Adirondack Adventure Part 3

Thursday morning, my Aunt and Uncle had set up a kayaking adventure for us. I affectionately dubbed it "Death Row". We were planning on about a 15 mile paddle through 4 lakes and ending up back at the beach by my Aunt and Uncles house. Julie drove us out to our starting destination. My Aunt and Uncle had rented kayaks for Mom and Dad and Zack and I.


I have to admit that Zack and I were a little bit worried after our kayaking adventure 2 days before. 15 miles was a long way to be doing donuts.

We put in at Raquette Lake. Dad set a grooling pace and Zack and I were zig zagging our way through the lake thinking that we might not make it if our pace didn't slow. Thankfully, once we reached the Marion River, our pace slowed down a little bit.

The paddle was absolutely beautiful. We floated down the Marion River with tall grasses on either side. I thought that at any moment a moose or deer or some other wild life was about to come clambering through the grass to the waters edge.

We came as far down the Marion River as we could. Then we had to pull the boats out and carry them about 1/4 mile across land to the put in at the start of the next lake. The rental boats were tandem boats and they were very heavy. But the guys handled getting them from point A to point B. I helped a little too, but I thought my arm might have been permanently pulled out of joint.

We went a little further before pulling off the lake to a little lean to for lunch. While we sat down for lunch, Matt and the gang came roaring by in the Pontoon boat. Really a much easier way to see the lakes...but not nearly as physically rewarding. We waved at them and then got back into our boats and continued our trip toward home.



While we were on Eagle lake, we saw a big green building in the distance. My uncle Fred turned to Zack and said, "If you can tell me what that building over there is I will give you a ridiculous amount of money!" Zack looked at it for a moment and said, "a plane hanger" My Uncles jaw dropped and I thought that I would fall out of the boat due to laughing at my uncles response. Zack had been right and Uncle Fred was in shock.


We made it back to the beach at about 3 o'clock. We sat down at the beach and relaxed for a little while. Reflecting back on our trip, Zack and I decided that this was one of the neatest things that we had done together since being married.

My Aunt and Uncle grilled out chicken for dinner...I was so hungry I almost didn't remember to take a picture.
After dinner, Zack and Ethan drummed up some people to play ticket to ride. It think that Uncle Fred might have fallen asleep about 1/2 way through this game.


Friday morning I went walking with Julie, which I really enjoyed. It was a beautiful morning. Then, when we got back, I headed out with Aunt Ruth, Uncle Fred, Mom, Dad, and Zack to hike up Coney Mountain. This was a shorter and less rigorous hike than we had done earlier in the week, but we were again rewarded with a pretty view up top.




When we got back from our hike, and after we grabbed some lunch, we headed down to the beach. Zack and the rest of the guys got involved in a pretty competitive game of home run derby. I thought that it was pretty funny watching the guys....they really never do grow up.








They went straight from a serious game of home run derby to an intense match of cornhole. I am not even sure how many times they went over 21 and had to start over. Ethan and Matt managed to pull out the win, but it was hard fought.





Gram had a front row seat and enjoyed heckling the players.
Meanwhile, Naomi and the girls were busy playing in the sand building sandcastles. Naomi is an amazing mom and I really enjoyed getting to watch her interact with her little girls. I don't think that she realizes just how good of a mom she actually is, but I hope that if Zack and I get blessed to one day have our own kids that I will be able to be as good of a mom as she is.



After they finished their game, we headed out on the dock because Kirsten and Jenny wanted to go fishing. They just dropped their lines into the water and fish from under the dock greedily grabbed their bait. This caused a flurry of excitement, but the fish soon learned and they were no longer interested in the bait after a few minutes.





We headed back up to the house to get ready for dinner. We had Sloppy Joes, which was fun because we haven't had then in years!

Saturday morning we packed up and got ready to go. Family is such a blessing and we get to see these dear people not nearly enough. I was sad to have to say goodbye, but I was thankful to have a lot of wonderful memories of my family to treasure. We took some family photos and then headed out. Dad, of course, had to take an alternate route to get home and we swung by Camp of the Woods, which is a Christian Family Camp that we used to go to when I was little.


I feel truly blessed to have such a wonderful and loving family, and I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to spend some time with them.


Gram we are so glad that we got to come up to see you and I am glad that you got to know Zack better!! Thank you for all that you did to make it possible. We love you very much! BTW Zack says he needs a rematch in Yatzee.


Aunt Ruth and Uncle Fred, Thank you for opening your home and thank you SO much for all that you did. We REALLY appreciate it and we really enjoyed getting the opportunity to spend time with you! Zack and I had a blast getting to spend time with you and I am thankful that Zack had the opportunity to get to know you better.

aren't my cousins beautiful?!?!

Julie I am so thankful that we had the opportunity to get to know each other a little bit better. Johnathan is blessed to have such a sweet wife. I am also really glad that Zack and Johnathan got to know each other. We need to get together again sometime soon....and please keep me updated on how the 2 of you are doing! love you!!

love these girls!!

...did I mention that I love these girls?! I could have taken the home with me!!

Naomi, I love you girl! It was SO nice to get to catch up with you! Only wish that we had had more time to talk....I'm sure that we have lots of things to catch up on that we didn't get to talk about. I know that you thought that the girls were driving me crazy, but I was loving every minute of it! You have 2 Beautiful girls and I was blessed to be able to meet them and get to know them a little bit better. We have to get together again sometime soon because I have to teach Jenny how to sew! :) ...and Kirsten and Jenny still have lots of stories to tell me!! Tell Matt that we love him and enjoyed getting to spend time with him and I know that Zack enjoyed getting to play cornhole and whiffleball with him and the guys. I cannot put into word how much I wish that you lived closer!


Sarah, thank you for sharing Ethan. He reminds me so much of Zack in personality and they got along great! I am glad that they got the opportunity to play some games together and hopefully they will be able to have a checkers or cornhole rematch sometime in the near future. Zack and I really enjoyed getting to go to dinner with you and Jeff. I think that that may have been the first time that I have ever gotten to sit and just talk with Jeff....I enjoyed it. We got home and I could not believe that I managed to get a picture of my meal but not a picture of us...which strangely enough is why I had my camera with me at all! The food was delicious...but a poor substitute for a picture of family. Guess that just means we will have to get back together sometime soon so that I can get a picture. Love you both!