Beth's visit

My sister came to visit!

{Thank you Beth and Ben for taking pictures}

The first night she was here, we went to 'Sunset Serenades' and listened to Frank's band (Colin's guitar teacher).  Colin was there too, he just jumped out of the picture.

The next day we went for a very hot walk and then to the Sea Cliff beach.

Unfortunately it was more hot and humid than normal when she was here.  It didn't stop us from having fun, but it was definitely uncomfortable at times.

Saturday, Ben, Beth and I went into the city.  The first stop was at the world's best pizza...at least that's what I'm told.  My mouth is full of smash fries here, but the best pizza is documented.

Then we walked through Times Square.

And then took the subway up to Central Park.  We walked through to the MET and were drenched in sweat by the time we got in.

We were so thankful to find ice cream on our way out.  It definitely helped get me back to the train.  

We also watched a lot of the Olympics, got ramen and dumplings and Beth got to see a little bit of our normal life here.  Her flight got canceled and had to stay 2 more days!

Alison's 17th birthday!

We started the day off right with a walk to Starbucks for a birthday drink...and pretended that Alison doesn't get free drinks everyday ;)

Her theme was 'Dancing Queen'

She opened her wrapped presents:

First Lululemon hoodie!

Then we drove to Brooklyn.  Ben, Eli and Alison got pizza.

Colin and I got tacos and then we all met up at Brooklyn Charm.  It's a place where you can custom make a charm bracelet or necklace.

Then we did some thrift shopping.  That's hard to come by on Long Island, so we were excited to find some stores.

When we got home, Alison made a dessert charcuterie and a couple of her friends came over for a movie night.

They couldn't decide on dinner, so they all walked to North Shore Farms and picked out some premade entrees.  We set up a cozy hang out area for them in the basement and projected a movie onto a big sheet.  We didn't see much of them, but heard lots of giggles.

Happy Birthday baby girl!  I am so thankful for you!!!

 

Catching up

Ben and I went to San Diego!  We had a wonderful trip, full of delicious food, stops by the beach, evenings in the hot tub and a little shopping.  Our days were also full of Ben working and house hunting, but we still had fun.  We are looking forward to calling this place home soon.

Back at Sea Cliff beach, Alison sang at 'Broadway on the Beach'.  I love how the community comes together for these evenings.

And speaking of community, we went to our last summer feast that our church throws.  I just had to snap a picture of the boys playing volleyball and all the dads talking at the back.

 

Adirondack Mountains, part 2

Colin was ready for a challenge and asked Ben to take him on a hike where they could do some scrambling.  There was a tower at the peak that they climbed.

Ben and I went on a hike to find a waterfall.

This trip was perfect for our season of life.  I needed some time to just soak up nature and quietness.  It was a perfect balance of activity and rest and if you wanted to join in, you could, or it was fine to just chill at the house.

There may have been some beat saboring happening at the house.

We made a somewhat impulse decision to go white water rafting.

We had a lot of fun and it felt like a camp experience for the kids (i.e. the guides had a camp counselor vibe to them).  One of the cons of this trip were the horse flies!  I've been around horse flies before, but these suckers attacked!  I guess another con would be that Colin's foot got too far stuck in the raft to secure himself and he ended up hurting his foot.

Alison was the champ of the rafting and asked to sit up front and was the first person to jump off the rock.

 

Adirondack Mountains; lake Abanakee

Part 1

We took our longest to-date, just our little family vacation.  We spent 6 days up in the Adirondack Mountains and rented a house right on the lake.  It was the perfect spot to unplug.

The boys went canoeing and fishing.

Maya was NOT a fan of them leaving her.

Unfortunately, no fish were caught while we were there.

Apparently I've made it a vacation thing that we watch HGTV.  I didn't realize that I had until Colin turned it on and when I asked what he was doing, he said, "It's vacation!  We have to watch HGTV!" 

We went on several hikes.  On the first one, Colin, Ben and I went.

It was muddy and very buggy, but also had an amazing view.

There was a whole lot of relaxing, reading books, playing games, canoeing, exploring and roasting marshmallows.