A Fox Party in Massachusetts!

After church on Sunday, July 25th, we piled into our mini-van with Aunty Val and drove to Worcester, Massachusetts for a Surprise Party for Uncle Howard (my mom's brother) and his daughter Naomi. Uncle Howey was turning 60 and Naomi was turning 30!

It was a fun party at a nice park in Worcester, where the kids could run around and go swimming too! It was great to see everyone and a great time was had by all! :) Silly cousins!! ;)

Tornado?

The day before Christopher's Summer Swim Meet, Wednesday, July 21st, a terrible storm hit our town. The storm hit at about 4pm when my mom was supposed to be picking Anneli up at camp at a local park in town. Good thing she picked her up a little early and was shopping at AC Moore with Christopher when the storm hit. The street where the park is, was the street that got hit hard with the storm.

There was lots of damage, but officials say, it wasn't a tornado.
It sure was some storm!

Summer Swim Meet

This summer, Christopher joined the Summer Swim Team. Each morning he woke up a little before 8am and was off and running to the High School pool for 8am for practice. He missed a few weeks because of our Pennsylvania vacation, but he pretty much went every morning other than that! Way to go, Christopher. It was great practice for the upcoming fall Team!

On Thursday, July 22nd Christopher had his Summer Swim Meet. He did a great job and was happy that his good friend joined swim team too!

We hope you join in the fall, 'Z'!! :)

What a little fish!

Today was a BIG day for Anneli! She finally started going underwater!!! Today (July 26th) was the VERY first day she decided she could go underwater and swim! What a little fish!

We knew she could do it, but she just wouldn't. She had to build her confidence and I guess today was the day! YIPPEEE!! Way to go, Anneli!!! :)

Summer Catch up....

I haven't posted lately, but as usual, we have been running here and there and EVERYWHERE!

Let's see, since we've been back from our two week vacation in Pennsylvania, the kids have been busy, busy, busy. Our days start out with Swim Team Practice bright and early. We come home have a little breakfast, since it's much too early to eat before Swim Team. Then it's off to swimming lessons! Next is lunch and then we drop Anneli off at Day Camp! The afternoon is spent with Christopher working on Cub Scout activities, reading, writing in his journal, swimming or something else. What a fun, but crazy three weeks it's been!

Last Wednesday evening, (July 14th) we went and saw a puppet show at our public Library. Nappy's Puppets presented 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. It was a great shadow puppet show. The kids enjoyed it, and it had Shaun and I laughing too!

One rainy day we went to Pottery Piazza with Memere. Pottery Piazza is a paint your own pottery place. We each picked out a piece to create and had a blast painting and chatting! Christopher painted a dolphin (of course) and a fish. Anneli painted a happy cat. Memere and I both painted Gnomes. Super fun!!! We were very excited when we were able to pick them up yesterday. They came out great!
On Thursday, July 15th, Anneli had a birthday party for a friend at Jump Zone so Memere came along and watched Christopher bounce. For those of you who don't know, Jump Zone is a super fun indoor play center with large inflatables to climb and jump in. The kids both had a great time! Thanks Memere for keeping an eye on Christopher!! :)

((I know I took pictures, but I can't seem to find them....I'll keep looking...))

Last Saturday, we had a busy day! We headed out early with Aunt Valerie to Kuras Berry Farm and went blueberry picking, since Shaun had just used our last bag of blueberries from last year! It was a hot day, but we picked a bunch of super yummy blueberries! YUMMMMY. We enjoyed some fresh blueberries and we froze a bunch. Shaun thinks I should pick more... :) Then we went shopping! Always a great way to end the day!!! :)

((I know I took pictures, but I can't seem to find them....I'll keep looking...))

Last Sunday, was the 3rd annual GE 5K Road Race benefiting the Petit Family Foundation. You can find more information HERE. The coolest thing about this road race is that it goes right by our house--it sure wasn't the temperature!! It was SUPER stinkin' HOT!!!! Shaun and Valerie have both participated in running the 5K for the past 3 years. This year Christopher ran with Shaun and Aunt Val. Anneli ran the kids fun-run and walked the 5K with Memere and Pepere. I had the tough job of running home to turn on the sprinklers for the runners and take pictures of them running by! I was proud of Christopher for finishing the race. It was super hot and he was still smiling when he got to our house---which is about 1 mile or so from the finish line! Way to go 'Topher!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Post #3: Lake Wallenpaupack

Monday, June 28th
We were home in CT this morning, so Christopher was up bright and early for swim team practice. We then enjoyed lunch together and then it was off to Christopher's orthodontist appointment for a braces check. All looks good--even his orange and blue bands!! After Christopher's orthodontist appointment, Monday afternoon, we grabbed our bags and headed back to Hawley again! We got there a little late, but we enjoyed a nice walk to the lake and headed off to bed!

