Congratulations Casey and Ryan...

Yesterday Rich and I attending the long-awaited wedding of Casey and Ryan... We had a great time, and couldn't be happier for them. Many wishes for a long and beautiful future!

gonna be camping...

We are leaving tomorrow(bright and really early) for our annual camping trip with Rich's family. This year we are going to Watkins Glen State Park... it is up on Seneca Lake. It should be fun, and I am looking forward to someplace different. We are going with Bob, Gretchen and the girls, Pop and Pat, Jen, Adam and the boys, Nancy and Rich, Richie and Jess. Robbie is too swamped working on his fellowship, but he will be missed!!! I am sure that I will have tons of photos to post and stories to tell when I get back. (just a little Janine tidbit- I have in my July 2008 folder for photos... over 650 pictures!!! just for the month of july this year and its not even over yet!!!)

Many HUGE thanks to Doug and Erica for watch Murphy while we are gone...

Guide Dog Foundation....

This past Saturday, the girls and I took a tour of the Guide Dog Foundation with Katie's Brownie troop. It is located in Smithtown... I have passed it a million times on Route 25 and knew where it was, because there is a small building located in the front. I was shocked to find out how HUGE the place really is... with multiple building and 5 acres of land, state of the art facilities for training, breeding, boarding, etc. You can find out more info by going to their website http://www.guidedog.org/ We walked through and saw the puppies... so so so cute.


Allison and her friend Lexie.

It was great, one of the volunteers brought out "Fern" for us to see up close and pet.
We also got a chance to walk through the kennel..


The grounds were beautiful and well maintained... here is our group (in the background) Katie decided to wait for me.

Here we watched a powerpoint (geared toward the children) about what the guide dogs do.

A wonderful tour followed by some Ben and Jerrys!

Congratulations Chrissy and Joe...

Friday night Rich's cousin Chrissy married her long-time boyfriend Joe! It was such a nice wedding at the Crest Hollow Country Club. She was married in the Garden and the cocktail hour was outside around the pool! Below is a photo of Rich's Aunt Jeanne escorted down the aisle by Rich's cousin Freddy and his son Kenny. Rich's Uncle Sonny and Chrissy.
Congratulations!!!
Nan and Rich having some fun :)

Pop and Pat...
Gretchen, Freddy, Richard and Nancy
Pam, Fred, Gretchen, Rich, Me, Nancy and Rich
. Aunt Jeanne, Uncle Sonny and Mom :)

fireworks....

OK... so these two first pics are just samples of the new lens... LOL.. I have been having so much fun with it.
Every year the Terryville FD has a family carnival in July. I have gone and been a part of the carnival every year since I am a child.... it is so much a part of my childhood, and although I don't like to take the girls (I don't trust the transient rides- and am not a huge fan of the big crowds) we take the girls every year over to Grandma Leute's. Grandma Leute lives directly behind the Terryville FD and her complex offers an excellent view of the fireworks show! We gathered this year with the Hoey's, Erica and Christopher, Mom, and Freddy and Pam. I took these pics in night mode.. and obviously need a tripod to get good night time pics! sorry for the blurryness!

The have fireworks on Wednesday and Saturday. We usually go on Saturday, however this year the Hoey's were going to be camping for the weekend and Katie had a sleepover party on Sat night, so we enjoyed the show on Wednesday night. The fireworks dont' kick off until about 10pm... so it a late night for the kiddies ( you can see how tired Christopher was in this pic!)

random "new lens" pics...

playing around with my new lens... we were at Jill's to hang out and celebrate Jeanette's birthday.
Allison showing off her dives!

Kathryn and the messy flying saucer!

playing a little catch up...

I realized this weekend, that I still had pictures in my point and shoot camera from the last day of school. I let Katie take my camera to school for the last day... it was interesting to see what she came home with! LOL. Here are just a few of the many that she took. :) Here is the Megan... during the bus ride. Allison and her Teacher Mrs. Breunig.
Katie and some of her classmates....(from left to right) Ciara, Courtney, Manaal, Katie, Megan, Nicole, and Jillian.
I guess this from the bus ride home.
Allison's Project (its a pic of her being sad.. .waving good bye to Minnesauke on the last day)

We met up with Jill, Chris and Natalie... These two pictures are from beach swimming lessons... they have lessons rain or shine. This particular day it was strange weather... it was sunny, then suddenly it was pouring! We were caught in the rain. THe girls LOVED it!