Summer has come and gone, but I wanted to share pictures from our August trip to my mom and Paul’s cottage.
We invited some friends and their kiddos so there were babies everywhere!
Campfires with friends are the best!
Ben had his first ride on the jetski too! He actually surprised me and did a lot better than I thought he would. They slowly buzzed around shore and then headed out on a little adventure to a secret cove where Ben picked up a neat rock. (And then lost it a few hours later).
There was also a bit of nice down time.
My mom and Paul’s neighbors had “Clamorama” the night before. A yearly end of summer celebration with, you guessed it, lots of clams. The tent was still up so they let us use if for our meals, perfect.
I told Justin and Kate to “smile nicely” and got this lovely memory.
Such a good time. Until next year, here’s to you summer!
Wow, posts have been pretty infrequent around here. It seems like once Ben started school life has gotten CRAZY and I’ve been super exhausted with the shuffle of it all. And Cassidy’s back to waking up at 5am again, but that’s neither here nor there.
Andy and I needed a weekend away! So we headed up to Indian Lake in the Adirondacks and rented a campsite for the weekend. This wasn’t your typical camping though, we rented a site on an island and packed all our gear in the canoe and headed out. Andy had actually bought a 2HP outboard motor on craigslist and hooked it up to the canoe so we didn’t even have to paddle the 4.5 miles upstream to our site.
It was freezing! But it was so much fun. Just being away and existing in the quiet was great! We went with friends and pretty much had the entire island to ourselves. We camped in tents but there were a few amenities like campfire rings, picnic tables and outhouses so it wasn’t just a complete drop in the wilderness. The DEC guys also came to check up on campers each morning to make sure things were going well.
I just brought my cell phone since I didn’t want to deal with my big camera and the canoe and water (that just sounded like a disaster). Pics don’t really do it justice, it was beautiful up there! I’d definitely go again!
Thanks to the grandparents and neighbors who made the trip possible by taking care of the little ones!
Since Ben starts school next week (ok, it’s only PreK but still) I wanted to do something special with him. I dropped Cassidy off with our babysitter in the morning and we headed to Tim Hortons to get donuts. A sprinkle one for Ben of course. He was calling them “sparkle” donuts for a while and then told me he picked one with “sprinks.” Cutest thing ever. We had to do a few lame errands while we were out (gas and bank) but then went to the store to pick out a big kid sized backpack for him.
Then we headed to Seabreeze! It’s like a smaller Six Flags, I’d only been once back in college. My freshman year, each college at RIT (art, engineering, science, etc) sent their incoming students on a field trip their first week of orientation. Science college went to the zoo, engineering college got somewhere lame (I don’t remember what) and Imaging Arts went to Seabreeze. Gosh, that was 10 years ago!
Ben had a blast! We stuck mostly with the kiddie rides (he wasn’t tall enough for a lot of the other ones). We did the bumper cars, kiddie airplane and boats, train ride, carousel, kiddie swings and mini roller coaster. We even did the log ride, I was SO proud of him for wanting to try it. I was slightly terrified, you’re not buckled in at all so when you get lift as you’re coming down I was holding on to Ben with one arm and the log with the other ;-) I’m normally all for thrill rides, but not when I’m the only one holding my kid in! He thought it was the coolest thing ever. Then there was the wave pool, splash park and kiddie sized water slides. We had a picnic lunch and got ice cream cones too.
It was such a fun, memorable day with him. I only took one picture the entire time but don’t regret it at all, I was so caught up in the moment with him that it seemed silly to try to get a ton of pictures. Totally guilty of doing this on other outings…quick, lets pose so we remember this instead of wholly experiencing the moment we’re in.
Fantastic day! Ben still talks about that “wood” (log) ride and how wet we got :)
We spent part of a week in the Adirondacks with my dad, Leslie and Chris. Their doggie Sadie and kitty Prim also joined us in a cabin on Pleasant Lake, a little lake next to Brantingham Lake. There was much hiking, canoeing, fishing, geocaching, swimming, picnicing and family time spent together. We had fun and the kids were pretty good but it was definitely nice to have a lot of hands to help. Vacations with kids are never quite relaxing :)
A week late, but, last weekend we went to my mom and Paul’s cottage on Lake Ontario to celebrate the 4th.
Their addition was just finished and it looked perfect! Plenty of room for visitors too!
I love the gardens as much as I love the craftsman style architecture of the house.
The water was pretty choppy the whole weekend so we didn’t get out on the jetski. Andy headed out in his kayak for a bit though.
Ben hung out on the tube for a little bit too.
Cassidy wanted in on the action.
Andy also flew his quadcopters around in the fields behind the cottage.
Here’s a video of what the camera captured while in flight, pretty cool!
There’s even a private playground behind the cottage lane that the kids enjoyed.
Most of the time was just spent enjoying each others company.
Ben got to sleep in a tent we’d set up in one of the bedrooms, he thought it was the coolest thing ever. I actually woke him up to see the fireworks but he was scared and asked to go back inside, poor buddy.
Also referred to as “Dogfest” by Andy the cat lover. This post is for you baby, there were dogs everywhere, you would have hated it ;-)
Saturday, Andy watched the kids while I went to a gathering of English Shepherds and their owners. ES’s are a herding breed related to border collies and aussies and they used to populate farms across the country. They’re not as popular now which is why groups of them get together occasionally to hang out and enjoy each others company. The dogs are intelligent, protective and strive to please their owners whether living in the suburb or working sheep and cattle on a farm. The joke goes that Timmy wouldn’t have even been stuck IN the well if Lassie had been an English Shepherd.
I actually had two growing up, from this rescue organization. Since we’re a no dog family (currently…..?) it was really fun to hang out with the dogs and help where needed. There were raffles, speakers, an agility course, bbq picnic, hikes and sheep herding demonstrations all planned for the long weekend.
