We packed the car up and headed south on Friday into the Poconos. The lovely folks at the Great Wolf Lodge invited us to come spend the weekend with them to celebrate the opening of their newest waterslide. The large amounts of fun and pictures of our time there is coming up tomorrow but today I wanted to share some pictures from our day at Bushkill Falls. On Sunday we were lucky enough to get to meet up with Julie and Chris! It was so fun to be able to see them so last minute. We decided to explore Bushkill Falls together. It’s always kind of a bummer when you have to pay for a hike but you can’t really deny the beauty and easy walking paths (especially for the girls after an already long weekend for them). It had been raining non stop all weekend so the trails were extra magical looking and green. Total Middle Earth #lordoftheringsnerd. We had a great time hiking, taking pictures and just catching up on life with our sweet friends. Can’t wait to explore more in and around the Delaware Water Gap area. So beautiful!
…stays together, right? This past weekend we headed up into Adirondack park with friends to hike all together. I never get tired of this beautiful view at the top. Lake George is just gorgeous! Can’t wait until it warms up a bit more so we can swim too. I really feel like there’s always some major family bonding that goes on when we hike all together. I hope that it’s a family tradition we can keep doing for as long the girls live near us, no matter how old they all are. Finley is starting to refuse sitting in the carrier because she has to be just like big sister Rowan. It takes A LOT longer but we’ve been letting her hike right along side us. What a trooper she is! She keeps saying things like “I got it, I got it” whenever I try to hold her hand. Little Miss Independant over there.
Summer is always such an exciting time with endless possibilities. I like to make a summer bucket list every year just to keep my thoughts all in one place. I don’t ever expect to do them all but just some fun things to consider all summer long.
2015 summer bucket list!
1. Take day trips to surrounding cute towns. Vermont is like 25 mins from us?!?!
2. A few museum trips (Clark, Eric Carle, MassMoca)
3. Let the girls get ice cream from the very persistent ice cream man that drives around our neighborhood at dinner time
4. Take a trip just Kev and I for a anniversary/babymoom type adventure (fingers crossed for Nova Scotia)
5. Ogunquit/York ME visit
6. Go camping
7. Spend some time playing at all the cool parks in NYC
8. Enjoy the town pool with friends
9. Continue with our reading skills (for Rowan) throughout the summer
10. Have bonfire with friends
11. Hike, Hike, Hike!!
12. Start a Bi-monthly friends BBQ get together.
13. Go to the Cape
14. Swim in lakes
15. Find the coolest splashpad around
16. Kayak with the girls
17. Spend time in our beloved Boston
18. Grow an awesome garden full of our favorite juicing vegetables (kale, cucumbers, chard)
19. Enjoy Saturday mornings in Troy at the farmers market
20. Teach Rowan how to go across the monkey bars, swim, and maybe ride a bike with no training wheels
21. Prepare for new baby
22. Go to an outside show/concert somewhere
23. Go to the Drive-in
24. Go to an amusement park/waterpark
25. Bring the girls to a movie in the park night and have a picnic
26. Zoo
27. Dates with Kev
28. Figure out my issues with my dang screens for screen printing
29. Paint the outside trim and front door on the house
30. Make tie-dye shirts with the girls
31. Make a lemonade stand one day with them (Rowan has been asking me for months if she can)
32. Take lots of evening family bike rides
33. Make a pie (I have never made my own pie before, a crisp yes but not a pie)
34. Relearn how to play chess
35. Bring the girls and Kev to the Canadian National Exhibition
36. Easy, yummy meals on BBQ most nights
37. Potty train Finley (ugh!)
38. An overnight trip with my lady friends
39. Paint the girls bathroom
40. Whatever we do, just have fun and enjoy each others company and all summer has to offer.
The sun is here! You can tell everyone in the area is about 25% happier these days. I actually saw my neighbors this week! When the winter comes everyone hibernates and doesn’t emerge until the weather warms up again. It’s so nice to see people out and about again. The neighborhood is alive! This weekend has been some of the most perfect spring weather. With no set plans we set out in search of some adventure yesterday. We ended up at a farm in the area to check out all the new baby animals and then found a hike in the area we hadn’t done yet. It was beautiful! We were in love with the waterfalls and all the rocks to climb. The girls had a blast! By then end of the winter I am always, always thinking “why do we live in the northeast?” and then spring comes and we have weekends like this and I fall in love with the north all over again. I’m thinking it would be fun to start a little weekday hike club for some of my friends and their kids. There is nothing better then bringing your kids out to the woods to go exploring. There are so many great hikes in the area that are family friendly. Do you like hiking with your family?
I feel like we’re in the middle of a pretty magical age right now with our kids. Of course each stage/age has its rewards and challenges, but at the moment we are in our groove. The girls are pretty much the most fun ever. Rowan is constantly cracking us up and Finley has really developed a little personality. Plus, she just kills us with her cuteness. I long the for the weekends when we get to spend extended time all together. The weeks can be long and tiresome sometimes but the weekends are always a breath of fresh air. We try to get out as much as possible. Living in upstate NY we love having the Adirondacks close by. Spending time in Lake George & Bolton Landing is awesome. What beautiful towns!
I want to remember that on this day…
1. Rowan walked the entire hike. Almost 2 miles all by herself! (There may have been some bribing with nerds at the end).
2. Rowan kept calling the day “our adventure”.
3. Eating a calm, peaceful lunch on the outside patio in Bolton Landing
4. Finley’s cute face peeking out over the side of the backpack
5. Kids sleeping on the way home meant good conversation and music with Kev in the car.
6. The smells, sounds and crisp air of a beautiful fall day.
For those that are asking- Rowan’s boots are the Palladium Pampa Hi Leather from Tea Collection (you can also find more sizes here)
One of my favorite parts of where we live is that we are so close to the Adirondacks. What a beautiful place. Lake George is a just gorgeous! Not so much the touristy part but the rest of it. The lake is huge and has so many places to explore. It feels very much like northern Ontario and for that reason alone it makes me want to go there all the time. We packed up the girls last weekend and headed up there for a family hike. It was the perfect day to try out our new ergo baby carrier for Finley. The travel collection carriers are so light weight and easy to throw in the car on the go. What a work out to go hiking with a kid strapped to you back or front. We need to get out there more often thats for sure! We ended up having a lovely time (besides the massive amounts of horse flies out).
We don’t have family super close by so when holiday’s role around it’s usually is just the 4 of us looking for something to do. Of course we love our families, but I will admit I love the time together as just a family. On the 4th of July we decided to head to Thacher State Park and explore. I had heard some great things and was excited to go on our first family hike as a foursome. We loved hiking last year with Rowan. I got Kev a Deuter Kid Comfort III for Father’s Day last year and then I just carried Finley in our ERGO Performance. She actually fell asleep for most of the hike. I love getting out there all together. There were lots of beautiful views, waterfalls and silly conversations with Rowan.
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for Father’s Day last year and then I just carried Finley in our 
. She actually fell asleep for most of the hike. I love getting out there all together. There were lots of beautiful views, waterfalls and silly conversations with Rowan. 
