Back from vacation!

The one candid photo of me from the trip.  I'm reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan at the campsite and drinking a beer.  Yay for vacation!

We're just home from a fabulous two week vacation out east to visit the Cobbler's family.  I went into it extremely apprehensive.  The majority of the trip was to be spent in a lean to (essentially a 3 sided shed) at a state camp ground in Vermont with no water or electricity at the site.  I don't consider myself high maintenance, but I do consider myself to be a girl who needs relatively close access to a bathroom at night --- having two kids will do that to you --- and our site was one of the furthest ones away from the facilities.  I should have not been afraid.  Prior to leaving the Cobbler built me my own luggable loo from a toilet seat and a cylindrical storage container.  Pop in a garbage bag--- voila!  An overnight pee pot.  

Before arriving at the campground though, we got to have an amazing stay at the Marriott next to Niagara Falls.  There are two Marriotts next door to each other on the Canadian side.  We were at the taller of the two that was further up the street (the tall hotel furthest left in the photo above).  Here's where it gets crazy.  The hotel has 31 floors.  Our room was one of two rooms on the 32nd floor.  Yep, the 32nd.  We took the elevator as far as it would go to 31, got off, walked to the end of the hall and went up a flight of stairs.  BEST ROOM EVER!  Here's our view:

 Check out the rainbow!

 We even got to see the fireworks show!

And let's just say that the kids (and the adults) enjoyed the in room hot tub.

We then went on our annual ride on the Maid of the Mist.

The next day involved an eight hour ride the rest of the way to Vermont.  Here's our campsite named Gum.

We stayed for a full week and shared our site with the Cobbler's sister Sandra and her son Peter who popped a tent next to the lean to.  We ate all our meals over at the Cobbler's mom's campsite Ivy and had a campfire nearly every night.  I even got two books read --- Tell No One and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.  Both were great vacation reads.  Here are some of our  fave Vermont camping photos.

After camping, we headed down to Massachusetts to visit with my sister Andrea's family who live in the same town the Cobbler grew up in since she married his best friend!  We had a great time visiting and swimming in her in-law's pool.  Tom Thumb and Red had a blast with their cousins.

Then, to give Red a few alone days with Grandma as her reward for learning how to swim, the Cobbler, Tom Thumb and I headed down to Eastham on Cape Cod for an overnight.  Eastham has to be my all time favorite town on the Cape.  You can go to beaches on two different sides of the Cape in minutes.  Plus, it's not super touristy so it has a more relaxed vibe.  We went to the beach and Nauset Light and got to see our second rainbow of the trip.  We capped off our Cape visit with a duck boat tour in the Cape's biggest tourist trap Hyannis. 

After a 12 hour trip home on Wednesday, we're back.  I'm now in the throes of preparation for my youngest sister's bridal shower which is tomorrow.  I ran around for about 6 hours yesterday with my sisters and my mother choosing tablecloths, buying centerpieces, etc.    Today will be spent baking and cleaning since my older sister arrives with her two daughters tonight to stay at our house.  Oy---I'm going to need an adult beverage after this one.  See ya all next week!