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