A Streak of Pink Over Long Point As A Two Dad's Head Off

The Girls at the Casino

6:10

Up early, 5:50, with Evie and Drew not far behind, took Cody for a walk while the coffee brewed, got the paper and am settled in, ready to take on the morning, then day.  It' 53º outside, mostly cloudy except for a streak of light over to the east where the sun is rising.

Yesterday we had a leisurely breakfast, an 'everyone make your own' which works pretty well for except for the girls and the boys who like Evie to make them their breakfast bagel.  I cannot blame them; it is nice to be taken care of.  Around 9:30, Drew and I drove to Chautauqua Brick and Home Depot.  He brought his mitre saw and air hammer to the lake and has volunteered to put up some bead board on our kitchen wall, opposite the island, to give it a  finished look.  So we ended up buying the board at Chautauqua Brick, the trim or moulding at Home Depot. Since he has to go to Allentown Tuesday and Wednesday for work, we will put off hanging it till Thursday morning  Evie is very excited, having wanted this done for years. Thank goodness for handy son in laws; Rami hung a ceiling fan on our front porch last summer.

Late morning, Mary, Jill, and Beth went shopping, to pick up a birthday cake at Wegmans, to do some shopping for dinners this week.  Tom took the girls and boys out tubing for an hour, Nick and Drew ran to Hogan's Hut and back, and Tyler went to work out at the gym  Only yours truly did nothing.

Lunch with Linda and Rich

Docking It

My sister Linda and her husband, Rich stopped for lunch, having been in Sarasota Springs for the weekend with some old college buddies of Rich's.  We had Linda's recipe for sloppy joe's for lunch, always good, and we went through two batches easily with this crew.  It was fun for the kids to see Linda and Rich, who try to come by for a lunch or day each summer.

Mid afternoon, just about everyone went swimming, despite the heavy seeds which turned the lake green in areas, and they had a great time, the guys throwing the girls over the tubes, dunking them, playing tag, like a bunch of puppies.  The girls, especially, seem tireless, always ready for more fun.

At 4:30, Rami started setting up for the annual family picture ordeal.  He brings all his professional equipment, including two flashes on towers, to illuminate faces.  It's always a chore to get all the kids together, in one place, smiling, as well as the adults, who complain about the kids complaining about having to take pictures.  Anyways, we got it done with a modicum of angst.  So now we have a family portrait, as well as portraits of each family, just the girls, just the boys, and Evie and me with our grandchildren.  From what I could see, they turned out well.

Ready for Wings

Casino Ready

Father and Son

For dinner, eleven of us boated over to the Casino, for another bout of chicken wings.  Bemus was swarming with people because of Chautauqua Idol, so Rami, who drove over, had trouble finding a place to park.  We ordered a record number of wings, 140 at last count, and 15 of us ate them all.  The Casino was strangely quiet, I suppose because of the Idol  but  that made it nice for us.  We boated home around 7:30, to celebrate Hayden and Marisa's birthday.  Hayden went crazy when she opened her gift from her parents, a 4S IPHONE, the envy of her cousins.  I think Evie and I are the only two over twelve who don't have an IPhone, just old fashion cell phones, no Internet, no camera.  After presents, we had cookie cake and cookie dough ice cream before watching the final episode of The Bachelorette, to the laughter and most, setting us up for the next show, Shark Week, which everyone watched.  The girls were crazy last night, not getting to sleep till 11:00, mostly because Evie was in a wild mood as well, laughing, telling them stories, just being a kid like them.  A good day for all.

Drew and Jill Boating Home at Dusk