Birthday Wishes Fulfilled...

My birthday was earlier this month.  My husband asked me what I wanted, as any good husband would do, right?  After making a mental list of all the possibilities my answer may hold, I decided to go with simple and inexpensive.

"Honey, I would like to spend a day hiking and exploring someplace new to us in New York.  How about seeing Lake Ontario?  You, me, the dogs and whom ever of our kids is interested."
(And, then, I went shopping, all by myself, and bought 2 pairs of earrings...Takes the guess-work of these things!)

Well, between Don's travels for work.....

Then the dreary, cloudy, soggy weather we experienced for nearly 2 weeks prevented Don from following through with my birthday wish.  Bummer.



However, when we saw that yesterday was predicted to be mostly sunny AND 79 degrees, we decided we just had to do it.  Don would set aside his agenda for completing projects around the farm, and I would pause from school year preparations, cleaning, and processing the veggies from the garden.




We would hike at Chimney Bluff State Park in the morning, enjoy a picnic lunch, then head over to Sodus Point to see the lighthouse and relax on the beach.





 

And, a glorious day it was!!  I want to share with you, my followers, some of the beautiful sights and moments we (Grace, Rosie, Don and I) captured with my camera.  Definitely a place we'll be visiting again!!



I'll try to keep this to my 10 favorite photos, but please forgive me if I go over by 3 or 4!

Mac, fetching a log.  The water is so clear and blue!

My favorite hiking partners in a unique-looking tree.

Hiking towards the bluffs.

Grace captured this seagull on the point of this cool geological feature!






Keep Scrolling....I definitely went over my limit, Folks!  But, you just have to see...

The point from a distance.  Pretty awesome view!

Another beautiful sight captured by Grace!

Looking back at the beach from the pier...

The dogs had a blast swimming.  I wasn't sure how Tig would feel about the rougher, deeper water, since his only swimming experiences thus far have been splashing around our little pond.







Turns out he LOVES to swim - I believe he thinks he's a lab, too!

My beautiful artist!  I hope she will paint one or two of these pictures for me...

A sweet little family on the beach was flying this colorful kite.

And, of course, we couldn't end our day without our little tradition.....

You see, I grew up spending many, many weekends traveling from my family's home in Chester County, PA to the Chesapeake Bay area, where we went boating, crabbing, fishing and water-skiing.  On the way home, we always stopped for ice cream at this great little Mom-n-Pop place called, "The Real McCoy".  Up until a few years ago, I was still stopping there with my own kids.

So, when we saw a little ice cream place that resembled our traditional haunt, I looked at Don.....he looked at me, and.....

You guessed it.....

YUM!!

Thanks so much, Don, for a very lovely birthday!!