Summer in New York Part 1

 This summer I spent, with Benjamin, a relaxing 2.5 weeks in upstate NY with my family with excursions to RI and CT to see friends.  JB was with us for the last week.  This was a perfect amount of time to be away from home and have enough time to spend with everyone.  Looking back on it now, I cannot believe how much we did during those two weeks.  We went out almost every day and did almost all of my favorite things to do in the Hudson Valley.

First of all I got to meet the guy above.  What a sweetie.  But he keeps his mama busy.  I loved spending lots of time with Jack, and Benjamin loved playing with Jack's toys.  When we got home last week, B found a pacifier behind the mattress on our bed.  B hasn't used one since he was about 6 months old, so yeah.  Anyway, I asked him if we knew a baby we could give that pacifier to, and he said "Baby Jack!"  It was a nice thought, but don't worry  about getting an old pacifier in the mail, Auntie Sara.

We hiked at Minnewaska and waded in the lake. 

We enjoyed the beautiful flowers at the Orange county arboretum. 

We went to the Ulster County Fair!  Benjamin's first merry-go-round.  

He didn't love the rides, but he could have spent all afternoon sipping on the lemonade.  

He helped his Auntie Sara make whoopie pies.  He got really good at saying "whoopie pie!"  

And oh man were they good.  

 I'll just have to do a few more parts to this summer in NY post.  Just so you know, he can still recognize all of you in the pictures.  And he still seems to remember some of the things that we did...especially the lemonade.  

Time for bed.