Our Vacation in the Adirondacks (July love)

Hi guys, I'm so behind in my posts, that I hope you're forgive me! I still love doing my monthly round ups as it's a way for me to document my own family's little adventures and memories.  Today's post is just a quickie of our week-long vacation to our usual spot in the Adirondack Mountains called Long Lake, NY.

Saying goodbye to Daddy for the week (he was unable to take off this particular week as his job is very busy in the summer.)

We brought Henrich along who is my new favorite.  He's an 80's Hot Rockin' Fun Ken and he just makes me laugh. Love his get-up!

That glove....

He was able to relax for a few minutes until the girls found him. :) 

So we had a great week.  The girls are 4 and 7 now and things are so much easier than they used to be when they were babies.  My cousins also go and their kids pretty much take care of mine so it's a win situation for me! :)

My sister and her finacee decided to do a few nights of camping at a nearby state park called Lake Eaton instead of staying at the Motel Long Lake with the rest of us.  This particular day that we went to visit them was totally gorgeous!

The water is really shallow and warm so we had a blast!  

At night the whole beach glows red because of the large sign that spells out "MOTEL" that you can see from across the lake.  It's so retro, I love it.

This was the cabin that the girls and I stayed in.  This was the first year that my mom didn't stay in the same cabin with us.  (She was in the one right next door with my aunt.) I'm sure she appreciated having her own space! :)

This is looking across one part of the lake towards the Adirondack Hotel.  Farther to the right is the Town Beach and then a bridge/waterway that takes you to the left part of the lake.  The lake stretches even farther to the right quite a few miles down.  I think it's about 14 miles long in total! "Long Lake", lol.

Each night we sat on the screened in porch after the girls went to bed and chatted and caught up with cousins, aunts, uncles and family that we only see a few times a year.

Most days were just spent relaxing on the beach doing nothing.  :) 

Earlier in the week, we had our annual "ladies night" at the Owl's Head Pub, and this year we gave my sister a fun little bachelorette party!  So many good laughs!

My sister to the left with her toliet paper veil and me on the right.  We got a kick out of the sign behind us, haha.

I played darts for the first time since college, ha! 

 And got a bullseye! 

The weather stayed beautiful and perfect thoughout the week. The girls had a blast swimming, exploring, climbing and being with all the other cousins.

Looks like Daddy showed up on the beach on the last day! (Clothing optional?) 

As sad as it is to leave and say good bye to everyone, I am so thankful that I have this to come back home to.  :)
I hope you enjoyed the photos and see you in the next post!
Here are a few of our past vacations to LL from earlier years:
Long Lake 2015: 
Long Lake 2014:  1 and 2

XO Farrah

Long Lake, NY-part 2

Hello, hello!
How was everyone's weekend?  Mine went by way too fast, as always, but it was absolute bliss weather wise.  Crisp mornings (Autumn is quickly squirming it's way in) and balmy sunshine in the afternoons.
Pumpkin Pie did great on her first day of school.  It was a very weird feeling to put her on the bus and wave goodbye from the driveway.  It's a strange thing we do here...send our little children off by themselves (on a 45 minute bus ride in our case) and hope they get off the bus and end up in their classroom, make it through 6.5 hours of school and then get back on the correct bus and get dropped off at the correct house.
I was a wreck all day, but it was fine. And we get to do it all over again tomorrow!  To be honest though,  I am still not totally fine yet!  Hopefully within a few weeks we'll all be adjusted :)

Anyway, just wanted to share a few more photos from our stay in Long Lake.  

 I tried to get out for a walk each morning with my mom as this is the prettiest time to experience the lake.  The water is like glass and everything is so still and quiet.  Nothing like my normal life!

These two photos were taken at the same time...one side of the lake was hazy and serene....

.....and the other side was bright and awake.

Mid week, the weather was unusually hot so we headed over to Lake Eaton for the afternoon.  Lake Eaton is a New York State Park that is located right in Long Lake.  There are no motorboats allowed so it is quiet and the water is crystal clear.

