Land of the Free

The month of August had us traveling out to the East Coast of the US for the annual American Accounting Association conference. This year it was held in Washington D.C and it was my first time attending.

Maybe it's because Derrald has been watching episodes of "The Sopranos" lately or maybe it's just my overactive imagination but when I join Derrald at conferences like this I can't help feeling like I'm part of some accounting-mob family. The name "Stice" is known across the accounting world. Accounting is the "family business". In fact, they have literally written a book on it. And the characters are all there - Jim (Uncle Jimmy), Kay (Papa), Derrald and Han (the brothers), Lorien (the sister), all infiltrating the accounting world. They've got the US covered and with D and I now living in HK, I think it's safe to say they've gone global. This conference was extra special, however, because we introduced some new characters, Amber, Seth and myself - The Spouses.

"The Spouses" Ha! That's what we ended up calling ourselves and it is with these lovely people I spent the majority of my weekend. It was always amusing when idly chatting with some nice stranger in the elevator because the conversation would always require some amount of identification - Stice? Ah, yes! And which Stice are you with? That's the brother? The son? The uncle? How are you all related? 

I particularly enjoyed the fact that while Derrald and the others were away" taking care of business" Seth, Amber and I (the spouses) got to hang out and watch endless amounts of Olympics on the TV and take walks on the promenade and entertain Sophie, my adorable little niece. Amber and I are both pregnant so we got to commiserate with each other over the terrors of morning sickness and support each other in our cravings for mentos or mexican or whatever the daily craving was. Seth was extraordinary in taking care of us and his daughter. He showed endless amounts of patience when it came to driving us to places like Target, where subsequently we looked like some kind of odd polygamist family with Seth escorting his two pregnant wives about. Haha. Poor, wonderful Seth.

So, speaking of polygamy...

After the conference ended we all drove up, caravan style, to Rochester, NY, where we would be gathering with the rest of Derrald's family for a reunion hosted by Derrald's Aunt Bernie. That is NOT the part that is related to polygamy. I'm getting there. On our way, we made a quick, overnight pitstop in Amish Country, Pennsylvania for some good ol' fried chicken, homemade bread, shoofly pie and a buggy ride! 

I think exposure to my Dad's horse, Tiny, has created some kind of affinity for horses in Derrald. He stood like this for a good 10-15 minutes. Just staring the horses down. 

Meanwhile the rest of us waited, and Kay made friends with a Korean family also awaiting the Amish experience.

Finally we got our ride...

And perhaps just a tad more than we'd bargained for in our driver...

Remember, when I said "speaking of polygamy..."

This is where Amber (remember she is also pregnant... oh, and married... and accompanied by her husband) found a potential suitor in our buggy driver (married with children) who couldn't stop eyeing her up and pointing out how well she would do as part of his family. 

*side note: I found it interesting that upon typing "amish polygamy" into my google search engine ALL three top hits addressed both Amish and Mormons in some kind of comparison. Neither the Amish nor the Mormons practice polygamy. (although it certainly seemed like this particular Amish man was open to the idea, especially if it included Amber, and sure, why not her husband too?)

Here we are pictured with our new found friend. Look closely, you might recognize him because, as he proudly mentioned on multiple occasions, he was also an actor! He'd taken part in filming some episodes for a Discovery channel program. His role? Why, Amish buggy driver of course! 

Don't worry. All members of our team made it safely to NY. No man left behind. 

Thus began some serious family vacation time. We toured up to the hill of Cumorah, where we seized the opportunity to snap some family pictures and I personally seized the opportunity to strut my pregnant stuff. That's right. 

Working it. 

Derrald and Kamila

Cousins, Sophie and Julian, with Dads, Seth and Stefan.

We all gathered for a family photo before the rain came in and washed us away.

Everyone (except for Lily Stice). Back row: Jay, Stefan, Ryan, Julian, Kay, Ramona, Sophie, Seth, Lorien, Han, Derrald Front Row: Kamila, Lily Kay, Taraz, Amber, Kylie, Hayley

We also toured the Sacred Grove and Palmyra, where we attempted more family photos, this time, with more sunshine!

The Stice originals. 

For some reason I love this photo. The sun blinding everyone, except Kay - who looked this way in every picture.

Note to Lily Stice: you will need to photoshop yourself into this one!

My nephew, Jay, is a boy after my own heart. On multiple occasions he had to be stopped from wandering off after the dragon flies or inspecting each and every stone we crossed. He would also often be found staring, dreamily into the flowers. But can we blame him? Look at these flowers!

We toured all Ramona's old stomping grounds, including the house she used to live in, thanks to some very accommodating New Yorkers who probably didn't realise just how many people they would be inviting into their home when they first agreed to letting us inside. We made a frozen custard stop up on the shores of Lake Ontario, where things got a little silly and trying to get a good photo = impossible.

And to end our trip we took a special tour out to Niagara Falls.

There was some confusion concerning passports and whether or not we could, should, or would, cross the border to see the glory of the water from a Canadian perspective, so we opted for staying in America and taking a ride on the Maid of the Mist.

Totally worth it.

It was perfect. There were sexy blue plastic ponchos. 

*Note you WILL get soaked. Plastic poncho or no. But it is oh so fun. Check out the smiles.

And our views of the cascading water were epic. I loved getting the different angles from up the top and then again from below on the boat. 

 I have never been to the Niagara Falls before and so was very excited to finally be sharing this romantic spot...

...with at least 16 other people ;)