After a couple hours of driving a rental car from Newark to Albany, we checked in at the hotel, and then met Dave's brother - Laird, his wife - Risa, their daughter - Hannah, and her finance - David Bisetti for a wonderful steak dinner.
After dinner, we returned to Laird and Risa's house to await the arrival of Risa's brother - Michael and his kids - Sam and Juliana. Saturday was Risa's birthday, so Hannah made a lighter than air chocolate souffle cake that was totally K for P and filled with amazing deliciousnessness. Here's Hannah posing with the work of art. Yes those are fresh raspberries on top!
We slept in a little on Saturday morning and waited the arrival of Katie and our niece, Chelsea (from Auckland, New Zealand). Chelsea took the train from Manhattan up to New Haven, so she could drive over to Albany with Katie. She is working as a nanny in TriBeCa before she starts her summer job as a camp counselor.
The highlight of the weekend is the annual Sherer Family Passover Seder. This event has grown so much since the days of Risa's grandparents that they have to rent a hotel banquet room to hold everyone.
The Seder is a ritual performed by multiple generations of a family, involving a retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt. Family and friends gather in the evening to read the text (including the typos) of the Haggadah (booklet containing the narrative of exodus, special blessings and Passover songs). Seder customs include drinking four cups of wine, eating matza, and partaking of symbolic foods.
Sunday morning we were all back at Laird and Risa's house for brunch. Here is Katie and her dog Maggie hanging out on the couch with David and Anika.
More family, books and videos.
Here are three cousins - Hannah, Chelsea and Katie.
After a day of grazing the never empty buffet table, it was time to say goodbye to family and friends. Katie and Chelsea drove back Sunday afternoon. We opted to stay an extra night and fly back on Monday.
Monday morning at 8:00 a.m. we got a frantic call letting us know that cousin David's flight from Albany to Newark was cancelled. There were no other flights that day, so he was going to miss his connection to Lima, Peru unless he could get a ride to Newark. We told them we would be more than happy to take him with us. We were on the road by 9:00 a.m. and had a chance to talk in great length about the coffee business in Peru. We are really looking forward to our visit to Ecuador and Peru at the end of the year.
And so ends another fun-filled, action-packed, over-stuffed weekend with family and friends.
Bye-Bye!
P.S. Did anyone catch the typo in this blog?
Yes, I did.... It was delightfully tucked in among all the descriptions of super special foods.
ReplyDelete