Summer Re-Cap

So I've been wondering if I will ever be a good blogger....why is it so hard to post a few pictures and some journaling?? Oh well. We really did have a fun summer. David studied long and hard for Part 2 of the dental boards (he PASSED yay!!) so I tried to find fun things to do with the kids to pass the time until he was done. Then we did some fun things as a family before David had to go back to school. Maia loved having David around all the time and was really sad when he had to go back to school. What are we going to do when he has a real job and doesn't get these extended vacations?? Anyway, here is the re-cap of our summer:
CRYSTAL BEACH:
We went here a few times (hopefully still have a few more trips before the season is over!) This particular day was absolutely PERFECT! Megan's mom and niece were visiting and so Megan called me and asked me if I wanted to go to the beach with them....the weather was kind of sprinkling in Buffalo, but I checked the forecast for the beach (which is about 45 mins. away in Canada) and it said that there was only a 10% chance of rain there after 10am...so we decided to go for it. By the time we got to the border, it was POURING rain and the border patrol guy laughed at me when I told him we were going to the beach. He said, "What weather channel are you watching??" Well we decided to go for it anyway, and I'm so glad we did. It was seriously the most perfect day ever! The rain cleared out just as we were getting there, the beach had just been combed, the temperature was awesome and there was hardly anyone there! Doesn't get much better than that! Maia loved having Megan's niece there to play with and all around we just had a great time!




PARK PLAY TIME:
We spent LOTS of days going to the park. Elsie and Lilly were being so cute together! They are such good little friends (well most of the time:)
This first picture is so dang cute! They were just walking and holding hands. So sweet.
Do you love the big shiner on Elsie's head? The day before, our neighbor's outdoor glider swing got tipped over by a big gust of wind, knocked Elsie over and landed right on top of her. Poor little thing!
SWIMMING LESSONS:
Maia has been taking swimming lessons at the YMCA and she LOVES it. She is such a water dog and has come so far. She is not afraid of the water at all. She was so excited when we bought her a pair of goggles.


CAMPING:
We have been wanting to go camping for a long time, so we finally were able to do it! We went with our good friends, the Shaheen's and had such a fun time. We went to Allegany State Park which is absolutely beautiful. We arrived the day after a huge rainstorm so there was plenty of mud to go around for the kids to play in. They seriously got SOOOOO dirty, but loved every minute of it. We stayed for 2 nights and the kids were in heaven the whole time.

Hiking up to Bear Caves...
Playing around at Thunder Rocks...

Hanging out by the campfire...

Maia was so excited to sleep in a tent. The first night we were there, she couldn't wait to go to bed. It took her a while to fall asleep, but she just wanted to lay in the tent, she was so excited.
There were so many streams close to our campsite that were fun to play in. The water was pretty chilly, but the kids didn't seem to notice. I love this picture below...just one big happy family:)
David even decided to brave the water full force! He looks like a dead white man floating down the stream!
Hanging out by Red House Beach. Unfortunately the lakes were closed for swimming because of high bacteria levels in the water, but we still had fun playing in the sand for a bit.
DAVID'S MAN TRIP:
David and Bron were able to go on a little man trip too...they both know the picther for the Cleveland Indians so they got these really great tickets for the game against the Yankees...


OLCOTT BEACH CAROUSEL PARK
I absolutely love this place! If you haven't gone, it is definitely a MUST! They have all these little carnival rides for only 25 cents a ride!! And the kids love it. And it is right on the beach so it is a beautiful little place to walk around too. This was the first time we had taken Elsie and I wasn't sure how she would do on the rides since she is still kind of little. But she loved them!
I think the Carousel is the family favorite. The girls love it!

Elsie kept waving at us as she went around...
Of course, we had to get some ice cream!! Can you tell they were just lovin' it?
I had to include this picture because Maia is really into taking pictures lately...this is one of her shots...she is getting better believe it or not!
So there it is in a nutshell...whew what a post! If you are still reading/looking at the pictures by this point, I'm really impressed!