New York 2010

Another great trip to New York. The kids and I arrived in New Jersey to the open arms of my Mom and Ariana. It had been a long and exciting day of travel and we were SO happy to see their smiling faces. It had been a year since we saw Ariana and a few months since we saw Oma. We started the week off by hitting some fun places for the kids.

Fresh off the obstacle course at Shannen Park.

Time to head home to set up the slip n slide and cool off.


Here we are at the Delaware River in Milford, PA. We splashed in the cold water, skipped rocks, counted the passing kayaks, and built stone walls out of the rocks and algae.



Here's Harper embarking on his first ever fire fly hunt. Kyle and Ari were so kind to run around the lawn and help him.

We were able to meet my friend Lisa and her daughter at the Greenville playground. Rilke, Kameryn, and Harper climbed on the playground, hiked the trail, built bird nests, danced on their pretend stage, and finished the morning with a race.

Next, we spent a few days celebrating the Summer with Poppy, Nanny, Uncle Alan, Aunt Leah, Emma, and Jackson. We arrived on Friday evening. Nanny and Poppy traveled up from Virginia to meet us there. Ithaca is always a ton of fun for the kids. We headed downtown to a pizza place for dinner. I was dark out and the kids were super excited about being up late. They didn't get to bed until almost 11 o'clock that night. By far the latest they have ever been up. The next few days were full of fun things like playing in the giant sand box, jumping on the trampoline, kayaking with Uncle Alan on Cayuga Lake, visiting Ithaca Falls, Stewart Park, playgrounds, Taughannock state park, playing with puppies, and wrestling beets out of the garden of course!

Jackson just days before his 8th birthday.


Caper the handsome little monster that we love so much!

Dinner at the Boatyard.



Swinging in the backyard.

It is awesome to have an older cousin like Jackson.

Oma and Ariana joined us in Ithaca and we headed to Little Leaf Orchard on a hot morning to pick blackberries, raspberries, and peaches.



We left Ithaca that night and returned to Westtown. We picked Josh up from the train station and got right back to having fun. Here we are in the back yard...Kan Jam! Just moments later Oma, Booma, and I went into the kitchen to get dinner started while Josh continued playing in the yard with the kids. We heard josh yell "Bear!" We ran outside to see a giant black bear walk past Josh, climb over the stone wall that's behind him and dissapear through the neighbors back yard. Welcome to upstate NY!!!


Back in Pennsylvania. Hiking and climbing the 245 steps to see the top of Dingman's Falls.




We spent the last few days of our vacation enjoying the wonderful New York weather. It was the perfect mix of warm and cool. We sipped cocktails on the porch, cooked dinner on the grill almost every night, ate outside, made campfires, toasted marshmellows, and set off lots of fireworks. On Sunday we enjoyed an amazing visit from Aunt Joyce. We were able to catch up on the past year and enjoy her yummy food and spectacular company.


On the last day of our trip we celebrated Rilke's birthday! Our baby girl is 3 years old. We decoated the kitchen and baked a pink cake. Oma showered her with many gifts, two of which were a Jesse doll and a princess dress. Needless to say it was a perfect birthday.