Waiting for Warmth

It's cold outside. Actually, today's a bit warmer than it has been (42 degrees), but it still feels too cold to me. We're lucky that this Sunday (Easter!) is supposed to be in the low 50s, but I am patiently anxiously waiting for warm weather to return.

There are a lot of things I love about warm weather, but I'm most excited to continue some summer traditions that my family has been practicing for many years. Since this is my first full summer back in Rochester in about 4 years, I'm especially excited to re-visit some of my favorite family spots & create some new traditions with Sean!

I have 2 aunts who live on the west coast with their families (1 in Washington and the other in northern California) and every summer when I was growing up they would come to visit. My sweet grandma, especially, looked so forward to the time when all 4 of her daughters would get together. So whenever they'd come visit, there were a few places we'd always be sure to visit.

The first is Skaneateles (pronounced Skinny-Atlas, although when I was little I thought it was called "Skinny Alice"), a beautiful lake town outside of Syracuse. Skaneateles has a beautiful downtown with all kinds of cute stores and restaurants, but there are a few that stand out to me - a gift shop that was transformed from its former life as a post office, and a candy store that smelled of chocolate and coffee (at which I would always buy jelly bellys and candy fruit slices). After we shopped around a little and ate lunch, we would lay a blanket on the grass next to the lake and enjoy each other's company while enjoying the beauty of the water and soft breeze.

The other summer tradition was Seabreeze, and amusement park north of Rochester. As a lover of most roller coasters, I always had a blast riding the Jack Rabbit, which was built in 1920 and still has the charm of an old fashioned ride (with modern safety conveniences, of course)! I remember the Yo-Yo, a circular ride with swings that would raise you up and spin you around so that you could see the entiretire of the park. We'd laugh while driving bumper cars, and we'd feel like daredevils when we'd ride the "Screamin' Eagle," a ride that spins around completely and that once sent someone's piece of gum into my cousin's hair! We'd play games, eat a picnic lunch, and watch the sun go down late in the evening before we'd drive home and sit in silence because of our exhaustion after a day of play.

  

 It's been many years since I visited either place, and I'm sure that many things have changed since I've been gone. But when the weather warms up and I do visit both of them again this year, I hope that my heart is warmed, too, with thoughts and memories of the wonderful summers I spent there.