Rochester, New York - Dinner the first night

After a low key day, we met more of the family at one of their favorite spots right off Lake Ontario...Bill Grays.  Here I finally got to see my grandmother and the kids met all of their second cousins!  Wow, they all clicked so fast!  

Below, Dana is 11 years old, but a little smaller than Ella (age 9). Immediately everyone started comparing their size. They were obviously cousins in so many ways and got along great right away.  And Joey behind is 9.  Two years older than Easton but the two of them clicked right away as well and had so much fun.  

There is just something about family.  Michael and I haven't been to New York in 11 years and the kids hadn't met any of their cousins, but right away we all felt so comfortable and fit right in.  It was wonderful.

After dinner we walked down to feed the ducks and walk out on the pier.

Rochester, New York - Day 1

After sleeping in at the hotel, we spent late morning and early afternoon at my Aunt's house getting to see some family, including my parents, and catch up.  Then we headed over to the pier where we got to explore a bit and also ride on the oldest carousel in New York, the historic Dentzel Carousel built in 1905.

Traveling to Rochester , New York

We have tons of family in New York that my kids had never met!  My Dad grew up there, but joined the AirForce when he graduated high school, met my Mom in Texas and never moved back!  

Therefore, his entire family still lives there.  My grandmother, 2 Aunts, 1 Uncle and tons of cousins!  My kids have only met their Gigi 1 time when she visited Texas 2 years ago.  I've always wanted to take my kids there to visit so they could meet the whole family and this year it finally happened!

It's a long flight with a layover and instead of leaving at 5am, we opted for the 5pm flight arriving at midnight.  Our hotel was close to the airport so it was just a quick drive once we landed.  Overall the flights were both great and everything on time.  Asher was so tired and confused when we landed at midnight but otherwise, the kids did amazing the entire day!

Mimi and Papa decided to go too and were meeting us there so the kids were extra excited getting to see them too!

Encino Park Blue Sharks Swim Team 2017

This was the kids' second year on swim team and they had another great season!  We hope Asher gets to join them on the team next year.  They both made new friends and had fun swimming each day.

This was by far her best swim yet in free style beating her record by 2 seconds.  She swam so smooth and fast and took first place for her heat.  I was glad I captured the finish!

Even Daddy got to participate in the "parent relay" for the last swim meet.  All season long he wanted to and he finally got his chance.

The swim meets are always crazy and chaotic but also fun if you volunteer and embrace it!

Ella's favorite stroke continued to be breast stroke this season with freestyle coming in second.  She swam her breaststroke in the championship meet.

Easton's favorite stroke is free style, but he did good in breaststroke this season as well as long as he didn't DQ.  They were both the youngest in their age bracket this year, so they were competing mostly against themselves and will be ready to go next year as some of the older kids move up.

Asher wanted to dive off the big diving board all season long.  He literally waited and waited for the end of season party when he would finally get his chance.

He jumped and jumped all night long and I cracked up seeing him in line each time with the much older kids.