August brought some sunshine with cooler weather, family vacation, and fun memories :)

Currently we only have one pet, we lost Lily and Pumpkin about a month apart this spring, and haven't been ready to add new pets just yet. While most days Claire seems happy as an only pet, recently she has been making friends with different bugs :) Maybe this fall we'll be ready to welcome a new pet...

But Nana and Pop were ready for a pet, so meet Charlie:

We had to start back to school shopping and Rose needed some new sneakers, here is the winning pair.

Our sunflowers also loved the sunshine this month and our tallest one opened up!

I love getting morning pictures from Rose

Sometimes I send them back :)

Family Vacation!!!!

This vacation we decided to stay in one place and take some day trips. We rented a cabin at Keystone State Park (about an hour from Pittsburgh) and tried not to over plan :)

We found a fun brewery with pinball for night number 1. We had birria tacos and pickle pizza with a warm cookie sundae. Everyone was happy :)

We picked Keystone because we have been a few times before and love the lake for paddling and Rose enjoys the bike trails.

Over the weekend they had a farmer's market where we got some tasty treats and flowers for our cabin. 

We went back to a favorite brewery where Rose had the best kombucha of her life!

And then finished off the night with a drive-in theater :)

Monday we all got out for a morning paddle before having a short road trip down to Morgantown West Virginia.

We had a great time visiting the botanic gardens

And ate some Hershey's ice cream ;)

Plus there was a car wash (if you know, you know)

We ended the night with a campfire at our cabin

Tuesday we were up and out to head to Erie and visit Presque Isle State Park. 

We all loved Erie and this park, we would all love to come back and spend more than just a day.

And we found another excellent brewery with birria tacos...it was kinda Rose's thing :)

We were able to sit by the lake when we returned to watch for meteors. We all saw some and also got to see the rocket dump some fuel which made a really bright light in the sky (no aliens were observed).

Wednesday we headed into Pittsburgh to explore some new sites. We all love this city and always find fun new stuff to do. We went to the Terminal to grab some food

And we went to the National Aviary

I lived my best life when I was selected to feed birds...yup, I'm that old that I know love birds :)

We also found a super cute bookshop :)

Thursday we trekked to our 4th National Park of the year!! A record for us :) We spent the day at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. We only ended up having about 1/2 a day and would love to go back sometime to explore more, but we made the most of our time. 

We viewed some of the iconic bridges

and waterfalls

Ate ice cream and hiked

AND got to ride the railroad!! This was such a neat experience and we loved our time on the train. 

We had a wonderful volunteer who explained so much of the history

And there is a special exemption that allows alcohol on the train...so yay :)

Friday morning before we left, while Rose slept, mom and dad got up for a sunrise paddle (Rose was invited to attend, bit if you know you know)

We loved our cabin and would definitely recommend this as a great way to explore a new area. 

We also made another camping trip to Leonard Harrison, Colton Point, and Cherry Springs. Leonard Harrison and Colton Point are on opposite sides of the PA Grand Canyon and Cherry Springs in the only Dark Park in PA. 

The views from both sides were wonderful

Rose wasn't interested in hiking, so it was just mom and dad...

Rose was too busy zipping around the campground in her new bike :)

We did get Rose off her bike long enough to play a game

And she did hang out with us in the evenings

There was also a rail trail we all biked...Rose just did a lot more than us :)

We went to Cherry Springs for an evening of star gazing. They are the only dark park in PA.

Camping is our happy time :)

July 2025

This summer we have had a lot of fireflies! i tried to capture some in this photo, but the little gals are shy :) Anyway we've really been enjoying them...the mosquitos, not so much!

I still get pictures of Rose in the mornings...sometimes she doesn't cooperate

sometimes she does :)

Rose and I have also been water coloring this summer. I find it's a really nice way to relax and just have fun with something. 

Rose also went digging for her potatoes, this has become a yearly tradition :)

While mom had a to work a few hours on the weekend, Justin and Rose got to see a movie...they enjoyed the movie, mom did not enjoy work ;)

In the spring we made plans to take a friend to Hershey Park and that weekend happened in July. Since Anna lives a bit away we had her for the whole weekend. I was a brave mom and took the girls to Hershey all by myself so Justin could do house projects. 

I definitely had the better day. The girls were great and lots of fun!!

And Justin worked on staining the fence :)

We also got in two camping weekends to new, to us, State Parks and breweries!!

The first park was Francis Slocum

There was a great lake which we all enjoyed...especially when Rose got to splash Justin for this cool photo :)

Look at our cute camper (with a new shiny roof) 

With a stop at North Slope Brewery

The second park was Raymond B. Winter

With a long awaited trip to Rusty Rail

An unexpected treat was this group of crows who owned the campground...they were very boisterous and let everyone know we were in their home, but I loved them :)

Rose and I also paddled on the second smallest lake yet...it was cute :)

It was rainy off and on, but cleared up enough for a nice campfire.

We ended the month with two music performance from Rose. She participated in summer strings and summer band (playing both trombone and clarinet)