An Important Introduction...

Call it Spring Fever, call it homesickness, whatever! This morning LL and I took off for the 1 1/2 hour drive north to the only place on earth I truly call home. LL has been a part of our family now for almost nine months and she has not had any quality time in her other home. This is mostly due to the cold weather and lack of facilities there, but nonetheless it seems LONG overdue. We have what I'll affectionately call "recreational property" in the Adirondack Park, where I was born and raised. We use it on the weekends and occassionally for a week of vacation. Mostly it is a gathering place for all of our friends and some family. Each family or person has an RV which they tow there and then settle in. Since BW and BB have been born this has been the place they can look forward to spending some serious quality time as a family in the great outdoors. The best part of all is that our group has grown over the years to sometimes 20+ people. We each choose our own things to do during the day and then as the day is waning we gather for dinner and then fire time at dusk. To some this may seem overly simplistic and rather boring. To us, it is priceless time spent creating countless wonderful memories over the years. I have my parents to thank for this little slice of heaven on earth as they chose to make it a gift to me upon their passing. In return, we have lovingly tended to the property and maintained the rickety buildings that remain. Be it ever so humble there is truly "No Place Like Home". Our first official gathering there should be on Memorial Day weekend. However since it is Blackfly Season, we go only if the weather is exceptionally good. Otherwise, getting chewed alive seems rather pointless when you could just wait until those little blood-sucking critters settle down! I've created a slide show depicting LL's first experience in her "other hometown". One moment that I must document so I won't ever forget is when we were going to walk to the store and get lunch. As we were leaving the beach, LL turned to the water and said, "Lake...stay!!" It was as if she was afraid to go because it may be gone when she got back, too cute. Little does she know just how much time she will have to picnic on the rolling green hills, play in the sand, swim in the water and nap in the shade of those beautiful birches. What a glorious example of God's creation!