As I said in a previous post, we are so blessed that my parents sprung for a place to stay for us so we could be there for Carmen's graduation and not have to feel rushed or stuck in a hotel room with 11 people! After our wonderful week last year in Bristol on the St Joe river, we went again staying at the "river cottage" a little further down with a hot tub and best of all: a PONTOON! Let me tell you, the entire thing was my idea of Heaven and I soaked up every wonderful minute from May 19-May 29!
Hopefully this link works because I *highly* recommend:
River CottageAcross the river was a sand bar where pontoons would beach and kids would play and people would play fetch with their dogs. It made for amazing people watching and in retrospect I wish I would have been brave enough to take a kayak out across the river to check it out. (If you see last year's Bristol posts you'll know that I was well-informed in being gun shy as the current is strong and it's a PITA to paddle against. But the last day Mike found out it was pretty much walk-able across the entire stretch we were on so I needn't have been so chicken...ah well, just another reminder that I'm lucky to have the husband that I do who sees and figures things out that I don't bother to!)
I'm so grateful that three of Carmen's friends were able to come out for the day/night and have a last hurrah with us prior to going their separate ways: Liv, Haley, Kate and Carmen (so much beauty in one photo I'm surprised the camera could handle it)
We only took one sunset cruise but man...what a beautiful night.
You brought it on yourselves ladies. Here we are for posterity. Thanks. #urmom
Sure, they'll smile for the strangers who offered to take our picture though. They aren't monsters.
I asked if I could take a picture of the cool ring Aunt Maeve gave her.
A day late/after but the birthday boy got his wish for catching a bunch of fish!! One even had a sea lamprey attached which we were all simultaneously disgusted and fascinated by.
These pictures are hysterical back-to-back. Fun Grandma Rose and "Grumpa" Bob. In reality, Peter walked out onto the roof and I told my dad to shake his fist at him so I could take a picture. LOL
The first time we took the boat out was Monday. We literally saw two other boats on the river. By the Memorial Day weekend the floatilla game was strong (in addition to pontoons, kayaks, jet skis, etc.)
My parents are such good sports. On one of our activity days we went to Middlebury which is the home of one of my online catholic mom friends, Amelia. Here we are with two of her daughters, Elsa and Annika. She also has a college student, Heidi, a high school son named John and Greta who was kind enough to take this photo (and make goofy faces with us too below).
Lots of really cool plants, some still alive after being transferred from the
1934 World's Fair in Chicago!
We went to Mass both Sundays at Saint Mary of the Annunciation but every day we heard the bells after daily Mass down the river which was a beautiful reminder of the Lord's presence! I was also able to attend daily Mass on Friday in thanksgiving for Mike as it was his 53rd birthday!
Started pretty much every day with a mimosa and ended every night with a glass of red wine. My favorite being a Malbec I picked up (for my dad LOL) at
Fruit Hills Winery in Bristol.
As an incredible bonus I didn't know I was going to receive, my sister, Maeve, was able to work remotely and stay through Wednesday which was such a gift!
Lucy had some fun with Aunt Maeve and Aunt Robin and a set of water balloons I blew up for her. Talk about good sports - both aunts were soaked!
We went down the river several times and each time passed this cute shack called Captain Matt's at Lulu's Beach. Captain Lulu even got to drive the pontoon past it at least once!
These swans had (I think) 8 signets. Wow. I feel like on the Kensington Park pontoon nature tour a guy mentioned they usually only have 1-2 that even make it out of the eggs alive due to turtles - and man alive was the river muddy with turtles based on the many, many we saw sunning themselves on each log we passed. I took it as a good omen and a special sign of God's love for this mama of eight :)
Mike had planned to come back for his birthday on Friday and let the kids skip school but Isabel convinced him to stay and made sure he had a wonderful birthday that included Mikey (who had to stay home the second weekend to work).
No wonder she's dad's "favorite" :)
The best parents I could ever wish for or hope for!
True to form, Grandma Rose had a list of possible outing/activities for us to pick from each day. The first day she and I took Lucy to the "
Enchanted Gardens" which is really just a glorified enormous greenhouse/gift shop but it was a perfectly lovely stop and just the right amount of magic for a 5yo girl :)
These pictures are probably all repeats. I don't care. I'm tired of fighting with Blogger and truth is, I'd do the whole 10 days all over again if I could. Also, I almost forgot but on the very last day as we were packing up, Mike and I both spotted a bald eagle perched at the end of the sandbar. As if that wasn't COOL enough, suddenly an Osprey started attacking it and we got to see them both fly away in a majestic Aviary chase. What the heck. I do not deserve the world I am living in.
