My Favorite Place

Wow, I can't believe I only posted here twice during July. I was gone most of the month and a lot of the time I didn't have access to internet. Have you missed me? Haha

Trent and I got back Saturday evening around midnight from this beautiful haven -

This is my grandparents' lake house on Canandaigua Lake in New York and it is honestly, probably, my favorite place in the world! I got to go for 2 weeks and Trent came a few days after me and got to be there for a week and a half. The first week was the Whitmore family reunion (my mom's side of the family) and the second week was just my immediate family's reunion.

I've been kind of putting off this blog post because I've been overwhelmed with how many pictures I have, so I'm going to split my trip into 2 blog posts - the first week and the second week.

So, first, the Whitmore family reunion took place from Sunday, July 17 - Saturday the 23rd.

Like I said, this post and the next will have a whole lot of pictures. I hope you enjoy them. And trust me, these are definitely not all of them!

I didn't really start taking pictures until Wednesday. Monday evening, though, Grandma took all of the grandkids to Barnes & Noble so we could each get a book, a tradition my grandpa had. Naturally I got a pregnancy-related book - On Becoming Babywise - which basically teaches new parents how to get their baby on a schedule for eating and sleeping, in turn helping the baby to sleep through the night quicker. Many friends have just raved about it so I couldn't pass it up. Thanks Gram!

Now for the pictures!

This year was a little different for me at the lake house because since, of course, I'm pregnant, I couldn't do the things I usually participate in on the lake. I had a great time just relaxing and watching everyone else though :)

Myself with a bunch of cousins in the lake.

Amber, Amanda, Jordan, and Paige on the Wave Runner. We use it a lot when the boat's out to switch out people.

Jen and Meg got back from Africa on Wednesday after about 3 months!!

Meg still had her braid extensions in.

Many of us helped her take them all out. Here are Eve, Meg, Jen, and Tori.

Thursday Blaine planned our annual "Olympics" where we get split into 2 teams and compete in several relays. Of course Trent and I were put on opposite teams..haha.

Both teams always come up with a name and cheer first. My team's name was The Chosen Ones.

Here we are during our cheer. I think either Tori or Kyle were saying their part..ha.

Who knows!

Trent's team was the Volumptuous Voldemorts (team that must not be named). Obviously both teams had references to Harry Potter..ha.

Here they are during their cheer.

During the first relay you and a partner had to fill a cup with water and run it down using only your heads, butts, or thighs (if that makes any sense) and dump it in the bucket at the end. It was pretty funny!

Here are cuties Greyson and Cameron, from my team, with the cup (it's clear) between their heads :)

And then Trent and Jen (HA) from the other team. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures with the cup between butts or thighs so you could see..ha. In the background though, on the left, you can see Brittany and Amber preparing for the thigh one. Melissa and I did the butt one :)

I couldn't really participate in any of the other Olympic events. This one was a breath-holding competition. Trent impressed everyone with how long he could hold his breath. His team totally beat my team.

This event was human foosball :) They're all holding yardsticks or something.

There were 3 other events, but I didn't get any pictures. My team ended up winning the whole thing, but luckily this year people didn't take it too seriously (like past years). And everyone got a candy bar prize :)

Later that day we went out on the boat.

This was during one of our "swim breaks" :)

I only put this one up b/c of Jill's funny pose..ha

Rick took Mom and Meg out on the sailboat. I love that Mom's waving at the camera..haha

And then Jen later.

I don't know if you can tell, but in this picture there are lots of little heads in the water (I was taking this from up on the deck so I was pretty far away). The "little kids" (who are now teenagers, such as Amber, but we can't seem to stop calling them that) often jump off the tubes behind the boat before it comes into the dock and swim the rest of the way home.

Friday evening Grandma took us all out to Abbott's for custard/ice cream.

Here I am with Jordan, Jill, Melissa, Jen, Tori, Meg, and Bryn. Beauties!

Trent and I (and baby) :)

When we got home Jen and Meg gave us a report on their adventures in Africa! They did some great service there.

This was also the night that Trent felt our baby kick for the first time. As cheesy as it sounds, it was truly magical. Both of our eyes just lit up :) And I got a little teary-eyed of course. The next day I noticed for the first time that I can see baby move around inside of me now. It's so neat!!

Saturday, the final day, we (well I didn't participate) had a mini triathlon. It consisted of a 75-yard swim (from our dock to the neighbor's dock), 1 mile bike ride, and 1/2 mile run. My family is pretty competitive so it was pretty intense. I helped as a timer :)

Here are Melissa and Tabitha preparing to swim.

Scott biking.

John running. Look at all of that green! LOVE it and miss it! I'm an East Coast girl all the way ;)

That evening we finished off the reunion by playing Minute to Win It games.

Brittany and Sawyer had to separate as many M&M's by color as they could in a minute.

Bryn, Hayden, and Amber had to stack as many Ding Dongs on their foreheads as they could.

Trent and Jen had to keep 3 balloons up in the air for a minute. I was laughing so hard I was crying while watching Trent. It seems so easy, but Trent's best time was like 11 seconds..haha. Way harder than it looks!

Amanda and Courtney had to knock down four glasses with a tennis ball wrapped around their waist. This is kind of a funny shot!

Tori and I had to shoot the coaster down the table (it's a long table) and knock a cup off the other end as many times as we could in a minute.

And lastly, Jill and Melissa had to stack as many cups as they could without falling in a minute.

Woo, I made it! This post took me forever! The reunion was great as always and I'm grateful for my grandma's generosity in letting us all stay at her lake house. We can't get enough of it!

Stay tuned for my next post on my immediate family's reunion.