First Day at Welcome Lake comes to a close

We had a fantastic first day. After Aunt Barbara took us hunting blueberries...they weren't quite ripe yet....we rowed back to the cabin for dinner at the White Owl and a campfire. Uncle Chris built us a great blazer where we toasted marshmallows and waited for lightning bugs.

Do NOT try this at home!

Query: at what point does a grown man decide his bottom should NOT be higher than his head?



Answer: when he lands hard in 3 feet of water.

Welcome Lake fun

Some of the highlights of raft diving:



Matt, Zac and Seth taking the plunge.

SUMMER

This picture says it all to me. SUMMER. This is Zac in mid flight off the raft in the lake. This part of the trip was everything we hoped for; row boating, lake swimming, marshmellow eating, and firefly catching.

Monday-July 14th

Monday was a travel day as we made our way to Narrowsburg NY then over the Delaware into Pennsylvania and onto Welcome Lake. Narrowsburg is the narrowest part of the delaware river where it separates New York from Pennsylvania. The last time we were there Zac was one and the triplets were small little grains of rice in momma's tummy. My how time flies!

Good Bye to Springfield

We had a WONDERFUL time visiting all the Larger/Lane family. Thank you so much, Bill and Candy, for your
generosity in letting us come in and terroize your cats and mess up your house!

Sunday-July 13th

What a great day! Uncle Bill brought his patrol car to the house and we got to check it all out! First we got jr. police badges, then we got to go for a ride around the block...all four of us at the same time..WITH lights and sirens! Then we all got the chance to sit in the front seat and listen the scanner for perps. What a great time...I think Ian just about wet his pants with excitement. Thanks Uncle Bill!


We also went to the local museums where we saw lots of dinosaurs, some art and an exhibit on Ted Geisel aka Dr. Seuss, who grew up in Springfield! They had a great statue garden with lots of our favorite Dr. Seuss characters that we could play on.

July 12th

Candy set up a wonderful italian feast for the family on Saturday where we could all sit, eat, drink, talk, laugh and play. It lasted well into the night. It was wonderful to reconnect with our east coast relatives and meet new people. The boys had a blast going on adventures (walking around the house) looking for the cats....but not always finding them.

Rose and Doug's Wedding-July 11th

We INTENDED to leave early on the 11th but the boys let us sleep in so we got on the road a little later. It was a short drive (around 1 1/2 hours) to Springfield, MA to the home of Candy and Bill. We were able to get unpacked and relax a little before the babysitter arrived so we could get all gussied up for the wedding. It was a BEAUTIFUL location overlooking a lush, verdant valley (everything back east is lush and verdant from all the rain...something completely foreign to us from Arizona). It sprinkled on us a little...good luck for the newlyweds...then we went inside for a great reception. I have to say that the praline/icecream dessert thing was one of the best desserts I've ever had...anywhere.....YUMMY!

We had a wonderful time catching up with the Larger and Lane sides of the family and dancing the night away! Even Jim and Kristi got caught on film dancing!

Good Bye Jon and Di--July 11th.

We had a lovely...but too short...time at Jon and Di's. Thanks so much for the hospitality.

More July 10th

Here are a few different things we saw after the ships. We went to the maritime museum and got to experience life on a ship belowdecks (how sailors ate and slept and some of the jobs they had to do). Then we went to Faneuil Hall and walked around then got ice cream. We saw some interesting street performers and ended the day with a visit to Uncle Jon's work at Steinway.

July 10th--Boston

OLD IRONSIDES



The boys had a great time checking out the USS Constitution. Below decks was much more interesting than above...they are doing extensive remodeling so our tour was punctuated by lots of hammering and drilling. The highlights were the cannons, cannon balls, and the hammocks where the sailors slept. We learned where the word "scuttlebutt" came from and how the one cook was able to feed a ship with 400-500 crewmembers.

USS CASSIN YOUNG



1947 Battleship. We got to cruise on board at our own speed and crawl into some tight quarters and peek into guns and living quarters. It also had a great view of Boston!

