last hurrah

Labor Day weekend we took a trip out to the western part of the state to visit my family. It was our end of summer swan song, the last hurrah. And we made the most of it. Lucky for us, the weather was stunning: Perfectly clear blue skies with just enough warmth from a beaming sun.

In between visiting with family, we were all over the place. First, we packed a picnic lunch (if a few sandwiches crammed into a used plastic "Quaker Steak & Lube" bag counts as a picnic) and drove down to Lake Erie to play at the beach.

My sister and the girls searched for shells and stones. Then we had a rock skipping contest. I do believe I won with 5 skips. Mickey came along too, but wasn't interested in swimming, though.

The next day, we went to Midway State Park. It's a vintage amusement park on Lake Chautauqua that is perfect for little ones. I remember going there when I was 5 years old and it hasn't changed a bit (in fact, my mom says it hasn't changed since she went there as a child). Because it was the end of summer and are schools were back in session, we practically had the place to ourselves. "The Whip" was a big hit and the girls rode it 3 or 4 times.

On Saturday, my aunt and uncle graciously treated us to a boat ride. It was a great day on the lake. The girls even got to drop a couple lines in the water for a few minutes (although the fish were not very hungry).

All in all, a very sucessful last hurrah indeed.