What A Great Place

While being away from home with the kids isn't exactly a break for me, it was hard to feel stressed waking up to this view every morning:

The kids were all in love with the house, from just hanging around there and watching TV or playing in the "secret living room", to climbing the stairs down and back to the water (LittleL.G. even did it solo a few times when she needed something from the house), to enjoying being on the lake- fishing, kayaking, hunting for crayfish, and occasionally swimming (possibly the result of slipping or falling in). Even the one thing MiniM.E. feared the most after a dusky walk up the first night, spiders, became one of our favorite things to check out.

While spending all day every day at the lake house might have been enough, we also took a hike to nearby Carpenter's Falls. The hike to see the falls was treacherous enough that only MiniM.E., Daddy and Grandpa ventured to the bottom. 

While we waited for them, we found a great playground downtown. 

A trip to the area wouldn't have been complete without a meal at Hunter's diner and another nearby playground... 

And we couldn't leave without seeing some of Bob's friends and spending time at their house and pool. 

Everyone was sad to leave today as we packed up our stuff and headed out. We took a quick detour in downtown Skaneateles to stop at a delicious bakery and take a walk and then it was back home to unpack, wind down and get ready for the school year!