GRANDPARENTS!!!!!!!!

WE ARE GOING TO BE GRANDPARENTS!!!!!! and Ken and Chris are going to be UNCLES! And Barbara will be a MOMMY and Jim will be a DADDY!

Jim and Barbara announced their great news and we are thrilled.

The baby will be born in the spring, end of March or beginning of April.

We saw 4 ultra sound pictures. WOW! Even at only 3 months, we could see little stubs of arms, legs and a head.

We visited Barbara and Jim in Manhattan during our stay in Lake George. We drove our car into the city. There's no way we would take the motor home anywhere near the city.

We took a walk with Jim and Barbara in Central Park. We also had a breakfast with Barbara's parents, June and Joe. They will be grandparents for the 4th time. What a thrill. All 4 of us can't wait for the new arrival. Barbara is June and Joe's only daughter and this is Joni's first grandchild. Delton has a grand daughter who is now in college.

Another Balloon Festival

We went to another Balloon Festival. Two weeks after our first hot air balloon experience, Lorraine and Bob and their family took park in another balloon festival. What terrific timing for us to be in the area for both of them. SEE OUR PREVIOUS POST TO READ ABOUT OUR HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE!!!!!!!

Lorraine and Bob (Joni's high school friends) set up their daughter's balloon (see the pilot - Peter - Lorraine's son in law) again and this time we took part in the Chase Car part of the experience.

We helped set up the balloon to get it ready to sail. The experience was just as thrilling as it was the first time.

This festival was bigger than the one two weeks ago so there were a lot more balloons participating.
After the balloon took off, we got in the Balloon Chase Car, actually it was a motor home (See Joni and Bob and Jen and Ryan in the RV) and set out to follow the balloon. The wind was very calm that day so the balloon didn't travel very far, but it was up in the sky for a long time. The passengers were thrilled! Two elderly ladies went for the ride. One of the ladies had never even been in an airplane, so this was a special experience for her.

Since the wind is at it's calmest early in the morning, we had to be at the site between 5:30am and 6:00am. Soooooooo early!!!!!! So it was chilly out, but not as cold as the previous festival morning.

The balloon landed on private property, as it usually does, and it wasn't very hard for the chase car to locate it. As a matter of fact, 4 balloons landed on the same property. Unfortunately, the home owners weren't home. They sure would have been surprised to come home and find 4 hot air balloons on their land.

We proceeded to tear down the balloon and go back to the take off site (at the airport). We had our landing party there! After popping the champagne and setting out the snacks, we enjoyed the rest of the morning (see all of us eating and enjoying the day)

It was a special day for another reason! Lorraine and Bob's grandson, Ryan, was having his 5th birthday! He belongs to Jen and Peter, Lorraine's daughter and son in law (pilot). So we went to Lorraine's house for the big birthday party. Lots of good food was served and all of the family was there! Lorraine didn't attend the balloon festival that morning so that she could prepare for the birthday party.

When we got to Lorraine's house after the balloon festival, she put us right to work. See Delton holding all the food he prepared - cutting fruit, vegetable and making dip! What a Guy! It was so neat for Joni to meet all of Lorraine and Bob's kids and grandkids after not being in touch for 43 years!

Again, we had another wonderful time with the Thompsons. Joni had a hard time saying goodbye to them, but we all promised to get together again in Florida. Lorraine's brother lives in Florida, close to Ocean Resorts, where we spend our winters. So, we plan on getting together again in February!

Herricks HS Reunion

WOW! What a neat weekend!

Joni has been waiting a long time to have her Herricks High School Mini-Reunion!

A few months ago, Joni found her very best friend from high school, Lorriane Burt Thompson. After many e-mails and a few weeks, Lorraine connected Joni with 3 more high school friends. Since we were going to be in the northeast and since they lived in upstate NY, we were able to plan a get together.

Ed Sarcynski and his wife Susan Nelson Sarcynski , Lorraine Burt Thompson and her husband Bob, and Delton and I got together for a fabulous weekend. We also reconnected with Mary Feola. Mary and her husband Kent, live in the Maryland area and were unable to join us, but we shared many e-mails also. Mary lived one block away from Joni in New York. Hopefully we will get together with Mary sometime in the future.

After driving up from Binghamton, NY to Schuylerville, NY, (about a 2 hour drive) Ed and Susan came out to our campground for diner at our campsite. We stayed in Lake George, NY, about a 25 mile drive from Lorraine and Bob's house. They were amazed at our lifestyle, never having met anyone who chose to do what we do. Joni had fun reminiscing with Ed, who she had 1 date with to an ice cream parlor and with his wife Sue, who was in the Lassies with Joni and Lorraine. Lassies is a a group of 32 girls who march with the band in the half time shows at football games. They twirl and dance with bom boms and do the trade mark dance of the high school - The Highland Fling! We went through our yearbook, page by page, picture by picture, remembering people and fun times. We looked at pictures from past reunions and compared the young pictures with the "old" pictures. Everyone else had aged, but we all didn't look a day older!!!!!!!

The next day, Delton, Ed and Bob went golfing at one of the premier golf courses in the area, the Saratoga National Golf Course. They had a wonderful time, even though Ed hit Bob with a golf ball and nearly broke his fingers. Delton said Ed stroked the ball real well on that shot. Delton played his best golf in a long time that day! Guess he succeeded in impressing Joni's friends.

While the men golfed, Joni and Susan spent the day exploring Saratoga Springs. Lorraine was working and couldn't join us for the afternoon.

Then that evening, we all got together at a fabulous restaurant called Longfellows. It was a delicious ending to a perfect reunion.

