This is REIL fun: July 2012

Friday, July 27, 2012

Twice Wicked

Wicked came to the NAC, so I got to see it again with my friend Jackie and her friends Lisa & Lilianna.

We had a lovely evening watching the show and had a scrumptious dinner at The Side Door.

Without Cheerleaders, it's only a game

Noe is the 4th generation of cheerleaders in our family. Yep, I was a cheerleader in high school and junior high, as well as my mom and my granny. She started all star cheerleading this month and is really enjoying it. She works hard- 4 hours a week (who says cheerleaders aren't athletes?) Her head coach also covers the team for the boys Bengals football team as well as the team for the Ottawa Invaders semi-pro team. She wanted all 3 teams to cheer at one of the games, so Noe got to be an honorary Bengal for the day.

She was so excited!

Especially because her friend, Emma was cheering right beside her.

They welcomed the players onto the field.

Pom poms are the most fun! They got to cheer on the sidelines during the first half.

And perform during half-time.

Strike a pose!

And posing again with one of the Invaders cheerleaders.

Way to go Noe!

Main Street, USA

The Main Street in Lake Placid is simply charming. We walked it everyday we were there. At the top is this quaint, rustic church.

Every building houses a fun shop(s)/restaurant. There were too many good things to choose from!

On our last night, we took the free trolley around the village too.

I could build a home like the Just Bead It store and be happy all the rest of my days.

At the bottom of the street you find this darling, stone church.

The free live music event I mentioned before. What a great place- right off Main Street and right off the water.

I don't know what these flowers are called, but I love them!

We found this house for sale and decided we want to buy it. If only it were that easy!

I love Adirondack chairs and this little spot was too endearing to pass by and not capture.

We did a bit of shopping too. We got part of Kaleb and Noe's Halloween costumes, and there is a year-round Christmas store that I may have spent a pretty penny or two in, and there was a homemade fudge shop with about twenty flavors of fudge. They also had a promotion if you buy 1 pound you get a half pound free! I couldn't pass that up, but it was so hard to choose. On the right is our all time favorite- melt in your mouth peanut butter- delish! On the left is the chocolate I chose in Leonard's honor- dark chocolate caramel sea salt- divine! The one in the middle was the flavor of the month- watermelon- what? Yep, watermelon. It was so cute with a green layer, thin white layer, pink layer, and chocolate chips on top. It tasted just like watermelon candy, but in a fudgy texture. Surprisingly, it was actually quite yummy! I can't wait to try new flavors next year.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Mirror Lake

The reason we picked GALR to stay at was for this...

...its own private beach and free use of canoes, kayaks, paddle boats, and life jackets!

The kids were anxious to spend the day in the sun.

Rubber ducky gave Noe confidence so she could swim out to both docks.

Kaleb was a kayak pro by the end of the day! We were on the west side of the lake, and Kaleb went all the way across to the east side at first. Soon after he went all the way out to the north and south ends too.

Len grabbed the mini kayak and pushed the 3 little guys around in it.

I mean, Teague muscled the watercraft!

Hiram fits right in with all of us water babies.

I loved swimming to the docks too, but my favorite was when we all went out in some paddle boats- Kaleb & Noe in one and the rest of us in the other.

They bring in crushed limestone for the beach and to keep the lake clean. It's the cleanest lake I have EVER been in. When I was out treading in deep, dark water I looked down and could see my legs glowing all the way down to my toes. It was trippy! However, it wasn't quite like sand to build with- more like uncooked rice. The kids had fun dumping it in the water and making "milk" though.

Doesn't Hiram make a cute "Wish you were here" postcard?

When the day was done the big kids all piled in the ginormous tub to rinse off and get warmed up.

Santa's Workshop

You may remember that last year I put a picture of this cute yellow house on my blog and said we would visit it again this year to celebrate Christmas in July?

Well, that's exactly what we did!

Our family had a great day at this little amusement park. We loved hearing all the workers tell us, "Merry Christmas!"

This carousal didn't have horses to ride, but reindeer and sleighs!

There were a few other rides too, but this roller coaster was the favorite as all 4 of the big kids rode it about 20 times!

Hiram was too little to ride, but he still had fun smiling and showing off his 4 new teeth!

Yep, North Pole, New York has a frozen north pole. The kids loved feeling the cool ice on their hot hands.

The "village" with a candy shop, toy shop, bake shop, Christmas decor shop, museum, post office, etc. was just too darling! You may be familiar with another amusement park where you can get your name embroidered on mouse ears- well, here you could get your name put on a Santa hat or Christmas stocking, fun fun fun!

There was even Saint Nicholas' Chapel with a gorgeous nativity display inside and an old-fashioned piano.

They even performed a live Nativity pageant complete with the Holy family, shepherds, wise men, and angels.

The cutest house in the village belonged to Santa, of course. And we got to go inside!

He has a yummy kitchen,

darling bedroom,

and we found him in his living room!

*This little place was built back in 1949 and is not only Santa's summer home, but home to Frosty the Snowman, Chris Moose, Randy the Reindeer, Miranda Mouse, the 9 famous real reindeer, fun rides- including a train ride to the miniature elf village, fun shows, cute shops, a yummy restaurant, and a sweet statue of Santa kneeling at the baby Jesus. This place probably couldn't be built now-a-days, but it made our hearts happy and we're so glad it exists!