"Ben" boppin around...a very fulfilling week and a visit with Ben,.

Central NY- areas included;
Strike and Spare Mattydale,NY
My back yard
Darien Lake amusement park
Turning Stone Resort Verona, NY


July 14-July 2017

Friday evening...Although I had been invited out with some girlfriends for cocktails at a local pub, and I had checked "Yes" I will attend to one of those in house sales parties. I declined both and promptly ate dinner and fell asleep. I awoke several hours later and Ben was here. It was close to midnight. I said my hello's and fell back to sleep again. I must have needed to rest.
Saturday I was up early, imagine that, I completed my work notes. (This is what I apparently do on my days off.)
SIDE RANT.....
 I have to say... this whole LIVE; (we are suppose to take notes in that moment or close to it.) note taking thing is for the birds...and YES I do manage my time well so that isn't it either. What is real are the PEOPLE I work with...and quite honestly I am more about working with them then making sure I documented what I did. Well it's done anyways... NUFF SAID...

Saturday ended up being one of those...rainy blahh days. The sun poked its head out for bits of it, but it was never really SUNNY!
At the request of Ben we went Bowling.

We had our strategy... and apparently that included thousands of balls.....

Ben has been playing often in Florida and has a pretty good hook. There were a lot of strikes happening.

 Gavin's style of bowling is pretty much throw the lightest ball down the aisle and hope for the best. His ball "throws" surprisingly took several pins down. One throw literally stopped  at the king pin and the others fell around it eventually knocking the king pin down itself. Breaking the law of physics.

 Mark of course, is the MASTER...most of his shots are pretty dead on.

I wasn't do so bad myself. My throw is systematic. I stand at the line. Adjust my body to the left and aim right at the center arrow. Sometimes I get lucky and it goes straight down to a WIN!!!

I came in second place on our first game. ( I was DAD instead of MOM.) I had four strikes in a row!!! That has NEVER happened to me before. WOOT WOOT

After bowling at a very hefty price tag. (Just when did bowling become so expensive?) We visited Bubbe (Mark's mom) and had dinner at Tully's (Also at Ben's request.) Not of course that I minded. Nothing says YUM like Tully's Chicken Tenders.

 Sunday...
Paper read..coffee consumed...Mark weeded the yard while I vacuumed the pool. We had discussed a BBQ with the kids...and finalized that plan by noon. I invited a few friends as well.

 Carol, Mike and Renee came over...

Bubbe too.

My oldest and his Girlfriend. My other two boys were in attendance only briefly. Video games called. Nick and Gavin too a dip in the pool.

 My daughter finally showed up and we played with sparklers. I tried so hard to get a picture of all of my children at once. I was denied...veto'd. Next time....if there ever will be a next time.

Mark took the week off to spend some extra time with Ben while he is here. I only took off Monday and Tuesday.

Monday we took the boys to Darien Lake Amusement Park. 

Clouds loomed over the area, but it turned out to be a great day for theme park enjoyment.

Mark and I did a lot of waiting while the boys went on the several roller coasters. I think I have had my share over my lifetime. I absolutely have no desire to ride any roller coasters.
 

Up next was the motorcycle roller coaster. I also passed on this one. 

Mark had fun however....

I did manage to climb into a LARGE rocking chair. Cheese.

A few more roller coasters.

and a pose by the toothless shark.

Mark and I spent some time by the wave pool. I even took a dip in the water, Before long we had all had our theme park fill.

After the theme park...Mark took us to one of his old hang outs in Rochester. Bathtub Billies. 

The food was so Yummy. BUT I couldn't eat it all. 

Tuesday, Mark and I headed out for an adult sleep over at turning Stone resort and Casino. 

We even got complementary chocolates.

I suggested that we take a hike around the grounds. For as many times as we have been here, I have never walked the paved trails that surround the property.

It is very pretty.

But it was HOT!

According to the information the whole trail is about 1.3 miles. Mark and I made it about half way, but took a few detours.

I enjoyed the well decorated grounds.

and the many flowers.

Our first detour took us into the Shenendoah golf course.

