National Ice Cream Day

I read somewhere that yesterday was National Ice Cream Day...well..even if it wasn't, it was a great excuse to walk to the little gas station near our house and get ice cream. We were pleasantly surprised, the ice cream was really good at Fast Eddy's! :)

A night on the water!

This past Saturday our wonderful friends invited us to their boat! We were sooo excited to see it and even more so, get in the water because it was so hot outside! We ordered pizza, and I brought fruit, dips, etc and we had a great time. To top it off, the boys camped out in the Charltons backyard while the girls camped in for the night! We had a campfire, smores, and lots of laughter! Thanks for a great night!

Can-am Parade

I think we have been to the Can-am parade for at least the last 4 years. It is every year in Sackets Harbor and it is a great parade with lots of music and bands in it! The kids loved it and the weather was perfect!

Our First of Many

Last week Jake picked our first squash! We have lots more growing including the zucchini, tomatoes and basil! We are sharing with friends and neighbors!

What is a little dirt?

The week before our vacation we had what feels like the entire yard torn up! We had to put in a new set of leech beds, for me, basically that meant no more poop in our yard! YEAH!!! Now Lee has been working hard and praying for the grass to grow back!

It was all it was QUACKED up to be!! Duck 2011

While it took us 11 1/2 hours, yes, almost half a day in horrible holiday traffic to get to our beach house, it was completely worth it! We arrived in Duck, NC, aka The Outer Banks, on Saturday night. I hate to even mention this, but since Jake can't read this yet, I guess I can write about that fact Saturday night was one of the worst night in my family's life. We were finally unpacked at about 830pm only to be frightened and having to evacuate our house at 9pm because our brilliant neighbors decided to light off fireworks in the brush behind our house. Fireworks plus dry dry brush only leads to one thing--yep--FIRE! It was a horrible night, one we will never forget but don't want to ever remember! It really took a toll on Jake. He had a great time in the water on Sunday at the beach but the 4th of July was not so great for him. The fire left him pretty traumatized and sick but thank God by Tues he snapped out of it and was ready to hit the beach again!
Lindsey was a little hesitant sticking her feet in the sand on Sunday morning but within a few minutes was digging her toes in and running for the ocean! The rest of the week was filled with beach time, pool time, eating seafood, celebrating my sister Donna's birthday, renting wave runners, biking, mini golf, go-karts, hiding in cupboards, egg and water balloon tosses, taking naps, and much needed R & R! We had an amazing week with lots of love and laughter! It only took us 10 hours to get all the way to my mom's in PA which wasn't too bad, however, I think we could have all stayed another week! Now for the pictures!














The 11 hour mark in the car for Lindsey and I

A Sweet Ride

It was almost 2 weeks ago when the Castanas headed out for a much needed family vacation. First stop, PA! We stopped at my parents house for a break and to gather my parents and sister Laurie before heading to Biglerville, PA. Thursday the kids played outside and ran all over Aunt Donna's house. On Friday, my sister and I took Jake and Sam to Hershey Park. Unfortunately Lee's sunburn got the best of him and he had to bail. Much to our amazement, the park was not crowded at all, and we hopped on rides all day. When we got there the boys rode a few rides, then headed straight for the waterpark. Afterwards,we had Nathan's famous hotdogs for lunch, I snuck a ride on an adult coaster (super fun),Jake and I rode the Comet, and at about 4pm we headed to Chocolate World. I thought Jacob was too tired, especially after almost falling asleep on the bench at lunch, but there was no way he was going to miss chocolate world. We took the tour then bought some chocolates and a few milkshakes before heading home! It was a great day for all of us!