Watkins Glen, NY State Park

Ok, another adventure for the Kirk family. This time, camping at Watkins Glen State Park, NY. We chose this site because it was between my sister and I and I haven't been to the Gorge in forever. So we got there Friday afternoon, were very fortunate to get an ideal site considering we only had like 20 sites to choose from and the adventure began.

While we waited for my sister to arrive we went to the Seneca Lake harbor. I have a great fear of water so I was very proud of myself for walking out onto the pier by myself to take pictures of the sailboats and docked boats. However, I was quite disappointed when I arrived home to find that most of these pictures have a spot on them that I was not aware of when shooting. I must have at some point gotten the speck off the lens as it does not appear on all my pictures. Thankfully....

Sunday AM my sister, Jordan and I ventured off to walk the Gorge. The history says there are 800 plus steps and though I'm sure we didn't walk all of them, it sure felt that way at times. I am TERRIFIED of heights and have extreme anxiety when it comes to my kids and heights and YES I did have a few attacks that at some points made me think I wouldn't go a step further without a stretcher but before I knew it we were at the top. The only problem is I don't feel my pictures turned out as nicely as I would have liked considering my obsession of the worst...

This here is Mr. Salamander, named by my Jordan. My Jordan has ADHD/ODD and we have come a long way. 3 years ago I couldn't imagine doing the things with him that we have the pleasure of doing with him today. He has went on these trips and really come out of his shell. He has went to neighbors, introduced himself and made some friends. He ventures off to find wildlife and in his adventure this time this little guy became his friend.

Jordan truly enjoys meeting new people so a trip to the park was
made to hopefully find some people. Now, I don't have a picture but he did make friends with some campers down from us and they lent their bike to him. He came up the hill, went to turn the corner and wiped out in the leaves and brush. NO INJURIES...he jumped up and his first sentence was 'I'm Good'...I wasn't so much. The bike flipped and it could have been a devestating accident had he not worn a helmet....The culprit? A bike with hand brakes that Jordan wasn't used to. His bike has peddle brakes.

Over all, a wonderful weekend getaway with my favorite group of people. I really enjoy that Bruce, Jordan and I can make these trips and are joined by my sister and different family members. This time it was Michael, my nephew. I would hope that next time it will be perhaps one of my sons Bud or Josh. I really would like to share these memories with them too...until the next adventure.....

July 4th Weekend 2009

What a beautiful weekend. I couldn't have asked for one better and we had a wonderful visit with children and grandchildren. Friday our son Derik, his wife Sarah and granddaughter Aurora arrived from N.C. They also were totin' Sierra but we didn't get the pleasure of seeing her until later in the day. This is the first time we have seen Aurora since she was 3 weeks old so imagine how ecstatic we were. She took to Grammy right away but was a little leery of the gray bearded man and finally let him love on her as long as she could see me clearly.The kids had some things to do so we took Princess RaRa which she is now dubbed for eternity to meet her Great Grandma and Grandpa. The kids met us later and brought Sierra with them. It was wonderful having them all together.

Princess RaRa stayed over night with us and I must say she is such a good baby, she sleeps all night without a fuss. Saturday we headed to the lake for our traditional 4th of July picnic with my sister and the kids. This year was more wonderful as we had all but one child there for at least a few minutes throughout the day.

We had the pleasure of my sister coming down and spending the afternoon with us and were joined later by Bruce's sister Shel and her family. We cooked, we played, we swam and enjoyed every morsel of our childrens laughter and joy. I of course enjoyed taking tons of pictures of all the kids and making more memories for us to share with family and friends.

This was our day adventure on the bike trail in Ansonia PA. We ended up riding 4.6 miles one way to the Turkey Path. This was the first time that I had ridden a bike in over 20 years so needless to say I was a little sore in the bum area the next day but we had a great time. Since I quit smoking almost 2 months ago I have tried to schedule more activities that include exercise and spending quality time with my family. Its been a great experience so far.

Lets Get This Started

Ok, I think I'm almost ready to get this blog started for sure.  I've been trying to make time to get some pictures loaded, make some notes and introduce us and it just doesn't seem to be going as I had planned.  So, this is my start. I am trying to find a place to share my photos, family activities and get more ideas.  I don't know if this is the place to get started but I'm giving it a shot.  Any and all suggestions and ideas are appreciated and I will give them all careful consideration.  Comments about my photos, critiques are always welcome and desired.