Minnesota

From the second we arrived in Minnesota we were knee-deep in silly kids!

 



Our four kids got along great.  We took a break from the RV and stayed in the Pellegrene's guest room at their new lake house in Annandale.  I was so happy to be with my BFF Jaime, but we were also happy to watch our families play.  It was sooo much fun!

Leaving their dock, ready to cruise!
 

 



Vinnie cracked us up wearing goggles while he rode!

We spent our days on the pontoon, watching the kids tube...

Vinnie and Brady



Liv and Ty yelling "Faster!  Faster!"



...swimming in the pool...


tough life

...fishing, cooking healthy meals, and just hanging out.  Pete even got in a 20-mile run (have I mentioned he's running a marathon when we get back?) 

Jaime and Joe are expecting their 3rd baby within the next few weeks.  We wish them all the best with what's to come!!  We certainly wish that they didn't live so far away...

 

Thanks, Pellegrenes, for the hospitality and memories (and my new mother's necklace)!  We love you!

Wisconsin

After driving through Canada, we made our way to Minnesota with an overnighter in Wisconsin.  This is where we hit our first "road block."  Gucci hurt her paw somehow during a run with Peter and began limping.  By the time we got her to a vet in Madison, WI, it was very swollen and she couldn't walk on it at all.  The vet was unable to determine the cause but we put her on painkillers and antibiotics and now she's back to normal.  It calmed her down quite a bit for a few days, though! 

 

Note the booty.



We decided to stay the night in Wisconsin so that she could rest.  We found a super fun campground complete with a BMX track and raft pond. 

Peter would time the boys around the track and they would try to beat their personal records.



The raft pond was a new experience to the boys and their favorite raft was actually the flat one they could play "king of the raft" on and Brady discovered that he can do flips off the side!  (Our little daredevil...)

 It was all fun and games until poor Bray got attacked  by a horsefly on the top of his head and I had to jump in and save him (even though I was already showered and fully clothed!)  Those darn flies hurt! 



We also took a canoe down a quiet river into a lake.  Brady took a nap and the big boys used their nets to fish for minnows. 

 



The beautiful sunset made up for all of our bug bites!  This was the view from our campsite.





Next stop:  Annandale, MN to visit Jaime and Family!!

Niagara Falls

After visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, we headed to Niagara Falls.  This was the destination that Brady anticipated the most and he was not let down.  The falls really are remarkable both from above and below.

 We toured above the falls in a trolley,

and below the falls in the "Cave of the Winds" tour and on a "Maids of the Mist" boat.



It was invigorating! 





We scored a beautiful day to get wet and cool off!

Viewing deck and elevator



Look closely for the boat at the base of the falls.  It gets close (and we got soaked!)

 

Next stop Canada then west across the northern states!!!

Cooperstown

We left Hanover, NH and our week stay with the Gonnerman family and headed to Cooperstown, NY to see the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Our visit was brief but we enjoyed learning a bit about the history of the game and seeing some of the old time stuff.

The kids particularly enjoyed watching the Abbott & Costello "Who's on First" routine.

 

 We couldn't figure out why the town was so crowded. Becky even asked: "Why's everyone wearing tie-dye shirts?" As it turns out, there was a Grateful Dead concert that night. We decided to play along and sported our tie-dye shirts at the local pizza place. People assumed we were going to the show, but we're not quite ready to introduce them to "the Dead!"

 

We fumbled with this darn picture for 2 days and it wouldn't cooperate, sorry you have to turn your head!

 

We still have a lot of blogging to catch up on so bear with us...missing our family and friends!!

New Hampshire with the Gonnerman Family

Gramps reading "Barbapapa"

We arrived at Lake Winnipesaukee Saturday, July 6th.  There we met up with Pete's folks, Betsy and Mike, and his sister Jen, her husband Dave Isay and their two kids, Tobey and Mazie.  The next day, Pete's brother Tobey and his partner Steve joined the gang.  It was great to plant our feet for an entire week (moving from place to place is exhausting!) and we filled the days with tennis, swimming, kayaking, playing catch, Ping-Pong, cooking, fishing and just plain visiting.  We had a lot of rain but enough sunshine to get some lake time in.

With cousin Tobey.

Brady was THRILLED to catch his fish!

 

We determined they were catching "blue gills."



Our first day, Peter and I agreed to participate in a mountain race with his dad.  Holy Mary, this was the hardest race I've ever done, 5.5 miles STRAIGHT UP LOON MOUNTAIN (which is a ski resort in winter, we ran up the black diamond courses!)

 At one point it was so steep that I was bear crawling on all fours!  The best part was the view from the top and the gondola ride down (where I apologized to Mike because I was cursing his name the entire way up for dragging me into it). He's a crazy mountain goat!

I'm gonna kill him!

I guess at the end of the day, as terribly difficult as it was, I was proud that I did it.  And I should mention that Pete kicked ass and did incredibly well, and even got hit on by a 25 year old woman who asked him if he would run back and forth in front of her so she could stare at him while she finished the race!  To which he replied, "lemme go ask my wife."  Put your shirt back on, Pete!

Peter and I were happy to break away for our annual game of golf with Tobey and Steve.  It was a tough course and I had both my best and worst holes!  (I scored 10 then proceeded to bogie a par 5...golf is certainly a challenge of consistency!)  We also took advantage of grandparent-babysitters and went for our traditional night out with the grown-ups, ahhh, life's simple pleasures!

Brady loved catching toads!

The boys were especially excited to go to Funspot (the "world's biggest arcade") that Peter and Tobey used to frequent when they were boys.  Tyler was anxious to see if Uncle Tobey would be allowed back in because when he was a teenager he was caught using NH highway tokens instead of Funspot tokens and was banned for life.  Luckily he wasn't recognized!  ;)

The three Tobeys.

The highlights of our trip included campfire (the Isays had never participated in a traditional campfire so I was happy to teach them spooky stories and the art of making s'mores!)

Ty playing his guitar...

 and the day we spent with Pete's cousin Abby Sampson and her family on their ski boat at Squam Lake.  Ty went tubing and I got to water ski!!!! 





We eventually traded in the ski boat for their pontoon where we picked up Mike and Betsy for a cruise.  We found a jumping rock and rope swing, Ty had a blast keeping up with 10-year-old Kaylie. 

Betsy agreed that she could get used to cruising on a boat! In fact, the Gonnermans have already begun looking into houses on Squam Lake for next year.  After leaving the lake, Kaylie took Ty and Brady on rides on her quad around the woods of her house.  They had a blast!  We appreciated the Sampson's generosity with their "toys" and look forward to playing more next year!

 

We then spent one night back in Hanover at the Gonnerman's new house.  We enjoyed milkshakes at Lou's, attended a local county fair, and caught up on laundry.


Ty "flipping"

 

 

 Thanks to Mike and Betsy for their generosity and hospitality!  It was an extra-special week!

 

Dave, Peter. Steve. Tobey. Jen. Mazie, Mike, Brady. Becky, Betsy, Ty, Tobey

 

The Lawsons

After the 4th of July and a wonderful stay with the Lawson's (thanks again for everything guys, we had lots of fun!!)

Ty, Tanner and Brady

 

The kids playing together. 

            

       In the pool with Mike       

                                                                                                  Becky, Peter and Amber in front of    Plymouth Rock.