The Blog

Last year, Keith dropped the ball: he was tasked with planning a day during vacation and unknowingly drove Christine to Filmore Glen Park when the main attraction, the Gorge Trail, was closed. Instead Keith and Christine would walk the trail above the gorge, listening to the water throughout, but never once seeing it. This year, Keith double- and triple-checked the New York State Parks website to be certain that the entire park was open for business. The kids had been chomping-at-the-bit to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa’s so they were dropped off in the late morning and Keith and Christine spent the early afternoon in the gorge and it was really, really nice, actually. It is an easy trip to Moravia and it is a very accessible walk (less than 4 miles round trip) that the kids will likely enjoy. It will have to be the site of […]

It is a summer tradition that we managed in the earliest days of autumn. We had been trying to get to Rudy’s and the Lake Ontario shoreline as a family throughout the summer months, but the weather never aligned with our schedules. Even this week, we were rained out and were forced to push back our visit until Saturday, but in the end, it worked out in our favor. The day was near-perfect. The temperature was comfortable. The winds were calm. The lake was as close to glass-like as it gets. Austin and Victoria were able to walk the shoreline comfortably and throw/skip rocks until their hearts were content … which was a little before their father was content, himself. The food was as good but unhealthy as always: The kids and Keith had fried clams and Christine had fried shrimp. Christine and Keith shared some pountine as well. We […]

When Christine and Keith started apple-picking in twenty years ago, it wasn’t a “thing” that most families do. We would visit Mom and Dad (now Grandma and Grandpa) on Columbus Day weekend, and it was something to do on the way to and from Lake Ontario, which Keith liked to visit when he was in the area. Once we moved to the area after Austin was born, we would continue apple picking, but not travel so far to do it, because we live closer to Lafayette, where there a orchards-a-plenty. Beek and Skiff was so popular that a traffic officer was needed at the intersection near the orchard, but it we passed it by and drove for another 8 miles, there was a little orchard that suited us nicely. There were few people, a small fritter shack, and a variety of other gourds/squash that could be purchased as well. Over […]

For the first time, he enters the High School as its student. For the first time, she enters the Middle School as its student. They’ll get on the bus together but will exit the bus apart. There are a lot of things that should concern us. Whether or not they are ready and equipped for this day isn’t one of them.

Tuesday We dropped off the kids to Grandma and Grandpa’s house after lunch and made what is now a very familiar drive to Saranac Lake to stay in a very familiar hotel to do a very familiar activities in very unfamiliar times. When we last visited 2 summers ago, we planned to return and tackle the 2 large climbs that had (to date) evaded us: Marcy and Whiteface. Our first year, we didn’t know what to expect and didn’t try any large climbs. Our second year, Keith was struggling with a thyroid storm, so large climbs were out. The third year, we tackled Giant Mountain without much fanfare, so when we departed, we had committed ourselves to checking the 2 remaining large but technically-reasonable climbs off our list. We planned on dinner from Casa del Sol, the Mexican restaurant that is less than a block’s walk from the hotel; they […]

Things don’t always go as we planned. This year, circumstances prevented us from attending the NASCAR race at Pocono for the 2nd straight year after never missing a race since our inaugural visit in 2013. I offered to make it up to Austin by taking him to a different track: he chose to go the annual road race at Watkins Glen (sponsored this year by GoBowling.com). We have always arrived early to the races, but this would be our second year trying to authentically tailgate: cooking 2 meals over 6-7 hours under the canopy, playing games, listening to music, etc. This year (unlike our previous effort) I was determined to get things right and (between my preparation and Austin’s greater maturity) the entire pre-race festivities went off without a hitch (except for the him blinking for the one image I captured of us under the canopy). We arrived before 0900 […]

Both of them had some HUGE adjustments to make and it was never going to be easy. Austin would stay home most of the year and learned remotely. Victoria would be un-enrolled from school in favor of home-schooling. It involved a lot of work from both of them and more patience that either has ever been asked to deploy. Austin needed to manage his studies independently with maturity of a college freshman and Victoria was challenged at an individualized-level that she had never experienced. Yet, at the end of the year, Austin was scoring 95% on a 9th grade regents exam (taken in 8th grade) and Victoria was writing at the level of 6th grader while completing math assignments for 5th graders (while still in 4th grade). They have been absolute rock-star students. Both of them thrived and we couldn’t be prouder.

Mary Ann C. Shewciw (née Stio), 71, of Township of Washington, NJ, passed away peacefully on Sunday, June 20, 2021 surrounded by the laughter and love of family and friends. Mary Ann will be remembered for her kindness, loyalty in her friendships, dedication to her family and her profession, love of her television programs, and her meticulous attention to detail. Mary Ann was born in New York City, NY to Thomas and Isabella Stio. Loving wife of Joe who passed away in 2010. Beloved mother of Christine Waldron and her husband Keith, and Stephanie Shewciw and her husband DJ Cooper. Loving grandmother of Austin and Victoria Waldron. Dear sister of Angela McKenna and her husband Ed. Cherished aunt to Elizabeth Sikorski and her husband Tim, and their son Tommy. Dear sister-in-law of William Shewciw and his wife Jean. She was a devoted psychiatric nurse for Bergen New Bridge Medical Center, […]

3 weeks ago, Victoria was so very disappointed. For the first time in 3 years, robins had elected to build a nest in the swingset and had laid eggs. Being an animal-lover, she was excited for the eggs to hatch and to watch them grow up. Then a predator ransacked the nest; Keith found the broken eggs one day when he was mowing and the nest had been abandoned. Or that is what we thought until – after another week – birds started flying in and out again and there were 4 new eggs in the nest. 12 days later the first would hatch. The next day another. And another again the next day. As of this morning, there is one more egg that remains unhatched. Victoria is elated. Momma-robin, on the other hand, is not quite as excited about the attention that is garnered by her babes, neither from […]