The Gunns in the North Country!

What perfect weather for a visit from little girls (oh, and their parents, too)! We went to the Cadyville Beach, a well-maintained and lifeguarded (!) strip of beach along the Saranac River. (The Saranac is world-renowned among fisherpeople as a Trophy Class trout stream.) As you can see, the girls had a bit of fun, and so did their parents, I think.

It's so much fun to watch those girls! Their behavior really takes me back to the years when my daughters were "two little girls." In this generation, Kaitlyn, the older, is the perfect first child, parent-pleasing, cautious but exuberant at the same time. That was Emily when I was still chasing after them. And Courtney, this time around, is the sword-swallowing, fire-walking, trapeze-artist daredevil personality, fearless and way too quick! Jenny was my death-waiting-to-happen second child back when. The saying that children are payback to their parents holds true, at least for now. :) Courtney loved running in the water, apparently the deeper, the better. Katie, once she discovered that she wouldn't go under water if she went all the way out to the floats on the marker rope, liked to be in the "deep end." We all had a blast. The cutest part was on Saturday, when there was a stiff wind that chilled any wet part of a body--Courtney discovered that she wasn't cold if she stayed under water so proceeded to sit in water that came right up to her chin. When moved to water just a bit more shallow, she protested loudly. And her shivers were absolutely heart-breaking. And they made her mad!

Having lived with a backyard pool for 15 years--my theory is that some whiz-bang salesman convinced the previous owners of our house to put in the first in-ground pool in town, and then all of Plattsburgh was his oyster; there are too too many pools for a place that has about a 60-day season--I'm so glad to have the beach about a mile away now. There is nothing like cool water to sit in when the temp is 85+.

Away from the beach, I'm trying to build a little toybox that the girls can use whenever they visit. My two still remember the Lincoln Logs at GrandmaMarie's, and I'd like to get something like that embedded in Katie's & Courtney's memories. Right now it's a stuffed sheep (that we got with our Serta mattress!) and ... my bear footstool. Stickers were a hit:

as were some of my small collection of bright blue New Beetle toys:

The porch swing that I made that hangs inside our "porch"--really a 3-season room--was pretty interesting too. A swing inside!!

Obviously, a good time was had by all. We're already looking forward to next summer!