Sunday the boys and I drove to western Pennsylvania to meet my my dad and my brother and his boys.  We are staying at Paddler’s Lane Retreat near Confluence, PA.

The drive was as uneventful as can be hoped with a 7 and 9 year old in the car. We hit no real traffic (okay, a little on the way through NYC, but that is expected). We arrived late in the afternoon, beating everyone else here by several hours (it is a little longer drive from St. Louis than from Connecticut).

Yesterday was left unstructured so the cousins could all just unwind from the drive an play together.  In the afternoon we walked down to the river and spent a couple of hours playing in the river.

There are train tracks right across the driveway from the house (maybe 70m from the house) – and it is a busy track with lots of coal trains (and a periodic Amtrak passenger train). The trains have been a huge hit with the boys.  Every 30 minutes to 60 minutes a train runs by, and the boys all run outside to watch it.  At least they did yesterday, Will is getting a little bored with it today. Yesterday morning on of the trains stopped alongside the property. The boys walked over to look at the train, and the engineer came out of the train and talked to them (and gave them each a bottle of water).  The engineer said that he was stopped while they did track work, but couldn’t take the boys up in the engine to look around.

The river was fun in the afternoon.  A group of kids learning to kayak came downstream while we were playing in the water.  One of the kids flipped his/her boat on the single hole they were playing around in on the rapids near where we were playing.  This would be a great place to bring life jackets for the adults and some rafts to float the rapids.

Internet has been sporadic here.  And there is no cell coverage at all (unless I walk 10 minutes to the end of the driveway and down the road a bit).  But it nice to take a break from always checking email and the phone.  I’ve been leaving the phone inside all day.

Of course we had to find some internet… so here I am writing on the blog.  Pictures will have to follow later, I didn’t bring the cable to download pictures from my camera.

No real plans today – just hang out for a bit and let the boys play.  Maybe head down to the river if the weather warms up.

My mom visited for the weekend. She arrived in the middle of our crazy summer (Sorry, mom!). On Saturday we had the Bross family (my Uncle Jim, Rhonda and Mary Ann) over for dinner (we went fancy, with hamburgers, corn on the cob and salad).

So in addition to getting to show off all the changes to the house that we made over the past year and a half, we got a little assistance in the garden. Much appreciated help weeding the garden from my mom, Rhonda and Mary Ann. Thanks for all the help.

By Monday, the house was empty of guests. Susanna didn’t have to work. The sun came out (for the first time in a week). We headed to Devil’s Hopyard State Park. The boys enjoyed swimming in the river (a nice change from the beach). After a bit at the park, we headed home, stopping to get ice-cream on the way.

The summer has been a bit crazy. I’m hoping next year I can plan the summer to be a little more relaxing.

We took my mom to the airport this morning after a nice (but short) visit with her.  For the next couple of days we have an empty house.  Rebecka flew back to Sweden on Friday; Linda and Sofia are visiting Niagara falls until Tuesday morning.

The summer doesn’t really slow down until after my trip with the boys next week, but a short break in the rush is welcome.

Will added entertainment on the drive home from Hartford. He decided to sing (yes, crazy to hear Will sing) along with the song Chiquitita:

Take your teeth out, tell me what’s wrong…..

Thanks to Sofia for the alternate lyrics for will to sing.

Yesterday we headed to Six Flags New England for a day at the amusement park. We had a long, fun day in the sun – luckily it wasn’t too hot.

Tonight we had dinner made by Sofia and Linda, with dessert made by Rebecka.

Thanks to Sofia for cutting the boys’ hair this morning.  It is too hot to do much outside other than go to the beach.

We enjoyed a nice evening on the patio. The weather hasn’t been so hot the past two days. I have been off of work all week (okay, I’ll be back for a part day on Thursday). Susanna’s sister, Sofia, and her friend, Linda, were scheduled to arrive later in the evening.

We enjoyed a quiet day.  Or as the boys like to call it, “a boring day.” But we all needed a quiet day.  That isn’t to say that we sat around and did nothing all day (even though the boys like to think that).

Susanna got the house ready for her sister’s arrival.  It is nice to be able to relax and not have to stress about being the one in charge.  I just did the chores assigned to me… no planning or stress required.  I figured it is nice to have only one person in charge of getting the house ready, and I’m happy for it to not be me.

I made some progress on the boat and trailer.  In the morning Will and I went to Mid-City Steel to get new cross beams for the trailer.  I finished painting one of the trailer wheels (black paint looks much better than rust).  I even decided to take a little break from the chores and got the lathe out to turn some toys for Ben.  I still don’t know what I’m doing on the lathe, but it is fun to try to turn wood.

After dinner the boys and I watched the end of “Return of the King.”  We started the movie a couple of weeks ago, and it seemed a good way to end a quiet day.

Yesterday we headed north to Massachusetts for a visit to Six Flags amusement park.  We spent the morning at the main park, and the afternoon at the water park.

It was a perfect way the split the day. We were able to do rides before the full heat of the day – and cool off in the water in the afternoon heat.  Of course half a day at each park doesn’t give enough time to do all the rides…. but we have season passes so we will be returning several times this summer (starting with next week when Susanna’s sister, Rebecka is visiting).

Ben was finally tall enough to go on some of the bigger coasters.  He still wasn’t tall enough at 51″ to do the really big rides, but we were able to do more than last year.  The first ride we did when we entered the park was “Thunderbolt,” and old wooden roller coaster.  Ben hadn’t been on one that big yet, and the look on his face for the entire ride was of pure shock.  But he loved it, and wound up doing “Flashback” twice (he convinced Will to ride at the end of the day).  Flashback has a corkscrew and loop that you do first forwards, then backwards.  So in one ride, you are upside down 6 times.  They didn’t make them like that when I was a kid.  Or maybe they did, and I was too chicken to ride on them.