Ah, vacation

Why can't vacation last forever? Oh, right. That's called retirement. ;)

We had a fantastic time on our trip to Gertstock. I will have to upload pictures at some point, but Ken has the camera and won't be home until later. Lake George is beautiful, and the weather couldn't have been better. OK, well, it was a little hot in the midafternoon, but then it started to cool down, and it was downright lovely.

We are blessed with two boys who do very well in the car. Up to Albany is only about 5hrs of road time, and they slept most of the way. We stopped at a McD's (couldn't find anything else that the boys would eat) halfway up, and then we hit the road and they fell back asleep until close to the end. I learned the trick of turning around and putting Cheerios onto Henry's car seat next to his left leg, and he could reach them and eat them at will. This helped him get over the hunger hump that he hit during the last 20mins of the ride to my uncle's house.

My parents had driven up the day before and were there to greet us. Given that I've been stressed to the hilt lately, it was such a relief to get out of the car and have my mom and dad ready and willing to take over caring not only for the boys but also for me and Ken. Ahhhhhh. Sometimes I honestly wish I could be a child again for just a little while to get that feeling of being completely cared for without having any responsibilities. Wouldn't that be nice?

The next day was the big event: Gertstock. We left the house around 10am to get up to Lake George, which is a little over an hour north of my uncle's Albany-area home. Nana wasn't there yet when we arrived, but Aunts Mary and Kate had been sitting at the pavilion since 7am to reserve it for the Triller family. Other picnickers looked on in envy, but the pavilion was already decorated with streamers and table clothes so we definitely had dibs.

People started to trickle in as the day worn on, and all in all we had 44 people there. The only one of my dad's 11 siblings who couldn't make it was Uncle Kevin. He is a NY state trooper, and he'd been tapped to help with security at the state fair in Syracuse. So he had to miss out. His kids were there, though, and his daughter Trisha and her hubby brought their 8mo daughter, Ariah, who I got to hold. Such a cutie. And Trisha's brother John was there with his wife, Rhonda. They are expecting triplets around New Year's. She's 15wks along and has the belly I had when I was 5mos pg with Padraic. I wish her the easiest pg possible when you're carrying three babies at once. In about a month we should all hear how many boys and girls are in there.

Padraic got to do his first ever ride on a power boat with Uncle Darren, Daddy, 3 of Darren's 4 girls, my cousin John, and Uncle Bob. Uncle Bob took Padraic out on the inner tube behind the boat when they had anchored up near one of the islands (this was after pulling up somewhere to get ice cream sandwiches) , and he apparently had a blast. So much so that when Uncle Bob and Aunt Maureen were leaving at the end of the day, Padraic dove into his arms, kissed the side of his face, and then snuggled into his cheek. I think Uncle Bob was a bit surprised by all this affection, but Aunt Marie got a good picture that I can't wait to see.

Of course, the main event was celebrating Nana's 81st birthday. The actual day isn't until mid-Sept, but the whole family is used to getting together at the end of August for Pop-pop's b'day, and now that he's gone, we just can't seem to shake the habit. Getting another year of having Nana around, even if I don't get to see her very often, is priceless. She got to play with Padraic and hold Henry, and I'll cherish those memories forever.

Now we're back home, back to the old grind of work and day care dropoffs/pickups, but it was a nice break from our routine. Next year we're planning to make a weeklong trip of it to get to spend more time enjoying family and the beautiful setting of Lake George.