Weekend Fun!

We had a great last weekend of summer!  I celebrated my dear friend Julia's 50th bday in Saratoga and took Ava and Grace school shopping on Sunday  to the Ithaca waterfalls yesterday.  

  It was hot and humid here all weekend and I wanted to make the most of it.  School starts here tomorrow so this was our last summer weekend :(  

Saturday I went to the Saratoga racetrack to celebrate my dear friend Julia's 50th!  This was the last weekend the track was open and I'm so glad it worked out for us to go.  We had a great time celebrating her 

We left bright and early Saturday morning and headed to the track we rented a house for all of us for Saturday night and came home Sunday morning.  We had a full 24 hours to celebrate Julia.

 I try and get up to Saratoga at least once a season.  You can see a post about the track and tips for going here.    We brought our own food and drinks and did general admission to get in so it was only $7 each.  I bet $2 on each race so it was a cheap day!

Befoer each race a bugler plays "Call To the Post" to signal the race is about to begin.  Since it was Julia's bday we asked him to take a picture with us which was fun!

During one race Julia picked a horse and we all put our money together and bet  $40 on him. Which was a big bet for us.    It made the race SO exciting!  Sadly we didn't win but here is a picture of the horse we choose during that race.

After a day at the races we went back to our rented house and got ready and went to a nice dinner in downtown Saratoga.  It was a great way to end our time in Saratoga.

Monday I went to Ithaca to the waterfalls with my friends Sabrina and Lynn and their daughters. I love going to Ithaca at least once a summer too and this was our first and only trip there this summer.  We swam, had lunch and took lots of pictures at the falls. I'm so happy Grace got to expereince this with us too.  It was a long day but so worth it.   It was a great last day of summer!

Hope you had a good weekend!
Xoxo

Summer 2016 recap part 1

Summer is my FAVORITE time of year and this year we had a ton of fun so I thought I would recap favorite summer moments.  We had so much fun this summer I had to break this into 2 parts because there are so.many.pictures!   

We started our summer at Amy and Dave's annual Memorial Day party at their lake.  It was a blast as always!  

 

Ava (at  the end in tank top) with her friends at the Memorial Day party. 

 

Bestie Sabrina and I went out in the tubes.  It was so fun! 

 

Ava went with the Spanish club to NYC. 

 

My bestie Sabrina and I went to Rhinebeck for the Country Living Fair!

 

Ava went in her 7th grade trip to Six Flags!

 

Brock came home from college and played in a summer basketball league.

 

My bestie Stephanie got a boat.  I love when I can spend afternoons on the lake!  

 

Bestie Rachael and I had our June craft night-body scrubs.

 

Our Ava graduated from 8th grade.

 

I did a color run in Cooperstown.  It was great!  

 

Annnnnddddd Ava finally got her braces off!

 

That's our summer memories through June.  It was so fun going through all these pictures.  I'll post the rest of our summer recap in a few days.

I hope you enjoy this last weekend of summer!

Xoxo 

Whirlwind!

This past few weeks have been a whirlwind full of fun, friends and parties.  I am really trying to enjoy every single second of the summer.   

Last Wednesday we had a birthday party for four friends celebrating August birthdays.  It was a great night!  

 

Rachael and I made the 4 birthday girls these little serving trays.  I'm going to show a tutorial on them next week.  They were so easy to make and the birthday girls loved them!

 

Friday Brock left for Arizona.  Ava took this selfie of us on his last night at home :-) 

 

Saturday we celebrated my friend Debbie's birthday!  It was a beautiful night and it was such a fun party!

 

Sunday, Sabrina and I went to our friend Melinda's house to rescue barn board from a falling down property near Melinda's farm.  We got all sorts of wood to make different projects.  I made serving trays, candle holders and I got wood to make shelves for two of our bathrooms.  I will show all of my projects next week!  

 
 

 

Monday I went to the Glimmerglass Opera.  It was my first time going and it was fabulous.  The singers were so talented and the opera was beautiful. It was an amazing experience!

 

 

That was our week!

Xoxo

Weekend fun!!!

