Nineteen!
What a joy it was to spend Yessa's birthday weekend with her at Bing. After Bing, we were heading to Vermont to spend time with Buddie's family, so Mocha got her first visit to Binghamton this time.
The goal was leaving at 7 a.m. on Saturday morning, but we were on the road closer to 8, so the kids got a little more sleep.
We stopped to see Buster first and give him hugs. It was so good to see him.
Then to see Yessa and drop some items off in her room.
After shifting items around in the van, we figured out how to make space for everyone in the van so we could all go out for sushi together to celebrate Yessa's birthday weekend.
We tried out a new to us sushi restaurant, Lover's Sushi, and it shot to the top of our favorite Bing places.
After lunch we dropped off the two eldest to hang out at Buster's apartment, and Yessa, Buds, Mocha, and I went back to campus. There was an open house for the psychology department research labs, so Buds and Yessa went to explore that, while Mocha and I walked around campus and hung out in the van.
So much research, so many labs.
From touring the labs, the three of us walked over to the field house to watch The Bearcats play basketball.
Yessa had a fun moment when she realized several of the basketball players are in her math class. Then we had stressful moments when the Baxter The Bearcat mascot began strolling through the crowd, chatting with people.
Yessa has a long-standing distrust of mascots, going well back to her childhood and visits to Disney.
Saturday night brought a trip to Target and hanging out. Yessa also received a lovely birthday gift from her roommate. They have been such a great match.
Sunday morning, the actual birthday, dawned a little gray and rainy, but that didn't slow us down.
We scooped up Yessa and tried out another new restaurant in town: Strange Brew. Great coffee, lots of vegan options, fun atmosphere, and friendly people.
On the drive to Strange Brew, Yessa was serenaded by the generations on Buddie's weekly family phone call.
After we got back to the hotel with our breakfast, Yessa received her second birthday serenade:
My mom calls and sings to people on their birthday. One of our favorite traditions.
After breakfast we packed up and headed for campus. Monkey relaxed at the union while the rest of us went for a good long walk through the beautiful nature preserve on campus.
We had time to walk and talk and laugh; my very favorite things.
In the area above, crossing over the pond, there's a place to take a picture and upload it to become part of the ongoing record. I almost dropped my phone in the marshy spot setting it on the stand to take the picture, but mine is the one from Nov. 9th in the video.
After the very long walk, we checked for ticks, grabbed some lunch, and grabbed our last bits of time together.
It's never easy to tell them good bye, but it sure helped a lot knowing we'd be seeing them in only a couple weeks for Thanksgiving break.
Happiest of birthdays, Dearest Yessa. Your birth made our family complete.
