Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Summer days, drifting away...

As I walked into work today with a chill in the air, I realized I had forgotten to grab a jacket this morning on my way out. Then I stopped and thought, "A jacket!?!". To be honest, the thought had never even crossed my mind.  For the last couple weeks it's been almost 80 even before I had to be at work at 8 AM.  However, this morning I sadly realized that with this second morning of cool temperatures, apparently summer is over. Yes, cool nights make for easier sleeping but cool mornings serve only to remind me that summer in Rochester is an all-too-brief season. As if in a small town, "don't blink, or you might just miss it". 

So for today's Flashback Friday, I'm rewinding just a couple of short months back to my relaxing summer vacation in the 1000 Islands. I know, it's not much of a flashback, but it will help me prolong summer just a little longer, if only in my mind.

So here's a riveting (ha!) observation I would like to share with you that I journaled about recently while on my vacation in the 1000 Islands:

July 15, 2009

This place has a very predictable schedule of bugs and nuisances.  

The squirrels come early in the morning in search of any morsel you may have left out, dropped, or inadvertently made accessible the night before and reek havoc on your site.  They knock things over, poop on your tables and chairs, dig in your garbage and make their loud crashes, chatters, and bangs known in the wee hours of the morning.  It's impossible to ignore them.  Or sleep through them.

When you first get up and the dew is still fresh, the gnats are everywhere.  Large clouds of gnats hang in the air, tempting you to walk through them only to come out the other side with a parting gift in your eyes, teeth, and hair.  

The chipmunks come and steal what they can but they're so darn cute, you can't help but want them to visit.

Throughout the day it’s the seagulls.  They’re everywhere!  They come in (too closely, for my taste!) and steal anything they can get their grubby beaks on.  They’re LOUD, too.  I’m always chasing them away at nap time so they don’t wake Alex up.  Their territorial squawking is aggravating at best.  They’re pretty ballsy, too.  Not much scares them and they’ll walk right up under your nose to get at something.  

As dusk settles, the gnats make their appearance again.  Millions of them, everywhere.  Don’t breathe too deeply or you’ll be sorry.  They show up in all my pictures looking like fireflies.  They're insane to see.

As soon as the sun sets, however, they mysteriously disappear.  Then, peace and quiet.  The campers get quiet, the bugs get quiet.  It’s fantastic.  

And the best part?  The reason I love coming back here year after year?  No mosquitos.  I have yet to put on mosquito spray!  Nathaniel doesn’t have a single red welt left by their pesky bites.  I love it.  I’ll take the squirrels and chipmunks, the seagulls, even the gnats in exchange for not a single mosquito!!

And with views like these, who can blame us for loving it there?!?

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Another time...

In honor of Flashback Friday this week, I thought it would be fun to do a bit of a comparison between our recent trip to the 1000 Islands and our previous trip we took with Nathaniel in July of 2007.  He was not quite 16-months-old when we took our first trip with him to the Islands and he has grown up SO much in these photo comparisons.  It's fun to see how he (and our family) has changed in two short years.  

THEN:

NOW:

THEN:

NOW:

THEN:

NOW:

THEN:

NOW:

THEN:

NOW:

THEN:

NOW:

THEN:

NOW:

THEN:

NOW:

THEN:

NOW:

THEN:

NOW:

I Heart the Islands x1000

I won't bore you with all the minute details of our recent trip to the 1000 Islands, but I would like to share some of the highlights and, of course, many of the more than 1,200 photos I took while we were there!  

I love the 1000 Islands!  It's a fantastic place with plenty for the whole family to find interesting.  

The shopping is great!

The fishing is intensely rewarding.

There was beautiful scenery all around us.

  

We got to see gorgeous sunsets every night.

Gigantic boats chugged down the St. Lawrence River.

There were family fun places galore, and it has a culture all its own.  

Every year we stay in the same state park at the same campsite.  We know what to expect, where all the amenities are located (close by!) and what time of the year to avoid if you want peace and quiet.  

We played in a lot of dirt and got very filthy.

We took a lot of walks around the park.  We walked to the beach, to the playground, over to the pier to fish or to the "store" to get ice cream.  We walked to get water to fill up the kids' pool for baths.  We walked to the "bath house" to use the potty or officially shower off the filth.  We walked over to the water to see the big boats go by and to catch a full view of the sunset.  Sometimes we just walked around to help the kids settle down or let Nate burn off some energy. 

We took in a lot of the beauty around us.

The kids loved the playground!

The beach was a huge hit, even on the "cold" days!  Nate loved to splash in the water while Alex preferred to play in (and eat) the sand.

Nate had so much fun fishing with Daddy!  

Here he is removing his own fish he just caught so he can "free" him back in the water!

Of course the week was not without injuries.  Within 5 minutes of us arriving Alex had his first head wound.  He stood up into the sharp corner of the door as we were setting up the camper.  (It's hard to see in this picture as I had just taken the ice pack off and the bleeding had already stopped, but the two raised lines on his forehead are the "cuts" he sustained).  

Here's Alex showing off his new head wound...he looks pretty proud, actually!  Believe me, it looked worse in person!

The next day Nathaniel fell off the picnic table and hit his face on the bench on his way down, leaving a fantastic bruise on his cheek that looked like dirt for the rest of the week.

We made many friends during our stay.  Another "Smith Family" moved in all around us on our second to last day and Nate was in his glory with kids his own age to romp around with!  

This cat wandered in from who knows where on our last day and Nate took an instant liking to him (dare I say he became an obsession?  Picture Nate running down the road yelling "Cat, Come BACK!" when the cat DARED to walk away!)

We rode a ferry to Boldt Castle where Nathaniel got to look for the dragons he insisted lived there!

By the end of the week, though, our smiles turned upside down.  A long week of bad sleeping patterns turned our children into cranky, non-listening, messes.  Temper tantrums were displayed with little prompting and melt downs were the fashion of the day.

So we were glad to get home.  Let the laundry begin!