NYS Fair

 Mom, Papa Bear, Jen, Little Dude and I went to the State Fair a few weeks ago.  I hadn't been in a really long time and was beyond excited for the little things that I remembered from being a kid.  The butter sculpture, 25 cent glasses of the most delicious chocolate milk, the bridge with a different painting on it, the sand sculpture and of course all kinds of animals (with the little ducklings in their pool with a slide being my favorite).

 It was a really neat Dr. Seuss sand sculpture with all sorts of characters and those tongue twisters from the books.  But the bridge was gone.  It should be in the area where the building entrance is but now is a bunch of flowers.  Perhaps it just kind of crumbled and they didn't rebuild.  Disappointment from Jen and I but we did enjoy sitting in the shade with a nice breeze while mom went to get Papa Bear a baked potato for $1.  She didn't want to wait in line for over an hour and walked up to a lady near the front and offered to buy her a potato and drink if she would get a potato for my mom as well.  Hmm, who wouldn't go for the free food and a drink if offered?

 I had to laugh at the cows all buttered up and ready to be judged.  I also felt bad for them since they looked like they needed to go and help make our chocolate milk.  While they were walking they were "leaking" milk everywhere.

 Maybe it didn't smell as bad as you would think in the cow barn because they were washed, blow dried, buzz cut and then shellacked with a variety of products as evidenced in the bin below.  Must be nice to be a State Fair cow instead of back at the farm munching in the fields attracting flies.

 I got a kick out of the sign in the bathroom that said NO Tipping.  Obviously it was meant for an employee who might be cleaning up but still, in the cow barn bathroom.  It's ok to laugh.

 The biggest reason we all went was so Michael could see his first concert.  We took turns dancing with him and he was moving/shaking/smiling the entire time.

I had the pleasure of entertaining the Little Dude on the car ride home so he wold go to bed about his normal time.  I am going to toot my own horn here and say I did a good job with the help of some Baby Einstein thing Jen pulled up on the phone (I make a good "tv" holder) and then just making sil

My 32nd Birthday

I will start off by saying that yes, I am a spoiled princess and I can be very moody.  Why would my birthday be any different?  Of course most of the family showed up at my parents for breakfast.  My mom does bacon, eggs and pancakes most days.  Today my sister stepped in and made crescent roll French Toast.  And since I am a spoiled princess I wanted regular French Toast so my sister made that for me and called me a piggy since I wanted 3 slices.  I love French Toast and could eat it every day.  Mind you I don't like bacon and didn't have any other breakfast goodies.  

 After breakfast people just hung around the yard and Michael climbed all over his car.  In and out, stand on the seat, sit down, turn the key, attempt to "squeak" the horn.

 I had him open our other gift.  He loved gift number 2 from us.  A box of tissues that he promptly started to pull out one at a time.  Very gently he pulled them out and left them all over the place.

 It is totally magical little dude how they keep coming out of the box.  They seem to be never ending.

 Manfriend and I took a walk up to the lake and enjoyed the cool temperatures and breeze.  The lake was still kind of rough but not as bad as the day before.  My mom let some Ben & Jerry's Triple Caramel Chunk ice cream get soft and put it in an Oreo pie crust, drizzled with hot fudge for my cake.  My moody self kicked in and complained about the hot fudge ruining the ice cream since it took away from the slight caramel flavor.  She was really worried about not even being able to make me a cake.  I was surprised that she did this for me and am thankful she did, although I told her it was technically a pie (told you I was in a mood).

 I took a nap on the couch and my parents took a nap on the hammock outside.  That night was the poker game that usually takes place on the 4th.  There is a new winner in town, Mr. Lucky (my dad).  He won $20 (which is small for the game that usually has the winner taking home about $80+).

 The first one out was a shocker to all.  Manfriend was the loser and winner of the poop.  Must be because I didn't sit in the cottage and "cheer" for you.  I chose to watch Aladdin on the projection screen set up that they have outside for night movies.  My feet got about 4 bug bites each and those are the only bites I have.  Lucky for me they only bother me when I put on my shoes for a run (grrrr).

 And, since I warned that I am a spoiled Princess I received these adorable t-shirts from my Momma and Papa Bear.  They are just perfect for me and I look forward to wearing them all the time.

 I was also given some SparkleSkirts.  yay for running stuff that is useful and that I love.  I was also given a jar of homemade strawberry jam in a wine bag.  They were hoping to trick me but some liquor was given to me a few weeks ago (Firefly Sweet Tea vodka--delicious mixed with lemonade).

