Binghamton

This past Tuesday we hopped in the car again, this time to visit Gram (Mike's maternal grandmother) and stay overnight. It was about a four-hour drive from my parents' house, which wouldn't have been bad except that we forgot the diaper bag that had just about everything we really needed for Benjamin, including food, diapers and clothes. We discovered this blunder at a rest stop somewhere in the mountains as Benjamin was getting hungry, and I nearly had a panic attack (seriously - tears and hyperventilating, I was really freaking out). Turns out we were just a couple of miles from a huge shopping center where we found everything we needed. Mike said that someday we'll look back on it and laugh, though I did NOT see that happening at the time! Everything was fine by the time we got to Gram's house, and we decided we'll have to pack a little differently from now on.

A meal in the backyard. Benjamin isn't Gram's first great-grandchild, but she acts like he's the most special kid on the planet. Gram treated us like gold, too: she served up a delicious homemade casserole and her famous blueberry pie.

Gram loves her some traditional country-Western music, and she got Benjamin hooked. They sat here listening to music for such a long time, and he was so calm just sitting on her lap and staring at her.

Gram must be the original Baby Whisperer. He took a nice long nap in her arms while listening to country music again.
Hanging out in his room at Gram's.

Another bittersweet goodbye, standing in front of the house that Pop built.

Mike was so impressed by Benjamin's reaction to music at Gram's that he was persuaded to play some music in the car on the trip back to Pennsylvania. He popped in The Beatles' Abbey Road, and Benjamin was asleep in minutes.

Yep, that's right...I took a picture of a pizza box and posted it on the blog. Before we got on the highway, we made a quick stop at Nirchi's to pick up a sheet pizza to bring back to my folks' house. I think this is the best pizza in the universe. Mike grew up on this stuff, and we've been meaning to get some for years but it just never worked out. We snacked on it all the way home, then had reheated leftovers for dinner last night. Mmmmm, Nirchi's.