The Continuing Adventures of the McCollums: What Do You Do There?

More than once, when I mention we're heading to my parents' house in Lake George, people ask, "What do you do there?" I usually stammer and stutter something about a beach or hiking or something because there isn't a clear, neat answer. It's probably the easiest recurring vacation I've taken. It's one of the only times in my life I don't feel the need to plan, plan, plan. We don't really have a set thing we always do, except we do always have fun.

This trip, the boys were lucky, as were Mike and I. Thomas and our man Ryan got to hang out all on their own with Nan and Papa for a handful of days. Mike and I worked and got to take a little side jaunt up to Niagara Falls. The Grandparents VanDusen apparently felt the burn of the full-time job of watching these two boys, for there are no pictures from these five days. :)

Fortunately, I have a few that I took later that I would imagine fill in some of the blanks. Thomas told us that they went down to the beach numerous times each day. The trips up and down the sandy incline with a stroller provided quite the workout for Nana.

Ryan weeding and dumping sand leftovers on his legs

We also heard about clever tricks like using a high school baseball team as a distraction at Burger King and having gum in the morning and in moments of crisis. I pulled one of my own to get Thomas to finish his food at dinnertime. I was shocked when he finished all his food and I had to make good and let him lick the bowl of corn clean.

Of course, Thomas made at least two swipes on the lawn tractor with Papa. If I told people who asked that this was a highlight of the trip, surely they would wrinkle a brow. On our last night there, Papa asked Thomas if he would rather make a fire and toast marshmallows or have ice cream or mow the lawn. Thomas, without hesitation, chose to mow the lawn. I reframed the question so that the mow option was sandwiched between two dessert options and he still chose to mow!

Checking out the frogs in the backyard

Ryan's highlight reel had a lot more to do with food and just hanging out with his big brother. Surely our absence would not have been the non-issue it was for Ryan if Thomas weren't around to love on his brother and chat with him.

Thomas has apparently instilled his love of ice cream in Ryan. Here's how our trip to Stewart's went down:
1. Let's give Ryan Man a little taste of ice cream, shall we?

2. Uh, Ryan? You were supposed to lick it with your tongue like Thomas does, not suck it down like a bottle.

3. Ryan has had enough of the ice cream. Now it's time to attack the cone!

Self imposed smashing it up into his nose and face to get more

5. When Ryan had all but finished my ice cream and cone, his generous brother gave him some of his mint cookie ice cream.

The Aftermath

While Nana, Papa, Thomas and Ryan were at the park or Burger King or at a Memorial Day party at a farm, or down at the lake, or playing with the toy horses in the basement, or visiting with the neighbors, or a whole host of other outstanding things, we were living it up in Niagara Falls, a top hit on my NYS Bucket List.