After a week in NC, we hopped a short flight to Syracuse, NY. From there it is about an hour and a half drive to Clayton, New York. Clayton is a BEAUTIFUL town on the St. Lawrence River. A place where Mike basically spent every summer of his childhood. It's the town we named our son after so it obviously has a lot of meaning to us. We haven't been there in years and it was so, so good to be back.
And the icing on the cake... LOTS of Mike's family members were there and got to meet Clayton!
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THE DECK ON OUR CABIN.
OUR VIEW OF THE ST. LAWRENCE.
HAD SOME PRETTY GOOD MEALS AND
CONVERSATIONS AT THAT PICNIC TABLE. |
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| CLAYTON'S FIRST TIME SEEING THE RIVER! |
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SWEET AUNT PAM BOUGHT HIM A SHARK HOODIE
THAT HE CAN GROW INTO! SO CUTE!
CAN'T WAIT TIL HE CAN WEAR THIS! |
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WE VISITED BABCIA AT HER CABIN!
CLAYTON GOT SOME SWEET GRANDMA SNUGGLES!
I LOVE THESE MOMENTS! |
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| SO SWEET. |
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| BABCIA DIPPED HIS TOES IN THE ST. LAWRENCE! |
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SINCE BABCIA'S BIRTHDAY WAS THE WEEK BEFORE,
WE SURPRISED HER WITH A HUGE BIRTHDAY
COOKIE! |
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| THEN BACK TO THE WATER! |
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THE WATER WASN'T AS COLD HERE AS IT IS IN
DEEPER PARTS OF THE RIVER.
BUT, IT'S STILL REFRESHING.
HE TOLERATED IT WAAAYYY BETTER
THAN WE EXPECTED. |
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A SWEET NAP ON AUNT PAMMY'S CHEST.
AND SWEET CONVERSATIONS WITH NANA. |
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| CLAYTON IN CLAYTON! |
Mike's Dad's side of the family was in town and we were able to all get together for a delicious dinner as well as spend a day together on the river! It was so great to see everyone and I think Mike and I both were so grateful for the opportunity to introduce Clayton to everyone!
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| SITTING WITH GRANDPA MADDEN. |
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| ONE TABLE FULL OF MADDEN'S |
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| THE SECOND TABLE FULL OF MADDEN'S. |
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WE WALKED THE BEAUTIFUL NEW SIDEWALKS IN CLAYTON
THAT RUN RIGHT ALONG THE RIVER. SO NICE! |
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WE SPENT THE DAY AT CANOE POINT WITH
THE WHOLE FAMILY! SNUGGLING WITH
AUNT PEGGY! |
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| NOT A BAD PLACE FOR A LITTLE TUMMY TIME. |
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| THE DOCKS AT CANOE POINT. A GREAT PLACE TO SPEND THE DAY. |
We could walk from our cabin into the town of Clayton. One afternoon we strolled into town to check out the new brewery. We took nothing with us (not even a pacifier) but Clayton was an awesome baby and took his little evening power nap while we sampled some locally brewed beer.
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| PHOTO CREDIT TO AUNT PAM! |
The St. Lawrence River runs between NY and Canada... so naturally we spent a day in one of our favorite little Canadian towns... Kingston, Ontario!
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| THAT'S A TINY LITTLE "I" IN THE KINGSTON SIGN! |
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| HAVING FUN WITH ALL THE TRAINS. |
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I DON'T NORMALLY NOTICE FLOWERS WHEN
I'M ON VACATION BUT IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE
NOT TO NOTICE THEM ON THIS TRIP.
THEY WERE EVERYWHERE AND THEY WERE
ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! |
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WE HAVE NEVER BEEN TO KINGSTON WITHOUT
STOPPING AT THE BREWERY. |
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| CLAYTON'S FIRST VISIT TO THE BREWERY. |
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| CHEERS! |
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SHARED SOME POUTINE AND FISH AND CHIPS
FOR LUNCH. |
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| START THEM YOUNG. |
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YEAH... THESE 2 ARE DEFINITELY RELATED.
SAME EYES. SAME NOSE. SAME FACIAL EXPRESSION.
TWINS? |
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WE GOT TO WATCH A LITTLE DISPLAY... IT WASN'T REALLY
A CHANGING OF THE GUARD OR ANYTHING. I OVERHEARD
SOMEONE SAY IT WAS A DEMO OF "WAR TRAINING."
I DON'T KNOW BUT IT WAS PRETTY COOL. |
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TAKING THE FERRY BACK TO THE USA!
NOTICE THE CUTE CANADIAN ONESIE THAT AUNT PAM BOUGHT
CLAYTON! THANKS AGAIN AUNT PAM! |
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ONCE BACK ON US SOIL WE MADE A STOP AT
TIBBETS POINT LIGHTHOUSE IN CAPE VINCENT, NY.
