New York!

We were able to spend time in Syracuse more than once this summer, and in all the business of the summer, I am just getting to filling you in.  We spent a few days before we left for Italy celebrating my nephew Ryan's graduation from High School.  Since his graduating class was so big (like 700 kids big...yeah, I know...whoa!) the girls and I didn't go to the ceremony, but we had fun celebrating at his graduation party the next day!  It was nice to catch up with family and friends during the party. We had another day to spend with everyone before we left for Italy.  Once we returned from Italy we had to get right back to Virginia for our friends Mark & Maureen's wedding.  But....only a few days after that we got back in the car and returned to Syracuse to prepare for Grandpa's surprise 80th birthday party!  (Are you following all of this?!)  Gramp was very sad that we weren't able to go out to dinner with him on Friday night (his actual birthday) because we were setting up and organizing, which he didn't know, so we made up a story as to why we couldn't go.  It ended up being a great day, and he was so surprised and thankful.  I am incredibly thankful to our family in Syracuse for taking such good care of the girls while we were away.  It is an exhausting job, trust me, I speak from experience, but I think everyone involved had a great time!  Here are some pictures from our visits to Syracuse.