Working Vacation 2012

This summer we decided to have a working vacation.

We started our vacation with a quick trip to Vermont and got to see Warren and take him to the local fair.  He had a ball on the rides and Daryl had fun watching the truck pull competition.

We got back home and set right to work on building the side porch.  Keep in mind that our house was built in the mid 1800's and nothing is square, plumb or level.  So, it has taken a full 6 days to get it where it is now, and probably another couple week ends to get it done. 

But even though it is not completed, I spent the early morning sitting on the porch knitting. I absolutely treasure this time of day, when my family is sleeping and there is no electronic noises through out the house. I sipped some good coffee, listened to the the various birds singing good morning and finished the edging on the baby blanket for grandbaby # 3 (coming in December 2012).

We find out if the baby is a boy or girl on 8/6/2012.  I plan to crochet either pink or brown along the outer edge once we know.  Keep your fingers crossed for a girl! 

Even though I worked harder physicially than when I go to my day job, I had one of the best vacations! It was great to spend time with hubs and work on a project together.

I'll post some pics when the porch is completely done, as there still is alot to do, but for now, I totally enjoyed the half that is done!


And don't forget -  starting August 1 - August 7, 2012, Take 25% off all orders in my ETSY SHOP to help me celebrate my 5 year anniversary!  Just use coupon code: 5YEARSANN on all orders.

Happy Anniversary to Me ♥♥♥ 

And a huge thanks to all of my past customers!  

Vacation Thursday

Well, yesterday was a complete rain out. We drove for miles and only met up with rain, rain, rain. So we came home and ended up watching a movie.

But today was bright and sunny so we went to Ricky's Discovery Zoo just outside Rome NY. They have alot of animals there to look at and pet including, monkeys, lemurs, llamas, deer, goats, swans, ducks, buffalo and wolves.

After the Discovery Zoo we stopped at Pixley Falls - another NY State Park.

Gramps and Warren feeding the deer:


Checking each other out:


Turtles ~~


Colorful Peacocks ~~


Both want to get to the other side of the fence ~~


Petting the fawns:



Visiting the Maternity Ward ~~













Gramps and Warren at the base of the falls ~~

Vacation Tuesday

What a long day we had today! We started out the day weeding the garden and then went on a trip to the Utica Zoo. We had alot of fun there watching the animals. Then off to visit great grammy and we walked to the park near her house. After we got back home again, Aunt Katie had some batting practice with Warren. He is a slugger!

This very cool bird greeted us at the gate at the zoo:


A visit to the tiger cage ~~


Visiting with the aligators ~~


Static Sliders!


Great Grammy and Warren swinging


Just playin'



Watering Flowers:


Batting practice ~~



I'm exhausted!

Vacation Monday

We had a grand time yesterday and today with our grandson Warren. NY State parks are the best! Here is a photo story of today at Whetstone Gulf in upstate NY:

Let's get on with it, already!



Running from Aunt Katie who likes to splash!



Working hard on a sand castle:


Just lovin' it!



Refueling



Taking a rest



Swingin'



We had a very busy day. Tonight we will top it off with a movie.

My New Favorite State - South Dakota

Daryl and I spent a week driving from New York to South Dakota and back. It was alot of driving and we put about 3,500 miles on the car, but boy, was it fun! Our main purpose was to visit our son who recently moved to North Dakota and I am so glad we decided to go the extra miles into South Dakota. Honestly, who knew that it was so beautiful and full of things to do!

We started out on Friday morning and drove through NY, PA, OH and into MI for a quick stop at my brothers house. It was great to see my brother and sister-in-law. We had breakfast and then hit the road again, going through IN, IL, WI (another beautiful state), MN and into ND. We checked into the hotel around midnight and we were beat! We spent 2 days in ND with our son and had a blast.

Here are the ND photos:

This is a field of sunflowers. I really wanted to capture how huge the sky is out there and how many miles and miles of crops there are.

Along with sunflowers there are miles and miles of corn, oats, hay and straw. Here is a picture of the farmers at work. If you look closely beyond the dust you can see that they are cutting the wheat with 3 thrashers along side each other. Although it is mainly flat, there are some hills there as well.

Jason is working at Goodrich and I just had to snap a photo of where he works:

I really wanted one of him standing in front of the building, but I guess it was too humiliating for the kid.... I guess I understand. 22 years old and having your mom snap a picture could be a bit much.

Jamestown is known for the biggest buffalo ever.

Here is the proof:

My husband is 6 feet tall, so you can see that this is a big one! Thank goodness, it is only a sculpure, else I would be running the other way!

And here are some live ones, using the zoom of course!

Jamestown has a great walk-through museum of the early prairie days. Each building was moved there and included everything from a school, church, dentist, saloon, store, and even and insurance office. It was really a nice way to spend the day.

After leaving ND, we headed south and drove a couple hundred miles through SD. It is so open and really, not much except fields and fields of hay and straw. (Here is a tip - fuel up when you can as the stations are few and far between!) But the feeling is hard to explain as you drive through and get out to look around. Herds of cattle look like little black ants and the sky is so big. It really puts things into a different perspective!

So our first stop was a 1880 train ride that takes you into the Black Hills. Daryl is a huge train buff with a great Lionel collection, so he really loved taking this ride.

Then we went on to Mt Rushmore which is incredible. This is a must see in my book and very few words do it justice, so here are a few photos:

Just incredible! Take the time to walk the President's Trail to get different views! It is so worth it.

But my favorite of all favorites were the Badlands. I cannot even describe the amazement that you feel when viewing these wonders! We took route 44 east so we were eased into them with a grand finale beyond any other!

Incredible enough, but when you get to the end..... oh my

Now, I was really anticipating a wonder when we crossed the Mississippi River. And when we did cross, it was nice, but nothing can compare with crossing the Missouri River. I can only imagine the settlers traveling west for months on the flat grasslands and coming upon the crest of the hill and looking down at this amazing river and seeing the mountains beyond it.



I couldn't have enjoyed this vacation any more. The people we met along the way were friendly and the sites we saw were incredible. South Dakota was the highlight (second to seeing our son, of course).

Oh, and I did manage to knit 3 scarves, a hat and crochet 2 bowls and a pumpkin along the way!