We Are Finally Home...

Yes, we are finally home. Paul came up to Clinton Camp with his parents on Monday. Then he came over to Rochester on Tuesday to get us. We stayed there until Thursday morning and, then we went back over to Clinton to meet back up with his parents. We all left to come home on Friday. It was a long trip, but it is so nice to be home after being gone for almost three weeks. Below are a few pics from when we went mini golfing with Jen and Tom. We had a lot of fun trying to teach the girls how to putt. Lauren actually got two hole in ones. Ashley did very well. I think this was only their second time playing mini golf. The place we went was decorated beautifully. They had beautiful flowers, a castle, a giraffe, and a beautiful waterfall. We did stop along the way to take some pics. We had a lot of fun on our vacation. Jen and Tom thanks for all the fun things we did. Paul, thanks so much for allowing us to go on this great vaction. Mom and Dad Roberts thanks for all we did with you, and Mom and Dad Young thanks for supplying the vehicle and all the miles you put in for us. We could never repay all of you. We love all of you.

Ashley and Lauren taking a picture break from mini golfing...

Will she make the shot?

Posing in front of the giraffe at the mini golf place...

A rare picture of me with my dolls.

Return to Jen's...

Ok, this is my last blog for today(maybe this week). Last night we had our return trip here to Jen's house. My parents brought the girls and I to Syracuse again and we met at the same restaurant. This time Jen brought Tom with her. It was nice for all of us to be able to be together and enjoy a wonderful meal. Thanks Grammy and Pop-Pop for trucking us all over and for all you did for us this past week. We had a lot of fun. Below you will see us eating our meal. Sorry it is so dark.

The Things We Did In Windsor...

We spent this past week at my parents house in Windsor, NY. We also got to be with my brother and his wife and their 4 kids. They are living with my parents right now between transitions. We had a fun full week. On Monday my Aunt Donna and family came to visit, since we were there. My cousin Marea just happened to be visiting my aunt the same week. It was so nice to see her and her girls. We figured out we had not seen each other in 5-6 years. They came for dinner and to enjoy the lake. Below you will see pictures of them in the paddle boats. On Tuesday, Grammy took us all to the Discovery Center in Binghamton, NY. Thank you, Grammy, that was sweet of you. You will also see pics of the Discovery Center below. On Thursday night the girls and I hitched a ride to see my lifetime friends, the Wagstaffs. They have always been like an aunt and uncle to me more than anything. We had a nice visit with them. They taught us how to play Hill Billy Golf. That was a blast. I have to look for the game and get one. She also showed me several quilts she has made through the years. They are beautiful. I have the privilege of owning one of her quilts. She made me one last year. I will treasure it for life. Enjoy the pics below. Sorry they are not in order, but I messed up when I downloaded them.

Ashley and Lauren running the Ice Cream Stand at the Discovery Center

Uncle Jon(my brother) and the kids in the Ambulance at the D.C.

Uncle Jon with the kids, racing Sharree and Kerri

Ashley playing Hill Billy Golf at the Wagstaffs

Lauren and "Uncle" Arnie playing Hill Billy Golf

"Aunt" Ruth Wagstaff

Uncle Jon with Ashley, Lauren, and Vaughn in the Paddle Boat

Lauren, Me, and Ashley by the lake

Sharree, Marea(my cousin), and Kerri Pouzar

Ashley in the fire truck at the D.C.

Making the Switch...

Last Saturday we made the switch. Jen took us half way to meet my parents in Syracuse, NY.

We met at a restaurant there and then we were suppose to go to Windsor to my parents house. Instead we made a pit stop at the Syracuse Zoo. We had never been there and we were only 3 miles from there so we decided to go. It was a very nice zoo, but it was so hot, we about suffocated. The animals were not very active because of it, but we did catch the tail end of the elephant show when we entered the zoo. Then when we got to the tiger he decided to come right up to the glass and cool off in his pool. We enjoyed a few hours there and got to go to yet another zoo. Add one more to the list.

A very pregnant goat trying to stay cool...

This elephant was fun to watch...

This poor tiger was trying to cool off...

The penguin family... Grammy, Lauren, Ashley, and Pop-Pop

This lion was absolutely gorgeous...

Strong Museum of Play...

Another highlight of going to Aunt Jen and Uncle Tom's is going to the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester. It is a huge museum designed for kids to play and and have lots of fun. It would be considered like a Discovery Center. They have a large Wegmans grocery store where the kids can grab a shopping cart and shop til they drop. Then they have cash registers set up so that they actually scan the items and print a receipt. That is the girls favorite part of the whole museum. They also added this year a two whole rooms with just things from the Clifford story books and the Berenstain Bears books. The girls enjoyed playing like they were Farmer Ben running his farm and fruit stand. They also enjoyed selling mama bears quilts. We then took pics with Clifford and all his buddies. The girls also enjoy the room that is set up to be back in the old days. They cooked for Uncle Tom and Aunt Jen and they ironed. I like it because it gives them a hands on feel to see what it was like in the old days when they had very little. They were amazed at the stove and the iron. The other section that the girls always enjoy is the room where you are on Sesame Street. There they can sit in Big Birds nest, count with The Count, and play with Elmo. Here are a few of the pics I got at the museum. I hope you enjoy.