Tuesday, June 29th
Today we took a ride to Callie's Candy Kitchen. Definately a yearly adventure when we here in the Pocono area! We got some yummy candy, but of course Anneli had to get a stuffed animal! Bet you can't guess what kind of animal she got? Yep, a CAT! Big surprise there!! :)

After our adventure, we made seashell picture frames down at the rec center at the resort. Can you guess who made which frame....?

Aren't they pretty! Christopher made the first one, I made the second one, and Anneli made the last one! I LOVE them all, but I thought Christopher's was very nice!

The kids also enjoyed coloring and doing puzzles at the rec center. Wednesday, June 30th
Today we did a little geocaching and exploring in the morning, then we had some fun at the resort. Anneli went with Meme and created Rock Pets at the Rec Center at the restort. They came out super cute! Great job Anneli!! Shaun surprised us late that evening and came up to spend an extra long weekend with us. We weren't really expecting him until Friday, so this was a great surprise!

While she painted, Christopher and I went paintball shooting! Christopher had a great time and was disappointed that the resort only offered paintball shooting on Wednesdays. He wanted to show Dad and Pepe how he shoots! I guess pictures will have to do!

Way to go Christopher!! :)

After our adventures, Christopher and I challenged Meme and Anneli to a game of Tennis. It was a fun game!! :)

Later that evening, we took a walk along the lake. Notice they all have sweatshirts on....it was chilly!!!Then we enjoyed some yummy ice cream as we watched the sun set...

Thursday, July 1st

We were so happy this morning to have Shaun with us! Mom (Meme) ended up heading home to get some things done and to pick up Pepe and Aunt Val! We decided to explore a location we see from 84 on the way to Lake Wallenpaupack every year. We weren't sure where it was or what it was, but we went on an adventure. The adventure lead us to a great State Park in New Jersey called High Point State Park in Sussex, NJ. It's a great park with lots of hiking trails, geocaches, biking trails, a great swimming area, a boating area, fishing, camping, hunting, a great monument and did I say geocaches!? We didn't get a chance to find any of the geocaches because they were some big hikes, and Anneli was pretty tired after climbing the big 220 foot High Point Monument. I didn't go, but Shaun, Christopher and Anneli climbed the 220 foot monument! Way to go guys!! From the top they were able to see the Pocono Mountains toward the west, the Catskill Mountains to the north and the Wallkill River Valley in the south.

It was a clear, but super windy day!

On our way home, we took the scenic route and grabbed a bunch of geocaches! Guess what!!?? We found our 100th Cache today!!! YIPPEEE!!! Geocaching has been super fun! We can't wait to find 100 more!!!Friday, July 2nd

Today we ventured out in hopes to see the area and geocache some more--since we were on a roll! Well, we grabbed another pretzel at Callies Pretzel Factory and saw a bunch of great places. For example, we went to find a geocache at an old rusty bridge and we saw a huge deer drinking from the river, but we couldn't find the geocache. Actually, we just didn't have any geocaching luck today. We tried to find about four or five of them, and we didn't find ANY! Can you believe that!? We found like 10 yesterday and NONE today! Oh well, we had a great day together!! :) We even got started on our School Shopping--like I usually do each year---at the Steamtown Mall in Scranton, PA--the home of "The Office"! :)

That night Meme came back and she brought with her Pepe and Aunt Val! The kids were excited because Aunt Val didn't think she could come, but she was able to last minute! YIPEE!!

Saturday, July 3rd

On Saturday, we drove around checking out the sights, looking for geocaches, and places of interest, and trying to find a Red Lobster for lunch/dinner. We found it an hour away in Scranton, PA! While in Scranton, we hoped to take a tour of Lackawanna Coal Mine. It had been years since I've been! Unfortunately, it was closed for the day when we got there. We enjoyed our day and lunch and then headed to the pool for some fun with Aunt Val!

Sunday, July 4th

We ventured back to Scranton, and toured the Lackawanna Coal Mine. The kids really enjoyed it! They learned how hard it was to work in the mines and they are super glad we aren't a Coal Mining Family!

After that we went to an interesting restaurant/attraction--"Quaker Steak and Lube". It was a cute place, not the best food, but we were glad we checked it out!

Next, we headed back to the resort and enjoyed the afternoon in the pool. Then we ventured over to the edge of Lake Wallenpaupack and watched the fireworks over the lake. The kids enjoyed watching hundreds of boats in the lake, as we waited for the fireworks to start.

It was a great two weeks in Hawley, Pennsylvania. We might be back the first week of August for yet another fun filled advenutre! :)