NY Vacation--Boldt Castle

We took a mini New York vacation this past week.  We went up North to Alexandria Bay and then over to Lake Placid in the Adirondacks.  Alexandria Bay is part of the Thousand Islands area on the St. Lawrence river between Canada and the US.   One of the islands in this region is Heart Island and it is home to Boldt Castle.  Most of our vacation involved KOA camping and Joseph knows I'm not a fan of camping so he used a tour of the castle to entice me to agree to the trip!  We took a short boat ride to the island and then went on a self-guided tour of the castle.

Lincoln was SO excited for the boat ride!

I love this picture of Edie.

This sign gives a brief history of Boldt Castle.

I will avoid long descriptions and just share a lot of pictures.

This was called the "play house" where the family would stay while the castle was under construction.  There was even a bowling alley in the basement.

This was the Yacht House where George Boldt stored his boats.

Boldt Castle

Stained glass ceiling in the front hall.  The stairs and view of the 2nd and 3rd floor balconies.

               

Front foyer and view of the veranda.

The library.

Ballroom

View of the foyer from the ballroom.

Reception room.

Dining room.  This table sat 18 people.  

We didn't get a picture of the kitchen or Butler's pantry, but those were two of my favorite rooms.

Servants dining room.

Not all of the house has been restored....it's a work in progress.  Only half of the 2nd floor is restored and the 3rd through 5th floors are as they were after the elements took over for 70 years.

This is part of the "basement" which is more like a walkway or tunnel since those windows are ground level in the back of the house.

The protruding area with the pretty windows housed a swimming pool.  It was interesting to see what a swimming pool would have been like in the early 1900s.

This is the Power house where the power for the house was generated.

This arched structure was the intended entrance to the island from the water.

Play house.

The kids got a little antsy before I was ready to go and started acting up so this picture is Joseph and me pretending we were alone enjoying the castle.  

The romantic in me would love to spend a week or two living in a house like this.  I think it would be interesting to live this way as long as I had indoor plumbing!  

Edie-9 months

Our sweet Edie-girl is nine months old!  She is such a joy in our lives.  Her mellow, content personality is a tender mercy from the Lord when she has 4 older siblings who can be quite demanding.  She weighs 15 lbs 15 oz. and is 27.5 inches long.  She now eats 3 meals a day as long as I don't get too busy and forget to feed her solids at breakfast.  She is so good that she doesn't cry when hungry unless she is tired.  She has 3 teeth now.  Two of those popped out this month.  All of them are on the bottom, but I see a top tooth ready to poke through any day.

Edie is starting to move a little more.  She pivots on her stomach and pushes herself with her feet when she is on her back.  She is always ready with a smile to anyone who smiles at her.  She loves her mom and I'm happy that I'm her favorite.

Here are a few pictures from the last month.

Riding a horse while visiting someone from church.  She still loves to be swaddled and I just wrap her up and lay her down and she falls asleep.  Isn't she beautiful?

 I love her toothy grin in this picture.

A little dainty miss!

I love how Edie rested her head on Joseph's head when he was carrying her.  

June Events

We had a very busy month with a lot of "end of year" school activities.

Orchestra Concert

Kimball really enjoyed participating in Orchestra this year and playing the cello.  I was surprised how well he did with the cello.  Kimball's orchestra teacher heard him playing a song during warm ups that they hadn't practiced in class and he asked Kimball if he wanted to play the song as a solo during the concert.  Kimball agreed and was a little nervous but refused to practice the song extra at home!  He did a great job on his song and I thought the Orchestra (violins, viola, cellos) sounded really good.

Orchestra Concert, June 5

Father/Son Camp out

Joseph took Kimball and Lincoln on the Fathers' and Sons' camp out this year.  It was Lincoln's first official camping trip and he had SO much fun.  He was so excited about everything.  Joseph said he slept great because he was so tired.  Lincoln spent 90% of his time throwing rocks into the stream that ran through the camp.

Ready to roll!

Swamp Rat Race

The big kids participated in the Runner's Club again this year.  The kids are always encouraged to participate in the Swamp Rat Race which is a fund raiser for a local hospital.  Our elementary school always has the highest participation of the local elementary schools.  It was a fun day.  I really liked the atmosphere and excitement that the morning held.  The girls mile run was first and Rebecah ran her mile in 10 minutes and 32 seconds.  She was 105 out of 195 participants.  Kimball ran his mile in 8 minutes 52 seconds.  Kimball was 79 out of 207 participants.  Both kids had fun and want to participate next year.

The girls ready to run.

Boys ready to run.  

Before the race when the kids were still fresh and excited.

These are just some cute pictures of the little ones.  I love the pictures of Annika with her "make-up".  Her poses perfectly show her spicy personality.

Sometimes I let the little ones take a book to bed just to ease the bedtime routine.  I thought Annika looked so cute sleeping with her book across her belly.

Here Annika is practicing her tree climbing skills and Edie is just so sweet and happy most of the time.

These two pictures are from Rebecah's First Grade Fun Day.  Joseph worked in the afternoon so I was able to help at Rebecah's activity.  She loved hanging out with me and it made me feel special to have her run over and hug me between the different activities. 

Here are the kids on the last day of school.  They had a great year.  Kimball received the Perfect Attendance award and an award for Excellence in Orchestra, and a Visual Arts award from the Art teacher.  It was his last year in elementary school because 5th grade is part of the Middle School here.

On the first day of Summer Vacation Kimball wanted to make homemade blueberry jam.  I told him if he helped we could make the jam.  He wasn't prepared for all of the stirring, but he was a good sport about it.

Lincoln loves life.  He loves to be outside.  Here he is with an ice cream cone in one hand and a fruit smoothie in the other.  

Our summer is off to a good start.