Garrity Vacation!

(I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO POST THIS BEFORE WE LEFT!! BUT HERE IT IS!)

We are getting ready to leave for the Poconos (FINALLY!!!) and I wanted to get these photos from our Garrity vacation a couple of weeks ago up on the blog. We had a great time, as always -- as you can see from these faces!

We made s'mores. It took a loooooong time because we used charcoal instead of wood, but the end result was the same. Lots of sticky smiles!

Lizzie actually had the patience to sit there and get her marshmallow perfectly browned:

For those of you not on facebook, Hannah is wearing an eyepatch because of an altercation with her sister, of which I have only sketchy details. The result of the altercation was two corneal abrasions and a seven-day course of antibiotics. Which, as you can see from this photo, didn't bother Hannah at all.

 

Waiting (and waiting) for the fire to toast the marshmallows. Aunt Ann was ready with the chocolate and graham crackers:

 

Rob finally took over the fire pit and made enough heat to get things going.

We also took a tour around Somers, the town where my brother lives and where I grew up (well from the 4th grade!) Here's Lizzie at King Kone, deciding if she should eat the rest of my cone or her cone first:

Here's everyone at King Kone. When we were kids we'd take a Sunday drive and somehow this was always our last stop ... tasty memories!!

 

Here are my daughters showing off how strong they are at Reis Park. I used to go camping in this park back in the dark ages. One year it was so cold we huddled in the bathrooms to stay warm.

The town mascot is the Elephant, in honor of Old Bet, who was owned and taken around the country as part of a menagerie act by Hachaliah Bailey, who happened to live in Somers. The menagerie is the precursor to the modern circus, so Somers is considered the cradle of the American Circus (see, my blog is now educational!)

And speaking of educational, here's my elementary school. Rob is quizzing the girls on the different states and they were pretty good and walking to the correct states. However ROb was MOST impressive as he started on the west coast and walked the entire United States naming each state as he stepped on it.

The girls also had fun on Brenna's battery operated ATV. Here she is with Lizzie...

And then with Hannah... a great time was had by all for the weekend!! Thanks so much to our hosts Ann (and the unpictured unless you count his back in the King Kong photo) T.A.