A Long Weekend

Gregg and I at Yankee Stadium

I have been meaning to write about last weekend for a while. A couple of months ago, Gregg and I bought tickets to a Yankees-Royals game on Sunday (the 8th) in Yankee Stadium. We love going to baseball games and have decided to see one new baseball stadium every year. Since Yankee Stadium is going to be torn down after this season, it was now or never. We both hate the Yankees but this was more in the interest of history than anything else.

Anyway, at the time we bought the tickets we did not know that we would have another member of the family to think about; Giggs was not in the picture then. We had planned to drive to New York, watch the game and return the same day. This was impossible because of Giggs and Gregg refused to put him in a kennel since he still has separation anxiety when we are not with him. So, we decided to go to CT on Saturday, leave Giggs with Gregg’s parents on Sunday and return after the game to pick him up.

However, things got more complicated when my great-uncle (my maternal grandfather’s brother) called and said he would be in CT on Friday. He lives in Jakarta and would be flying out on Saturday. I have not seen him in 5 years. But we are very close and he spoilt us rotten our whole lives. So, I promised to get to CT on Friday instead of Saturday so we could see him.

This is why we ended up getting to CT on Thursday. We introduced Giggs to Gregg’s parents. They have never had a dog before and I was worried that he would be naughty or soil their carpets – thereby making them dislike him. But they were wonderful and so was Giggs. He did not have a single accident the whole weekend (he is 90% house-trained already) and when we were not there, he spent his time sleeping on their laps. They were so sweet to him, took him out every time he needed to go, played with him and refused to crate him. Like parents, like son!!!!

On Friday, we spent most of the day with Giggs and then left for Stamford to meet my great-uncle. Gregg was a little nervous (meeting new family members is always uncomfortable) but everything went well. He got along very well with my great-uncle and his son (who was born and brought up in the United States). We stayed for dinner, talked about politics and had a lot of fun. In the meantime, Gregg’s parents bonded with Giggs.

We spent Saturday with Gregg’s parents. Gregg’s mom went out and bought Giggs about 5 new toys, 3 boxes of treats and even a bandana which says ‘Democrats in ‘08’. By the way, Gregg refuses to let him wear it. Then they took us out for lunch and I had the best sweet potato fries. I usually like real instead of sweet potatoes but they were awesome!!

Sunday morning, we left Giggs and took a train in to New York. Let me just say that New York always makes me anxious. Too many people, too much noise, too fast-paced!!! The number of people on the subway from Grand Central to Yankee Stadium alone was mind-boggling!!! Gregg insisted that I not wear one of my many Red Sox t-shirts. The game itself was fun. I was very excited for the short time when the Kansas City Royals had the lead but that dissipated when it was clear that the Yankees would win. It was 95F and I was very glad for the hand-held plastic fans which Gregg’s mom had supplied us with. But the atmosphere (though enemy territory for a Red Sox fan) was electric and the game itself was fun.

After the game was over, we took the train back to CT, picked up Giggs and drove home. It was a very long but fun weekend.

I will post more pictures of Giggs (as requested by many) in the next couple of days.