New York, New York.

On Sunday we left my sister's house to head over to New York. This visit proved once again that no matter how much time you spend with someone or at someplace...it never seems long enough!  Especially when the people you are visiting live far away and are loved.

Thankfully, we made really good time crossing through Canada and there was only about a 15 minute wait at Lewiston before we crossed back into the US and entered New York, our 14th state on the trip. Another milestone reached during this most recent leg of the adventure?  We surpassed 6,000 miles of travelling!

It's funny coming home to the place that you grew up....in the house that you grew up in. I think the biggest misrepresentation that I realize every time I visit North Tonawanda is "scale." Everything seemed so much bigger or so much farther away when I was younger! This was most noticeable yesterday when I took my first run around my hometown in more than 20 years.  It is hard to rack up big miles when everything really is so much closer than you remembered.  But still fun to take the kids by my old schools and hangouts and show them all of the things that I did when I was a kid. Like eat and hang out here:

Mississippi Mudds on the Niagara River.

Another funny thing about my trips home. I always request ahead of time a "food tour." A tasting of all of my favorite comfort foods from home.  For me, a trip home isn't complete without a trip to each of the restaurants that have my own version of food-for-the-soul.  The things that I remember eating and loving growing up.  The things that I can't get in San Diego.  Things like fresh pirogi, Pizza Junction pizza, roast beef on weck from Swiston's, a hot dog from Ted's, a milk shake from Mudd's.  And so it started yesterday as I took the kids to our first stop on our food tour.

But we are not just eating here in New York! We are also drinking:

Tasting and comparing fresh cow's milk to fresh goat's milk.

Yesterday we went to Teacup Farms, owned by the sister of a friend of my moms from her church. (Did you catch all that??).  Anyway, 13 years ago Liz Nedow began operating a small farm that makes unpasteurized cow and goat's milk which she in turn sells locally.  She was kind enough to allow the kids to come and "help" her milk the animals and check out her operations.  And experience and learn something new, including how to feed baby goats:

And which is the business end of a goat:

And that the color of the egg has nothing to do with the quality of the egg, but rather with the chicken from which it came:

Varied color. See the green one too, bottom row, second from left?

Hunting for eggs.

And that hand milking a goat is a lot harder than it looks, and can often lead to spilt milk:

And how to walk a goat back to its pen after milking.

Just after this picture, the goat turned on Olivia and tried to eat her shirt. Then chased her away!

In addition, I love this picture of this old barn:

And that's what we have been up to for the first couple of days here in New York!

Fun Facts From Today:

Number of times a child asked me "Are we there yet?" = 4 (drive from DET to BUF)

Miles driven DET to BUF = 242

Number of wrong turns = 0

Number of states traversed or visited to date =14

Total miles driven to date = 6,061

Conversations Overheard:

Olivia: "Diego, do you know who we are going to see in New York?"

Diego: "Nana Linda"

Olivia to Diego: "Do you know who is Mami's mami?"

Diego: "Ummm. No. I think Aunt Kimmy?"

[laughter in the car....]

Olivia and Ana: "Noooo!"

Diego: "Then I think it is Nana Linda."