I'm not here for a long time....I'm just here for a good time...

Betty will spend the night with me in town tomorrow, as we will be leaving early Friday morning to pick Emma up from her two week stay at Dunkley's Gymnastics Camp. Here are some of the many pictures of the fun she had over the two weeks. We are just hoping she is ready to come home. One thing I can be sure of i the fact that she will be wanting to go back next year.

Day 1....getting acquainted and making new friends....

All dressed up for their skit....

They spend hours doing their gymnastics, but being right on the shores of Lake Champlain they are able to partake in many water activities as well.

I don't have this quite figured out but it looks as though they may be passing a rubber chicken with their chins.....what fun!

Just being Emma.....

This was "twin night" or in some cases "triplets".....

We will be their for their exhibition and then headed to our friend Stella's for homemade spaghetti and meatballs, a night in the hotel and back to NY on Saturday.

Down, down came the sun....fast, fast beat my heart..

Sunsets are beautiful all over the world....I do believe however, none of them can hold a candle to a St. Lawrence River sunset. Sometimes I think I have seen every color and formation possible and then something like this appears.

Fun on the river is easy to deliver.....

What a great day we had with my sister-in-law Cheryl (Karpel) and my niece and nephew, Eliza and Asa Karpel. Cheryl gifted us with a huge basket of fresh vegetables from my brother's fabulous garden which we enjoyed all week.



Uncle Salt and Asa take a short canoe trip....

Betty took her first ride in years.....she thought she had fun until she tried to get out of bed the next day....ouch. Sore arms Bet?

And what's a trip to Grindstone without a 4 wheeler ride.....

I saw the people gather...I heard the music start. The song that they were singing is ringing in my heart.

Last weekend, Betty and I took Emma to gymnastics camp in South Hero, VT. We decided to do a little sinning, so we stopped for some of the best french fries in VT....Al's! You can see how good they are by the grease on the box...ewwww.

Then off for a visit with my 96 year old friend Stella.....who ALWAYS makes me laugh until I hurt!!

These amazing driftwood horse sculptures sit out in a field in front of Dunkley's Gymnastic camp. Someone is very clever!

In order to cut a couple of hours off the trip we took the ferry from Plattsburgh, NY to VT. It's always a very pretty trip, as the lake is usually full of sailboats!

Emma will have a ball at this camp. She loves gymnastics and this camp is one of the best. They also teach skiing, sailing kayaking and water gymnastics. Lots of crafts and games. Betty went to it 31 years ago, so the owners were tickled to have a second generation camper.

Lots of huge trampolines....the best way to learn back flips without a hard landing!!

We stopped at a restaurant, and they had these cool eagles made from moose antlers, hanging from the ceiling....

No trip to VT is not complete without a stop at the "Apple" store. Apples of course are not in season, but they have all kinds of cheese, and VT products.

We spent Friday evening with my friend Sherry White and her daughters, Lisa and Heather. Betty went to school with the girls, so Sherry and I met when Betty was in nursery school. We had SO much fun catching up on a lifetime of memories.

Emma fell in love with Sherry's granddaughter's Zebra room!!

Sherry took us out to breakfast at the Clover House before we left.

Boats....vessels of freedom...harbors of healing.

OK Mike, here is the Bertram that Peter and Frances bought and Dad gets to chauffeur them in.
It's 26' with 2 200 E-tecs.....

We were coming across the river yesterday, in our boat and Salt says "I am spoiled after driving Peter's boat". I told him "tough..there is no way you are getting a boat like that unless you win the lottery ticket. He bought a ticket last night...LOL

We'd be chillin with the ladies.....those times are the greatest...

Every Thursday morning, a coffee hour is held for the Island women. Everyone takes turns hosting and we all bring baked goods or fruit salads. One never knows how many will show up!This Thursday, three of the four Rusho sisters (Manley's daughters).

Oh and Karen wanted in too....

About 35 women showed up....

Kelly Rusho Boyer and daughter Lindsey. Kelly looks wonderful after successfully dropping a lot of weight. Great job Kelly!!

Oh and of course Greyson was there lining up his future dates. I'm afraid JR may be over to talk to Stub after seeing this. They are such beautiful children!

Garrett and Jada (Greyson's parents) are here for the month of July after Garrett's return from Afghanistan. In November they will be leaving for a 3 year stay in Germany.

Don't want to go to school today....I'd rather go outside and play!

Betty was made Director of the children's summer activities at the Grindstone Island Schoolhouse. Her first day was Tuesday, and I tagged along to grab a few pictures and check out her curriculum.

This is the one room school house, which has pretty much remained the same as when it closed the year after Mike went to fifth grade in 1989.


These are the little chalk boards Betty made for the kids....

The first week was making constellations. Here William Baird works on his. He is such a cutie. One of the kids asked him how old he was and he said "I am MUCH older than 6 and a half but definitely not 7."

and out to the playground!!

There's a time for joy....a time for tears...a time we'll treasure through all the years.

Betty, Emma and I left early Friday morning for Endicott and Janna's Graduation party. The party was held in Warren Center, PA, at Grandma Abel's pond. Even though it's a different state, the pond is only about 20 minutes from Joe and Rindy's home. It was a wonderful party, nice weather and a great turnout!
It was a great opportunity to catch up with so much of the family that we don't get to see often.
Our niece Kate entertained us with her hula hoop dance (she's great). I know Emma is going to be mastering this after watching Katie!!

And niece Alice....she's the redhead who like it or not, takes after her Aunt Kitty.....well, maybe not the boobs, but pretty much every other trait!

This was a picture bus I bought for Janna when she was in Kindergarten....she did a great job of keeping it up each school year. It's a great keepsake and I love making the comparisons from year to year!

The awesome cake from Wegmans. I love the OFA Indian!!

Salt came over to go to dinner on Saturday evening and we stayed over in the motor home. Salt got down to the dock and found RIGHT IN FRONT of our boat, these three burned out boats. I thought it was probably a spark from some of the fireworks that were set off the night before, but supposedly a guy turned on his lights and their was a screw through one of the wires?????? I like my version better!