Sara and her kids visit

After vacationing in Kentucky, we left the bluegrass state on Sunday, July 21 and headed for Ohio to spend the night at Sara and Eric's.  The original plan was to take Eric to the airport Monday around noon so he could fly to California for a work conference leaving Sara and the kids in Ohio. But our plans changed a little.  Since we had the 12 passenger van and not wanting to leave Sara all alone in a new town (although I'm sure she could have managed), we decided to extend our vacation by convincing her to come to New York with us. Eric was a great sport and drove to NY Friday after work and spent the weekend out here. We had a great time!!

Here we go to NY.  Timmy had no qualms about telling Aunt Sara very loudly, "I CAN'T SEE.  YOUR HEAD IN MY WAY! YOUR HEAD IN MY WAY!"  Being the nice aunt she is, slouched down from Ohio to New York so Timmy could see the TV strapped to the back of the passenger's front seat.  Also if you count the white handle of the car seat in the middle row as Luke,  if you look closely you can see all 10 passengers. (back row Max, Alex, Sophia, Oliver, middle - Henry, Luke, Timmy,  front - Sara, Julia and Parker)

The days were all so fun they run together.  We played at our house, went to the spot in the mall the kids call the tree place, which is a place for younger kids to run around.  But I believe it was Wednesday, maybe Thursday we went to The MOST - a hands on science museum for kids. Here are Parker and Tim as robots.

Olive and Henry "digging" for fossils.

Group shot outside the museum.  (Oliver, Parker on Sara's back, Henry in stroller #1, Sophia, Alex pushing Luke and Julia, Timmy, and Max)

We ate outside Aunt Kathy and Uncle Dale's, which was great because it was so nice out and made clean up much easier.  Here are the babies with their 1st ice cream sandwiches.

Movie night at Aunt Kathy's.  We actually had two movie nights.  We watched Despicable Me and the next night Wreck it Ralph. It was nice for the adults, we could get our naps in before Scrabble and cards.

A Shook visit also wouldn't be complete without a trip to the zoo. So Friday, we all loaded up and took Julia for her first trip to the Syracuse zoo.  It was warm, but a good time. Here they are outside the white leopard exhibit. (l-r  Julia, Luke, Tim, Alex, Parker, Max, Sophia, Henry and Oliver)

The tiger we usually take a picture by was getting repainted, but the baby elephant was ready for snap shots!  (l-r Julia, Timmy, Oliver, Parker, Sophia, Henry, Alex, Max and Luke)

Eating popsicles before leaving the zoo. Ahh!

Saturday was also beautiful.  We headed up North to see Kathy and Dale's cabin, but first we stopped at a great fenced in park to play and have lunch.  Then we went to a small Erie canal museum that turned out to be very entertaining for all of us.  Here's Eric, Parker, Oliver, Henry, Alex, Randy with Luke, Max, Sara and Julia and Sophia right outside the museum.  Aunt Kathy was there too!

A life size diorama  of the Erie canal to learn how the lock and dams work. It was a huge hit with the kids and adults.

Parker and Max playing around.

There was also a display on block and tackles, Sophia and Henry are trying out here.

Alex and Henry are using the cranes.

Eric and Parker learn how the back of the boat directs it.  I didn't get my camera out at the cabin but we had a good time there - paddle boating, looking for raspberries, and taking golf cart rides.  We left just before the rain really began to pour.  Sunday the Shook gang had to head back to Ohio.  Just before that Alex left for camp, so that will be my next post.