Our Last Minute Weekend at the Lake

Last Wednesday I was surprised and delighted to hear from an old friend.  Dorothy was the very first pediatric nurse I met at Geisinger.  Throughout my years as a staff nurse she served as a teacher and trusted friend and mentor. When she left nursing education in 2006 I was hired into her position.   It was a big pair of shoes to fill but she had prepared me so well.   Dorothy continued to serve as a resource for me and was always there when I needed to vent.  She also has always been a source of advice and support as I became engaged, married and had each of my children.  She's been around for job changes and life changes.  I will always remember the card tucked under my office door on my last day in education.   She knew me well enough to know that the day was going to be an emotional one for me and she showed up with sweet words of encouragement.

Soooo, when she invited us to come visit at her lake house AND we had the weekend free, I knew we had to go.

We packed up Saturday morning and drove the quick 59 miles to the lake.

In no time at all we were out on the boat - kids up front, guys navigating and Dorothy and I set up in the back where we could catch up. 

We toured around the lake catching sight of the heron, lots of ducks, fish and birds.  But it was getting hot fast so the "kids" promptly entered the water.

Because Dorothy and Jerry are completely awesome they let the kids each take a turn driving the boat.

The only boat I was driving was the padde boat.

All of the kids enjoyed their first time in kayaks.  

We stayed the night at the cabin just over the mountain from the lake.  It was a cute little place complete with everything we could ever need - including freshly made blueberry muffins for breakfast.

As you can imagine a day of boating and swimming, followed by a campfire and s'mores made for some very tired campers!   

Summer Promises

I made a promise to myself early this spring.  I promised myself that I was going to fully enjoy this summer.  I was going to unplug, be present and have a blast.  From where I sit here on the deck today, kids laughing in the bounce house and enjoying crafts together, I think that I have succeeded in keeping my promise.

A sad by-product of such a promise is a lack of many things including clean laundry, a tidy house, an abundance of pictures and a hint of my sanity.   However, I feel like it's been a small price to pay for a summer like no other.   Finally having the ability and freedom to pick up and go whenever and wherever we want has been awesome.  Putting down the camera and being right in the thick of things has been wonderful for me and the kids too.  We might not have a lot of blog material to show for it but we have made a ton of memories.   Here are some highlights:

We made a quick trip out to Grammy Musials the end of June.  We enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Combine Brothers where the rolls are as big as Kinley's head and I think the pasta bowls sufficient to swim in.   We went back to her house where we introduced her quickly to FIFA Women's Soccer and watched as the USA defeated Germany.

The kids spent some time with their cousins and Cooper had his first guitar lesson with Jason.  All in all, a great trip.

We have spent a ton of time at Mimi and Pappy's pool this summer.  Just the other day Earl said he thinks it's the most use we have gotten at the pool and I fully agree.  We are certainly blessed to have the "Winfield Country Club" nearby.   The pool boy keeps everything so nice for us!

Speaking of the pool boy, here he is at the "Richard Picnic" my parents hosted a couple of weeks ago.

We all really enjoyed spending the afternoon swimming and visiting with our Lewistown family.

Every summer I have great intentions of teaching the kids things.   We always have workbooks to help us keep up with reading and math in hopes of avoiding the "summer slide".   I regret to say that this year we the workbooks have scarcely been touched.   We have worked on some important life skills including but not limited to: swimming,  vacuuming,  laundry (washing/drying AND folding); cooking (grilled cheese, rice, lemon bars, toast with peanutbutter) and maybe most noteable...Kinley has learned to ride a big kid scooter.

This poor guy has been a trooper, working lots of hours when I'm not dragging him to the next event or or outing.   He's a good sport and a great dad and I'm a lucky girl to be able to stay home with the kids.

 

So, if you catch us taking a quick snooze here and there, well, we probably need it.  And if you haven't caught up with us yet, (as in we haven't hung out this summer) you should call us because we are pretty fun!

Summer : week 3

Week three started out with Cooper off to soccer camp for the very first time.  He was so focused and so excited to spend a week with his best buddy, Ben, playing a sport they both love.   

While Coop gone we had a lot of girl time.  

We hit the rail trail on Wednesday morning and took a stop off at the Farmer's Market for some fresh fruits and vegetables.

The pool was the perfect temperature and the sun was shining too.   Kinley and I enjoyed time in the pool while McKenna and Mimi completed their first sewing lesson.

It's obvious that McKenna either has more patience or better skills than I did when I learned to sew. These two had a great time.   It's all McKenna has talked about.

We worked on a tie dye blanket for the beach on Thursday.   We are more than ready to get our toes in the sand in a few weeks.

Friday was beautiful day and we took full advantage of it with a fishing trip.  I haven't been fishing in a long time but I think I enjoyed it as much as the kids.

Friday was beautiful but Saturday was decidedly not. We headed out in the rain to the Mixtape Festival anyway.   That deserves post all its own!  We had fun and stayed mostly dry so I call it a successful way to round out week 3!

Summer Week 2 Review

We only had a day or so to recover from our Florida vacation before it was time for the much anticipated Cole-Smith Wedding.   I am still trying to reconcile the fact that Andrea is married.  I met her when she was just nine months old and its been a joy to watch her grow into an amazing young woman.

On Monday we made a quick trip to Lewistown to visit Mom-mom and Pappy.     As we arrived in town McKenna asked to drive through the neighborhood where I grew up.  It's hard to see my side of the house hidden behind the big tree.   The other side belonged to Megan. The kids are still in awe of the fact that we didn't have to leave the porch to play.  That was an amazing place to be a kid. 

After lunch with gram and pap we treated the kids to Sweet Frog.  

Before we left to come home we stopped to see Amy so I could stock up on my Mary Kay!  The kids were all thrilled to be able to spend some time playing with Levi. Levi, however, just wanted his mom to retrieve his toys from the top of the fridge.  

I'm glad we had the chance to visit before the summer calendar gets down right obnoxious with camps and bible school, etc.

I had some appointments early Tuesday morning.   McKenna filled in the role of babysitter. It's wonderful that I can trust her to hold down the fort for short periods of time. It definitely makes my life a bit easier. 

On Wednesday we headed out to pick strawberries and blueberries.   Last year was our first berry picking experience and it will most certainly be a yearly tradition.   We spent the rest of the week baking everything strawberry and blueberry we could come up with to use the berries.  The plus side was that we were able to surprise several people with fresh berry desserts and muffins. 

Kinley and I traveled to Danville Thursday morning for her six month ENT appointment.  Her ear tubes are out which is fine.  Hopefully she has grown enough that ear infections are behind us. What is not fine is apparently the size of her tonsils.  We were asked to consider a sleep study for her to help determine if she needs them removed.  So far we haven't made the call to schedule the test instead having decided take a couple of weeks to see how she does in terms of her snoring at night.  

I perhaps have the only kids who like to go to GMC for appointments because it sometimes involves seeing their dad which always means cookies and milk. That's a pretty good deal for getting your ears checked. 

Friday morning we were in Williamsport by 8:30 to pick up Cale and Cody.  They came to play for the day and help celebrate Cooper's birthday.   The kids all had a great time playing together and prepping for a much anticipated wiffle ball game.  Those pictures are on my camera and definitely deserve their own post. 

And that, my friends, just about rounds out our second week of summer vacation!