Aunt Jen checking Ashley out at the "Wegmans" Grocery store...

Uncle Tom checking Lauren out at the store...

Ashley and Lauren with the Berenstain Bears...

Ashley and Lauren sitting on the steps of Sesame Street...

The girls with Clifford and Emily Elizabeth...

Lauren serving Uncle Tom and Aunt Jen at the "Old Time Home"...

Lauren cooking on an old stove...

Ashley using an old fashioned iron to iron some clothes...

Up, Up and Away Basketball...

Now that we are back to civilization and have a computer to use I can tell you more about our vacation. While we were still at Jen and Tom's house the girls played basketball for the first time, that I can think of. They had so much fun trying to make a basket. We eventually all played "Horse" and the girls did really well. Uncle Tom finally ended up winning after a long hard battle for first between him and I.

Ashley I think it might go in...

Lauren I think you just missed it...

Zoorific...

The Lioness kept pacing around her cage...

The polar bears enjoying their lunch...

Ashley and Lauren with the big polar bear. Don't eat us!!!

Uncle Tom, Ashley, Lauren, and Aunt Jen...

Ashley "Turtle"

Well, the adventure continues with a trip to the zoo. Jen and Tom took us to the zoo in Rochester. It is a small zoo, but they have it set up very nice and they have some nice animals. The girls had alot of fun watching the polar bears, lion, and the monkeys. My favorite was the elephant. He had hay to eat on the floor of the elephant house, but he was not the least bit interested in it. He kept using his trunk to get the hay hanging from the ceiling. It was so fun watching him. We commented that he had to be very thirsty.

A Stop At Lake Erie...

Now that I have my pictures downloaded on their computer I can show you the pictures from our stop at Lake Erie. First of all I have to thank my wonderful in-laws for bringing the girls and I all the way to New York. They are the greatest. On our way to my sisters we were early and we would have beat her home, so we stopped at the Dunkirk Exit off of I 90 in New York. There was a historical lighthouse there that we had read about and we wanted to check it out. But, when we got there it cost $6.00 a piece to get in, so we decided to skip that. Instead I got as close to the fence as I dared and took a picture of it. The lake was absolutely gorgeous and it cooled us down, since the air conditioning in their van quit on the way. We did go to the Board Walk and got something to eat. We also drove through a little park and took some pics. It was a beautiful sight and we sure enjoyed ourselves.

Lake Erie

The Historical Lighthouse in Dunkirk.

Ashley and Lauren at the Boardwalk

Mom-Mom and her girls enjoying the lake

Hibachi...

After Jen and Tom took us to the pottery place they wanted to take the girls to a Japanese Restaurant and watch them cook the food in front of us. The guy was very entertaining. He juggled the eggs with his spatula, built a volcano out of an onion, and twirled his utensils. The girls loved it except when he caught the volcano on fire. They both jumped up from their seats. The food was very good, especially the rice and chicken. It was quite entertaining to watch the girls try to use chopsticks. Here are a couple of pics of the chef.

Enjoying Pottery...

Every summer my wonderful husband lets the girls and I (since he cant, because of work,etc...) go on a two week vacation to visit my family. This year we came to my sister Jens first. Every time we come she tries to have something fun for the girls to do. This time she took us to a place called "Color Me Mine." It is a cool place. You go in and pick a piece of pottery that you want to paint and design. You then spend the time painting and coming up with a design all your own. After you have your work of art, you leave it there and they fire it for you. You get to pick it up one week later. I made a pretty chip and dip bowl (sunflowers of course) and the girls made pretty little figurines. These are the pics we took of the girls. They both did a great job and had so much fun.

Lauren painting her fairy.

Ashley painting her "treasures bowl"

Lauren concentrating...

Ashley making sure she got it all painted.

Traveling Fun...

This weekend the girls and I went to Maryland with my in-laws. We went for Paul's family reunion. We had a great time at the reunion, it was just sooooo... hot. We had lots of good food, a children's auction, an adult auction, and childrens games. There were 70 of us there. That was on Saturday. On Sunday we went to church in the morning (there was no evening service) and just hung out the rest of the day. Around dusk we started getting bored, of the hotel, so we decided to go for "A Sunday Evening Drive." We drove all over the place looking at their old houses, and things of interest. We finally decided to go to Dorsey Road and watch the planes go over. It is a place where the planes go over the road right before they land. Needless to say, when you drive by you feel like the plane is going to land on your car. We took some pics of the girls watching the planes, and tried to capture how close the planes really are to the ground. As we were about to leave Dorsey Rd., we found out that a local church was having free fireworks at 9:30 so we went over there and saw the beautiful fireworks display. It was a nice relaxing weekend.

The girls between watching planes.