100th Anniversary Lake Bluff Reunion

We just came home from a week at George's childhood summer home, Lake Bluff, NY. The occasion was a reunion inspired by the 100th anniversary of when the Beckers first came to the Bluff, but really it was just a great excuse for 100 or so "Bluffers" to reunite for one big weekend. It is a rare event when all four of the Becker sibling and their families get together and I think we all tried to make the most of it. We had such a great time bonding with nieces, nephews, siblings and cousins and listening to the older generation reminisce. The amazing part is that in 4 generations, the experience at Lake Bluff has not changed that much! Here are my top 10 Bluff highlights from this trip:

1. Giving Emily, Evelyn, and Johnny horsey-back rides at sunset until the bugs got too bad
2. Jetting off to Mills for giant "baby" ice cream cones before they close at 9:30. Oh yeah, and Amish soft-serve with George.
   
3. Playing inter-generational 4 on 4 tennis and ladder golf
4. Learning how to do a passable cannonball from Devin in the bay
5. Catching fireflies with Morgan, Connor, and Mitchell and having them teach me how to tell males and females apart.
6. Hiking, no, poison-ivy-dodging, at Chimney Bluffs with Kara
7. Watching the water snake hunt fish during the Connelly's picnic with about 30 other Bluffers of all ages
8. Playing cards with nieces and nephews on our knees to help
9. Taking the boat over to Sodus point for lunch and watching Meg crawl into the Barf Ball
10. Seeing the memorabilia at Jeff and Ruth's house...especially the pictures of Bluffers 3 generations ago doing the exact same things we are doing today!

Although cell phones and internet have now arrived at The Bluff, it will always be a place of tranquitilty for us. I filmed this video on one of the special nights where all the Bluffers gathered at sunset and sang a song composed just for the occasion. Also, check out the Lake Bluff album in Our Albums to the right. But be forewarned, it is a cuteness explosion!

Canoeing on the River Cam!

Our friends, Sabine and Jorge, wisely purchased a season's pass to our local boat rental company and are making the most of these warm summer days on the River Cam. Last Sunday, Sabine invited us to go canoeing with her so we decided to see what Buddy thinks of canoeing! We know he doesn't like water, but fortunately, he does like sandwiches in canoes and once he settled down, he had a great time!

There were tons of people on the water that day as well as all the swans with their new families and hundreds of beautiful dragonflies. After a while, the heat really got to us (it's been in the 80s for a week now!) so Sabine and I went for a swim while Buddy watched with great concern from the bank! Now this that is what summer is all about...Thank you, Sabine, for a great afternoon! You can see more pictures in Our Albums to the right.

Summer Solstice

You may remember how much we were griping about the short winter days this year. I took pictures at sunrise and sunset on the winter solstice at about 8:15am and 3:30pm. Well, we're definitely making up for it now! Here are pictures from sunrise and sunset around the summer solstice. The first picture was taken on our street at about 5am on June 19th (although the sun had just risen, it had been light for quite some time already) and the second picture was taken in Wales after we finished our Mt. Snowdon hike. You will notice the clock tower was striking 10:00pm as I was taking this picture. It was still light even though we were in a valley! Crazy!

While it doesn't make us look forward to those short winter days, it sure is nice to have these long summer days as a trade-off. Buddy generally thinks it is time to get us up at about 4am, when it starts to get light, and we have a really hard time quitting play time and coming inside to make dinner before about 9pm. We're sorry that the solstice is already past but we will treasure these pictures during the darkest days of winter!