Western Party (July 28).

My brother and Kristi had their party just a week after I had mine. They (OK, really it's just Kristi) go all out with decorations and everything. This year the theme was "Western", at the Idlewood Beach Ranch! The Western theme was good on paper, but maybe not quite practical. Cowboy boots, shirts, hats, etc. don't go well in the heat, and aren't conducive to swimming either. But we had another great day at the beach!!

More Random Photos.

Here's Connor around the house, and doing a little swimming at our buddy Z's pool!

Hope Party (July 21)

I am well behind on my blogging duties, I realize... well, the weekend of July 21 was my annual Hope party at the cottage. I graduated from Hope in 1994 (well, closer to 1995 really), and the last several years I have had a party at the lake with my friends from school. This year we had a special guest, Luci Theissen! It was a gorgeous day, so we really lucked out. Our only problem was the lake was a little too cold for swimming!

July 14 weekend

Not much to update from the weekend of the 14th... we all were at the lake again, go figure. I got some good photos though. It wasn't good beach weather Saturday, but Sunday was gorgeous. Unfortunately we spent a lot of the day cleaning, as my aunt and uncle (Dave & BJ) were coming out for the week.

The Rest of the Trip.

Thursday we went shopping all day at a Tanger Outlet mall in Riverhead (the biggest Tanger mall there is), we got some pizza slices for lunch, then we hit the wineries on the way home... wineries have really gotten huge on the North Fork, and there are probably 30 or more of them in maybe 20 miles. Anyway, Friday we stopped at the cemetary to pay respects to my Grandfather, then it was a long drive on the LIE and through the city, then NJ, and finally Pennsylvania. We spent the night there, went out for a bit, then got up early Saturday and were home by about 3:00. It was quite a trip, and Connor did really well in the car (considering I have nothing to compare it to)!

Fourth of July (evening)

The wild and crazy Scrabble game, and note that Connor is now standing up on his own... well, if he has something to hang on to.

Fourth of July

It turned out that the Fourth was the only day of not-so-great weather. We stayed dry, but it was threatening rain most of the day, so it was pretty dreary. We made the most of it though, and went out to see if there was anything new at Orient Point, and when there wasn't, we hit our old standby of GREENPORT. We did try somewhere new for lunch though--the Chowder Pot Pub. After a way-to-expensive lunch, we walked the boardwalk and made our way down to... you guessed it, Claudio's! Well, technically we like Crabby Jerry's better, as it's an older crowd and more laid back. So we hung out there for a bit, then walked around some more, then home. At night we really cut loose with a few rousing games of Scrabble! There weren't any fireworks, as by that time it had actually started to rain. Oh well.

P.S. The map shows most of the North Fork, where we are.

Tuesday (July 3)

I bought Connor an infant life vest in the morning, then later Jodi, Connor and I packed a picnic lunch and took the boat out to the point. I had great hopes for this trip, but in the end it was tricky keeping Connor entertained (and from eating the sand), and we didn't end up staying as long as I would have liked. Connor was still quite the little sailor!

Do I have photos? Well that's a silly question at this point, isn't it???

Monday Afternoon

When we got back from Greenport Mark decided to take a dip with Connor in the pool I bought Sunday after church. Lookin' good! Meanwhile, I took our little Zodiak out to what we call "the point", which is out in Corey Creek (my Grandma's house is on a canal on Corey Creek), between the Creek and Peconic Bay. Lots of photos, again, but it gives you an idea how beautiful it is out there.