My life with boys: Cousins and boats and ice cream and FUN

Juliana, Harrison, Jameson, Alex, and Jonathan!

We're in Fairport, NY, which is outside of Rochester. This is a beautiful little town on the Erie Canal, and we've really been enjoying our time here. Alex is having a blast with his cousins--he hasn't asked me once to play Star Wars with him!! Jameson loves watching the big kids, trying to steal their toys, and exploring this new place with new toys to put in his mouth.

We've taken a boat ride on the Erie Canal, we've gone swimming, we've had ice cream (along the Erie Canal!) and we've heard an outdoor concert (and more importantly, played on the playground).

Christie, Stefan's sister, had a friend willing to take on all five kids at once! So the adults escaped and went (where else?) to a biker bar with great BBQ and then a coffee shop. How's that for a great combination of activities in one evening?

I am so impressed with Rochester (in general) and Fairport (in particular). It's such a great community. Rolling hills, a canal with plenty of parks, "cute" development (or re-development) of the areas right around the canal (coffee shops, restaurants, ice cream parlors, and yes, even a dog biscuit bakery), and... I'd be remiss if I didn't mention WEGMANS. Wegmans is an amazing grocery store--it really puts grocery shopping on a whole near level. I took advantage of an opportunity to go shopping--on my own--at the largest and best Wegmans near Christy and Carl's house. It's definitely a fun experience. If we lived close to one of them, I can see it being a date destination for Stefan and I. In one area of the store, they had chefs making things at different counters (seafood, for example, or beef) and you could pull up a bar-stool, have a glass of wine, and buy an appetizer or even an entree to eat right there. Christie also said that they have Friday night kids' movies. The adults can gather, have a glass of wine and try new food--and the kids are occupied with a movie. (come on... would a grocery store in Ann Arbor please start doing this??)

So, bottom line, this is a great place to live or to visit.

(note: we also stopped at a Wegman's just north of Baltimore, close to where my aunt Pat lives. We walked around in awe and had a very hard time narrowing down what to eat! Just in case you are curious, I had a made-while-you-watch Caesar Salad, Stefan had sushi, and Alex and Jameson had bagels and cream cheese.)

The other memorable part of this section of the trip has been the time with family. The four older kids are getting along amazingly well. Their ages are 3, 5, and 7---so Alex falls right in the middle. I have never, ever, seen a group of kids get along so well! Alex just fit right in to the mix and they play, play, play all day long. Of course, I firmly believe that the Lutzer kids are some of the best kids EVER---no small credit to their parents (more on that in a minute). But somehow this little band of four kids is having a great time.

And I really enjoy talking with Christie and Carl---and seeing how they parent and how they run a household. My head is spinning with ideas to implement in our own household---checklists to post for the rush of kindergarten mornings, ways to bring more problem solving and math activities into the house (Carl is a math professor), and ideas for mealtime rituals. These two are amazing people--and amazing parents--and I really can't say enough good things about them!

I'll talk more at a later time about travel and time for reflection... but during this part of the trip I started reflecting more on parenting and what I could do better. It is the hardest--yet the most important--role that I have. Am I parenting to the best of my ability??

Okay, on to my father-in-law's favorite part of the blog... the pictures!

Here are a few pictures of our time here, compliments of my brother-in-law Carl.

My boys and I: