Camping along the Battenkill

For the past 2 years, we have joined family friends for a camping weekend. In the past years, we have camped just minutes down the road at the Moreau State Park, but this year we went to Nick's old stomping ground... the Battenkill River Campground in Cambridge, NY.

Camping with a newly walking toddler sounded as much fun as putting needles in my eyes, so as much as I was going to miss Colin on our family camping trip, he took a trip to Nannie's for the weekend!

During the weekend, the girls were being super cute together and I was loving the fact that we have 2 daugthers. I was talking to them about how they were going to be BEST FRIENDS FOREVER... well, Sadie, who has a very best friend named Caleigh, just wouldn't buy into this idea that I was talking to them about. Sadie was sure that Natalie could not be her best friend. So, I decided that they would be FOREVER FRIENDS and they were ok with that!

How cute is this?

Fishing was a big activity for a couple of the boys. Natalie would get in on it every now and again... but it wasn't her mission to catch fish. This picture really captures how great our camping sites were. We were literally right on the river with just a little path to access the river from our sites. Truly, truly perfect!

Natalie is loving her gymnastics these days and has been practicing her cartwheels and hand stands alot. Our grassy campsites were a perfect spot for her practice and I happened to capture a great handstand on film! Nice job Natalie.

A summer full of rain, along with a campsite in the woods... is a perfect place for lots and lots of bugs! Thank goodness we had a couple of these tents and were able to eat bug free. This is a picture of our 1st night at the campsite where the kids put the girls on one side of the table and the boys on the other.

This annual camping trip has become a tradition with such a great group of families. This group initially all became friends when our first children were born and since then all our families have grown up together. This group of friends have been such fun to share he wows of parenting together.

The highlights of the camping trip was Tubing down the Battenkill on Saturday. The weather was perfect and we all enjoyed a 3 hour trip down the Battenkill in a tube. The river was very calm - you didn't realize how strong the current was until you tried to stand up! Between the 4 of us, we had 3 tubes and took turns sharing a tube with another and then had I loved it and really enjoyed the entire time.

What a success!

Next year will Colin be part of this annual adventure??

The progress that Summer always brings...

Since Nick's new career in teaching, summer time means new projects and progress on old ones. Below is the new deck that comes off the addition of last summer. Since this picture was taken, Nick has added the step down and also built a stone patio walkway from the driveway to the stairs of the deck. He was able to use the patio stone that we had pre-addition. Needless to day, it looks awesome! I will have to get a green thumb (and then find the uninterrupted time) to garden as there are all sorts of great new flower spots in this area.
The swingset was long awaited by the kids. It was taken down last May when the addition first began and having 2 kids spend over a year looking at it in pieces in the backyard was hard. . The asked almost daily if it was time for the swingset to go back up! So... when the yard was ready... Nick didn't think we could then make the girls wait for grass to grow. Thus, the arrival of the grass carpet (sod!!) and then the swingset was up. The girls and Colin have been loving it! It is in a great spot that gets good shade in the hot afternoons and lots of fun has been had.

The next month of summer vacation will include more inside work. The addition of last summer has been about 99% done for months... Nick has promised me that it will be 100% done by back to school.

Thanks Nick for all your work!

1st Haircut!

Just shy of 15 months and Colin got his first haircut!

With the girls, they didn't need a haircut for a long time... but I had gotten enough hints from others (Thank you Uncle C) that I realized Colin was starting to look a little shaggy.

I didn't realize how much he needed one. I just told our hair dresser to trim up the bangs and around the ears. She asked if I just wanted a little boy haircut and I said Yes. She cut and cut and layered and layered. She was pretty talented as he kept turning his head so quick, I would have thought she might cut his ear off!
In the end, he looked super adorable and we all love the new style.
How often do boys need their hair cut?

Boilermaker 2009

This was the year that I did the Boilermaker!

The Boilermaker (located in Utica, NY) is one of the largest races in the country and is very well known for fun and festivities that are part of this run. I have been wanting to do this run for years and have been trying to make it a goal for myself. It seemed year after year something came up so that I couldn't do it... new baby, pregnant, nursing, or something of the sort. This year with nothing holding me back, except my nerves of being part of such a crowded race, July 12, 2009 was the day!

It was such an awesome experience.!! With upwards of 15,000 runners and all the spectators, never in my memory, do I remember being in one place that had so many people. At the end of the race, standing in the midst of the crowd was like a sea of people. Every way you looked, you could see nothing but people and more people. Along the course there were endless bands, dancers, supporters, and groups of people cheering everyone on. There was not any part of the 15K course without spectators. The fun of the crowd really brought the energy of the race up.

