Balloon Festival

I was determined to take Reagan to the Balloon Festival for her 3rd year in a row (click here to see last year's post), and although it was almost the death of me, I'm proud to say I managed to pull it off ... barely!


When Diane invited me to the lakehouse, I was really excited about it, but also a little disappointed that it fell on the same weekend as the annual Balloon Festival. Reagan enjoyed the balloons so much the previous two years that I was looking forward to taking her back. Of course, when Diane and I discussed the overlap, we both tried figuring out a way to cram both the lakehouse and the festival into the quick weekend!


We were planning on driving straight from the Poconos to the Festival in Readington, NJ, but I had to go home first instead to get Avery (John had to go down to Union City to fix a clogged pipe for one of the tenants). I drove home (just under 2 hours), picked up Avery, then got back into the car and drove both girls to Readington. Its about 62 miles, so it should have been about 1 hour, 15 minutes, but it took us about 2 hours to get there, due to the craziest summer storm I've EVER witnessed! It was sunny and we were about 20 minutes away when Maribel called me from the balloon festival ... Maribel, Marcelo, Joaquin, Nayda and Pepin were had just arrived when a crazy thunderstorm hit. They found coverage in a tent and once it passed, the sun came out again, Just after hanging up with Maribel, I hit the storm and it was insane! The rain was coming down so hard that everyone on the highway pulled over to the side of the road - it was literally impossible to drive in it! As soon as I pulled over, the rain turned to huge balls of hail! The hail was so loud on the car the Avery started to cry. Yet after a few minutes, the rain let up and I got back onto the road. Within 5 minutes of driving away from the storm, it was sunny skies again. Talk about bizarre!!

Silly expression, but I thought it was a funny picture ;)

Avery and Nayda

My little model posing

This is a classic video of Reagan - I pulled out the camera and she thought I was going to take a picture. I love watching her pose, as I'm pretty sure I used to do the exact same thing when I was a little girl.

We ended up lying our chairs and blankets down around the same place as last year, thinking we'd have a prime spot for the "mass ascension" of the balloons. Except they changed it this year! The balloons ended up taking off from an entirely different area, one that was rather far from where we were. We moved our chairs, but by then, we were a little too late. I felt like we missed the mass ascension and I was disappointed that I didn't get any really great pics of the balloons. I was too busy trying to purchase dinner and feed the girls and then move to a new spot. Oh well. At least Reagan and Avery had fun playing with Joaquin!

Maribel and her crew were pretty disappointed with everything ... Maribel and I went together last year and had a great time, so Nayda, Pepin and Marcelo were all looking forward to going for their first time. We hyped it up and then it ended up sucking. I doubt they'll be returning in the years to come! And rightfully so - they braved the storm, then the MUDDY grounds that followed, then a pathetic number of balloons in the mass ascension (hardly any compared to last year) and they'd dropped $100 just to walk through the gates! ($25 per adult).

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Then there was Diane. Poor Diane! She ended up driving her 3 kids from the lakehouse and her GPS wasn't doing a very good job of giving her directions. After a very stressful, long drive, she got there as the balloons were going up. She threw the older kids in the double stroller, strapped her baby to her chest in the baby Bjorn, then trekked across the very muddy parking lot in flip flops, all the while telling her kids to look up to see the balloons floating away. When she finally arrived at the gate, the attendants told her it was closed to new entries. At that point, she put her hands over her eyes and cried. Thank goodness this worked, as they finally allowed her to walk in, just as most people were leaving.

I met her inside and we went to the area with rides and begged the young attendants to let the kids ride them. Thank goodness they accomodated us and Diane's kids got to have a little bit of fun!

Reagan and JP had fun riding the ponies

... while Avery waited patiently in the stroller

Kaitlyn, Erin and Diane

After the pony ride, we walked out together ... the clouds were rolling in again and it started to sprinkle as we got to the car. I got the girls in and by the time I moved the car, it was already coming down pretty hard. This made for a VERY long drive home! It took us about 45 minutes just to get to the main highway because of traffic. We inched along the sideroad painfully slowly. The girls were exhausted (to say the least) and they were completely spent. To make matters worse, I only had about 20 minutes left of battery on the portable DVD player. The following video is in the car, just after we left, with the rain pounding down:

Once we got on the highway, the girls lost it and both started crying (over tired). At one point, I had to pull over to try to calm them down. After they both had finally fallen asleep, my gas light came on! I had to find a gas station and pull over, which of course made Avery wake up. Anyway, we didn't get home until just after 11:00 pm and everyone was happy to be home!

