Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

We had a fantastic summer, filled with many adventures and memories.  Here's our summer for you in snapshots.  No big descriptions or multiple pictures, because we did too much and I didn't post enough!

My parents rented a huge house in Swain so the whole family could vacation together for a few days.  We played games, had campfires, and swam and boated in the pond that was on the property.  It was Gavin's first vacation!

We went to Disney!  We spent 4 days in Disney and 3 days at our resort.  It was awesome, and although I'm sure I had the most fun, we all enjoyed it.  

We went to the zoo a couple times and visited Larkin Square to eat lunch with Aunt Lisa.

Bison's game with the church crew!

Of course, we had a bunch of water fun.  Pool time and fun in the creek.

Chautauqua County Fair

Camping!  It was surprising how well Gavin did on this trip!

Boating with good friends!

Erie County Fair - Bransen got to be in Gary the Silent Clown's show!

Fantasy Island

 Hiking and adventuring in Zoar Valley

Our favorite campground - Stonybrook!

The kids also went on a couple vacations with their other parents.  Jonas went to New York City and Black Lake, and Brynn and Bransen went to Alexandria Bay.  What busy kids!  We sure had a great summer together as a big happy family, and we hope you did, too!

Williamsburg, VA

So I try to post the "big"events that happen in our family on here, but I missed our February break vacation!  We did take a trip to Williamsburg, VA.  We hoped to get down to somewhere that was at least a little bit warmer, but of course, they experienced a major snowstorm while we were there.  The whole town shut down for a couple days, so we stayed at the resort and enjoyed the pool and some of the activities they had to do there. 

Pool time!  The kids spent A LOT of time in the pool during the week we were there...  

And in the outdoor hot tub, despite the snow...

And in the hot tub in our condo.

 The resort also provided an activity where the kids made "tie-dye" t-shirts with sharpies and rubbing alcohol.  They all did a nice job, and Jonas especially liked this activity and spent about an hour and a half decorating his shirt.

 Of course, there was plenty of time just spent in the condo playing and enjoying their electronics.   

By mid-week the weather did clear up enough for us to the Jamestown Settlement museum.  All of the interactive stuff was really neat.  The kids had a great time pretending to be Native Americans mashing corn and shooting bows and arrows.  We also got to tour a ship that showed us how the English traveled over to America.  So many people on such a little ship!  It was fun to talk to the staff about life back then - they were all in costume and stayed in character the whole time.

The Powhatan Indian Village

The ship that brought the English to Virginia

The English forts - They did a shooting demonstration...it was loud!  Bransen was chosen to help demonstrate some of the weapons.

We watched how they used glass blowing to make cool stuff.  Thankfully our kids didn't break anything in the store :-)

We also went to Colonial Williamsburg.  We took the whole family to walk around for a couple hours, and then Grandma Gabel, Brynn and I went back the next day to see more things.  The boys chose to stay at the condo and swim.

Despite the weather, we had a great trip. Most of all, we enjoyed spending the quality time with our family.