South Dakota

We made our annual trip to visit family in South Dakota. This year we went to Madison, SD to visit Jon's older brother Chris and see his wonderful new house. We spent lots of time in Chris's giant yard, at the amazing local water park and Spencer spent one morning with his cousnins at the local playground. We even had a great S. Dakota treat of frying up some walleye (a new experience for this long island girl!).

The first night of our trip we stayed at the house of Chad (Jon's brother) and Kari and their three kids - Emily, Gavin (our godson), and William. Spencer had so much fun hanging out with his cousins and we had a great time catching up with Chad and Kari. Emily especially loved taking care of Spencer and we loved watching all the kids together.

Spencer absolutely loved the airplanes...

Back in July Jon's parents Vonnie and Don visited us for a weekend.

Here they are in the garden with Spencer.

Cookin' some waffles

Anyone who has stayed at our house knows that I love cooking breakfast. Now I have a little partner in crime!

New York

The traditional Fudgie the Whale Cake - for a whale of a dad!

We had a great week in New York (despite all the rain!). On Saturday my dad, brother, Jon and I went to the U.S. Open at the Bethpage Black golf course which was really fun. We spent time with the whole family including my Uncle Michael met Spencer for the first time. We had so much fun watching all the kids together, including Spencer's cousins Jake, Ryan and Emma. We took all the kids to see a Thomas the Train show on father's day which Spencer thoroughly enjoyed (in fact, he didn't move for the hour and a half or so). Jon and I went into the City to see my college friend, Aldine and her kids and my high school friend, Melissa. Then on Wednesday we went into the city with my parents and walked over the Brooklyn Bridge which was really fascinating for all of us. I forgot my camera on a few of our adventures so I'll need to get pictures of my Uncle Michael who also joined us, Stu and Lindsay and post those later.

Finally...summer!