The next morning, Ed and Sue drove up to say farewell to us and then drove back to Binghamton.

We have renewed old friendships as if hardly any years had gone by. Hopefully we will be able to keep in touch and see each other again in the near future. Now that we know where we all live, that shouldn't be too hard. Expecially since we live EVERYWHERE!

Vermont Foliage

One afternoon we took a drive into Vermont to see the fall colors.

While staying in Lake George, we kept watching the trees, praying and wishing the colors would change before we left the area. We knew it was a little bit too soon to see peak colors.

So, we drove into Vermont where the peak color season is the last 2 weeks in September. We weren't disappointed.

It was beautiful.

The pictures with the cows and the church were taken in Vermont.

The pictures with the lake in the background is Lake George.
The trail picture was taken near our RV park in Lake George. What a neat bike ride! Delton had never seen such beautiful colors. Joni grew up in NY and went to college in upstate NY, so she has seen lots of fall foliage. BUT when you're young, you just don't appreciate the world around you as much as when you "mature".

Hiking Lake George

Our love for hiking brought us to Prospect Mountain in Lake George. It was a very verticle hike steadily climbing about 1200 feet without any level areas. The hike was about 1.8 miles up for a total of 3.6 miles round trip.

It was great exercise and the view at the top was spectacular, even though Joni complained the whole way up. It was worth it! You can also choose to drive up to the top, but what satifaction is there in that!!!!!!!! I guess the vew is also worth the drive up!!!!!!!!

See the view from the top with Lake George in the background.

Lake George is a very popular vacation spot in upstate NY. It's at the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains and is enjoyed year round.

SUNY Potsdam

We continued our nostalgic journey into Joni's past by visiting her old alma mater, The University of New York at Potsdam in Potsdam, NY. Joni was a piano major and earned a Bachelor of Science in Music Education.

We left our motor home in Lake George and took a day trip to Postdam, about 125 miles away.

It was a cloudy rainy day, but that didn't dampen Joni's enthusiasum.
We visited the campus and her sorority, Phi Kappa Pi.

The sorority house brought back a lot of memories, but it was not in good shape at all. We spoke to 3 "sorority sisters" who lived in the house and they talked about how they were trying to fix up the house. They had a tough time financially and membership had fallen. The girls were very interested in hearing some old stories from the past and Joni was interested to see how things had changed. See Joni standing at the front and side of the house. Also see her picture on the 1966 composite. Joni is pictured on the bottom left of the picture. (She was Joan Marone back then). She squeeled with joy when she saw the picture on the second floor wall.

The college campus looked great. It's a very small school. Only 4 buildings when Joni first started in 1963 and 6 buildings at graduation in 1967. Now there are aout 12 buildings...new dorms, new classroom buildings... new music building.

Others pictures show Joni standing in front of her old dorm, MacVicor Hall, and she is pointing to her old doom room. Then we went inside the building and took a picture of her standing in front of the dorm room she lived in. The building is now an office building.

We walked around the campus and visited the "old" Crane building - the music department. Most of Joni's classes were in that building. But there is a new music building now. We toured there also.

We drove around the town of Potsdam - it's very small. Joni thought it looked a lot older. Can't imagine why? It was old when Joni went to college and that was only a few years ago!!!!!

Balloon Festival

We went up in a hot air balloon!!!!!

Bob and Lorraine Thompson, Joni's friends from high school, are very into hot air ballooning. Their family even owns one.

After surprising Lorraine and Bob, by showing up on their door step, we were invited to a hot air balloon festival going on the next day. Lorraine's daughter, Jen and her husband own the balloon. Thank you so much for including us in this fun and exciting day!

We were involved in the whole process from getting to the festival, setting up the balloon, going for a ride, landing, and tearing down. We were part of the whole thing!

We arrived at the site. The basket is prepared and the balloon is hooked up to the basket. See Delton helping Bob and the "crew". The crew is actually Lorraine and Bob's family and friends.

A big fan blows air into the balloon. As the air blows up the balloon, the "crew" helps unfold the balloon. We helped in this process.

A flame heats the air in the balloon and then the
balloon slowly starts to rise.

Since the day started out foggy, we had to wait until the fog lifted to go for a ride. The best time of day to go up is when the sun rises - early! We had to be at the festival at 5:30AM. We had to get up at 4:00AM to get there. It's the wind! There's less wind early in the morning and again later in the afternoon.

We were invited to go for a ride with Pete, (Jen's husband, Lorraine's son in law)! At first Joni was very apprehensive being afraid of heights and ledges. But, she finally agreed to go. It was a chance of a lifetime.

Surprisingly it was not scary at all. It's so peaceful and quiet. You just float like you're on a cloud.

Once you are up in the ski, the view is spectacular. Going up or going down depends on how hot the air in the balloon is.

The next step is finding a place to land. You are totally dependent on the winds for steering and the winds go in different directions at different elevations.

We found a good spot and started to come down. Lorraine, Bob and their family chased the balloon with the "chase car". Keeping in touch by radio, the chase car found us. A tether line was thrown down to the "ground crew" and pulled us to a grassy spot on private land. That's where the balloons usually land but the home owners usually don't mind. Bringing snacks, a party is held at the landing site and the home owners join in the fun.

What a thrilling time we had. There is another hot air balloon festival this coming weekend, during our mini high school reunion. We will be having a fantastic time again.

Lorraine and Joni have bonded again and will always keep in touch from now on!

Lorraine and Bob - THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Your friendship is very special and you family is wonderful!

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