Buckets of Blueberries

Hafner's really misses the mark when it charges for picking blueberries.

Instead of weighing the buckets,

 they should really weigh the kids before and after the picking.

I am very sure that more went into their tummies than into the buckets.

That's why I love this place.

After the attendant gave us our buckets, she gave official permission for the kids to eat as many blueberries as they wanted to.  

They definitely took her up on her offer.

Beth's picking method was to eat 3, bucket 1. 

It was why we were there for almost 3 hours.

Sam was very methodical.

He did eat quite a bit but he was more motivated to fill his bucket first therefore beating Beth, in his mind!

The best find of the day was this little nest we found nestled in a blueberry bush.

Sam thought how lucky those little birds will be.... growing up in a blueberry bush.

It doesn't get any more perfect than that!

Here Fishy Fishy....

Fishing on the Seneca River.

Sam is swiftly on his way to catching every type of fish in NYS.

Beth holds her own rather well too.

Fishing with these kids is an obsession. 

They LOVE it!

A rock bass, I think?

Beth caught a few perch.

Sam has graduated to worming his own hooks.

He takes a tremendous amount of pride in it too!

(yuck! :)

Reeling in the fruits of his labor.

Here's how this went.

"Bri... I want to take your picture."

"Then take it."

"Don't you think you should be smiling?"

"No."

"I wish you would set a good example for Sam. 

He is starting not to let me take his picture anymore."

"I already told you, you could to take it."

"Will you smile?"

"I am smiling."

Now that's a smile!

Finally a beach day!

The last day of our holiday weekend was finally beautiful.

It was a beach day.

The kids got to wear their special bathing suits and be the hit of the beach!

In the morning, while Kristin and I were getting everything ready, the girls were prancing around the house in their matching bathing suits.

They were practicing some of their own poses developed by McKenna.

They also named themselves "The Chickmunks".

They also thought it was cute to name Sam "The Chick Magnet".

He doesn't think that is cute.

He hates it.

(So we won't mention it again.)

It took some heavy negotiating with Chickmunk management, (aka McKenna) for some photos.

Once she went to the others and disclosed my offer of ice cream, we had a deal.

But they were very specific with their terms.

I was under a time limit, limited to two locations, and they would get final word on poses.

It was a hard bargain but worth it!

(The photo above reminds me of the water skiing teams in the 50's and 60's!)

Parting shot of the Chickmunks.

McKenna, Beth, and Megan

JJ and Kristin

Sam and his "faux-hawk".

He preferred his time spent at the beach with some of the boys.

I didn't see him for most of the afternoon.

He was playing ball with the "big boys" and seemed to fit in just perfect.

But occasionally he would come back over and check on his subordinates and make sure they were digging the sand holes to his specifications. 

Beth thought it would be fun to flip Sam over.

What she wasn't counting on was Sam's payback plan!

Awww.... here's the one shot I got of all of them.

Brian and Joe were in a golf tournament in Thendara that day too.

And guess what?

They won!

They joined us on the beach later to "relax". 

:)

Thank you Johnstons, for helping us have another memorable 4th of July weekend.

Fourth of July Part 3

Big Moose.

We had a few hours to kill until fireworks.

(Actually we weren't even sure if there were going to be fireworks because of the weather, but tried to remain hopeful.)

So we decided to take a ride into Big Moose.

McKenna was with her Grandma J so we took Megan with us.

We meandered our way down the curvy road to Big Moose.

It's one of our favorite places in the Adirondacks.

We made a couple of stops and then went into the Glenmore.

(The Glenmore has a long history and is said to be haunted.)

A round of root beer.

(holiday... remember?)

Whispers and secrets.

I wish I could have known what she told him.

I have a feeling that he will get that look on his face several times during her life.

Trying their hand at darts and pool.

After the Glenmore we headed to the Big Moose Station.

Behind the restaurant was a train car.

We let the kids walk the tracks and climb.

 

We did end up having fireworks that night. We opted to watch Inlet's from Eagle Bay instead of going into Old Forge. (Again, because of the weather.)

We had a great time watching them on the beach.

I don't have any pictures from that.

It was Kristin's turn to bring her camera.