Pumping Pie enjoying the view

Lake Eaton

I just couldn't get the colors right in this photo...it does not do this view justice at all!  Here is a gorgeous photo that I found that captures the beauty of Lake Eaton a little better than I did ;}

The best part about this lake is that you can walk out really far and the water is only up to your knees.     

This was a hit with the little ones...

Speaking of little ones...these pip-squeaks came to visit.

The babies enjoyed each other :):)

Here we are back on Long Lake...

The rest of the week was spent basking in the sun, stomping sand castles, beach campfires, roasting marshmallows, eating stuff I never eat, laughing and being with family.  I soak it up big time... 

 The girls love every second of it here.  Lots of cousins to play with (and babysit!) 

I wish I was still there...

That's about it for today, folks.  I better be off to bed.  I am so used to staying up late... I worked the night shift for many years, then the evening shift and now that I am working a normal day shift, I am finding it so hard to settle down for the night.  I have started getting up at 530 en la manana in order to be more organized with getting PP off to school and it is quite an adjustment!  

I hope you all have a good week.  Only 5 more days until Friday ;)  Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out this little window into our lives!  More doll photos coming soon!

xo

Long Lake, NY- part 1

Hi guys!
Sorry for the lack of posts this past week.  We had company for Labor Day and since we have only been here at the Farm for 2 weeks, I had a lot of cleaning/organizing to do before they all arrived!  That kind of trumped the blog. 

Buttermilk Falls, NY  (Raquette River)

I just wanted to share some photos from our big family vacation that we took last month to Long Lake, NY.
It's a small, quaint and cozy little town nestled in the gorgeous Adirondack Mountains of Upstate NY and my family has been coming here since I was a little girl. The lake gets it's name from it's long, thin appearance and it measures about 14m (23km) in length. (...in case you were wondering) :-}

 Little Button testing out the water...

 

Long Lake, NY 

I say "vacation", but in reality it is a giant family reunion.  My Mom has 9 other siblings and they all have a ton of kids and now they all have kids, so yes...I think that paints the picture for you.  I have to admit, I love the chaos and this style of "commune living" and really enjoy being around lots of family.  My husband might have to disagree with me on that though ;).    Even though everyone doesn't always go, it's always a big bunch of us.   We have lots of fantastic memories here as my Grandfather grew up in this town and has been taking my Mom and her siblings there every summer since the beginning (of time.)

 Here is where we stayed.  See that little beach that looks like it's in the middle of nowhere?  There are tons of beautiful log-cabin inspired cottages all scattered about in the woods.  It's awesome.

Don't bother me, Mom, I'm trying to relax..

 LB loved the hammock as you can see, and she also liked to stroll about, looking for bugs and flowers. 

 Most nights we would walk down to get ice-cream..good old sugar rush before bed! ;)

It's not every day you see a beaver from the side of the road carrying about it's business while you walk down to get ice-cream :)

 

Watched these two visit the beach every day :)

She's our sister...Ari...ARIEL????!!

Pretended to be mermaids...

We hiked to one of our favorite places...Buttermilk Falls.  You know how I am about running water! ;)

 

 The calm before the falls....

 

I actually didn't get a photo of Buttermilk Falls this year as we took the girls and it was a little dangerous for me to climb down onto the rocks as they wanted to follow, so here's a photo that I took 2 years ago that shows the front of the falls.  

 Buttermilk Falls, NY (this shot was taken last year)

 We ended up having amazing weather.  You never know what you are going to get up there in the mountains, but we only had one day of rain and it actually creeped into the mid 70s and low 80s, which is usually not the case!  It is always much cooler, but it was such a devine treat this year to actually be HOT and not freezing.  I will always remember this summer because of that :}   

I have one more post to follow, showing a few more photos of an early morning walk along the lake and our day trip to Lake Eaton.  I hope you've enjoyed these...I love sharing photos of different places, as well as looking at other folks photos of places near them, but I know it isn't the same if you haven't been here.  If you ever do get the chance to visit Long Lake, NY, you really should!

 Hope you all have a lovely week.  Tomorrow is Pumpkin Pie's Kindergarten orientation day.  I hope it goes well as each time I bring up school, she starts crying.  :(  My poor little shy girl...I know she will love it, but she has to be convinced!