Brace yourself...NY pictures

Brace yourself. This isn't even HALF the pictures that I took while we were in NY visiting my family, but I thought I'd give you a break (because I'm sure you probably have lots of other things to do than look through my hundreds of pictures) and I only posted the best ones. We had a wonderful trip...the kids traveled really well, which makes the trip that much better. We were pleasantly surprised at how well Cameron did. Perhaps it's to our advantage to have his big brother and big sister in the backseat. He seemed thoroughly entertained by them the few times he considered fussing. He only had a couple of little meltdowns and fortunately they were when we were less than hour from our destination. :) It was so much fun being 'home'. It's been nearly 3 years since we've been back...Bria was only 4 months old! The kids have never been there in the summer, so they were thrilled to go outside anytime they wanted (& didn't require much supervision, which was nice for the adults), pick apples & blueberries to their heart's content, play in the brook, ride bikes on the tennis court, catch frogs and just play with their cousins. Another fun thing was the county fair...always a big draw for the locals and many out-of-towners like ourselves. We are very blessed...it was truly just an absolutely wonderful week. The weather was perfect and the time didn't fly by (always a plus, especially when you drive ~22 hrs. to get there!).

How does a 6 1/2 month old entertain himself on long car rides? By putting his pacifier in upside down of course. He was thoroughly thrilled with this game. ;)

The 3 2011 babies...the only picture of all 3 them that I managed to get. :(

The 5 oldest grandkids shared a room. After the first night or two, we didn't have to remind them to go to sleep - they were completely exhausted.

The 6 oldest watching the draft horse competition at the fair

Grammy decided that the kids needed some wearing out...they spent over an hour running around and having races.

Bria's monkey cake, courtesy of my sister's talents.

Cameron and Cayden

All 9 grandkids...

My daddy and his namesake

Elise and Cameron

I made these shirts for the kids...freezer paper stenciling is SO much fun!

Tyler, Cameron, Bria, Lydia, Titus, Elise, Katelyn, Keegan, & Cayden

My grandparent's barn...holds SO many memories

Bria and Lydia

The boys

Our whole crew! I think we're going to need a panoramic view ;)

Grammy & Papa Mac with all 9...Cameron was extremely tired and if I had a couple more minutes, I could have gotten him to sleep. Oh well, that's part of the fun, right??

Wearing Grammy & Papa Mac's boots