Journey to Shaun: July 2008

OUR FAMILY

Well, we survived another vacation in NY with our almost entire family!

We started off our vacation on Tuesday evening with a treat for Mom and Dad, we saw Tom Petty in concert at the riverbend and he was great, one our our favorites! This was our second time seeing him, but it was new experience to be outside on the river. Abby had a sleep over with a friend and we are so thankful for them to have Abby stay the night. It was a special treat to her, she loved it!

At 8 am on Wednesday we started our 8+ hour drive to NY. The drive itself was very uneventful, thank God! Abby was so quiet, at times we had to make sure she didn't escape out the back door. Once we got off the thru-way we decided to pop by Kevin's sister's in Waterloo. We have waited so long to meet our new niece Julia, we could not wait any longer :) Abby also got to see her cousins, Maria and Anneka at this stop which was at the top of her list!

We made it to G+G's by dinner, which was nice! Grandpa set the camper all up for us and even had coffee and accessories ready for Mommy in the morning. This was a treat to Abby, she had never slept in a camper! On Thursday we met Aunt Kate and the girls for some time by the lake. We went to Seneca Lake state park, which is really fabulous! The girls and all enjoyed the dry park as well as the spray park. It was so nice to enjoy a day of outside play by the lake, it just feels like home to me. Plus, G+G treated us all to Friendly's for lunch..............YYYUUUUMMMM. And the girls were sooooo good. It was easy to see that they had really missed each others company. It was nice for Kevin and I as well, we miss them terribly and feel so disconnected in their lives. It was nice to see smiles and hear them talk about what they like to do. They are growing so fast...............not fare :(

On Thursday evening we headed to Aunt Sharon's (Kat's sis) in Liverpool NY. We actually by-passed her house to meet up with even more family at a local Mexican restaurant. It was nice to sit and eat and chat with everyone. Ava graced us with her presence and starred me down until she was sure I was all her Daddy told her I was. She is a beauty, and I am so glad that we finally had the chance to meet her. She is my nephews new daughter, their first. It was so nice to see them in their semi-new role as parents.

On Friday, after shopping for food with my sister, we headed to Lake Ontario to claim our family compound (campsites!) we had four site for many tents. These are the people we had the chance to see and spend time with:

Aunt Sharon (Captain Camp)

Uncle Peter

Aunt Val

Eric

Aunt Rosie

Uncle John

Patrick

Corey

Greg

Leigh

Jenny

Scott

Erica

Ava

Jason

Kate

Maria

Anneka

Julia

If I missed anyone, I am so sorry, it was a whirlwind!

We had planned on staying at the Lake until Monday, but that was cut short. Saturday at about 2 am it stated to rain, hard. I think it was about noon on Sunday when we all just decided to pack it up and get dry. Even though it was short, we had fun. I love being around family. Everyone did there own thing and just enjoyed each other. Abby really enjoyed playing with all her cousins. Kev and I enjoyed the late night camp fires with the adults which now include some of the next generation. Leigh enjoyed her wine :) and we enjoyed Corey's comedy! He really is so funny!

Sunday evening and Monday we just hung out at Aunt Sharon's pool. Abby and Daddy swam, while Mommy did laundry and unpacked our wet car! It was so sunny everything dried up fast and we headed to our Hotel. My niece Amanda works at a hotel and got us 2 night FREE!! WE are so grateful, Thank you, Plammy! :)

Monday evening we headed to Aunt Rosie's house! Abby swam in her pool and we enjoyed another meal with the family. How nice to just sit, talk and enjoy! Our family photo (above) was taken from there.

Early Tuesday morning I was picked up at the hotel by Aunt Val, we headed to the casino, I won't mention how much I lost..................not good! Kevin and Abby spent a relaxing morning at the Hotel and swam a bit. In the afternoon Kev and Abby headed to Aunt Val's and Kev went Golfing with Uncle Pete. Abby played with Eric and decided she was sleeping over. Val and I enjoyed some quiet time to look around her garden, which is just lovely! Kev and I headed back to the Hotel and enjoyed our own quiet time watching the play-off game :}

On Wednesday we met Aunt Sharon for breakfast (thanks Uncle Mark!) at Denny's. Then we headed toward Aunt Val's to pick up Abby. When we arrived, no one was around. A few minutes later they showed up riding in the back of the pick-up truck! They went fishing at the canal! Abby caught 1, Eric caught 2!

At Noon we hopped on the thru-way and headed west to G+G's for our last day. Once again we went to the Park! It was so nice........as I said before!

At 6:30pm we were off, looking forward to getting home. We pulled into our drive way at 3am, put Abby in her bead and woke about 10 am.

What a great family vacation! Enjoy the pics in the posts below........