This weekend, we had one last hurrah before the start of the new school year. The weather was cool and very windy and it rained a lot today. But other than that, it was a nice end to summer. We stayed at my parents' cottage north of here on a small lake...I'm sure I've posted pics from there before. :) So the boys enjoyed their usual frog hunting, fishing, and swimming. We also taught them how to play slap jack. The youngest had trouble remembering what it was called, so we had interesting variations including "flap jack" and "smack jack". LOL
At one point while fishing, hubby told the youngest to "kiss the fish". And he made that scrunched up "eeewwww" face you see in this upper right photo. Ha ha ha And when he was reeling in his next catch he said, "It's a BIG one" while older brother demonstrated and told him to reel faster. The fish was maybe 6 inches long. LOL
Lots of small perch and sunfish were caught that day...not only with the traditional fishing poles, but also with nets. The boys swam underwater with their nets in hand and were catching the fish like that. They called it scuba fishing (but without the scuba gear) - LOL.
Good fun was had by all. And now we look forward to the arrival of fall.
So our youngest celebrated his 7th birthday with family and friends today. It was several months of planning and preparations to do a home party with a carnival theme, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. It was sunny and in the 80's - just perfect.
We had set up various stations including a milk bottle game, ping pong ball in the cup game, ring toss game, hole in one game, football throw game, potato sack race, dunk tank and face painting. My aunt is super creative and did all the face painting which turned out so cute! We rented the dunk tank from a local place and it was the biggest hit of the whole party. My BIL was such a good sport and volunteered to be the dunkee...but it wasn't long before even the kids wanted to get dunked! :)
We bought all the prizes from Oriental Trading Company. That place is awesome - all kinds of goodies at a great price. My kind of shop. :) Prizes included a decorate your own binoculars (which actually worked quite well), velvet bookmarks, sunglasses, animal coin bag/key chains, foam photo frame kits, tattoos, army bracelets, and bubbles.
We kept the food simple with lemonade, bottled water, and chocolate/vanilla cupcakes which I decorated with little flags that I made on the computer, then cut out and glued to toothpicks. Before everyone left, we filled "popcorn" bags with lots of candy - large gum balls, giant pixie sticks, jaw breakers, lollipops, cotton candy twists, and we would've had gummy bears but they didn't survive the heat. Actually, the whole jar was full at the start of the party and by an hour into it, they had shrunk down to the point where it looked like the jar was only half full. LOL
Everyone seemed to have a great time and I think we may need to rent the dunk tank again...it was just so much fun! :)
Piggy-backing onto the fishing post is another from our wknd at the lake cottage. We enjoyed fireworks put on by my sister and her husband. I think my BIL has a bit of an addiction to them, quite frankly. But we all enjoyed it just the same. Not only did he buy all the firecrackers, but he also built a gizmo to launch them more efficiently (and safely). It was pretty simple in design, but oh so clever. Kept MOST of the fireworks from falling onto the boathouse. Phew!
The kids had a great time twirling the extra long sparklers while we waited for the sun to set. A neighbor brought all the fixings for s'mores so we enjoyed those too while waiting. There were a few "test" shots fired off which got the kiddos even more excited for the actual show. Unfortunately, my camera was having trouble focusing once the fireworks started going off. I think it was all the smoke. But I did get a few. :)
I think the kids' favorites were the bottle rockets and the ones they could hold which shot out 10 small blasts. Darn...can't remember what those are called, but you can see my oldest is firing one over the lake on the left a few rows up from the bottom. :)
Hope you and yours had a festive 4th.
This weekend, we went to my parents' lake cottage. Haven't been there since last summer and the boys were both super excited. They had all sorts of ideas of what they wanted to do...swimming, catching frogs, fishing, etc. So before we even left our own town, we stopped by the local bait & tackle shop to pick up some new bobbers, lures and a cup of worms. I've never taken them to this shop before so you can imagine how wide-eyed they got when they first walked in and saw all the shiny fishing supplies. LOL
The oldest wasn't really into actual fishing once we arrived...but the little guy was. And he was so engaged in what he was doing that I didn't have to deal with his usual "crazy faces" that he makes whenever I pull out the camera. Instead, he was just so focused on having fun that I was able to wander around and do my thing. That was a nice and welcome change. :) I'd say that within the span of a couple hours, he managed to catch and release well over 20 fish - a mix of large mouth bass, sunfish, a couple perch and some spotted bluegill. He just told me he thinks he caught between 27 and 30...he lost count so he doesn't know the exact amount.