We'll see if we make it next year for the 4th year in a row ... let's just say the circumstances will have to be perfect because I won't brave thunderstorms next time!

Lakehouse with Reagan

A couple months ago, Diane asked if I wanted to join her at the lakehouse the last weekend of July, since her husband Jack had plans to go to Canada for a bachelor party. Her in-laws were planning to go to the lakehouse that weekend too, so there wasn't room for all of us. I just took Reagan so that she could have a fun weekend with her friends and so we could spend some quality mother/daughter time together. John stayed home with Avery and the dogs. I felt badly leaving him since Brutus died the morning that we were supposed to leave, but John insisted that we go and have a nice weekend. He ended up having a nice weekend too, bonding with Avery, so it all worked out nicely.


As usual, the kids all played so well together (Kaitlyn, JP, and Reagan)

Here is 4-month old Erin sitting on Gramps' lap, just after her bath

Reagan had such a wonderful time on the beach ... here she is with Grandma Connie, making mud pies on the dock. After making mud pies, digging in the dirt, and throwing rocks into the lake, she decided she wanted to swim in the lake. I put the inflatable floaties on her arms and she was in heaven, swimming around the lake! She's a little fish ...

I love this serious picture of Kaitlyn in her sunglasses ...

Eating goldfish

JP with flushed cheeks, due to the warm, sunny day

Many thanks to the McTigues for another fabulous weekend at my favorite retreat!!!

Good Bye to Brutus

Today we bid farewell to Brutus, John's very loyal Italian Mastiff (Cane Corso) of 11 1/2 years.

Brutus - 3 years old (February, 2001)

Brutus, Dawson & Verdell, August 2004

The picture above and the one below were both taken just 13 days ago on July 11th. Brutus didn't seem to be doing very well ~ I couldn't get him to move from his bed when I came downstairs. He was lethargic and lifeless and he appeared to be very "sunken" (if that makes any sense) which is why I took these pictures ... I'm not sure where John was, but I took them to show him how Brutus looked that morning. I remember thinking the pictures just didn't show how badly he seemed to be doing. He hardly moved all day and wouldn't eat a thing. But then he seemed to be back to himself the next day and we figured he was fine. Well, fine enough for a very old dog.

But when John came downstairs this morning, he found Brutus on his bed and he was already stiff. He died sometime during the night and I truly hope that he died peacefully in his sleep. John called me at work to give me the news and I was overcome with emotion. I couldn't believe how hard I cried! John was also surprised how I took the news. I guess I was just in shock, as it was very unexpected. He seemed just fine yesterday.

I looked on Snapfish and found some old pictures I had of Brutus. The above picture was taken on February 7th, 2004 (5 1/2 years ago). John and I were dating and Brutus was barely 6 years old. I can't get over how black his face was ... he turned gray so gradually that it was hard to notice how much he'd changed.

This picture was taken on July 3rd, 2005 (5 years ago). I'm pretty sure he was over 150 pounds in this picture.

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Brutus was a good dog who LOVED John more than anything. He was a loyal dog who would have done anything to protect John and our family. John and I complained about him often, but it was always for reasons that weren't his fault (he couldn't help it that he shed huge amounts of long black hair with each and every step!). He was often a difficult dog to live with because of his size and because we couldn't leave town unless a family member was willing to take care of him. But it was also nice having him around because we knew we would be safe from any intruders. We always felt safe with Brutus around. Although he'd be fierce with strangers, he was a big mush with us, always craving affection from us.

* * *

John used to say that if Brutus really loved him, he'd die peacefully in his sleep so that John wouldn't have to go through the difficult emotional act of putting him to sleep. I guess this was Brutus's way of showing John just how much he loved him ...

4th of July - Lakehouse Fun!

