May 9, 2016: A Mother's Day Recap

Elisa's Daily Scoop
​

Mother's Day Re-cap

Welcome to the beginning of Year 3 here at Travelin' Cousins!!

Have you noticed that Tanya and I switched sides?  Yup - just like to switch it up a bit!  If you've been with us from the beginning, you know that each year, we alternate sides.  Just keeping you guys on your toes!! 

Yesterday was a fun day. The main event for the day was our family dinner at Chris & Tony's in Syossett, Long Island.

This place is a family-style restaurant with more food than you can imagine! Although it was a set menu for Mother's Day, the offering was very extensive and the quantity of food was pretty amazing.

The whole Family at Mother's Day dinner yesterday (c)travelincousins.com

It was a little bit of pandemonium, with the number of people in the place and trying to get our group to agree on what to order.  

My sis is very particular about her food, so making meal choices is something she has very definite opinions about.  And considering the portions were served family style, we needed to make sure everyone was happy with what was ordered.

Now, it's important to note that I am like the only "mostly" vegetarian in the family.  These folks are pretty hard-core carnivores - well, at least my sister, brother-in-law and his mom and my nephews, so I was the one who made ordering difficult lol.

Me and my Jewels (c)travelincousins.com

My sis and her family (c)travelincousins.com

But, we managed to have a table full of food that pleased everyone.  Now, I cannot stress to you  just how hungry everyone was.  And, as a result, we all acted as if we hadn't eaten in days - literally, we attacked the food, starting with the salad, through the appetizers (fried calamari and clams) to the pasta (3 of them -- 2 with different bolognese sauces and one with broccoli and olive oil) through the chicken scarparello, chicken parmesan to the filet of sole and "burnt string beans" (Yum).  

Eating like it was our last meal...no one took pictures of all the beautiful appetizers and main course dishes!! However, for some reason, we all broke out our cameras when the dessert tray came!! ​

Dessert! That's what I'm talking about!! (c)travelincousins.com

I guess it was the part of the meal that was most inspiring!

Well, in honor of Mother's Day yesterday, let's take a look at TWO great Mom & Daughter trips:

Canyon Ranch, Lenox, MA (credit: travel.usnews.com)

Canyon Ranch Spa
What is more relaxing than hanging with mom bonding, while getting pampered!
Me and my mom love spas and spa services and I'm CONFIDENT that my girls will enjoy lying back and being tended to as they get older!

Since it was first opened in 1979 in Lenox, MA, Canyon Ranch has come to be recognized as the world leader in healthy living and luxury spa vacations.  

My last visit was a number of years ago to the Lenox location for a 5-day mini-vacay with my mom.  At that time, there were two locations - Lenox, MA and Scottsdale, AZ.  

Today, there are  Luxury SpaClubs(R) in Las Vegas located on the fourth floor of The Venetian® and the third floor of The Palazzo®. The expansive 134,000-square-foot Canyon Ranch SpaClub® in Las Vegas features over 150 services and activities.

Coming in July to the spectacular Turkish Riviera, near the city of Bodrum on the South Aegean coast, will be yet another destination spa in Kaplankaya, Turkey.

London, England

London - (credit: visitlondon.com)

London is a city with all the old world charm of Europe and lots of new and modern excitement!

My daughter Gianna is dying to go here and my mom has already let us know that she is in for the travel adventure!

With so much to do, it's a great city to bond! My little "girl group" (Me, my girls and my mom) decided we will make the highlight of our future trip together enjoying as much "Afternoon Tea" experiences as we can!!

Now, I'm not minimizing the wonderful sites and historic places of interest such as The Houses of Parliament, The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, The London Eye, Tower Bridge, Big Ben and many more -- can you imagine combining a "tour" with "Tea"!!

That's right!  
Afternoon Tea Bus Tour is one of the coolest things around.  It's an hour and one-half bus tour while sipping tea and enjoying an array of tasty sandwiches and delicious cakes and pastries.

When I told my kids about this, and showed them the photo above from their site, they were so psyched!!!  This WILL BE definite when we go!

J.M. Barrie, Author of Peter Pan (credit: en.wikipedia.org)

And speaking of London and stories set there, 
alittle Fun Trivia...Today is Peter Pan Day.  
The author of Peter Pan, James Matthew was born in 1860 in Scotland on this day.

According to Bio.com, J.M. Barrie died on June 19, 1937, in London, England. As a part of his will, he gave the copyright to Peter Pan to a children's hospital in London.

After his death, Barrie's beloved characters were transformed into animated figures in the Disney classic Peter Pan (1953). The story was also the basis for the 1991 film Hook. And a live-action version of the story, Peter Pan, was released in 2003.

​That's a wrap for me folks!!!
Enjoy your Monday!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 10 DAYS

A Mother's Day Recap...

Well hello HELLO...

We're baaaack to kick off our 3rd Rockin' Year!

For starters and as I'm sure you've noticed (because you ROCK) Elisa and I switched column sides AGAIN.

We've kinda made this our yearly thing, and now for this 3rd year, you'll be finding me on the "right" side!

Since we started the blog back on Mother's Day 2014, yesterday was basically our 3rd anniversary here at Travelin' Cousins - although it's not truly to date, it's a kinda fun way of remembering this fun occasion.

