The rest of the summer

I have some catching up to do, which is going to be a bunch of pictures just for time's sake...

In July we rented a cabin at Seneca Lake, one of western New York's finger lakes.  It was absolutely gorgeous.  The lake, not the cabin.  The cabin was a little rustic even for us, highlighted by the resident bat and centipedes.  But we made it work and enjoyed being so close to such a beautiful view.  We were on the eastern shore, so each night we'd walk down to the water's edge to watch the sunset.  I took about 83 pictures of it, none of which aptly portray just how beautiful it was. 

 

Steve's parents joined us for part of the time, which is always such a blessing.  They got to see Bowen crawl for the first time and see his first little tooth. 

 

And, as always, they were happy to play with the kids while Steve and I took off in our kayaks or to a winery.

 

Lamoreaux Landing

 We hiked Watkins Glen and found a great ice cream place.

Heading home in the rain

In August my dear aunt Agnes and uncle Ray were in town for a short visit.  We joined them and my folks at the local orchard to have a picnic, visit, and pick some peaches. 

 

Seeing Agnes and Ray always reminds me of summers when I was a kid when we all got together at my grandmother's house. My parents and brother and me, Agnes and Ray and their 5 kids, plus my other 3 cousins and my uncle Sam and aunt Suzy.  There would be sleeping bags paving the bedroom floors and sometimes in the evenings the cousins would do skits for entertainment. (I was the youngest cousin and much preferred watching or even hiding.)  We'd spend a day at Virginia Beach, where I learned to body surf.  In preparation they would lay out slices of several loaves of bread all over the counter.  Half would get peanut butter, and the rest would get one kind of jelly or another, and some would have raisins.  So then when we got to the beach we'd have a selection of sandwiches in that gooey wonderful jelly-soaked state of Wonderbread.  Another day we would catch crabs and that night we'd sit out on the screened porch to pick crabs (supplemented by purchased crabs as ours were always small and few) . After we were finished we'd roll up the shells in the red checked paper tablecloths and while the grownups visited we'd "sled" down the hill on cardboard boxes. 

Speaking of crab picking, Steve's coworkers from all over the US (and a few from Europe) were all at the Baltimore office for meetings in August, so one night they got together for a crab feast, and the kids and I got to come. 

Olivia met her high-energy match in 4-year-old Andrew; they played and played with no meltdowns until we finally left for the hotel at like 10pm and she was so sad to leave.

Other highlights of the summer... 

Seeing "The Excalibur" (the car we rode in on our wedding day) at Chick-Fil-A.

Hanging out with friends...

Staying cool...

 

 

Saturday breakfasts out...

Peach festival...

And now we're ready for fall!