Good fun times with lots of memories being made. :)
Now that the boys are officially on summer break, I've been lining up things for us to do together. Not necessarily something every single day, but I found that having a planned activity to look forward to is helpful...both for getting their hopes up and also for reminding them to behave, "or else". LOL
So this morning we took a drive over to the Beaver Lake Nature Center. It's a really nice facility - changed and improved a lot since the last time I was there. The main building has a welcome desk, conference room, bird watching room, hands-on exhibit, gift shop, offices and restrooms. When we got there, we grabbed the trail map and tried to decide which one to go on. Little did I know that it would be such an ordeal. My little guy insisted on doing the lake loop which is 3 miles, while my older one said he wanted to do two shorter trails. They both stood their ground for a solid half hour while I sat in a rocking chair watching the birds and reading the center's newsletter. :) Truthfully, I was hoping they would not pick the 3 mile lake loop simply because I know that despite the little guy's strong ambitions, he has very low endurance and I doubted he would be able to do the full loop. Luckily, they agreed to do two shorter trails that together were nearly close to 3 miles anyway. Did I think we would end up doing both trails? Not in a million years.
Off to the trail we went....the 3 Meadows Loop. It was actually a nice 1.4 mile walk. A little bit of hills...just enough to keep it interesting. There were loads of flowers all along the way - most of which I have no idea on their name. We did see a large patch of black-eyed susans as well as a long stretch of beautiful purple orchids. The only wildlife we encountered was one chipmunk, a couple of butterflies and various flying insects.
About 1/2 way through, the little guy began to break down. And I became secretly frustrated with trying to get him to just keep moving. By this time, he had finished his entire thermos of water, peed twice, and was ready to eat lunch. It was only 10:30 am. The remainder of the walk I had to remind him about the snack I had packed that was in the car. I really think he would've been quite content to just sit there on the ground and pout had he not had the motivation of getting that snack.
After a long two hours of walking, we were finally back to the main building. Needless to say, we never did get to the second trail. And, honestly, I didn't think we would. ;)
The boys received snowboards from Santa, but have only had a few "good snow" days to use them, one of which was over the past weekend. I was surprised at how good our youngest has become. He has great balance and seems to really enjoy it. I imagine next winter we will be moving to a bigger hill than what we have in our own backyard. LOL
It's been so nice to see him finally feeling better after several weeks of being sick with strep, then a cold, then strep again. I think the fresh air did him a world of good. :)
It is such a beautiful autumn morning here in New York. The leaves are already past prime, but look pretty on the ground (for now at least). I suppose I will eventually have to go out there and rake them up. But in the meantime, I will enjoy their shortlived color.
Today I spent a little time out back playing with our dog, Ellie, who is now 2 1/2 years old. She LOVES to eat apples and luckily she can have her fair share as we have 3 apple trees out back. She's not usually very cooperative when I have the camera in hand. But apparently she will do anything for an apple. LOL
Hope you are able to get outside and enjoy the colorful fall. :)
The ladies over at 4 The Love of Focus are having a back to school photo contest with the theme "chalk". I've been trying to get outside to do this for nearly a week, but it has been miserable here with rain each day. But today was a good day and I found a dry spot to make a hopscotch board for the kids. I encourage you to go outside and play too!! :)
Have a super Sunday everyone!!!
How often do you get in the photos? If you're anything like me, hardly ever. Right? So often we are self-conscious, or we are worried about our weight, or we just don't feel comfortable on the other side of the camera. I think that is why many of us are the designated photographer at family events.
Tonight I decided it was time to get on the other side of the camera. I challenge YOU to do the same. Your family will thank you. :)
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