Dog Pile

We love having the Albers girls over! Jenn's been coming over on Thursdays for the past couple of months. It's been so nice having her company and the kids just love to play with her. Sometimes Anngela and Carolynn will come too. After Teague went down for his nap, the big kids headed down to the basement to play and build a dog pile!



Love those smiles!

A little corny

We've had fresh corn on the cob a few times already this season and Teague just loves it everytime!

U S A- Hooray!

We had so much fun celebrating Canada Day together, that Len took the day off of work so we could celebrate Independence Day together too.


We spent the day in New York in various towns. Our first stop was Massena, for some lunch at Taco Bell- yum! (Our last stop was in Malone, for some KFC- but fast food twice in the same day is not so great.) Next we made our way to Plattsburgh (400 years old) for a good ol' fashioned 4th of July parade. We arrived just in time and got a great spot on the corner.

There were lots of fun participants. The boy scouts led the parade carrying the beautiful Star-Spangled Banner. There were crazy cars (one with 3 wheels), several fire engines from different generations, men in skirts (kilts) playing the bagpipes, cute baton twirlers in red, white, & blue sailor outfits, Union soldiers firing their rifles, a replica of the USS Saratoga, and the local roller derby & football teams. One thing that surprised us was that there were no horses in the parade.

The little boys were both asleep in the stroller when the parade started.

Before it was over though, they both got a turn on Daddy's shoulders.

Afterwards we walked around their charming "downtown" right near Lake Champlain to check out the music festival and get some snacks. Do you see the entrance in the red building for your horse-drawn carriage?

This was such a pretty road trip through Adirondack country. (Wish I could have bought some chairs.) There were several charming houses with their Americana decor.

The above house had these gorgeous tiger lilies in their flower garden.

I have never been snow skiing, but I would love to come back and ski here. It was home to the Olympics in 1980 and 1932.

Everywhere you looked were gorgeous waterfalls, mountains, or forests.

And lovely wildflowers.

Our next stop was to the ultra-trendy and darling resort town of Lake Placid.

The kids wanted to swim in Mirror Lake so badly, but we still had a 3 hour drive home ahead of us, so we decided this is where we'll spend July 3-5 next year, for sure!

Even though they didn't get to swim, they were good sports and let me take their pictures.

We found this quaint church called St. John's In The Wilderness, and it literally was in the middle of nowhere. Would love to attend their Sunday services sometime.

All the kids were sound asleep by the time we got home 12 hours later. The big kids woke up though, so we could finally light our sparklers. Happy Birthday America! We had a great day!

One last note- we drove by signs for Mexico, Peru, Bombay, and the North Pole! We know where we're spending Christmas in July next year- ha ha!

C eh, N eh, D eh! Hey!

We spent a lovely day at Lac La Peche with the Larson, Wilde, Campbell, Kelly, Symonds, and Berg families to celebrate Canada Day. We had a wonderful time picnicing, swimming and splashing in the water, and building sand castles of course!


Kaleb picked up a hitchhiker in the parking lot.

The beach was great and not too crowded.

We were down at the end and pretty much had it all to ourselves!

Noe with the first attempt at the family fortress.

Len came over to give Noe and Kaleb a hand with the construction.

It turned out really well, until a tsunami (motorboat) came by and wrecked the harbor- ha ha!

Len takes the plunge.

It didn't take long for Gavin and Teague to run after him. Teague tried to keep up with the big boys and learned that when his feet no longer touched he could only bob around. Luckily, mama was watching and had Noe save him!

These 2 were little fish all day and tried to catch some too!

I couldn't freeze out little babe, so I just got in up to my knees.

I got lots of cuddles with these 2 who needed to warm up after each dip.

I can't resist that smile.

Teague you're adorable, even with a pink bucket.

Noe and Megan say, "Cheetos!"

By the time we got home, we were all wiped out and couldn't stay up to watch the fireworks at 10:00. But let's do this again soon!

Patriotic Weekend

Maple Jack and Uncle Sam are wishing you a Happy Canada Day and a Happy Independence Day!

Today is the first day of summer vacation and it's Canada Day! We're skipping out on seeing William and Kate downtown and heading out to the lake for a day of fun in the sun, then on Monday Len took the day off work so we can head down to upstate New York for some 4th of July fun. I've got our sparklers ready!!

School's Out (finally!)

The little boys are waiting...


...for Kaleb and Noe to arrive from their last day of school! I grew up with a 9-month school year, so it's been really hard for me to adjust to the 10-month system. The kids had a wonderful year though.

They're all just growing up so fast!

Now it's time to celebrate!

We had our traditional meal of ice cream for dinner. This year we added waffles and strawberries to the mix.

The kids also got some loot bags. They all got some toiletries, sand & water toys, and a Wii game.

I also wanted to show this little craft from Family Fun (http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/colorful-crayon-letter-1015552/) that I made for Kaleb & Noe's teacher. It's harder than it looks though. Pealing and breaking the crayons ripped one of my fingernails back and made it bleed. Ouch! I think I'll try buttons next year.

Here's to a fabulous summer!!