Gone Fishing!

This evening Christopher went fishing with his Uncle Nick and cousin Carter on Lake Wallenpaupack. They were standing on a huge rock casting their lines and watching ducks and the sun set. He was quite patient waiting for the fish to bite. He waited and waited...and he caught THREE fish! He was pretty excited and very serious each time he caught one--but he wasn't going to touch them! Can you blame him?!? I didn't want to touch them either. That's why I don't fish!! Ikk!

Below is a video of Christoher catching his second fish. He had a blast and hopes to fish again this summer!!Thanks Uncle Nick!!

Our Annual Lake Wallenpaupack Trip!

We are on our annual trip to Lake Wallenpaupack in Hawley, PA. We left on Saturday for the week with Meme, Pepe, and Aunt Valerie. Later that evening, my sister Jessica, my brother-in-law Nick and my two nephews, Cole & Carter joined us from South Carolina.

We had a busy weekend trying to squeeze in as much as we could since Shaun, my dad and Valerie were only going to be here for the weekend and will head back to Connecticut for work on Tuesday.

On Saturday, we got here early enough to check in to our Resorts and then go shopping. After shopping, we explored the lake a bit and then the kids crashed! They were happy when they woke up the next morning and saw that Cole and Carter had arrived while they were sleeping! Here are some pictures from Christopher's camera! He's quite the photographer!

Carter and Anneli

My parents bought the kids and Pepe matching outfits. Even Anneli was dressed like one of the boys!

On Sunday, we explored the lake a bit. Then we swam and enjoyed a picnic by the pool which overlooked the gorgeous lake. After swimming, we decided to take a 3 mile hike around Lake Wallenpaupack. The kids did a great job walking, and walking! We even found a bunch of wild blueberries at the very end of our hike! There were TONS of them. They were super YUMMMMY!! Here are some more of Christopher's photos of our hike!

Posing for a cousin picture for me! (Meme took this one since Christopher is in the picture!!)

One of the many rocks that HAD to be climbed!!!

Today, we took a daytrip that was outlined in a book from the resort that Shaun and I are staying at. We started out with a picnic at The Promised Land State Park in Blooming Grove. We may go back there later this week to rent boats and swim in the lake there. It's a great Park!! Next we got back on the road and headed to Callie's Candy Kitchen. There we bought some super yummy candy! Then we were off down the road a bit to Callie's Pretzel Factory. There, we watched pretzels being made. Anneli had to wait the entire 6 minutes for the Pretzels to come out of the oven. She loved it! Then we all bought fresh soft pretzels to eat! Super yummy! Christopher and Cole got pretzels shaped like dollar signs. Anneli and Carter got Pretzel sticks. No matter the shape, they were delicious!

Picture of us eating Hamburgers at the Promised Land State Park!

We are having a great time and are looking forward to making more memories this week together! We'll miss you Daddy (Shaun), Pepe, Aunt Valerie, and Wink!! We'll see you guys (except Wink) on Thursday evening when you all come back for more summer family fun!!

**Thanks Christopher for letting me post some of your pictures! I took a bunch but will upload them to my desktop and make my annual slideshow when I get home!

Wordless Wednesday!

My Artists

Christopher had a half day today--actually a shortened day. I picked him up at 1:30pm and we headed over to AC Moore--one of our favorite stores--to pick up a few things to finish his magnets for his teacher. I wish I took a picture of them. He made magnets like Anneli made her teachers, but he didn't use decorative scrapbook paper. He used dolphin stickers on two magnets and then he drew an Orca Whale on one and a flower on another. Great thinking Christopher!! Ms. Neave will love them!!

The kids also decorated picture frames. Christoher painted a blue one for his good friend Zak and decoupaged one with striped scrapbook paper for his teacher. (Wish I took a picture of that one too! It was beautiful!) Anneli still has hers, but I'm sure she'll end up giving it to her BFF Aunt Val. She wants to give everything to her!

It Was a Long Day...

What a peaceful afternoon...

Happy Father's Day!!

She Will Try ANYTHING!

"Can I have a taste of this..."

"I guess so..."

YIKES!! It wasn't lemonade!!!

