As the calendar turns....welcome 2014

A stream of travels and parties has ended so I now have some time to reflect on the new year as well as the year gone by.  Welcome to 2014.  This was the year I intended to retire, but I'm very happy with my decision to retire last year.  2014 is a nice round number but I am very happy to turn the calendar over and say goodbye to 2013.

So this post will be filled with tidbits and reflections.  Stay with me.  For a various reasons, Amy and Michael decided not to come to New York for Christmas this year so we traveled to Erie the weekend before so Santa could put some presents under their tree.  And this is how we were welcomed:

Nice way to treat Santa and his helper. 

But Amy did prepare dinner for us and it was wonderful!  This was the first time and it marks a turning point in a young adult life (as well as for an empty nester).  And here we go--my girl in her own kitchen making dinner for her visiting parents:

We stopped at the zoo and Amy introduced us to two lionesses who've recently moved into a new enclosure.  It was awesome to be nearly face to face with these two beauties.  They seemed to enjoy the company since the zoo's been closed for the winter and they don't have many.  As we started to leave, they began to pace--we went back to them and they settled down.  I think they liked having a food source nearby.  I (foolishly) took no pictures but here's one of Amy's:

They are really very majestic and I'm a sucker for the big cats anyhow. 

We returned from Erie driving in 60 degree plus weather only to turn around a day or so later to go the same 5 hours in the opposite direction to Long Island to spend Christmas with the Dalpiaz clan.  I was lucky enough to get my hands on one of the new babies--this is Robinson who is about 6-7 weeks old celebrating his first Christmas.

At the Ryan Christmas Bash, I was lucky enough to hold Birdie for a while too.  She's about a month older than Robinson and is perfectly beautiful.  I am grateful that Kevin, Sarah and John took the trip to spend the day with us all.  That was a great gift!

We got a great group picture of those attending the party

I am tickled that so many people "liked" this on Facebook and not one asked "Who's the redhead?".  Rich is our favorite photobomber.

We have high hopes for 2014 and wish you the same.  And, as a PS on the "Snail Mail for Millenials" post, I'd like to thank the Post Office for the timeliness of raising the price of the Forever stamp :)