To all of my faithful blog readers, I am so sorry for the month-long break in my posts. We took a trip to the US for three weeks, and had a wonderful time.
Here are a few highlights:
When we went upstate to be with Ethan's side of the family, we spent time at "Camp" at Owasco Lake. The kids enjoyed playing in the lake,
skipping rocks (except for Collin, who enjoyed
eating the rocks),
feeding ducks,
celebrating daddy's birthday with his aunts and uncles,
boat rides with Daddy and Uncle Luke,
and canoe rides with Grandma.
Back at Grandma's house, the kids had so much fun riding bikes and flying kites.
While we were upstate, we also attended a reunion with friends from our old college fellowship. How sweet it was to catch up with old friends, and see all of our kids playing together.
On our way downstate, we stopped at our friends, the Gillens, for a quick visit.
Our time on Long Island with my side of the family started off with a big party to welcome my nephew Logan into the family (this is the quilt I made for him),
and to celebrate my niece Summer's 1st birthday,
and my dad's 60th. (Not to mention that that day was also my cousin Brittany's 20th birthday,
and Ethan and my 11th anniversary! Truly... so much to celebrate!) The party was great! It was so nice to spend time with friends and family.
And this is the cake that I made for my dad (yes, it took me a while!).
The rest of our week on Long Island was filled with time in the swimming pool, baseball games with uncles, playing with the remote-control boat in the pool,
swing rides, slip-n-slides,
beach days,
shopping with Grammy, a date night, and our annual bivouac (cook-out on the beach).
My old high school singing group, Hampton Jazz, got together one evening to reminisce! Again, it was so much fun to catch up with old friends,
and have our kids all play together.
(Thank you for hosting Amanda!!)
We also had a lovely boat ride on the Ibee Dibee with Grammy and Papa.
Collin wasn't a big fan of his life-jacket,
but he eventually passed out.
One of the most touching parts of my trip was our visit to West Neck Circle in Southampton. West Neck is a small neighborhood by the water where my grandfather and a few of his brothers and sisters lived with their families. Now I may not have the best memory, but I can remember a lot about my grandfather's house and playing on the dock and small beach down the road.
I guess you could say we took a literal "trip down memory lane" visiting West Neck for a surprise party for my mom's cousin. The memories flooded back with the familiar place and friendly faces from the past. It was a special evening, and a joy to see my children playing in a place that means so much to me.
It really was a very special vacation for us. We are so grateful for all the time we got to spend with the people that we love and miss. It makes me wonder if we would enjoy our time quite as much if we were still living in the US.
Being away truly makes our time back in the states with family and friends all the more precious. Missing you all already.....
A month or so ago, I posted a blog about the ice-cream stands that you can find at the local parks and such, and said how most of them only serve vanilla ice-cream, or maybe a few extra flavors.
Next, we headed into the shop to see the flavors. I was not disappointed by all the choices. 
Was I in America? Oh no, that can't be.... in the US, you wouldn't find "Clotted Cream" as a flavor!
Let me just say, we were not disappointed. Maddie's Vanilla was probably the best vanilla ice cream I've ever had. Tim's Cinderella (named that because it has "cinder toffee," which I had never heard of before) was scrumptious! Rich with toffee flavor ice-cream and bits. And my Chocoholic was amazing! It was a rich, chocolate ice-cream that had swirls of real white chocolate throughout. Is your mouth watering yet??? 
