Beautiful Babies: June 2015

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Father's Day Stony Brook State Park

For Father's Day we drove ~45 minutes south to Stony Brook State Park. We packed a lunch and hiked the Gorge Trail which passes several waterfalls. On the way back to Rochester we stopped in Conesus for a quick visit with Great Grandma DeClerck. The kids were sweet and played nicely with bubbles on the patio while Mom and Dad visited with Grandma.....at least until their bubble wands came into contact with each others hair... Couldn't leave Conesus without showing Great Grandma D their true colors!

Multi-generation Fitter Playdate

This weekend the neighbors loaned us a waterslide which was perfect for a mulit-generation Fitter playdate. Despite a little rain fun was had by all. It was great to see Chrissy and Rob again and fun to see their grandchildren Logan and Jake play so well with Reese and Nash.The next day, Rob even came by to give the kids an undercover ride in his sports car.

Busy at Camp Grammy & Bompa

The kids have been busy at Camp Grammy & Bompa. They've been to all the local farm markets (Powers, Lollipop, and Wickham) at least once, to the library several times, to the Strong Museum, to Wegmen's, and to the parks. At home they play games, veterinarian, and even sing the blues with Bompa.

Mountain Biking in NY

So far the mountain biking in upstate NY can't compete with Idaho but we're determined to explore and test our skills on the new terrain. On Saturday we tried out what we thought to be some family friendly riding. Although there were "green" trails it was mostly too steep for the littles. Not ones to give up we made the best of it and stayed and played on the trails for well over an hour. The kids amazed us with their riding on the pump track and Mom got an extra workout pushing Nash up a trail that he was determined to ride. So fun to see their ambition to join us on the bikes.

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Erie Canal Bike Ride

Today we rode our bikes along the Erie Canal path to Fairport, NY. Did you know the Erie Canal was built in 1825? It was sunny and nice so we stopped to get coctails and fries while we watched the boats and the rising bridge. True to Rochester our return trip was in the rain - which surprisingly the kids didn't complain about.

First Week in Rochester

We arrived in NY for what seemed to be monsoon season - it rained several time nearly every day! A big change for the Boise crew. Fortunately there was plenty to do indoors and Grammy and Bompa took the kids on a few indoor adventures as well to pass the time while Mom and Dad adjusted to working remotely from NY. There were also plenty of breaks in the weather for outdoor fun.

Happy retirement Bompa!

Playing with neighbors Chris and Claire

Eating ice cream while watching the party boats, trains, and rising bridge in Fairport

Lilly is adjusting to her new environment and Mom and Dad are doing their best with "free-range parenting" for our cat who loves the outdoors. So far she tends to stay in the yard though she quickly disappears into the abyss of Bompa's gardens which makes it very difficult to find a black cat under the ground cover.

Chipmunk hunting in Bompa's rock cairn

On Saturday Mom and Dad went for a mountain bike ride near Bristol Mountain - a ski "mountain" with a staggering 1,200 vertical feet! The single-track was tight, mossy, rooty, and rocky and it was fun to explore Ryan's old stomping grounds.

Boise to Rochester in Four Days

We've been planning and talking about our crazy idea to spend the summer in NY for months and last week the big plan was finally put into motion. We made good time and our 5 day plan turned into a 4 day haul with one last big push on the 4th day to arrive a day early. The kids traveled pretty well - as well as we had expected them too. Lilly cat was an AMAZING traveler and spent the majority of her time in her kennel sleeping with the door open which made for really easy stops because we were able to simply close the cage at each stop and not have to worry about her escaping.