 The big birthday surprise came in the form of the Midnight with Mickey Vera Bradley Hipster.  I love my tote that Luke got me around our anniversary and I have the zip ID case my mom got me for when I go to schools and have to leave ID and keys at the main office.  I love the print and my parents decided that it would be nice for me to have this cute little purse for when I travel.

I had a wonderful birthday and am so appreciative of everything my parents do for me and not just on my birthday but throughout the year.  Even though my birthday is right after the 4th they still find a way to make it a special day for me, despite the craziness of lots of family and such around the cottage.

One week Belated Papa Bear Day!

Wanted to wish my Papa Bear a belated Father's day.  I had a great time doing all sorts of little things with him at the cottage.  I had asked him about touching up the rust spot on my car a while back.  He brought some tool to the cottage to brush off the rust and then painted up the spot with a "primer/inhibiter for rust."  Another day we will put on some "Subaru Blue" paint to hopefully blend it in a little better.

Next we hung up a swing for when little guy is in town over the summer.  Papa Bear had the rope and clip thing so we just had to figure out how to get it over the branch and tie it up.  I must say that it came out fantastic and it is a good thing that he has so many odds and ends that he keeps cause you never know when you might need them.  He used some old hook thing to wrap the rope around so it doesn't tangle when he puts it away.

 Later he helped me to catch a sunfish on a fly rod.  I've never used a fly rod before and the fish weren't in a biting mood that day.  They would kind of nibble/play but not bite.   I did end up catching one but it took a long time.  I still need to work on the whole getting the fly out there part.

I also helped him to straighten out the one cable on his boat hoist since it was rubbing funny.  I had a great day helping my Papa Bear out and learning some new things (like how to fly fish--sort of, putting up a swing and fixing my rusted spot).  I hope you enjoyed the afternoon and your time fishing!

Happy Birthday Papa Bear!

Happy Birthday to my Papa Bear!  I know there are photos of you fishing out there but guess what... you love so many more people and activities.  Just think, that without you our family scat games while camping would be much less interesting.  I'm sure we would still use full size candy bars instead of money but we wouldn't have the Mr. Lucky rule of the winner having to dance on the table (or chair).

 You love sitting on the front porch and just enjoying the day.  It could be rocking your little grandson, reading a book or watching the hummingbirds.  Doesn't matter---you love to just be outside and go for bike rides or putter in the yard or wash the vehicles.

 You are always finding ways to make us smile and laugh.  Why hold the wand when you can stick it in your hat and wear it like a feather?  You pick up those orange traffic cones and use them as mega phones to cheer for me while I run.

There are many more reasons that you are amazing and deserve to have the best birthday ever.  Tell all the puns you want and have fun cheering on the Knighthawks at the lacrosse game for your birthday.  I hope you get to teach them the Mr. Lucky dance moves after the game.  Happy Birthday Papa Bear!  I love you (oh, and Cinder Ella does too and thanks you a lot for taking good care of her every time Luke and I travel).

Fixin' Things and Such

This is a huge THANK YOU to the one and only Papa Bear!  Although it would have been easier for you to just do things for Jen and I you insisted we do it ourselves after you explained or gave a little demonstration.  We did a little workin' in your basement workshop growing up and learned how to use the tools even if we didn't really want to.

 Because of your insistence that we learn to do it ourselves I sanded and painted our kitchen cabinets and added pulls to them (they didn't have any before).  I also can find a stud in the wall for hanging photos or all my Disney medals.  Added bonus for the curtain rod being level.  It took longer to hang, but all that measuring, finding and marking was worth having something beautiful to look at that I am proud to say I did all by myself.

 When the shower knob decided to crack and break on the inside I was able to replace it.  My sleeve might we a little wet, but I learned to shut the water off the next time.  I've also been able to trouble shoot if the toilet is running and can usually fix that on my own too!

 Thanks Papa Bear for all those little lessons on how to fix stuff while growing up and making me do it myself so I would remember.  We are so lucky and even better is there is still a lot for me to learn (like this winter I learned about how to change the spark plug in the snow blower--even if you did it for me since my fingers would have froze off).

Columbus Day Weekend

Over the long Columbus Day weekend I headed up to Vermont with my Momma and Papa Bear.  Of course we stopped in Albany for a little shopping and lunch at Grandma's.  It is this restaurant that goes over the top with their decorations for every holiday/season of the year.

