la festa italiana 2026

i've mentioned numerous times that my favorite end-of-summer tradition is visiting our local italian festival over labor day weekend.  it's especially important to us since it's where we went on our very first date back in 2004.  i can't believe this year is 22 years since we first went together! 

we went three times this year and had a good time eating and sight seeing.  we tasted lots of stuff, and met up with grandma and grandpa as well as some friends too!

let the countdown begin for next year's festival!

love, laurie

. . .

previous trips to the italian festival: 

2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

checking out a new splash pad

a brand new splash pad opened nearby and noah had a good time checking it out and getting soaked with grandma one day after school!

love, laurie

more birthday celebrations for noah!

noah sure has had a lot of 4th birthday celebrations this month!  

we celebrated on the day of his birthday by going to lakeland and red robin.  then, we had a birthday party for his friends in the neighborhood at grandma and grandpa's house.  this past weekend we had yet another party at our house for our family and friends.  needless to say, we are worn out from all of the birthday celebrations.

love, laurie

blueberry picking and playing at lakeland orchard

in addition to picking sunflowers at lakeland on saturday, we also picked some blueberries for grandma and grandpa to take home and we rode a bunch of rides.

love, laurie

sunflowers at lakeland

we took a trip to lakeland on saturday to see the sunflowers in bloom.  noah was thrilled to find his favorite pink tractor back out in the sunflower field.  grandma and grandpa picked some sunflowers to take home too.

love, laurie

a family trip to the zoo

on sunday we took a trip to animal adventure zoo in new york with our family.  the last time we were there was on noah's first birthday, and it's really hard to believe that was almost 3 years ago.

we had a nice time visiting all of the animals and playing on the brand-new ropes course.  noah was particularly excited about the giraffe, bears, tigers, and kangaroos.  

on the drive home we stopped for dinner at bingham's restaurant and noah finished off the trip with a piece of pie for dessert.

love, laurie

celebrating the fourth of july!

we celebrated the fourth of july at our house with a picnic on the back deck.  it was nice to have a weekend off work and to celebrate with good food and family!

love, laurie

saying hi to butterflies

over the weekend my dad attended the annual butterfly release.  he came home to us with extra butterflies and we had a nice little ceremony of our own releasing them near the flowers.  noah was especially happy that one landed on his finger and then his leg!

love, laurie