She even made her brother try it when he got home.

I don't think he even took a sip, but she will try ANYTHING!

Busy Bees!

This last full week of school has been a busy one! Here is what we've been up to:

We baked cakes with our Easy Bake Oven. (A nice rainy day activity, since it's just been raining, and raining here!) They were yummy!

On Tuesday Anneli and I spent the day with Christopher and Aunt Valerie (who was volunteering) at school for Field Day. The morning was a bit chilly and poor Aunt Valerie was helping the kids with a water game. She got a bit wet! Thanks for being there Aunt Valerie!! :)Wednesday was a gorgeous day so Anneli and I ventured out to check out the Pick Your Own Strawberry Farms. We ended up at a farm in South Glastonbury and we picked 11 pounds of super yummmy strawberries! My favorite! It was fun and we hope to bring Christopher berry picking when school is out next week!
That night, there was a magician performing at our public Library for the beginning of the Summer Reading program. Anneli and I went over to watch, but Christopher thought it was babyish so he went walking at the park with Meme and Pepe. It was a very funny magician who we have seen twice before, but Anneli couldn't stop laughing. She was pretty excited when the magician chose her as a helper! She helped create a rainbow, a VERY long rainbow! She thought it was awesome!
Then tonight (Thursday) we just got back from the school for a Pot Luck Social. The school served hot dogs and Christopher's music teacher Dr. Smayda's band, The Convertibles, played and we danced and had a blast! What a fun evening!!
Hopefully things will slow down as summer begins. Unfortunately, I don't think that will be the case...

Wordless Wednesday

Take Me Back Tuesday

I was looking through old pictures on my external hard drive and I found these from June 15, 2006!


Time goes by...so quickly.

Relay for Life

This past weekend, we had the opportunity to participate in Relay for Life with our Cub Scout Pack. Relay for Life is one of the main fundraising events of the American Cancer Society. It's an event where members of a community are able to participate in the fight against cancer. Teams of people camp out at a location, like a park, and take turns walking or running around a path for the entire 24 hours of the event. Each team is asked to have a representative on the path at all times.

The Cub Scouts started the day presenting the colors at the Opening Ceremony Saturday Morning.

Then we set up our campsite with the help of Pepe and Cubmaster Gregg. Christopher and Anneli were very excited!


Then we started walking!! Here is a photo of our Cub Scout Pack walking together during the 'Team Lap'. Take note of Christopher pushing the grocery carriage. The Cub Scouts helped the Relay Committee by pushing this carriage around the loop collecting the other teams recycable trash like water bottles and soda cans. They loved having a job to do! :)

Christopher walked around the path 75 times! They figured that he might have walked about 8 miles! Anneli walked 28 times around the path! Way to go guys! Shaun & I walked too, but we didn't keep track of the laps like the kids did. They kept track of the laps they walked with beads on a counting string. It was a great incentive to keep them walking for the 24 hour event!

In betweek all the walking there were several touching ceremonies like the survivor lap and the luminaria cermony. It was very touching and at times a little emotional, especially since cancer has personally touched my life in several ways.
The weather was awesome until about 11:30pm, and then it started to rain. Christopher was exhausted, so after pizza at midnight, he settled down and fell asleep at about 1am. Shaun followed close behind at 2am sleeping for about an hour. Then I went to bed at about 3am. While I was sleeping the torrential downpours started! It was terrible! We had a small puddle in our tent, but it was nothing compared to what I saw when I got up at 5:30am.

Most areas of the relay path was just one giant mud puddle. The heavy rain lasted from about 5am-6am and it made a mess! Tents collapsed and water was EVERYWHERE!

Except our campsite. Luckily, our Cub Scout site was on higher ground. Our site stayed relatively dry. Even our own tent held up very well! It didn't collapse and it wasn't full of water--just a few drips! :)

Since the relay path was pretty much covered in 3-6 inches (yes, it was measured) the walking stopped and the event was over. However, the boys had to make one more run of the path with the grocery cart...

What a fabulous weekend! It was a such a great experience having fun with family and friends for a worthy cause. We are looking forward to participating again next year! Let us know if you would like to join us!! :)