Diane invited me over for a dinner playdate last week and we were talking about the upcoming 4th of July holiday weekend. Neither of us had plans so we planned a spontaneous getaway to her lakehouse! It turned out to be an excellent weekend with fun had by all :)

I had Friday off, so I spent the morning getting packed, then I left with the girls that afternoon. Since we have 3 dogs and no one to watch them (John's late mother Nila used to take care of the dogs for us), John stayed home and drove up for the day on Saturday. The drive usually takes 1 hr, 45 minutes with no traffic. It ended up taking us several hours because of traffic and stops. Here's a picture of one of our stops, since Reagan had to go to the bathroom ... I keep a portable potty seat in my car and I've used it so many times!! I put a pull up on her just in case she fell asleep on the drive, but she didn't really need it.

Diane and her 3 kids during one of our stops. Her husband Jack had to work, so he couldn't join us.Diane's lakehouse is 2 levels; she and her kids always sleep downstairs and her in-laws or other guests sleep upstairs. JP was having so much fun playing with Reagan that he didn't want to say goodnight and sleep downstairs ... he asked if he could sleep upstairs with us. Diane happily agreed because she figured there was no way he'd actually go through with it (he can be a bit shy and cautious at times). But to our surprise, he did very well! The 3 of us all slept in the big king size bed! Before going to sleep, they were reading books and Reagan told JP she'd read to him ... of course, Reagan doesn't know how to read yet, but she's really good at looking at the pictures and coming up with her own story. She had JP convinced that she knew how to read - it was pretty funny!

On Saturday morning, John drove up for the day and arrived around 11:30. As soon as he arrived, we drove to a nearby town called Hawley that was having a 4th of July parade.

It was a really quaint little town in the mountains with tons of character (and many "characters" too!)

Reagan quickly discovered that the coolest part about a parade was all the free candy they gave out! She was jumping up and down, so excited about the loot she was hauling in!


The parade had all the usual marchers you'd expect in a holiday parade ... it was festive and fun and even though we weren't there for the entire thing, the kids enjoyed every minute of it.




Of course, Elmo was a big hit!



I particularly liked this old carriage that was pulled by the horse/4 wheeler ... it was an antique hearse!

After the parade, we walked a few blocks to the nearby park and let the kids play. I thought John looked pretty darn cute on this log-roller!

On the way back from the parade, I took this picture ... it was such a gorgeous day on the lake!

Kaitlyn on the beach

3 1/2 month old Erin - she's such a sweet little baby!

It's amazing how well the 4 of them play together ... here they are in the sandbox (not a great picture of any of them, but the only one I took of them in the sandbox)

On the back porch swing, looking out at the lake

I love this picture of John walking JP, Reagan and Kaitlyn down to the dock

We let Reagan stand in the water and then Avery insisted on putting her feet in too. She was having the time of her life!



Here's a video of Avery kicking her legs in the water

The shorts came off rather quickly, as they were getting soaked

JP, Reagan, Avery and John

The funny thing about this picture is that it wasn't "set up" at all ... these two play so well together and I just love it. I walked into the sunroom and found them sitting on the couch, reading books. Every mother's dream!

John went home around 8:00 so he could tend to the dogs. We got the big kids in their pajamas and they watched fireworks on TV while we put the little ones to bed (Avery and Erin). We popped popcorn and took it outside to watch the fireworks over the lake (we locked the house and took our video monitors with us)

We lucked out because the next-door neighbors were lighting fireworks right there on the beach for us to enjoy! You can also see the big beautiful moon in the above picture.

Reagan and Kaitlyn ~ there were several different groups of fireworks going off around the lake, so it was fun to watch them all.

Surprisingly, the kids lost interest in the fireworks rather quickly and Reagan thought it would be more fun to throw rocks into the lake.

JP on Sunday morning

Eating bacon for breakfast ... this is one of Avery's funny looks

Once again, all the kids had disappeared into the sunroom and when I walked in, I found them like this ... they were inspecting some type of millipede creature under the couch (I took a picture of the creature too, but didn't feel like posting it - apparently, I was the only one who got grossed out by the thing!)

It was a beautiful, sunny day on Sunday, so we took out this little pool and wedged all 4 kids into it. Diane and I couldn't believe how much fun they had in this tiny little pool! They just sat there, playing with toys for over an hour!

Kaitlyn and Reagan

Here is a very funny video ... it's not what you'd expect from a video of 4 kids in a pool. Instead of hearing loud squeals of laughter, you'll hear NOTHING. Diane and I were laughing about how quiet it was, which is why I turned the video camera on. They were all in a zone I guess ...

It really was an excellent weekend ... many thanks to Diane for being my friend who's always up for an adventure with kids!