Three Weeks of Joy!

The last few weeks have been out of our routine and loads of fun! Our friends from Germany were here for a full 3 weeks! 

It took Little Miss all of 5 minutes to get over her shyness and find 2 new best friends.  They were all attached at the hip from day 1. Little Miss and K got to share a room, while M slept on the other side of the window in the family room.  Neat thing about that Window, was like they all had their own little space. 

We travelled up north to the Adirondack Museum, then they travelled to NYC for a few days.  Week two we all headed to the beach! Weather was fantastic! Only had 1 rainy day. Lots of Sand castles, tunnels and deep deep hills were made! 

It was hard to say goodbye on Friday, seems to get harder and harder as we get older.  Now the children are so close, it's hard on them too. 

How lucky we are to have such a great friendship over all the years and all this distance!  

Kitchen Makeover!

Frank has worked extremely hard on this kitchen, not to mention all the help before I got here from the family and friends that pitched in!  The grime and grit has been removed, the floor have been redone, and although we still have our retro metal cabinets, they have a new "retro" color, and all new appliances are white.  Goodbye harvest gold!!  
I still need to get a microwave and curtains for the big window, but I am living with what I have for now, so that I don't rush to pick something, then hate it in a few months.  Firm believer in live in it a while!  

BEFORE

AFTER!

Amazing Day

Today was the kind of Day that I moved back here for. Wow!  First of all the weather was perfect, I mean really perfect. 70's, sunny, little breeze, perfect! The New York City Ballet is in town, and my father told me that sometimes, if you go in the afternoon, you can watch them rehearse.  So Samantha and I thought we would trek over to SPAC to see A) how close we are going the back way and B) perhaps we could catch a glimpse of the Ballet rehearsal. 
Now let me set the proper scene.  SPAC is an out door performing arts center, in the woods essentially.  You cross over a bridge that goes over the this beautiful spring surrounded by forest. 

As we get near the end of the bridge, I hear classical piano playing. Sure enough as we round the corner we can see people on the stage.  There are maybe 5 other people in the audience.

Samantha and I take a seat a few rows back from the stage, and watch the NYC Ballet go through their dances for that evenings performance, in this gorgeous setting, for an hour!  She was mesmerized and so was I!  What an incredible experience, and we more or less just happened upon it! Love it!  So far, it's one of the best memories of  summer 2011! 

Getting Settled In

We have been here for a little over a month now, and we are getting acclimated. We have found a school for Samantha, and a dance school she will start in September when all the other kids go back to school.  So nice to be back where the kids have the whole summer off! 
We have unpacked all of the major things, now it's just a matter of what else do we need to uppack, it feels good living without all the "stuff" out.  I am sure with time, this too shall change and slowly...the stuff will emerge. 
The dog and the child are having a blast, can't get over how HAPPY Daisy is these days! She really is a different dog! Rolling in the grass, and we have to spell L A K E, cause if she gets wind, that's where we're headed?  We'd better be damn sure she is coming with! 
Unfortunately the Fourth was kinda of a bust for us.  The weather was great, but I was seriously under the weather, not sure what's going on, but some kind of virus, sore throat, no energy, yuck.  In fact felt great for a week, and now it's coming back!  Arrggg.....not happy! Sucking down the vitamin C in hopes that it helps. 

                    

 Samantha after signing up for Dance..love the ballet slipper cookie!

George Chillaxing in the boat! 

Great 1st Weekend of Summer!

We had a great weekend!  We stayed home on Saturday and got much accomplished in the house.  Then Saturday night my sister Maggie had the whole fam over to her place for dinner.  Was a good time and good to be there instead of the phone with them as usual.

 Rained for what felt like 40 days and nights last week..Sam and I stayed in and build forts. 

Sunday we went up to Glens Falls and crashed a graduation party, to say hello to some friends from AZ who were visiting.  After than we went up to Daureen and Dan’s new place in Bolton, had a little wine on the deck, a little dinner in town, then a few laughs at the card store.  (You had to be there!)

 Sam took this picture of Mommy and Daddy!

 Frank observing something that is confusing George!?

Daureen and Dan's new Place in Bolton.

 School was out officially here last week, so I expect that things we get a lot busier. 

Father's Day and Getting Settled in our New Life!

Today, Samantha and I had a picnic, about 5 minutes from our house, in a little park down by the Mohawk River.  The birds were singing, the temperature was perfect, there were sail boats, and canoe's...was really a perfect summer picnic, just me, my girl (and Daisy-Belle too!). As I watched her gather sticks and waving at sailboats, I thought, "Is this really my life now??" It all seems so unreal.  Years of longing to be back east, to be in real grass, and listening to Robins, just still feels like a dream in many ways. I am hoping this feeling lasts a long time..at least through the summer! 

This past weekend, was what I would call "normal" life for us. Friday, we went strawberry picking and took a little walk down by the river with Gram and Gramp!

 Saturday, we hung around, did some errands, played outside, and actually got some organizing done in the house as well. Getting the family room organized and that crazy kitchen put together!   Whoa...LOTof parts!

 Saturday night my cousin and her husband came over for dinner and we ate in the dining room for the first time. .  All in all, enough wine, it's all good and we had some laughs. 


Yesterday, Father's Day, we tried out a new bagel place, eh.  No so great, bagels were good, but the coffee not so much, and the service?  Less than stellar we'll say.  We will keep looking for our new regular bagel place! I made BBQ chicken, mac salad and Samantha and I made a cake and we packed it all and brought it to the lake. We didn't get up there until around 3pm, and it was a little cool so we never even went down to the water.  It was a great afternoon though, we played ball, Daisy got to come, we had a picnic and just an all around lazy nice afternoon. 




Daisy got groomed for the first time on Friday...lets just say...she is not looking so much like a Bichon these days....don't tell her, but she looks like a poodle! Oh well, at least she is cool, and hopefully will have less mats to deal with. It's hard with all the dew and swimming etc. 

We are in the Pinkdelicious House At Last!!!

First up the PODS arrived!  Made us little nervous because they were late AND no one seemed to know where they were...hmmmm.  They got here on Thurs. night.  Everyone, especially Sam, was happy to see our stuff again! Pods are here! 

 Excited to see our "Stuff"

 1st Meal in new house..

We spent our first few nights in our new home on Saturday officially!  Yay!  Samantha did GREAT!  We did a lot of moving, we had tons of help, and I don't know how I am going to be able to pay everyone back for all that they have done for us!

Most of the really heavy things got put in the house and set up.  Then the new appliances arrived and were set up, the stove was plugged in and put right to work, within minutes!  We all had dinner around our kitchen table and then put the beds together and we were in! 

Remembering her bike! 

Gramp made a swing!

Pink Room 1st night!

Happy Girl!

Sunday we did more unpacking and putting together and George, Lorrie, Daureen, Dan came over to help!  All my drapes are up and more fun things are in the Princess's room! 

Now it's just a matter of getting the last little bit out of the PODS and organizing, organizing organizing! However, little Diva, always has time for tea with her Mommy.  After emptying one annoying box, I came into the living room, to find a relaxing cup of tea waiting for me.  She's so sweet!