could find.  There were some swans sleeping near this water.

The nearby arch was pretty.

We did see some reindeer, ironically at the exact same time reindeer were mentioned in the Christmas song that was playing!

There weren't a ton of animals who were able to be out in the extra cold weather, but we enjoyed the ones we saw.  We saw alpacas, goats, a couple kinds of deer, hyenas, antelopes, and some giant peafowl sleeping in trees.  It was hard to tell which animals were off exhibit and which ones were just hiding from the cold.  It's also pretty dark so as it was you had to look closely.  But near the end, the lights were really the star of the show...

The changing lights were so pretty!

Mason did enjoy checking out the goats!

We tried to take a picture here, but it was just too bright!

Near the end, Mason was starting to get a little fussy, so while Peter ran to the restroom, I quickly ran off to do a once over of the areas we had passed by, to see if there were turns we never made.  Looking at the map later, I think we missed a couple possibilities, but we did double back to see this tunnel, which was stunning...

We also caught a glimpse of the kangaroos inside a nearby building.  Just like when we saw them at Stokoe last month, the way they lay down is just comical.  The one on the front right is laying flat on his back.  It's hard to see, but in the way back, I think you can just glimpse the very rare blond joey that was born earlier this year.  It's a red kangaroo with a condition that causes it to lose pigment.  His name is Cosmo.  Given that he looks a lot lighter than the ones around him, I think that's him in the middle of the back section.

Just before we left, I noticed this sculpture near the other giraffe barn/deck.  It's a statue of April and her baby Azizi, who also passed away recently while living at a zoo in Texas.  So sad they're both gone, but it's a sweet gesture.

Once we got home it was bath and bed time, and admittedly, I was quite ready for bed myself!  It was fun to watch Mason in the tub, though--he loves it!

Sunday was pretty basic - breakfast, church, lunch, some playtime, and then time for me to get on the road.  Not only did I want to make it home to make the boys dinner, but I also wanted to avoid the dark.  We got in a little more fun before I left, and of all the toys, his choice was the blanket!
 

Ahhh, that smile!!

We had such a great weekend!  Friend time, baby time, nature time, holiday time...what could be better?!  It felt pretty restorative, actually, to the point I was excited to get home and see my boys.  I'm hopeful our plan works out to meet up in a couple weeks when they come in for their extended family Christmas and I come in to see my dad sing in his big holiday Vespers concert (which I've always wanted to go to but it's never worked out).  Hopefully Mason will remember me and we can have a little more fun.  And I'm excited to see how my Nativity turned out!  

The drive home was mercifully easy--I'm convinced that God made that 17 to 86 to 390 route extra easy for me, knowing I'd be doing it more often.  One coffee and bathroom stop about halfway, and that was all it took!  The exits and towns are spaced really well, the scenery is nice, and the last leg is full of good memories since it's the route I take to and from Geneseo.  The Thruway route home is actually slightly shorter, and while I don't mind the first leg on 81, Syracuse is usually trafficky and the last 90 minutes are painfully boring and I constantly associate it with desperately wanting to get home.  Instead, the route I take has a last leg that's super familiar and that I have positive associations with, since I'm usually happy to have just been in Geneseo.  And when it's rainy and getting dark, having that comfort is even better.  I did hit some snow on the way home--nothing that stuck much but enough to make me cringe a little.  It's coming, people! 

After immune boosting all week after feeling a little headachy the night I got home, my cold finally showed up on Wednesday.  I had been battling reflux again on Monday and Tuesday, and after a really scratchy throat from the acid on Tuesday, I started realizing on Wednesday that my sore throat was now being fueled by post-nasal drip.  It got a little worse by last night when the congestion got harder to manage, but on the scale of cold severity, it's pretty low.  Hopefully the zinc makes it quicker, too.  I had a home test so I know it's not COVID, so I don't worry too much about going out since I'm always masked anyway.  I was also able to work from home today, which was helpful.  However, it could derail my plan to get my booster and flu shot tomorrow.  We'll see what the doctor's office says.  I'm hoping I'm better by Monday so I get one in-person day next week before an extra long weekend.  I actually freaked out a little on Sunday when I realized that this was our last full week before Thanksgiving.  I guess I did a good job keeping November busy!  Now Thanksgiving is imminent and a week from now Christmas decorating will be in full swing.  I'm not sure I'm ready, but the time has come once again!