Our Annual Adults Only Vacation in the Thousand Islands

Every July 4th weekend, a big group of friends (including Kevin and I) meet up in Alexandria Bay for a weekend of rest and relaxation...without kids!!! I certainly missed the little ones, but it was a nice, relaxing weekend.

This is our room that we get each year.

This is the view off our balcony...it overlooks Boldt Castle and the St. Lawrence (it's beautiful). (Each year they do fireworks over Boldt Castle, but this year the fireworks were on Sunday night because of a county law they couldn't do fireworks on Saturday...so, we missed them this year, oh well!)

Here is the group of 12 (this year) that met up in A. Bay. Kevin, Sara, Shannon, Kathy, Dale, Cindy, Chris, Paul, Stan, Allie, Gomer, and Tina.

We know most of them from previous vacations. Stan and Shannon are very good family friends of ours. We go together every year.

The weather was pretty darn cold (and rainy), but we made the best of it! We kept busy shopping and being goofy!

I made a friend at the jewelry store.

Pucker up rhino!

Shannon being "Cousin It"

Anchor woman

On the 4th, we rented a boat for the day. All 12 of us went. It was really fun, but really cold. We bundled up in blankets and hoodies and had a blast on the water!

Everyone get your life vests on!!!

Shannon and I

Trying to keep warm

Kevin and I at the entrance of Boldt Castle

After many hours out on the boat, we headed to our rooms for some 4th of July festivities (and pictures)!

Matching costumes and koozies: a must have for these ladies :)

Kevin even had some fun!!!

Ladies say cheese!!!

"Uncle Sara"

After a pretty early night on the 4th, we headed home. We wish we could have stayed longer, but I missed my babies! It was a wonderful trip and we plan to head back up to A. Bay next year (yippee!)

Mom preparing to see the little ones after vacation

Owen Richard Hall

The day after our camping trip, Natalie, Kendall and I hit the road with Jenn and Sam to go meet our newest family member: Owen Richard Hall (see "The Hallway" link on the left of my page for their blogspot)!!!

Here he is, perfect as ever!!! I think he looks a lot like Dennis, except I think he has his Mommy's lips. It was kinda of hard to get a good look at his eyes because he slept for our whole visit!

Here are Owen's proud parents, doesn't Teresa look great, especially for being about 4 days postpartum!

The girls just LOVED him!!! Even though he was asleep, we passed him around and around.

Nothing like a little baby sleeping on you...I LOVE it (don't worry, no more for me)

Aunt Jenn holding baby Owen

Owen's proud "Uncle Sam"

We hung out for a bit and then headed home. It was so nice to meet little Owen and to see my sister looking so good.

We tried to take Owen home with us, but Teresa didn't like the idea. Doesn't he look perfect with us? He is very happy with his Mommy and Daddy, so we left him in Buffalo with promises of regular visits!

Welcome to the family, Owen!!!

Our First Camping Trip

The day after school ended, we took our first family camping trip to Hickory Hills in Bath, NY (not too far, just in case children didn't cooperate). We went with our good friends Jenn, Sam, Grace and Alex. They have a really nice motor home that we all used, and then at night, some us of slept in a tent (really cool when you're a kid!).

When we first got there, I sent the kids out to look for 4 leaf clovers (figuring it would keep them busy for a while as we set up)...sure enough, about 10 minutes later, Miss Natalie had found one!!! I can never find them...it must have been good luck, because the weather was nice and we had an amazing time!

Kendall hangin' out on the hammock

Nolan on our picnic table, he was so good and so happy to be there. He was a "happy camper", if you will (we were very proud of him)!

We stayed 2 nights, and even though we were camping, we ate like royalty! We had NY strip steaks and potatoes the 1st night, and awesome BBQ chicken and fruit and potatoes the second night. Of course, we had hotdogs and hamburgers...many other goodies too!

When it started to get dark out, it was time to build a fire (our favorite part of camping we've decided). We made s'mores and sang songs. The kids were getting pretty tired!

Time for goodnight hugs and off to bed. Natalie, Nolan, Mom and Dad slept in the tent.

Kendall slept above the driving part of the motor home with the Nichols family...she loved it!!!

After the kids were down, the adults stayed up and "played" for a little while.

"Two-can Sam"

"Building a fire"

Looks like these girls are ready for bed, goodnight!

The next morning, we headed down to the hobby lobby for crafts. Kendall, Nolan, Natalie, and Grace all made pinwheels.

After crafts, we took a walk to visit the rabbits. The kids loved them.

Disclaimer: Natalie is not drinking coffee, she is holding mine so I could take a picture :)

Photo shoot time!!!!! Natalie and Kendall

Nolan

Grace

Sara (mom) and Jenn (mom)

Sam (dad)

Time for a walk!!! We took many walks, but this particular walk was to take a wagon ride. Natalie pushed Grace and Kendall pushed Alex (with some help).

The wagon ride was really fun. It took us around the campground. Scamper the camper (a squirrel mascot for the campgroud) even rode the wagon, we sat right next to him!

We got a pretty decent family pic...considering we were camping!

The Nichols family...all ready to go swimming after our ride

Time to swim!!!!!

More campfire time, this night with glow ring pops!!! How fun :)

The next day was the day we left. Daddy played monkey in the middle (notice the monkey has the ball).

We hung our for a while and then, it was time to go. We are going to try to go again before the summer is done, it was a perfect trip with GREAT friends.

Another exciting part of camping: our nephew (Jenn is Dennis's sister), Owen Richard was born!

What a great weekend!!!