For the fourteenth summer in a row, we got together with our good friends from Philly grad school days for a camping weekend. This year, we decided to meet up at Cayuga Lake State Park in the Fingerlakes region of New York.
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| Best dog ever. |
We decided to bring Indiana, which could have been a disaster, but she was an angel-dog even for the long ride in the car. She was sweet with all the kids and happily slept in her crate in the back of the car every night.
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| Me, Sarah, and Rachel. |
We really, really love these guys. They don't make friends any better.
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| Jason, Austin, and Joe. |
Our first camping trip was in 2001, before any kids came along. Sarah and I were both enormously pregnant for the 2002 campout, and Ava arrived exactly on the night of the 2005 campout. These kids are such a blast and we have loved each new little addition to the camping crew. The kids see each other only once a year but get along great, almost like cousins.
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| Making an elaborate mud-cake. |
We took a little side-trip to Seneca Falls, the site of the 1848 Women's Rights Convention. There is a nice little visitor's center and a reconstruction of the Wesleyan Church where the convention was held.
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| Old and new feminists. |
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| Wesleyan Methodist Church. |
But mostly we just hung out at the lake and around the campfire. The kids couldn't figure out why their parents always talk so much. But they were great and let us chat away while they played.
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| Swimming and seaweed fight in Cayuga Lake. |
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| Lucy the lake monster. |
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| Tree climbing. |
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| Campfire and glow sticks. |
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| Not quite enough chairs. |
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| Our two curly girls. |
Sunday morning we went to the Whitmer Farm in Fayette, site of the first official gathering of the new Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on April 6th, 1830. I think it is not a coincidence that the Whitmer Farm and the Wesleyan Chapel at Seneca Falls are within a couple of miles of each other: I think God had a hand in the momentous events at both locations.
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| Fence-sitters at the Whitmer Farm. |
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| Looking good after two days of camping! |
We can't wait to do this again next year!
