July...in a nutshell!

Can you believe it?!  I can't!  Two posts in one week!  I'm on a roll.  July was a big, busy month.  I had to narrow down the photos from 1500 photos (yes, that's right) to the "few" below.  So, there are a lot of photos below...Enjoy!

Back in Manhattan

I love my morning runs.  Especially in the summer.

Isabella's drawing of her neighborhood.

Fourth of July on the Hudson River

Watching fireworks.

We walked all the way home from the fireworks show--W 23rd St to W 76th St (plus a few avenues).  It was a long haul for the little ones late at night, but this lovely break by the Lincoln Center fountains made it all worth it.

Requisite NYC playground fountain play on a hot day in the Lower East Side.

Brian and I did the midnight bike tour through Central Park.  It was crazy and awesome.

Back in Connecticut

Harkness State Park

Upstate New York

Our big adventure in July was going to the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, NY with extended family.  After the Pageant our little family continued touring around Upstate New York and explored the amazing gorges, Rochester, and the Finger Lakes.

Some friends from church were in the Pageant and saved us super amazing seats.  The kids were captivated the whole time and talked about it for days afterward.

We visited the E.B. Grandin building in Palmyra where we learned more about the first publication of the Book of Mormon.  It was fascinating.

The Sacred Grove: the forest behind Joseph Smith's boyhood home where he prayed to know which church to join and saw a vision where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  Years later he translated the Book of Mormon and restored the Church of Jesus Christ.

At the Smith farm.

All the Carini's that joined us for our Palmyra adventure.

At the National Museum of Play in Rochester.  If you ask the kids what their favorite part of all our adventures was...they will most likely reply, "The Museum of Play!!!"  We hope to go back soon.  We went two days and didn't make it through the entire museum.

Simon obviously pretty hotel savvy after months of travel...not that we ever talk on a corded phone anymore?!

George Eastman house--the guy that started Kodak.

Watkins Glen State Park

This state park in the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate NY was absolutely amazing!  One of the most beautiful places.  It was excruciatingly hot the week we were there.  Not only was it 100 degrees, but the gorge held in the humidity and no breeze blew.  I felt as if we were transported to another continent; perhaps we journeyed to the Amazon.  It was "other-worldly".  And one of my favorite stops in all our adventures.

This is up in the farmlands of the Finger Lakes.  It was amazingly beautiful.  Quintessential farm houses, barns and rolling hills.  I always dreamed of living in rural Vermont...but I do believe Upstate New York surpassed Vermont in beauty and charm (at least in my book).

Another day we went to Treman State Park to see Lucifer Falls, located in another gorge in the Finger Lakes Region.

I spy Oliver and Brian.

It was so hot we felt like we hiked to hell and could have met Lucifer himself.  Our poor kids are serious troopers.

Back in Connecticut.  Yes, again.  It was my favorite season: Blueberry Picking Season!

morning run

raspberries too!

These berries were picked especially for Grandma McOmber (my mom) in California

California

I took a quick, weekend jaunt across the country to see my beautiful niece, Mary, get married.

While I was away Brian and the kids played with cousins and we did a lot of FaceTime.

Playing with cousin Nico visiting from California.

Happy Birthday Brian!

Brian's big 40th birthday bash ended the fabulous month of July!

The Little Cottage in the Woods

Last year Brian's great aunt Doris passed away at 99 years old.  She lived in the most quaint little cottage at the edge of the state forest.  Brian's great uncle Alvin (aka Ally) built the home, the bridges, and all the beauty around it.  The pond was the ice pond that Brian's great grandpa (Albert, who immigrated from Northern Italy) dug out from the stream.  They dug out the ice from the pond during the winter and used it for refrigeration during the warmer months.  It was later that Ally took over the property and built a home on it and turned it into a very magical place.

After Doris' passing, her home and beautiful property was sold to a good family friend.  It was hard to see it go, but we are very fortunate it was sold to such great people who will let us visit there often.

During one of our visits there in May (before the sale closed) I snapped lots of photos; wanting to capture that lovely piece of property and family history for us to remember.  These photos were taken on Mother's Day this year.

These next few photos were taken when I jogged up on my morning run one day in May.  The pond was very still and the light radiant that morning.