Day 136

Yesterday we just chilled out around the house.  The kids had lacrosse and I did laundry and finished my book (American Dirt, it was super good).

In cleaning up the kitchen I found this little note on my photography notebook.  It reminded me so much of when Claire was little and she would leave me notes all over the house and I absolutely loved finding these little treasures everywhere.  So I was beyond thrilled to find this little treasure yesterday!!!  She has no idea how happy things like this make me!  Actually she does know because I told her and talked it about it until I made it weird but whatever, my baby is still leaving me little notes around the house and I absolutely love it!!!

Day 135 Nintendo Switch

For Claire's birthday this year, all she wanted was a Nintendo Switch.  Even though I thought it was really weird because she never plays video games and pretty much has zero interest in them, who I am to pick her gift!  So she asked for all gift cards to Target and we headed to the store with a very excited 13 year old only to find out that they are harder to find than a Hatchimal at Christmas!  So this poor girl has literally woke up every morning since July 6th at 8am and called Target to see if they got any in stock and TODAY was our lucky day!

 We started our day bright and early with Claire playing field hockey and I ran 4 miles while she practiced.

 Then we raced to Target to get the nintendo switch!!!  

 While we were at Target we saw the perfect phone case for Grandma so we grabbed it for her and stopped at her work to surprise her!

While I still don't really understand Claire want and love of this Nintendo Switch I must say that I loved watching Claire and Oliver figure it out and play together!

Day 129-134

I feel like we have been pretty busy around here.  We went from being shut up in the house for weeks to the world opening up just a bit and I feel like we are crazy busy.  How will we ever go back to the real world?!

 Claire has been loving her comfy.

 I got new sneakers (although I missed the good ones at the barn sale 😠).

 I had a wonderful breakfast with some of my favorite people.

 We had a nice visit with friends (and Oliver swam for about 9 hours).

 We had an awesome beach day!

 Oliver got to fish for hours and even though he didn't catch anything, he was in heaven.

And although I didn't get the all the kids together, we had a nice visit with my bestie. 

I love that we can be outside and visit people safely while being socially distant.  I usually love the fall but I don't ever want it to come.  I don't want to be stuck inside again away from the world. I am dreading the start of school, mainly because I have no idea what it will look like.  I hope and pray every day that by then we have some answers to this craziness.

Day 124-128 CAMPING

So we had our first extended tent camping experience!!!  This is truly something I never thought that I would do but we did it and ended up LOVING it!

Day 124

Of course as soon as we started to pack up the car it started to pour outside!  The weather was bonkers but we got everything packed up and headed out!

We met up with two other families (who are camping pros) and we got there in time to set up our tent and have a delicious dinner. Our tent set up was super cozy and everything fit perfectly!

I really loved our set up! And we all slept like babies!

Day 125

Our first full day was a total success!  The girls are all the same age and they had a blast hanging out!

The boys went fishing and we went down to the lazy river and it was gorgeous!

Oliver LOVED fishing!  I swear he could fish for days!

The girls loved floating and we sat in our chairs and enjoyed the gorgeous view!

The boys had a blast digging and finding all kinds of creepy crawlers.

For our delicious dinner we had beef stew in a dutch oven (which I now MUST have)!

Day 126

The campsite was gorgeous in the morning!

The guys loved cooking breakfast on the blackstone!

Oliver had a blast riding his bike around with the boys.

The kids had a great time!

Everyone joined us on our hike!

And halfway through our hike we went to the swimming hole!  It was absolutely gorgeous!

I am so glad Amanda made me go camping!

Our challenge landmark!

After our hike (with 8 billion stairs) we stopped over at Conesus Lake to visit Amanda's brother and the kids had a blast going on his boat!

Then it was our night to cook dinner and Mark loved showing off his Blackstone while he cooked an Asian dinner!  The guys loved helping!

Oliver, Sam, and Lewis are all the same age and as you can see by the way that they are sitting they had a lot in common!

Amanda told us scary stories around the fire and I have to say that I think that was Oliver's favorite part of the whole trip!

Day 127

I loved the mornings while camping!  Something about a fresh cup of coffee, a morning campfire, and a view of the woods that makes me happy.

Oliver loved following the big boys around and asking them all kinds of questions about fishing and nature.

After the boys went fishing we headed down to the waterfall to swim!

After swimming and relaxing in the waterfall and reading our books we headed back to camp to celebrate Sam's birthday.  Just in time for the storms to roll in!

The rains finally stopped in time to do the pinata for Sam!

After the big birthday celebration the other families packed up and headed home.

We stayed an extra night and I was so happy that the rain stopped so that we could a nice family night around the fire.

Day 128

We woke up to a nice quiet morning and I loved sitting in my relaxing spot with my coffee.

It was just so pretty with the sun shining!

It was sad to just see our car there though, we missed our buddies!

It was such a great camping trip and I am so glad that everyone made me go.  I learned that I love a fire first thing in the morning to sit and drink my coffee by.  I learned that I love sleeping in the tent with my favorite people knowing that we are all together and cozy. I learned that I must have a dutch oven. I learned that I am really relaxed when I am outdoors. I learned that Oliver absolutely loves the outdoors and nature. I learned that Claire is super flexible and easy going. But most of all,  I learned that I love camping.  I can't wait to go again!!!