Weekend Update

Eric's friend John invited us to spend the day Saturday on his new boat. It's always nice to have friends with boats, especially on such nice days!

Eric relaxed and enjoyed himself.

He also took lots of pictures.

It was really a picture-perfect day.

Today we went up to Gary & Paula's new house. It's coming along nicely! The outside is just about done. This is the side/back of the house. The part on the right is the new garage. The 2 big windows are part of the new "great room" addition.

The only siding left is on the top of the big addition. It's really going to be nice!

Gary & Paula were installing some plumbing today. Next weekend, they're installing the heat.

And here's Laura & Kelly sitting on their porch. I took them back to school shopping today, we had LOTS of fun and they got some really nice new clothes and shoes too. Kelly has on one of her new shirts already.

Here's Laura modeling one of her new very pretty outfits! I didn't take that many pictures while we were shopping, since I didn't have my camera with me, just my phone. Which is why it's not the best quality. But she's awfully adorable, isn't she?!

Running Camp

Alex has returned from camp. It seems like he enjoyed himself. I asked if he wanted to go again next year and I got a "maybe". These were all the kids that stayed in his cabin. 10 of them are teammates, the others were from Utica and Cooperstown. Alex is in the back row in the orange.

This was the teeny tiny cabin he stayed in, there were 16 teenage (smelly) boys that slept in that cabin! That's not my idea of fun, but he said he liked it. The guy in the picture was one of his counselors.

This was the inside of the cabin. There were 8 bunk beads on each side. Alex was one of the first ones that arrived, he picked a top bunk. Again, not my idea of fun, but the kids seem to like it. So I guess that's all that matters!

We are cool.

This was our old furnace. It was from 1985.

This is our new furnace. It was installed today.

And this is our new central air conditioning unit. It was also installed today. We are now cool. Or cooler at least. Of course, we probably won't have any more 90 degree days for the rest of the summer. But we'll be ready if we do!

My Favorite Olympic Moments

Now that the Olymic Games have drawn to a close, it's time to look back at the last 2 weeks. I think I will be having Olympic withdrawal for awhile. Every day for the last 16, Alex and I have been glued to the tv and the internet. Watching and reading about every Olympic event. There were many great moments, but these are my favorites:

I watched this event live, which didn't get to happen with many events since NBC insisted on running all the "good" stuff in Prime Time, hours after it actually happened. But when Mo Farah won the 10,000 meter run and Galen Rupp came in 2nd, it was a wonderful race to watch live! I didn't know much about these 2 runners before the Olympics, but now I love them both! They are from different countries, but train together in the U.S. and are the greatest of friends. I loved that they came in 1st and 2nd and that they were both genuinely happy for each other.

I just loved their enthusiasm. I wished they could have repeated the 1-2 finish in the 5,000 meter, but it was not meant to be. But I love that Mo got to win 2 gold medals in front of his home country.

Oscar Pistorius will be a name that people will forever remember. His is by far the most inspiring story of the Olympics.

And I love when he and the 400 meter winner Kirani James exchanged bib numbers with Oscar after the race.

Missy Franklin of Colorado was my favorite swimmer. I love her story. She's only 17, and she still lives at home with her parents in the town she grew up in. She seems so grounded. I love that she turned down all sorts of endorsements just so she could still swim for her High School team. I also loved her positive attitude, she always had a smile on her face.

And of course, who would I be if I didn't mention poor McKayla Maroney. She was supposed to get a gold medal in the vault, but she had a bad day. She was not impressed with her silver medal. I wonder if she doesn't wish she could have put a little smile on her face that day. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, do an internet search for McKayla Maroney Meme. It's worth a look. I do like that McKayla has also gotten in on the fun, at least she can laugh at herself now!

Aim High and the Wineries

Alex is spending this week at Aim High Running Camp. It's a local camp (on Owasco Lake) for high school age runners. Alex and 10 of his teammates are there. Along with hundreds of other local high schoolers. Each day the camp photographer has been posting photos online. Which has been fun for me, it's kind of like looking from the outside in. And getting to see what Alex is doing at camp. Because I'm sure when he gets home, he'll be his typical teenager self and not say a word about camp. So here's a peek at Alex's day yesterday at camp...

Not sure what he's doing here, but at least he's smiling! (He's in the bright yellow shirt.)

He's playing basketball here. Notice his face - it's cleared up nicely! The basketball is covering the only scab he had left, over his lip. His friend and teammate Spencer is behind him.

It looks like they got to watch the Olympic 5,000 meter run! Alex was concerned that he wouldn't get to see any more Olympics when he was at camp. I'm pretty impressed that they have internet and tv out in the middle of nowhere!

And here's proof that they're actually running at running camp! Alex is in this photo, you just can't really see him. He's right behind the boy in the orange shoes (that's Connor, a teammate), you can see Alex's body, but not his head. Looks like he's doing well! If you'd like to learn more about the camp and see more photos throughout the week, click here!

So... what do you think I did while Alex was away at camp?? Well, I went to the wineries of course! My friend Amy and her boyfriend Chris visited for the weekend.

Eric took lots of artsy photos.

Here are Amy and Chris on the shore of Seneca Lake.

And here's me and Eric. It was a little windy! We had a great day, bought lots of wine, saw lots of corn fields. Oh and ahem... I kind of maybe might have gotten a speeding ticket along the way... sigh...

North Pole, NY

Eric was out of town this week. He had a shoot at the North Pole. Also known as Santa's Workshop. That pole next to him was apparently made of ice.

This is where he stayed. It looked cute! Wish I could have gone too.

He was quite taken with the toilet paper holder.

He and "work husband Dave" enjoyed a lovely evening out on these Adirondack chairs. It was nice that Dave and Eric could celebrate our anniversary together! (While I was at home taking care of poor Alex...)