FIRE THE CANNONS!

This picture is for Jon!

Scenes from a travel day---July 9th.

5:30am in the east economy lot at Sky Harbor Airport.

Beautiful sunrise over Sky Harbor East Economy lot.

People Mover....anything to waste time. Did I mention we got tagged for the extra special security screening? We got to go through the air puffer, had extra special attention from the TSA agents, had all our bags thoroughly searched...everyone was very nice and helpful. The kids wanted to do the airpuffer twice...we told them once per customer.

Wearing out the batteries for the video games before we even got on the plane.

Day 1--Travel Day, July 9th

Let me start by saying we really planned well for the trip. Everything was packed early...we got the kids to sleep by 6:30pm Tuesday night...we had to be up by 4:30am...we were feeling GREAT!!!!

Ahhhhh......the fickle fingers of fate. When we arrived at the airport we discovered that our Delta flight that was connecting through Atlanta had been delayed so far back as to be cancelled! They cancelled it at 3am...we missed that voicemail! They happily arranged for us to be transfered to a US Airways flight leaving at 9am!!! That's right! By the time we took off the kids had been up since 4:30 am! The good news is that it was a direct flight and we got into Boston at 4:45pm. Jon was kind enough to meet us there and wait while we got our rental car (which we had to upsize and pay the charge for...by the way) and then guided us to the new house!

The kids had fun exploring their grounds....looking for acorns. Di had a great pasta meal ready for us when we got there and our beds were all set up and waiting us! Ahhhhhhhhh.

Bowl -O-Rama

Some kids in Zac's Kindergarten class got together this summer and went bumper bowling...it was quite hilarious!

My Boys

Here they are. School pictures from April 2008

Father's Day 2008

The boys all made Daddy a cup at Paint Pottery. I surprised Joe (and Zac) with tickets to the d'backs game where they got to play catch on the field before the game! Zac was so excited. It was a great memory for both of them. We went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. The boys even all ate crab...we've been watching a lot of Deadliest Catch.

June 2008

We went to California for a week to watch the parent's house. My friends Jenn and Becca came down to hang with us with Jenn's two daughters Cate and Lola. I am so thankful they were there because on tuesday night/wed early morning Seth had one of his "spells" (silly oldfashioned word) and we had to call 9-1-1 and have him transported to the hospital. THANK GOD Jenn was there. I don't know what I would have done without her. She was able to help me with the nebulizer and find a phone that actually worked! Seth is fine...he was really fine by the time we got to the hospital but we always stay for a few hours so they can monitor him and make sure he isn't going to rebound from all the meds. It is amazing how sick he gets (completely blue and unresponsive this time) and how quickly he recovers. He was sitting up on the gurney and talking to everyone by the time we got to the hospital. Geesh...no wonder I am so gray.

After that excitement we hung around the pool the next day (wednedsay). Thursday we went to Knott's Berry Farm. What a great time! I even got Cate, Matt, Ian and Seth on the Log ride but Zac and Lola hung out with Jenn. There was a skateboard, bmx, rollerblade half pipe show in Calico Square. Zac just about wet his pants he was so excited. A good time was had by all.

Team Larger

July 8th--This is the first time posting or even doing a blog in a LOOOONNNNGGGG time...I thought it might be fun! I'll give it a try.

It is the day before we leave for....2008 Team Larger Family Vacation....think Griswold's Family Vacation. We are flying to Boston tomorrow at 6:20am. We hang out with Jon and Di for a few days then drive to Springfield, MA for Rose's wedding (Joe's neice). Then we are onto the cabin then onto Buffalo for a few days with Paul and Barbara and return to the valley of the sun on the 20th! WHEW!!!!

We are excited...Joe and I get to see all of our siblings within two weeks of each other; a rare occurance...We saw my brother Chris last week! The kids had fun with uncle chris who tried to teach them how to boogie board and build sand castles.

I am going to post some highlights of our summer so far so stay tuned!

Cheers