Westport

First a rant: I hate Amtrak. After my brother bade farewell, it was Joe's turn to head out and we drove him 45 minutes to the Wesport train station for his trip back to the city. He then waited 3 more hours for his train to actually show up. This would be annoying if it happened once in awhile but it is virtually guaranteed that the train will be at least 1 hour late. Why can't they get it right? I am sure there are many forces at work here but how I wish train travel in the US was efficient and civilized. Nevertheless, check out the cute Westport train station...and there is a theatre company inside to boot. "How to Succeed in Business (Without Really Trying)" is playing now. The boys and I ventured briefly into Westport to check out the scene. Last year we looked at a few houses there while searching for real estate. It really is lovely, right on Lake Champlain. Great architecture and feel, but I just don't connect with it - feels too civilized and not mountain rugged. More sailboat than canoe. Gov. Pataki had a house here I heard and that about says it all for me.

Playing Tourists

So even before we read the New York Times yesterday, we had planned to go to the summit of Whiteface, then troll around Lake Placid for a bit. BTW, we are none too pleased to read the plethora of recent Adirondack travel stories in the paper of record. Shhhhhhh. Everyone just keep going to the Hamptons and we'll be just fine. No need to travel up to these parts.

Anyway, we took 2 different scenic routes to the top of Whiteface: by car and by gondola. You'll notice I didn't say "hike", as my brother has 2 smaller kids so we still haven't conquered this one as a 46er yet. The girls (Leslie, Eleanor and me) drove to the summit while the boys (Joe, Michael, Oscar, Clarke and Brendan) took the gondola. The girls' adventure was short and sweet as our adorable Eleanor had just woken from a nap and wasn't dressed properly for summit weather. Still the views were wonderful. Then we headed to Lake Placid for lunch at The Cottage. We chose this as Joe and I had drinks there previous and loved the setting. The food was "eh", the menu was boring, the service was "eh"...but the view was great so next time we'll stick to drinks! We then strolled town and popped into the Ice Rink (Miracle on Ice baby). The kids must have drank their adorable juice that morning because before we knew it the guy at the door had let us all into the Junior Hockey Championships with USA vs. Sweden - great fun. The highlight was the small crowd of hockey buffs bowing to the Zamboni as it zipped by.

Island adventures

So what to do with an 18 month old in the wilderness. We had a lovely day yesterday with the Mitchell family. The goal was to take a brief 15 minute paddle so Eleanor could handle and then find a base camp spot on an island for the day so our Eleanor could have a place to romp and rest while we got some canoeing in. The plan worked like a charm. We had snacks and lunch at base camp, and the big boys swam and explored and canoed around the lakes.

Effects of Wine on Adults

Ok, so the barn has a trapeze. Like I said, the man who built was a free spirit and we haven't brought ourselves to take it down....because of nights like last night. Watch and learn my friends. Observe the mother of my nephew and niece...an upstanding citizen.

No way to start a day

So we popped up this morning to ready for our next set of visitors, my brother and his family when Joe and I heard thump, ta-thump, da THUMP THUMP, followed by a loud scream. Poor Oscar has tripped on a blanket he was carrying and crashed down his stairs (really more like a ladder). After assessing the damage, he was quite lucky with just a big shiner to show for it. Here's Rocky Balboa, giving his new tough guy stare down.

Mission accomplished

At the beginning of the summer, Clarke and I decided we wanted to bike to Donnelly's one day. It is a challenging 10 mile round trip ride through some serious hills. Today, we accomplished our mission. He tackled each hill, even though he stated at the top of every one "i think i'm going to puke. No, mom, stop laughing, i mean it". The mission was made all the more sweet when Clarke realized he hadn't eaten breakfast so technically...he was having ice cream for breakfast. The breakfast of champions. Here's our future ironman with the flavor of the day, Black Rasberry.

Oscar's Apple Baseball