Vacation!

Long weekends are wonderful.

A few weeks ago we decided to head up to the Adirondack Mountains for Labor Day weekend. We found a motel with vacancies in Saranac Lake, NY, so decided to try it out for a few nights. It took us 5 hours to drive there, but well worth the trip. The area is unbelievably beautiful. Plus we had perfect weather - low- to mid-70s during the day; high-30s to low-40s at night.

When we arrived we were a little dismayed at first - the pictures of the motel on the website don't quite show how "in-town" it is. But it turned out to be a very nice place to stay. We had easy access to restaurants and stores in town and had just a short drive to wonderful hiking out of town. Plus it was right on a lake, which was nice.


This was part of the view at the end of our motel. Quite a bit more water going to either side too.

I'll post our pictures in batches. The motel had a pontoon boat you could rent to take out on the lake which we did our first full day there.


Grace couldn't wait to get her hands on the wheel. She hated having to wait until we got out into more open waters. Don't ask me how she sees when she has that had over her eyes like that.


Alex taking his turn at the wheel. He concentrated very hard. Both kids took their driving responsibilities very seriously.


Proof that I was on the boat, taken by Miss Grace.


Nutso kid determined to swim in COLD water. She didn't swim very long, and not very far off the boat, but by gum she SWAM.


Once Grace had been in the water Alex managed to pull out of his "I won't have fun" funk and decide he needed to go into the water too. Here he is very proud that his legs were in the chilly lake. Luckily his bravery only extended to the bottom rung of the latter and maybe floating for 5 seconds about 6 inches away from the boat, so I could sit on the end of the boat and hold onto him without actually getting myself in the water.


Of course this is how our kids eventually ended up - Grace on her DS...


...and Alex on his Leapster.


That's okay because then the kids were happy, and I got to enjoy this view while reading my book and having my husband motor around the lake.


Oh, and we decided this would be a good place for cousin camp next year. I'm sure it would only cost about $10 grand a week or so!