Very Busy Weekend!

This Mother’s Day weekend was insanely busy. On Thursday evening, I enjoyed dinner with a few friends from a store where I used to work, along with one from where I currently work. We had a great time and laughed ourselves silly! Friday was busy with a doctor’s appointment in the morning (my finger is mostly better, although still nail less) followed by the fabulous Luau-themed party at Starbucks. As a result of my need to attend all of the fun while working in between, I was awake for more than 24 hours! Saturday morning was the annual Dachshund Parade. This is an event I looked forward to each year. Last year I had to miss it due to it being on the same day as Sarah’s dance recital. This year I was very excited because I could go and not have to worry about hurrying home to sleep since I have Saturday nights off… After losing an entire day’s sleep, I couldn’t have dragged myself to the parade this year. Unfortunately, the Lilac parade was at the same time, so I missed that as well! I was pretty bummed, but I REALLY needed the sleep.

I awakened with a start Saturday afternoon knowing that Sarah had a 2:40 eye exam and I had not set my alarm…dangerous when one has fallen asleep after losing an entire day of sleep. Fortunately it was only 1:00, so I had time to wake up, shower, and get her there. Little did I know we would be there for almost 5 1/2 hours! The doctor decided to dilate her pupils, which only worked in one eye the first try. Eventually, he got both to dilate. This brought us to an hour. Jeff, Kyle, and Erin had gone out on the mall in search of something to eat so Sarah and I found them and ate while the folks at Lenscrafters made her new lenses. In an effort to save some money, we opted to have new lenses put in her old frames which were still in nice shape. We went back around 5 to pick them up, only to have the frames snap while the lady was trying to adjust them. This was frustrating because she left to go into the back and only told us they had broken when she came back out. I hate to be mistrusting, but it seemed fishy to me. We were informed that we could choose a different frame at a 50% discount. I also found this frustrating since WE didn’t break the frames, they did. Since they had already cut the lenses for the original frames, and the new choice was a completely different frame, new lenses had to be cut. This would take another 1 1/2 hours! We ran home, let Joe out and relaxed for 30 seconds, then went back and got the glasses. Good thing they look really good on her…

While we were eating in the food court, we kept hearing birds. Two of them landed nearby and I took my camera out to photograph them, but they flew away. I waited awhile, hoping at least one would come back, then finally gave up and put the camera away again. About a minute later, one landed under the table behind me. Suddenly Erin became animated, but quiet…unusual for her… I got the hint, grabbed the camera from my bag as quickly as possible, and got this…

Not the greatest shot, but with only a moment to spare before it was off again, not too bad.

After the glasses fiasco, we had to stop at Wegmans on the way home to pick up something for dinner. When we finally got home, everyone was tired. We had made plans to have an early dinner with Jeff’s parents for Mother’s Day, but I intended to sleep in LATE Sunday morning.

I think I finally got up around 1 on Mother’s Day. It was wonderful to sleep in! Jeff took me to Starbucks for a chai, then we had dinner with his parents. I had really wanted to go to the Lilac Festival for Mother’s Day, so we went around 6 and looked at all the pretty flowers. It was cool and there were not mobs of people, so it was very enjoyable.

Both of the trees above were very beautiful and large as you can tell from Erin standing in front of one with four arms?

The sky was somewhat overcast but it was right before dusk so the colors were awesome.

This guy was giving carriage rides up and down Highland Ave.

Colgate Divinity School is across the street from the park. It is an old building with some great architecture.

Erin doing her Vanna White impersonation…I think Erin is much cuter!

Please correct me if I am wrong, I don’t know flowers well, but I think these are magnolias. Between the two trees there were tons of blossoms!

The pansy bed took quite a beating in the wind and rain late last week. They were looking a little sad, but I found a few pretty specimens.

Even the birds seem to enjoy the lilacs…

Sarah, looking very serious while discovering that her new glasses are the same color as one variety of lilacs.

This is a water feature in front of the cooperative extension building. I am a sucker for running water.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, Jeff pointed out these beautiful blossoms.

It was very chilly, but we really enjoyed the flowers without the crowds! This concludes my Mothers Day adventures. We went home and I chilled until passing out around 1 AM from exhaustion.