 We arrived at my aunt Cathy's place for the night and left early the next morning to travel up to New Hampshire and check out the Kancamungus Highway (very scenic 33 miles).  The day started out gorgeous then got foggy, rained a little and cleared up again just as we reached the highway.  Once we started up the first "peak" though it got foggy again and that was basically the end of sunny and clear weather.  Still a beautiful trip.

 At the first stop on the highway we really had to go to the bathroom.  Thank you government shut down closing the national forest park bathrooms.  Ugh.  We knew there were bathrooms there and the road leading in was crowded with a craft fair so we didn't stop.  Annoying!

 Halfway through the trip and a few out of the car for scenery stops later it was time to go potty in a cup since I was going to burst.  After that it was wonderful and I was better able to enjoy the beauty of the world around me.  Above is the gorge type area. It is really deep and then drops over a small fall to another deep pool with currents/whirl pools.

 Mom and dad climbed up onto a huge rock.  Of course as we were leaving a bazillion little kids decided to scamper up the rock.  Being observant I like to read signs. Some really crack me up.

After our trip along the Kancamungus we went for a little walk back at my aunt Cathy's.  This is the sugar shack across the street from her (where the neighbor makes some maple syrup).  Believe it or not maple syrup comes from maple trees, not pine trees (despite the fact that pine trees are sticky like syrup).

 Mom, Dad and Debbie taking a walk up the hill to check out the view.

 The next day my folks adventured to the liquor store and ran a few errands while I was left at the track to run some laps (my request) so that I could do my running thing.  We left Monday morning.  If anyone can tell me why there is a barn/house on top of the silohs please let me know.  I am curious.  Thank you Vermont for keeping it interesting.

End of Summer (it's official)

Many people mark the beginning and end of summer with Memorial Day and Labor Day.  Our family tends to think of it as the day the boat goes in the water and the day it comes out (early and late).  The conversation that happened on October 1:

 Guess my folks got the boat out with enough time for my dad to scrub it sparkling for winter storage and winterize the boat.  Then he got it all stored up for the winter before the rain came early this morning.  In the meantime at least he has his rowboat Nemo (it's orange and white so that's the name I've given the boat) to go perch fishing.

Happy Soudan-niversary!

Today my Momma and Papa Bear are celebrating their 33rd anniversary... their Soudan-niversary (Soudan was player #33 for the Rochester Knighthawks Lacrosse team).  Happy Anniversary to some people that are very loved and very much still in love with each other!

 "We'll drink to that!"

Papa Bear Day

Happy Father's Day Papa Bear!  You are loved xoxo

 Outdoor cooking specialist... always comes out perfect, or burnt just for mom

catching tons of fish at the bay and even adventuring on your bike around town by taking advantage of the beautiful bay and lake views on those somewhat hidden side streets.

Happy Papa Bear Day!  You are the best!

Memorial Day Weekend

So I am a little late on posting about Memorial Day weekend.  Things have been busy around here.  We had a wonderful weekend up at the cottage with a lot of family and some friends.  I popped over to the Section V track meet around the corner from our house and then picked up 18 lobsters at Tops.
That's right, 18 lobsters... it was going to be a feast.  I had them all in our recycle bin so they could "breathe" and not be crawling all over my car.

 Papa Bear was a great chef and Uncle Jimmy was his helper by brining in the cooked lobsters for people to start eating (they could only steam so many at a time).

 The weather was quite chilly, so much so that we had a little fire in the wood stove to keep the chill out of the cottage.  Of course there would be a campfire later.  My Papa Bear pulled out all sorts of tools for eating the lobsters.  My favorite were these:

 We are so classy.  Laugh all you want but they worked great.  Papa Bear enjoyed his lobster with butter so much that he decided to wear it.  He spilled his cup of butter all over his sweatshirt and pants.  He started to take his shirt off shortly after this photo but decided he was already messy so he might as well keep going with it.

 Yup, here are my parents to prove how awesome we are and why we "don't have nice things."  By things we refer to cottage clothes since we are always spilling on them, fish guts, sand box messes  or they are getting washed a bajillion times to get the campfire smell out.

 Later that night some of the girls were on the couch looking at photos from the previous Memorial day lobster fest and were busting a gut laughing.

 In the morning Papa Bear decided to get the meat out of the lobster for Grandpa Zip since he and Grandma Pearl weren't able to make it.  Mom decided to photo bomb.  They are always making me laugh and I love them for it.