Do you know what else TODAY marks???

It's Dave B. aka Birdwald Ponypant's Birthday!!!

​HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY! 

And so this morning started with him pulling out the telescope and pointing it at the sun! 

(c)travelincousins.com

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME (without a solar filter)

The plan of the morning was to watch Mercury in Transit. We were able to catch glimpses of the planet Mercury wandering directly in front of the sun — a rare "transit" that only happens about 13 times a century!

Luckily this took place before the weather got all cloudy and socked in, hiding the sun completely.
​
​It was a mighty cool sight to be seen and I'm sure glad that Dave was on top of it with getting the telescope set up for this to be accomplished.

Credit: NASA

*On average, transits of Mercury occur about 13 or 14 times every 100 years. The last one took place in 2006, and the next one won't occur until November 11, 2019. After that, we won't see another until 2032.

It's definitely not too shabby to have such an event land on your Birthday!!

But then poor Dave had to go off to work...the festivities will continue after 5pm and I'll give you a full report back here in tomorrow's Daily Scoop!

But let's not feel too bad for Mr. Ponypants, as we will be heading across the pond (the Atlantic) in just 10 short days...
Okay so the days aren't gonna be any longer or shorter than usual - still only 24hrs - but our day of departure is gonna be here in no time!!

In the meantime let me catch you up to speed on my Mother's Day Recap...

So right off the bat I was wished a Happy Mother's Day by my wonderful children.
Without them, I wouldn't be a mother, and without me, they wouldn't be here - so it is a fairly special day.

​But for a while - like hours - there was no further recognition of the Holiday?!

I love love love celebrating things, and this is how my kids have been raised. I try to celebrate EVERYTHING...

New Years Day is HUGE for us and that just kicks off a year of celebrations...
We party for the Superbowl and for the Oscars
I cook a Chinese Feast on Chinese New Year
We celebrate Fat Tuesday with the best of 'em
Spread the luck of the Irish on St. Patricks
We have a Mexican Fiesta on Cinco De Mayo
Don our Red White and Blue for a Fantastic July 4th  
Dress in theme for Halloween
and the list goes on
​With of course Holidays and Birthdays all being the BOMB dot com!

​So when yesterday was seeming like just an ordinary Sunday, I was beginning to be a bit put off.
Am I the ONLY one who plans things around here?!

So I sat in my own stew for a bit - without letting on - though texting Elisa to find out if her morning had been similar. Which I guess it had, though she didn't seem to care and I did.

Well I kept my promise and we took Cosette to visit Dream. I'm glad I was doing something for my daughter on Mother's Day - but I had given my word.
And have you know that my word is like GOLD.

(c)travelincousins.com

We then had to run to the store because I had forgot to get my mom a card. While we were there I bought the kids a couple of new shirts.
Still wondering why I didn't get a card or gift yet?!

I know I was being selfish with my thoughts, and I couldn't ever ask for my kids to be any more wonderful human beings than they already are.

But mommy wanted to be acknowledged a bit - perhaps it was my ego, but for the time being I was shocked that there seemed to be no effort.

After shopping, we had headed home and to enjoy a lovely Annual Mother's Day brunch put on by Dave C. (not Birdwald - don't get confused).
I was very glad that my niece Mika was still visiting, and got to eat with us, before going to spend the day with her mum (Liz).  

Tofu Benedict (c)travelincousins.com

Adorable nieces (c)travelincousins.com

Brunch was quite delish, and then as I was waiting for the fam bam to be ready for us to all head out to the Gardens...

Guess what - my big little angels surprised me after all (and I'm rather difficult to surprise) with a box of my favorite vegan chocolates from
​Rose City Chocolatiers
I was in shock with what I saw!
​
And after all these little stinkers...they didn't forget about their mommy!

My wonderful kids (c)travelincousins.com

Our gang of 11 then headed to Roger's Gardens and enjoyed a lovely stroll and lots of beautiful flowers!!

(c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

It's MEEEE (c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

My mom and my kids (c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

The Girls (c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

(c)travelincousins.com

The next stop for us was at the Irvine Spectrum, going to Barnes and Noble...looking at more travel books of course - there are just soooo many places to go! My list gets longer everyday!

After leaving the bookstore we all went to a big family dinner at Kabuki.

The Fam Bam (c)travelincousins.com

And then before I knew it, I looked at the time and we had to run!

The next plan was going to take the kids to see Captain America - Civil War.

So we rushed home in order for Dave C, and the kids to change into their Marvel wear, and we headed out to the theatre, meeting our friend Matt to catch the flick.
Cosette and Dominic have been very excited about this movie, marking the calendar and taking sides.

​Opposite sides that is, Cosette siding with Ironman and Dominic with Captain America

(c)travelincousins.com

It was a GREAT day!
And that my friends, was how my Mother's Day 2016 turned out.

​Goes to show that you should never feel sorry for yourself, and never make assumptions - a lesson I try to teach my children - but even I'm not perfect!

Don't forget to check out Elisa's column to hear all about her day and about a couple of perfect Mother/Daughter trips to take.

See ya back here tomorrow!
​-T