Then there were the wheelchair "runners." The wheelchair part of the race started before the running part, but at some point, the runners caught up to some of the wheelchair participants. This was a pretty hilly course and as I was feeling out of breath or had tired legs, passing a person in a wheelchair who was going strong TOTALLY encouraged me. Being able to do this course with just their arms is truly incredible!

One of big attractions for this race is that Saranac Beer is the largest sponsor of this race and the race ends at their brewery. Endless free beer is given out to all the runners at the end of the race. I am not a big beer drinker, but it certainly added to the fun. Nick, my supporter, was able to tip back a few in honor of the event!

Sadly, in the midst of the chaos, the camera was left in the car. I have no pictures to post or share, but I got this link to pictures from the Utica paper... they have some really great shots and show how HUGE an event this was.

http://uticadailynewsphotos.com/galleries/090712_boilermaker/

Going into this race, I thought that I would do it once and be able to say, "Yeah, I've run the boilermaker," and feel good about that... but I might be newly addicted to this race. I am already looking forward to Boilermaker 2010 and hope to have more friends part of the next one!

Thrill Seekers!

Got to love roller coasters!

Since I have been traveling with children for the past 7 years, I haven't done many roller coasters... those days are behind me now!

Meet Natalie... my trill seeker!

Her and her friend, Noah, were all about the rollercoasters at the Great Escape. It was super fun and very exciting!

They even did the Comet (which if you ask me, is the BEST rollercoaster). It has some HUGE drops, big speed and it is a long ride. Natalie even did no hands for some of the ride and is anxious to go again!
I was so proud of both of them as they found their courage, trusted and were so brave!
Lots and lots of fun.
Looking forward to sharing many more rides with her!

Best Friends

The Willis family, up for a vacation from Georgia, came to visit! Kristin and I have been best friends since 8th grade and although she lives far away, we are still very close. She knows me better than any other friend and because of that, our relationship is so easy and so special. Although I feel like I know her kids well because of how often I talk with her and how much hear about them, I only see them (at best) once a year for a couple hours. Having them all there was so awesome! It was as if the kids knew and understood the special connection between them all.

We had a great visit!

We each have 3 children and each of my kids is about the same age as one of hers. We have been pregnant together each time... overlapping at some point for a couple months. It is very fun to "compare" each of our kids personalities and see how the rate with the "typical" birth order characteristics.

Owen will be 5 in August and Sadie is 4 1/2.

They are both our goof balls! Super cute and silly.
Noah is 6 and Natalie just turned 7. These kids are exactly 10 months apart.
They are our rule followers and enjoy bossing others around!
Then there is our 3rd children... Connor is 18mo and Colin is 14 mo. Couldn't get a picture of them right next to each other... they are both too on the move!

I never thought that this picture would actually turn out. I figured at least one would be crying and another might be trying to walk away.... but they must know how camera happy both Kristina and I are. What a great picture!

Hope to be back together again soon!

Happy Birthday America! Happy 4th of July!

I'm one of those Moms that gets excited about dressing her kids in coordinating outfits! Holidays are always great days for that! Unfortunately, with 3 kids... a good picture is hard to get. This is the best I've got! It kind of looks like Colin is being tortured, which isn't probably too far from the truth!

This was the coldest July 4th that I can remember. We all started the day in sweatshirts and it may have hit 70 degrees in the peak of the day, but for the most part it was a bit cool. The sun would peak out behind clouds and it would feel wonderful, but without the sun, the breeze made it not feel like summer.

We watched the not so impressive parade in downtown Saratoga with our friends, the Yonkins, and then had a trip to the park. We all enjoyed a BBQ at the Yonkins after the festivities. No late night fireworks for us this year. I wonder how old the kids will be before I can figure out how to make that work for us?

Silly girls.

tired boy.

Hijacking the Yonkin's wagon and waiting for the parade.

Nick and the Darth. Colin not so sure about it. Sadie was VERY sure that she did not like these guys!

Family shot after the Firecracker 4 Run in Saratoga.

Rachel and me... the runners of the event!

4 miles. Somewhat of a hard course... a couple of big up and down hills. Nice run through some neighborhoods (I love looking at all the different houses when I am out on a run!). The run felt like it went on forever and I felt like I was practically crawling through it... but ended up with a time I was pleasantly surprised with - 34:20min.

Happy 4th!

Happy start to TRUE summer!

Cousin Fun

Remember being a kid and having older cousins that you just think are the coolest EVER!

I sure do. I think that having older kids around are always very fun for kids, but when they are family... it's even better. Who else would think to load up everyone into a wagon and pull them as fast as possible around our circle. We are lucky enough to live in the same town as Nick's brother and family. Although lives are crazy and busy, we always look forward to visits with them.