vacation wrap up - i LOVED it

i feel like such a slacker! vacation was over on sunday night and yet i still have not blogged.  honestly, it has taken me almost all week to recover and catch up on sleep.  i'm just doing my laundry tonight!!  it really was a very relaxing vacation ... but somehow i was still exhausted.  i wanted to recap on all the things i was hoping for before i went on vacation


so here was my list that i posted 2 weeks ago:


1) spending time with my nieces - this was awesome!  i really loved spending time with each of them!! the bear, bug and i went to the nail spa when they first go here which was oh so much fun.  while we were at the lake, we spent lots of time decorating cupcakes, cuddling and tickling, swimming (they swam, i waded in up to my waist lol), coloring, playing with play dough etc.  The bug was even able to go to work with me a few hours on monday morning!  it was great.  the youngest, the bird, was pretty attached to me, which i wasn't expecting, but certainly did not complain.  we had lots of snuggle time in the mornings and she would come running to me with arms raised up quite a bit.  we had this fun game where i would sing "la la lu lu" and she would repeat it ... and then i would say "la la rae rae" and 'la la riley' and everything i sang she would repeat.  i LOVED it :)

2) hanging out with my brother ... this was great too ... now we didn't get that much one on one time, but that is to be expected ... with the whole fam together.  we did have quite the experience at the drive-in theater last friday night, more specifically walking home in the pitch black with our chairs strapped to our backs,  both in desperate need of the bathroom, hilarity ensued, trust me on this one :)

3) seeing Riley swim in the lake ... he did it! he swam in the lake, albeit reluctantly.  if i took him out, he would swim ... right back to shore. the best part about a riley who swam every day, was that he was a very tired, very submissive riley.  to the point that he was even able to be off his leash most days because he was too tired to wander off ... and the few times he did wander off, when we called him, he came right back ... which is awesome, because as you know from previous blogs, he's not exactly the most obedient dog.  funny story ... the 2nd night we were there, we were all sitting on the beach with a bonfire around twilight.  a mama duck and her baby came swimming by.  and guess who decided it was a nice night for a swim? yep, my hunter of a dog.  he did not get that close to the mama duck before he decided he was ready to swim back to shore .. but it was hilarious to see him take off into the lake after them ... 

4) the peace and quiet ... there was cell service, but it was ok.  i left my phone inside a lot of the time, unless i was taking pictures.  the setting was incredibly beautiful!  the lake was perfect, blue and clear.  and the mountains on all sides were breathtaking.  it was serene and you just were able to sit outside and take a breath ... or 3 ... i loved it.  i would definitely go back there.  and would even consider owning property somewhere like it.  you just almost have no choice but to relax.  you are 15-30 minutes away from just about "everything" so you are at the lake, to be at the lake .... and it's a nice thing to have that choice of 'what are we doing to do today'  be taken away from you ... there isn't anything to "do" ... only to "be" and "enjoy" ... it's almost surreal

5) celebrating the 4th of July in the village of Schroon Lake ...  ok so this did happen ... and it did have it's moments of fun.  but the parade was really long and we all got tired and cranky.  plus we were NOT able to see the fireworks from our beach and that was very disappointing.  but it wasn't worth REALLY complaining about, because really, fireworks are fireworks no matter where you are ... pretty much ... 

6) not working ... this was WONDERFUL.  no need to elaborate

7) having loud, crazy, chaotic family dinners ... yup, these happened too ... :)


overall it was a great vacation and i was not ready to come home when we did ... everyone else got a little bored (even the nieces) and so after 5 days, the rest of the family voted to load up and come home on day 6 ... instead of day 8 ... but being outvoted, i survived. it was nice to come home and have a couple days to unpack and get re-acclimated before having to go back to work


lots of funny things happened, things that will be talked about when we all get together years from now ... the sleeping arrangements were comical at times ... sometimes we ran out of blankets and pillows but instead of it being a disaster, it was just ... FUNNY


there were some cranky kid times and most everyone came home with scrapes or bruises from just being outdoors, climbing on rocks and sand ... but overall, it was GREAT ... and i would definitely do it again!!!