Lake Hideaway

Almost (but not quite) 20 years ago, I went off to summer camp and made a friend named Mollie. Mollie lived about 2 hours away from me, but we visited each other often and stayed close by way of the classic telephone... after all, this was before email and Facebook and cell phones. We attended each other's weddings (and will each celebrate our 10th wedding anniversaries this year!) and helped each other through all kinds of interesting life experiences.  And with all the boy trouble we've had throughout these years, who ever would have guessed that when you fast-forward 2 decades, our "boy trouble" would now look like THIS?!?!

Mollie and her family came to visit us in the Poconos a couple of years ago back when Joergen was an infant, but we hadn't seen each other since.  When she invited us to come spend a day with them at Lake Hideaway, we jumped at the chance.  Our Sunday together at this beautiful little lake was like a mini-vacation!  There was so much for the kids to do, and all of it could be viewed from a comfy adirondack chair on the beach with a cold adult beverage in hand :)

Not one of Lake Hideaway's amenities were wasted on our boys!

Liam on the water slide

Joergen's busy construction site

Joergen swimming in the lake

Liam fishing- he caught 3!!

Liam practicing on the monkey bars

It was such a fantastic day trip and I loved having time to catch up with my dear friend!

It was also fun catching up with her husband AJ-- I've known him for almost just as long as Mollie.

AJ and Joer

Liam (4), Joergen (2), Me, Josh (3), Mollie, Sam (6), and Luke (8)

Zooing with our York Friends

We were treated to an absolutely gorgeous day in the middle of June, made better only by a visit from my two girlfriends from York, Desiree and Heather, and their three adorable kids.  Desiree's son Landon is 5 ("and 11/12ths!") and daughter Sosie is 3; Heather's son Alex is 15 months.  And so, with our 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5-year-old little ones, we headed off to the Philadelphia Zoo to spend the day with critters big and small. We were excited to get to host our friends for their first trip there!

Alex, Joergen, Sosie, Landon, and Liam

Joergen and Liam

One of our first stops in the zoo was to KidZooU- the brand new children's zoo exhibit!  Inside, Joergen got to ride a sheep while some of the other kids played in a giant ant colony replica and learned about recycling and water conservation.

Outside, they spent some time brushing and petting the little goats.  Joergen was enamored!

Liam's favorite part of the new children's zoo is the playground and tree house area.  He climbed up a big rope net and slid down a giant slide back to the bottom.  There was a big line for that slide, but it was worth it!

Desiree couldn't wait to see her favorite animal, so after an outdoor lunch by the fountains, we went straight to the giraffes.

Sosie and Desiree

Landon and Liam were like Frick and Frack that day, and loved their camel ride through the zoo!

It was great to see how well all the little ones got along!  I loved this one of Sosie, Liam, and Landon holding hands through the Big Cat exhibit.

Frick and Frack in the primate house:

The Primate House is definitely my favorite spot in the Zoo.  I could watch the monkeys and gorillas there for hours!  Joergen just giggles at their antics.  He kept waving to the gorillas to try to get them to wave back.

This family of monkeys was just the cutest thing-- they didn't even look real!

Before we left, Liam and Joergen each threw a penny in the fountain and made a wish.  Liam spilled the beans on his wish: "Mommy, I wished I was 18!"  Heaven help me!

After we said goodbye to the zoo and to our friends, we weren't in the car for more than 10 minutes when I looked in my rearview mirror and noticed this little scene:

Liam napping?  Now that is an endangered breed!  It was a happily exhausting day with good friends and lots of fun.

Truth

While watching the noisy resident pot-belly pig at Nor-View Farm on Friday night, Joergen said to me, "Look Mommy! That pig is eating grass!"

"Do you eat grass, Joergen?"

"No Mommy. I mow it."

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye

Liam experienced his first heartbreak last week as he had to say goodbye to his dear friend Kaelyn, who is off to kindergarten in the fall and will no longer be coming to Miss Doreen's.  KQ was one of Liam's very first friends: she was about 15 months old when Liam first started coming to Miss Doreen's, so she has truly been there with him from the start. 

This photo was taken at Miss Doreen's house a few weeks ago:

Emmy, Joergen, Kaelyn, and Liam

Look at the way Liam and Kaelyn are holding hands!  In case you can't tell, Liam loves this girl.  He has asked her to marry him on an almost daily basis, and despite her rejection, he remains steadfast in his intent.  When I took Liam in for an appointment with his allergist a couple of weeks ago, the nurse asked him how he was doing, and he responded with, "You might not know this about me, but I am going to marry Kaelyn someday!"  The nurse just gave him a puzzled look and said, "Who is Kaelyn?!"

As a side note, this allergist appointment ended with Liam singing a hearty rendition of the Notre Dame Fight Song at the appointment desk to every nurse, tech, and secretary in the place... but I digress.

Kaelyn's last day at Miss Doreen's was last Friday, and Liam really had a hard time saying goodbye.  He cried and begged (and begged) Kaelyn's mom not to take her, not to let her go to kindergarten, and so on... the whole dramatic scene made both Kaelyn's mom and Miss Doreen cry right along with him.  This group of kids were really close!  Liam spent the rest of the afternoon nursing his broken heart, and when I came to pick him up, he said, "Mommy, my heart is sad."

I just put my arms around him while thinking, Oh my baby, it won't be the last time.