our camping trip... mostly in pictures

Last week was vacation. A much need vacation. We went camping on Piseco Lake.  It was peaceful and refreshing if a bit rainy.

It was beautiful!

I love being by the water.  The dogs had a blast swimming and splashing.

This is the trail from the road to our site...it was very steep.

Wednesday we all went out for ice cream...

I did a lot of reading 💖📖

It rained almost every night...

Chance does not like the rain and was not the biggest fan of camping in general.

Puppy Snuggles

Granola Bars, Dogs and my wild and cRaZy Kids!

Sunday night I tried out a new granola bar recipe in the Snack Bar Maker Set.  I loved it! The bars actually held together  and tasted so yummy!  I found the recipe via Pinterest- Here's a link to that-

Homemade Granola Bars  I highly recommend.  I am loving the snack bar maker and can not wait to try more varieties!

 Last night we did a LIVE video... it went a little crazy and ended up being pretty hilarious! Be sure to check it out

  --->HERE<---

My new Fall catalogs also arrived! So many new goodies in store! 

You're gonna wanna have a FALL PARTY!

Ryan checking out the NEW catalog.

And just because.....

Summer Adventures...

I'm having a little problem with the passage of time.  This summer has been hard on me. This fall my little babies are turning 20, 17 & 13. This does not seem possible. They are growing up and I am having a bit of an identity crisis here.

I mean seriously... wasn't this just the other day.

This week I caught a glimpse of my future as I sat alone at the kitchen table to eat my dinner. And my heart is sad.

All the more reason to savor and treasure those moments.

Tuesday the girls and I went to see the new Aladdin movie.  We loved it!  I thought Robin Williams would be a pretty hard act to follow for the genie. But I have to say Will Smith did a great job.  Plus I just love Will Smith ;-)

Wednesday Hannah and I spent the day at Darien Lake with Girl Scouts.

Leader Selfie on the Ferris Wheel

Last night we hit up the libraries.  We went to one library.  Mikayla had a book on hold. I had an overdue one that needed returned.  We wandered and savored the stacks.  As I checked out I mentioned I thought I had one on hold.  Nope.  Turns out it was on hold at the other library I frequent.  So after checking out we headed to library #2.

 I'm pretty excited to be signed up for the summer reading program!

I guess they still need and appreciate me for some things ;-)

And just because. Dogs. <3

Be Kind to Yourself... But don't be a weenie

These are the two thoughts I had during Monday night's run.

I have been seriously slacking last week in running.  Getting the new puppy totally threw off my routine.  I complained to my children on Sunday night how discouraged I was with running.  They offered tough love and basically told me to suck it up and make it happen. :P

So I decided in the morning I was going to take Chance for a walk (once the road cooled off after dinner) and then go run.

Chance was beyond happy when I changed into shorts and running shoes and asked... "Are you ready?" He bounded off the bed and towards the door.

It was kinda hot and humid but I didn't give in.  I remember the words my sister has told me so often- "You have to push yourself to get stronger." I thought about a blog I read about acclimating to running in summer weather. Be kind to yourself. It said.  But don't be a weenie- I told myself.  Keep running.

Yesterday morning on my run I happened by the new Little Free Library. It makes me so happy!

Keep running! And Happy summer!

Remember to be kind to yourself! Do things that make you feel good!

Happy Monday!

About how I'm feeling today too :P

We had a full, busy yet delightful weekend here. A bridal shower, two grad parties, grocery shopping and church.  We rented the *new* Jumanji movie from Redbox, which we thoroughly enjoyed.

This came up in my facebook memories today. A picture from the week I met the love of my life, 22 years ago.  16 and 17 years old... a life time ago.


Yesterday Chance turned 3 years old. It was also a HOT summer evening so we took him down the creek to play and cool off. We laughed like crazy watching his shenanigans in the cool water. This was probably the highlight of my weekend.




Happy pup-

Chance and I also had a nice run on Saturday, a lot of it by the creek too.  I just LOVE where we live. =)

Rock I saw in the creek walk. I almost brought it home but I didn't want to carry it for the remainder of the run.  So I left it for someone else to find.

Tonight starts VBS at our church. =)  So this is where we'll be every night this week. Crazy to think all my kids are now teaching or helpers!

Thought for today. . .