Sweet!

A Beautiful Place lived up to it's name!

This is where Gretchen and I could quite often be found, gliding and reading.

This is the view of Keuka Lake from the deck. It's also where we played bocce ball until we discovered it was much cooler in the shade in the backyard so we worked the game around there. (The cabin had central air conditioning, for which we were grateful.) The boys seemed okay not being right on the water like we have been the last two places we've stayed. Neither Gretchen nor I are "water people" - we're much happier in the woods. (Poor Steve, he joined the wrong family! He and his family are very much "water people".)

This is the view from the backyard. Look! A fenced in area for Reggi, complete with dog house. We didn't take her but for an additional fee, we could have. I'm sure she was happier at home. When we arrived home and Simon let her outside to greet us she did that run where it's like her feet can't move fast enough for her body. Once in the house, she ran laps around and around the house. Now that's a welcome I could get used to. Verona stuck to me like glue also. Nice.

We could have not asked for a cleaner, more beautiful cabin. The boys slept upstairs in the loft. Gretchen and I shared the downstairs bedroom but for some reason Gretchen chose to sleep in the pull out couch in the living room. Something about the Bush's Baked Beans I brought to go with our hot dogs and hamburgers meal. So I had a very comfy double bed all to myself. Sweet!

Why Paul, DJ and Gershum chose to all sit on this love seat when there was a perfectly good couch right next to it, is beyond me. Comfy?

Simon says he had a good time, as did the other 3 boys. We tried to instill in them that they had a stake in making this vacation what they wanted it to be, especially since they had access to my car. They did go exploring one day and played miniature golf one day.

Gretchen and I went to The Windmill, a farm and craft market which is just open on weekends but luckily for us, is also open on holidays, like July 4th. I bet the first time we went there was very close to their opening in 1987 and it was much smaller and had much more of a handcrafted feel. The food and produce all looked good but we weren't tempted to buy anything else. I noticed I looked at it a bit differently this time, more from a "vendor" point of view, now that I've been one. I looked at the application online, nothing is specified about rent, which is what I was mainly curious about. We did buy the above flower bouquet and left it on the table in the cabin when we left yesterday. That's the sugar canister I used for a vase, sans sugar.

The other required activity anytime we are in Yates County is to go to the bulk food store run by the Mennonites. This time, though, we went to a new (to us) one: Crystal Valley Bulk Foods.

Gretchen and I went to breakfast in Hammondsport on Tuesday.

We all had dinner at Miller's Essenhaus Tuesday night.

I worked on my needlepoint piece and Gretchen knitted her baby sweater.

This place had a TV with VCR and DVD player. There was a great selection of probably 30 movies provided but the boys had already seen anything they were interested in. Gretchen and I watched Billy Elliott Monday night. Tuesday night we tried to get the boys to pick something to watch but they couldn't. Gershum finally picked The Sound of Music. We thought he was kidding (it's hard to tell with him!) but he said he wasn't so we watched it. Except about half way through he said it was giving him a headache and went to hang out with the boys. So Gretchen and I watched it, singing along with most songs. And we fast forwarded through the boring parts. (The puppet show for me, the fancy ball part for Gretchen.)

My personal favorite, which must be done complete with hand motions:

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu

Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu

It was midnight before it was over and we were all feeling a bit silly, which spilled over into singing ridiculous songs while lying in bed. Have you ever heard a rap version of My Favorite Things? We laughed ourselves to sleep.

It was really nice only being about 70 miles from home. Check out time was 10:00 and we left at 9:58. We stopped at the outlet mall on the way home and still arrived home by noon. I bought new windchimes for the back yard and some new kitchen things: cookie scoop, silicone spatulas, brownie pans and a cookie sheet. Score!

The boys asked if we could go on vacation again this year and Gretchen and I both said yes without hesitation. They volunteered to research and plan it - which is just what we wanted them to do. We're both a bit skeptical as to if they will really do it or not, but Simon was online last night looking at places, so we'll see. I think they all have the feeling these vacations are numbered. We've already lost Nick to the Marines (though we talked to him on the cell phone a couple of times!), DJ graduated from high school this year and Simon and Gershum will be seniors next year. This is our third Excellent Vacation with the Boys and Gretchen and I didn't think it would last this long. They don't always seem like they are having fun but I guess they are because they talk about past trips a lot and always want to go again. Gretchen and I always have fun together, so we'll keep doing it as long as they want to. And like our trip to New York City this May, we'll continue without them!