Road Trip- Day Two

Driving through the Adirondacks was more than half the enjoyment of our trip. I felt like we were taking the drive around town to look at Christmas lights, with the children "oooohhhh-ing" and "ahhhhhhhh-ing" in the back...and Matt pulling over every mile to let more traffic pass him. It was Heaven, to be sure. Slow, gratifying, God-praising Heaven.

Our first stop in the morning was the High Falls Gorge. I sent Matt in to the information office to check and see if there were child-friendly nature trails for the kids to explore.

Matt came out with wristbands for all of us and said we would "probably be able to do the hardest path of all, right down the side of the gorge....Isn't that exciting!?"

And I tried claiming I was going into labor, but Matt only responded that that would give us another 37 minutes before we actually had to push. At least.

Just kidding.

The beginning of the Hike of Insanity crosses over the AuSable River. The kids loved the bridge, and Matt was right: it was incredibly child-friendly. Gates and fences were EVERYWHERE! They were remarkably Tom-Boo proof.

After our excursion to the gorge, we stopped at a family restaurant and just chilled. It was perfect. The kids were perfect. The food was perfect. It was just one of those moments.

Needless to say, we had some tired babies that afternoon.

When the boys woke up, we beached it.
Matt and Joseph had blueprints and rules.

Thomas doesn't.
His plan was to make everyone feel like they were underwater. Whether we were sitting in a beach chair or building a castle...we were gonna get soaked.

Nathan's idea of a good time at the beach is to try to make everyone as uncomfortable as he is. He despises sand. So he stood there and threw sand at anyone within a three foot radius of his person.

Sarah has some serious stamina. She actually finished a pool that we set out to make for Nate.
I was so proud of Joseph. He is loving water this year. No meltdowns, no stress. He was the most enjoyable person to be around for this entire trip. Joseph is a permission seeker. He has to walk through each and every step of something that he is about to do. Just to make sure it's okay, safe, and that I know where he is and what he is doing. He kinda lost that part of himself during vacation, and I had to be extra special attentive when I discovered him walking out into the water by himself and being slightly more adventurous than normal.

That night we took a drive to Saranac Lake to watch the boats go in and out of the launch and maybe toss a line in the water.

I gave Tom the camera, to discourage him from trying to jump in the water to find a fish. Sorry about your head being cut off, Matt.
 Vertically-Challenged Boo.

Road Trip

Matthew's penance from a recent confession was to plan a vacation for our family. He must have done something really terrible.

We left for Mirror Lake on Monday morning at 6:30a. At 8a, Nathan got carsick, threw up all over EVERYTHING and we found ourselves at the always hospitable Walmart. We purchased a new outfit, some cleaning supplies for the car, and seriously considered just purchasing a new carseat.

This is the best vacation we have ever been on.

We arrived at our hotel much later than anticpated, but the children were ready to go swimming. They were stripping down in the hallway as Matt was opening the door to our suite.

Nathan, ready for swimming. He couldn't find his other croc, so he ran laps through our rooms calling out "Foo-fops?! Are you?" (Flip flops?! Where are you?)

Thomas, being Thomas, got injured as quickly as possible...doing a long jump off one of the beds and hitting the floor. Hard. When my parents found out we were going on a vacation, they rejoiced for us and went out shopping... for Matt. Go figure. Amongst MANY other things, they dropped off a couple of bags of beef jerky and some Stella Artois, in cans, for easy travel. Stella came in handy after the long car ride and also as simple first aid for my third born. Thanks Mom and Dad, for making our trip that much more awesome!

One of our balconies at the hotel. We watched our first storm roll in over the mountains and settle right over the Olympic Center across the street.

The children saw the hot tub and rainbow trout above it on the hotel website before we left for vacation. This was one of their favorite moments from vacation: getting their picture taken with the Hot Tub Trout.

We had the entire basement of the hotel to ourselves on the first night. This included the hot tub, pool, lounge, pool table, foos ball table, bathrooms and... water cooler.

Chillin' like Bob Dylan

Swimming Sarah!

Love

The basement was sectioned off with heavy glass doors, most  of which needed a room key to get through. Instant playpen.

Nathan is ready to be an engineer.
 He just needs to work on his water cooler conversation...

And etiquette.

Matt and I played pool for the first time together in YEARS! It was hysterical. Matt says he won, but I think it was because of the little elf that hid under the table and kept throwing my striped balls back up into the playing field.

I understand that it seems as though there are a ton of us, but why in the world do hotels make us get suites? This is what bedtime on vacation looks like. All of us, piled together, in one bed.
The kids were wiped after a long trip and some good swimming and games. Everyone slept really well! Not the norm.

Shutdown Begins

There were so many things we wanted to do, and friends we wanted to see and projects we wanted to accomplish over this break. But, very much like our pre-vacation To Do List, we ended up doing very little...and it ended up being perfectly perfect for this third trimester slug.

First Stop: Camping at the Lake.

Meet Peaches. Poor Cat. She happens to love my boys. And they "LOVE" her right back. Thomas and Nathan chased her around the yard taking pictures and "pegging the kiggy".

Uncle Rob, reading one of my favorite books from childhood to the boys.

Getting Ready

Before Matt's vacation this year, we had a long list of chores to get done. We accomplished ONE thing on our list and then ran out of time.

 C'est la vie!

1.) Get the truck ready for our trip.

It took 6 hours more than it should have, what with all the helping hands and such. But, Oh My, we had a great time!