Grandpa!

In the beginning of the year, we had the pleasure of Grandpa's visit all the way from Syndey, Australia. While he only stayed with us for about ten days (much of which was riddled with illness and brutally cold weather), we were thrilled to have him.

I was just getting over my first round of strep throat (more on that later). Four days into Dad's visit, Bill came down with strep throat. Such bad timing. Thankfully, neither Dad nor Liam ever came down with it. Whew!

We managed to squeeze in a few sights in Manhattan, mostly his old stomping grounds: Lincoln Center and Radio City Music Hall, where he performed in various orchestras before becoming a conductor himself and Greenwich Village where he often went to take in some jazz, his favorite type of music. We walked around Times Square and had some hot chocolate to thaw out from the fierce cold winds. While there, I took him to my secret location where he could get a bird's eye view of all of Times Square and pointed out where the New Year's Eve ball drops. One evening, though it was kind of late, we drove down to the World Trade Center at his request. I obliged, even though I had no intention of going there at least not for a good long while, mostly until all the masses of people there to view the new memorial had subsided.

On more than one occasion, we also enjoyed some really nice New York pizza which he truly missed. Here we are at one of two pizza places we visited.

We also took him out to eat empanadas at our favorite empanada shop, Papa's Empanadas which is owned by my good friend's family. Yum! He really enjoyed "the meal in a pocket", the dessert empanadas, Colombiana (Colombian "champagne" soda, not sure why they call it that since it practically tastes like cream soda) and Pony malta, a cold toasted barley beverage. Also pictured here on the left is my mom, a.k.a. "Welita" (as Liam so lovingly calls her).

 

 

 

Since it was brutally cold the days he was here, we spend a lot of happy time indoors playing, eating, talking, watching movies and just catching up.

Time flew by and before we knew it, we were sending him off to Arizona to visit his daughter for a week. Then, he visited with a few friends in California for four days before flying back to Sydney, Australia. I'm glad he got to thaw out in Arizona and California before returning home; his own home, which might not be for very long, since he will return to live in the U.S. when he officially retires. Hooray!