Talk about beautiful. The picture above is the lobby.  We took a walk to the course itself and the beauty continued.

Mark reported that it costs about $200- for a round of golf. WOW!!! Think I'll stick with my putt putt. I have no idea about what makes a good course, but according to Mark this is a very nice one.
Our next detour took us to the Lodge at Turning Stone.

The lodge is the Beautiful addition to the hotel accommodations. Mark and I have never had a room booked in this beauty.

Instead of returning to the trail and the heat, we took the bridge back to the casino from the lodge and continued our walk with the comfort of air conditioning. Love this light fixture.

We returned to the room, but first we took a look at the recreation room in the tower. For all the years we have been coming to Turing Stone, we have never taken advantage of this gem.

Almost time for my salon treatment, but before I headed in for my Mani and pedi. I played a few slots...I lost badly. Yep,,,my luck hasn't changed. Off to the salon.

And the final product. 

Apparently while I was getting my nails done. Hubby WON a jackpot!!!! Would you look at that!!!!

Then it was time for dunch (Dinner and lunch). We hit up the buffet. It was T-bone Tuesday, As always we ate enough to make up for any of my earlier losses. 

After dunch. I went back to the salon for some relaxation in the spa. If you have a treatment done, you have access to the spa all day. I took advantage of the Jacuzzi tub, the steam room and the sauna.

The steam room....(Everything fogged up.)

I had the place to myself. NICE! I finished up my relaxation with a hot shower and met up with Mark back at the room. We then made our way for some more relaxation in the Tower. We made our way to the HOT HOT HOT tub first. Then I lounged by the pool allowing my heart to stop racing. Yeah...the hot tub was so hot...my heart rate had increased. WOW...but it felt wonderful.

A dip in the cool waters and a cocktail topped off this incredible day....

A view from the recreation room at sunset.

By Wednesday...I was beat... Vacation takes a lot out of ya! Back to work and WOW did I come back to a mess of things. 21 voice mails and 5 people hospitalized WOW!  I spent all of Wednesday running around taking care of business. When I got home I was pooped. The boys had tickets to the K-rock a thon concert. (this was concert with multiple bands that I am not particularly interested in; Korn, Skillet, Stone Sour, Ded, Yelawolf. Apparently they had an amazing time!)

 My daughter had plans with her friends and this left me in a quiet empty house. Except Riley had rolled around in something pretty stinky, He smell DISGUSTING. I did everything I could think to get him in the bath, but he was to smart for me. I finally cornered him with the hose outside and bribed him with pizza. BETTER!

NOW to chill. I think I fell asleep by 7pm. Nice!

Thursday ended up being ONE very busy day. It was so busy I don't really remember what I did...except run around. Boys insisted on pizza for dinner. Just for future reference. No to Domino's. Two large (not so tasty) pizzas cost just about the same as our usual large pizza with toppings, wings, fries and boneless wings from local pizza places. 

Friday... I had several appointments out. After dropping off my first client I saw this gal in the yard adjacent to her apartment. She stayed for a while too and did not seem afraid. Wow Wild life right in the city. 

Friday evening. Mark took Ben and his mother to dinner at Red Lobster. I stayed home as I am not a fish person. 

Saturday we planned a family luncheon. Alexis was busy with other things, but I did manage to catch a picture of the four of the kids together. I can finally update my facebook wall. 

 My LOVES.....

 We met up with my parents for lunch at Denny's. I think everyone but Gavin enjoyed breakfast.

After lunch I made my way to Sandy's house for the Hearts a Flutter team meeting. Close to My Heart scraping and Stamping consultant team. I didn't stay long. Just long enough to see the new products, grab a book and say hello to some of my friends. The boys went to Paintball. 

They must of had a good time as they were not home til close to 10:30pm. I spent the time alone making scrapbook layouts and enjoying the peace and quiet. 

This morning....We said goodbye to Ben. WAHHH!!! 

It was a great week! So very glad we had Ben here. We will miss him, but excited that he will soon start his freshmen year at Florida Institute of Technology. Until next time. TTFN