Vacation is over

Yep, it's over and done. We had a lot of fun, but of course it flew by much too quickly. The ride up to NY took 12 hours. We didn't plan well in regards to stopping for gas and meals, so we made twice as many as we should have. We got stuck in construction for nearly an hour south of Hazelton (always!!) and hit a few one-lane areas that slowed us down. We ended up taking Keri's van because it is just simply much more comfortable.

This is the reflection of Keri's van on the back of a truck ahead of us. How cool?

I love this photo and am considering adapting it to a quilt for the PAQA-S Members or SAQA exhibitions - both entitled "Reflections". I really like this.

Sarah enjoyed playing with Nana's hands on the ride up to NY. Here she was "counting Nana's bones", which were really just the veins in her hands. Nana was having fun, too.

It was cooler in NY when we finally got there. It wasn't raining, but had been. It was so good to see Allie's house again. It's the house where they were all born and raised. It was once a carriage stop on the road between Endicott and Owego NY. Allie has put a lot of blood, sweat and tears, as well as $$$$ into keeping it up. I love this house. The side view shows the pool and the new gazebo, as well as a lot of the landscaping she did herself. Not bad for 71 years old (Allie, not the house).

On Friday Keri, Mom, Sarah and I took a drive to Crescent Lake where my parents used to own a cottage. They bought the lot before I was born and built the cottage when I was very young. I grew up there, as did Keri. It's such a shame that after 60 years it is no longer ours. I hate that

Sarah will never know it. Here is a view of the lake from the side our cottage was on.

And below is the cottage. The man that bought it has never used it. He lives in Meshoppen, PA, which is about 8 miles away. Shortly after he bought it a tree limb fell on the roof (see front right side) and he never bothered to have it removed. The man across the lake that let me stand in his yard to take photos of "our" cottage said the man won't fix it or sell it. He lets friends go there to fish, but they can't use the cottage with a hole in the roof. What a shame. I wish I had the money to buy it back. It was really nice, though, to see that a lot of the other cottages were being updated and remodeled. Like a second wind...

This lovely deer was eating in the woods as we drove up the road to leave the lake. She didn't seem at all bothered that we stopped to take her photo.

On Saturday most of the family came to Allie's for a family picnic and a birthday party for Sarah. Susan, Keith and Mary arrived first and were early because they couldn't stay the night. Ritchie & Nancy, Lindy, Bobby, Jesse and Mercedes all came, too. Sarah was so excited to see all these people she had never met. She wore the new birthday dress that Grammy bought her and the new sparkly princess shoes Keri and I found at Dollar General. She had to show us how old she is now.

And she just loved the Strawberry Shortcake quilt I made for her. She didn't let it out of her sight the rest of the visit or on the ride back home.

After everyone left Keri and I took Sarah outside (finally a beautiful day) to show her around. She loved seeing the place and we had to take some photos.

She looks beautiful and very contemplative, but she told Mommy the ants were crawling up her dress!

It only took 10 hourse to get home on Monday. We left earlier, missed the construction near Hazelton, and coordinated our lunch/pit/gas stops better. It was a relief to get home, but I wasn't ready to get back to work yet. Steve stayed home with me on Tuesday to work on the porch. More on that later....