Ava and I started our weekend early!  We left early Friday morning for a trip to Water Safari in Old Forge.  We went with my bestie R and her sister D and cousin V.  We had our kids too so we had 11 people total on our trip.  

We took a quick pic before we went into the park.

 

Water Safari is the biggest water park in NY.  They also have carnival rides and a circus which is included in your admission price!

We left early and got to the park around 10:30.  

We got a spot with chairs and put our stuff down and then started riding water slides.  

We were on the slides and rides and we spent most of the day soaking wet so sadly I didn't get many pictures :-(

I did get one while we were eating lunch on  our chairs.  

 

It was a great day and next year I'd like to spend two days there because it's so big!

If you go:

-Go early and get lounge chairs for your group.  We got chairs near the entrance.  Next year I'd like  to be further back in the park because we had to walk a long way to get back to our chairs.

-Bring a cooler with drinks and lunch.  We packed sandwiches. chips, fruit, cookies and drinks so we had plenty of food for the day.  They also sell food there and the kids got a treat in the afternoon.

-Bring  flip flops to wear at the park.  We walked all over and even ride the carnival rides in our bare feet (yuck!).  Next year I'll bring us cheap flip flops to wear around the park.  

Saturday I went to the farmers market and got two beautiful bouquets of flowers.  I had so many flowers I got two arrangements out of one bunch!

 

 

 

 

Sunday was Brock's birthday!  We celebrated at home with pizza and cake.  

 

It was a great weekend!

Xoxo

Life lately

Last weekend Ava and I went to Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame parade.  It was a fun event!  We got to see so many hall of famers!

 

It was so fun and SO crowded!  We arrived right when in started and had to sqeeze in to see the parade.  

 

Grandma Jan came to the parade with us too which was so fun!

Monday night my bestie R hosted book club.  She made  this adorable fruit platter using letter cookie cutters. it turned out so cute!  

 

Tuesday night I went to a fundraising event with some girlfriends.  At the event everyone donates $100 and the group listens to 3 presentations and decides where the money should go.   My friend M gave a wonderful speech on a violence prevention program and it won!  $7,100 was donated to that organization!  It was a great night.  

 

 

Ava and I have been spending a lot of time swimming this summer.  I am so thankful that so many of our friends have pools.  It's a great way to cool off in the afternoon heat!

 

I hope you had a great week

Xoxo

Summer fun!

Wednesday  my friend Lisa and our girls went on a little summer adventure close to home.   It was a great day!!  

We started the day by renting kayaks on a creek/lake. We got doubles so Lisa and her daughter went together and Ava and I went together.  We spent hours paddling.  It was a perfect day for kayaking-sunny and not humid at all.

 

 

 

 

 

After kayaking we came home and got ready to go to Cooperstown for the night.  We went to see the play the Crucible. It was amazing!  They did the play in an amphitheater right on the lake.  The view was incredible!

 

I was so impressed by the quality of the performance and the costumes.  It was truly a great experience and I'm so glad we went!

 

While we were at the play the girls hung out with Grandna Jan.  They had a great night eating pizza and taking a trolley ride around town. 

It was a great day!

Xoxo

Buckhorn Classic

Every Memorial Day our friends Amy and Dacw have a party on their property at Buckhorn Lake.  Everyone has a great time!  There is a kids fishing derby, canoeing, tubing, and a ton of food!  It's always fun and a great way to kickoff the summer!

Amy and Dave's whole family was there.   They are a great group! Ava goes to Cape Cod every summer with them and has the best time. 

Ava and her friends.  These girls have been coming to the lake since they were babies.  

Our neighbors  Kelly and Eric in the middle with some friends. 

Sabrina, Heather, Eliza and Jake

My fabulous friend Stephanie and me!

Amy found these chairs on the side of the road.  Someone was throwing them out.  She took them and painted them and recovered the backs and the seats with new fabric.  I love them!  

There were trophies for the fishing derby winners young and old! 

Ava loved kayaking!

Sabrina and I went tubing which was so fun!

It was a great party!

Xoxo