NY Vacation Part 1

In July, we went on vacation to NY to visit my parents. Since they live 8 hours away, it's tricky to get there very frequently, so I wanted a week to spend during the summer to see pageant and celebrate my mom's birthday with her. We went up to PA on Sunday to celebrate Chris's brother's birthday with him. He had a pool party which the kids especially LOVED. Monday morning, we headed up to NY. At the end of the week, we had busy days visiting Niagara Falls, my best friend from high school, going to Palmyra to see the sites and pageant, and going to the fair, but I'll share more about that later.

The first half of the week was spent with my parents and staying local. One of the main things I wanted to do was to visit my parents' neighbors, the Canhams. Their home was like a second home for me growing up. It was a summer haven where I learned to shoot hoops, swam in the pond, went boating, played horseshoes and other games, and just had a blast. I of course frequently visited other times of the year too, but summer time was my favorite. Then, they were the Titus's. Sadly, about 8 or 9 years ago, Mr. T as I lovingly called him, passed away suddenly. Mrs. T has since remarried a wonderful man whom I adore and has been renamed Mrs. C. Thankfully it rhymes. :) Anyway, we love to visit with them, and I love to allow my kids to experience a taste of my love for playing outside there. I also wanted to give Claire another opportunity to go fishing with Chris in their pond. Despite visiting a few times during the week, it didn't happen for various reasons. The kids still had a blast playing on the swing set, running around, playing with the toys in the sun room, and going boating in their pond. Good times!

Mrs. C with Amelia

Mr. C with Amelia

You can't see her in this picture, but Maddie is smiling at Mrs. C.

I love that Maddie smile.

They were having a picnic on the swing set

On Saturday morning, we went back there, but this time with cousins! My sister, Wendy, and her family came for the weekend, so we went back together and took the kids boating. It was so fun!

On the boat with Dan, Jason, Claire, Jocelyn, and Maddie

They were pretty excited!

Maddie didn't like feeling wobbly on the boat so she sat on my lap.

Wendy, Even, and Megan took a turn too while Jocelyn, Claire, and Dan stayed on the boat. 

On another morning, we thought it would be fun to take the kids to one of the few touristy sites in my small home town. In the beautiful cemetery in town, there is a cool memorial tower looking over the town. We thought it'd be fun to take the kids up, and Chris and I hadn't been back there since we were dating. It turns out it was a little scary for the kids, so they stayed at the bottom with my mom, but we still had fun! Unfortunately, the trees have grown a lot since I was last there, and much of the view was blocked. Here are a few shots though.

The courthouse.

The view from the top.

While we had a fun time on the busy days (stay tuned), we also had a wonderful time on our relaxing days just staying at home or in town and spending time with my parents. :)