AND WE RAN INTO NANA THERE!
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WE MADE A STOP BY THE CEMETERY IN CAPE
VINCENT TO SHOW CLAYTON OFF TO HIS GREAT
GRANDPA (BOPPA) AND HIS AUNT JENN. |
We spent a day on the boat with Mike's mom and John! We had such a nice time. We stopped at one of the islands for lunch. We cruised Lake of the Isles and stopped for a swim. Awesome day.
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JUST WOKE UP FROM AN AWESOME BOAT NAP WITH BABCIA.
SAD I DIDN'T GET A PICTURE OF THAT. |
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THE ONLY PICTURE I GOT OF HIM WITH BABCIA
ALL DAY AND SADLY, HE WAS CRYING (WHICH IS
NOT AN INDICATION OF THE DAY HE HAD. HE HAD
A GREAT DAY). BABCIA GOT TO HOLD HIM ALL DAY.
SORRY THIS WAS THE ONLY PICTURE I TOOK OF THEM. |
The next day we rented a pontoon from the cabins we were staying in. We cruised to Boldt Castle in Alexandria Bay. Then through the International Rift, through Lake of the Isles again, and then made a stop at Potter's beach. It was a GREAT day!
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SWEET MOMENTS WITH AUNT PAM.
THOUSAND ISLANDS BRIDGE WAAYY IN THE BACKGROUND. |
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GOING UNDER THE BRIDGE!
HEADED TO A BAY! |
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| BOLDT CASTLE |
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THE RIVER IS REALLY HIGH THIS SUMMER.
THIS HOUSE IS BARELY ABOVE THE WATER.
THEIR ISLAND IS UNDER WATER!
NOTICE THE SANDBAGS AT THE FRONT DOOR.
A FEW WEEKS AGO THEY PROBABLY HAD WATER
IN THEIR HOUSE. |
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| BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPING AT BOLDT CASTLE. |
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SUCH AN AMAZING VACATION HOME.
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For those who don't know the story... George Boldt (super wealthy... lived in NYC), built this vacation home on a heart shaped island for his wife but she died during construction and he abandoned the place. NY bought it and they are in the slow, tedious process of completing it. They've gotten a LOT done since the last time we were here. It's gorgeous.
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| THE KITCHEN OPENED IN 2014. |
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| BEAUTIFUL CASTLE |
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THIS GIVES YOU AN IDEA OF HOW HIGH THE
WATER LEVEL IS. |
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CLAYTON'S FIRST TIME TO BOLDT CASTLE...
THIS IS IN THE CASTLE PLAYHOUSE. |
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STARTING OUR CRUISE THROUGH THE INTERNATIONAL RIFT.
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| THE CURRENT IS FLOWING PRETTY GOOD THROUGH THE RIFT. |
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| THE WATER IS SUPER CLEAR. |
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CRUISING THROUGH THE RIFT.
MIKE WAS AN EXCELLENT CAPTAIN ALL DAY.
HE NAVIGATED US ALL AROUND WITH
OLD SCHOOL MAPS. NO GPS ON THIS RENTAL BOAT. |
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| BOAT NAPS ARE GOOD NAPS. |
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| SWIMMING/FLOATING AT POTTER'S BEACH! |
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CLAYTON GOT ALL THE WAY IN THE WATER!
UP TO HIS NECK! AND GOT HIS HAIR WET!
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY... HE LOVED IT!!! |
Perhaps the most memorable part of the trip was when we ran out of gas... just shy of the dock.
Yep. Apparently it's a Madden family tradition that we inadvertently kept alive.
Luckily we were super close so the Madden's jumped in and swam us back.
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| 2 HORSE POWER MOTOR. |
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| SOMEBODY HAD TO HOLD THE BABY! |
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| ALMOST THERE! |
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THE SUNSET ON OUR LAST NIGHT WAS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.
THE RIVER NEVER DISAPPOINTS WITH SUNSETS. |
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| AWESOME. |
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| PERFECT ENDING TO A WONDERFUL TRIP. |
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BEFORE LEAVING WE MADE ONE LAST STOP
TO VISIT GREAT GRAMMA MADDEN.
IT WAS GREAT TO SEE HER!
THEN IT WAS ON THE AIRPORT TO START
THE TREK BACK TO NEVADA! |
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END OF A WHIRLWIND 2 WEEKS AND HE WAS
STILL ALL SMILES! SO GRATEFUL! |
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| GOODBYE LAKE ONTARIO! UNTIL WE SEE YOU AGAIN! |
The trip was busy and full of excitement. It was a little challenging to jump around to so many places with a 6 month old but honestly, I would do it again in a heartbeat. We had an amazing time. We loved seeing friends and family. We are sorry we missed seeing some people on this trip and we definitely hope to catch you on the next trip!
