Smash Day

 This week I got together with the girls to do some smashbooking.  I finished up the pages from out trip to Ithaca New York.  I love using all the maps, brochures and tickets in my pages.  I always have my husband ask for two of everything so I have something to smash at the end of our day.

 

I love TOMS!

Michael's birthday page

For Mother's Day Matthew and Sarah

 made me a smashbook.

On the first page they put our picture from last year and then I added a picture from this year.

Each year we are going to add the previous years and the current years pictures.  

Sarah made this side

Matthew made this side.

They are both really good at smashing!

Thanks for taking a peek at my pages.

Have blessed day.

Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

Our family spent a few days down in the Dominican Republic, celebrating our sons marriage. Here is a little pictorial review of the resort we stayed at.  It is called Dreams Palm Beach Resort .  You can click on the name to go see some fabulous pictures.

We stayed in a garden view/double room.  There was three of us in the room, so they provided us a twin bed.  The bed are only full size, but very comfortable.  The best part about this room was that it was air conditioned! They came in and turned down your bed each night and gave you the next days schedule of activities.   

All the rooms surrounded some very nice pools.  They had activities through out the day to keep people busy.  The water was very warm.

There was plenty of shade for you hide in from the strong Dominican sunshine. 

The pools had shelves so you could sit in

 the water and relax!

They had their own private beach.  You could borrow kayaks, snorkel gear, and sail boats.  We did some snorkeling right in the swimming area.  You can see some pics from that adventure HERE.

The best place to hide from the sun was under these grass huts.  The temperature was at least ten degrees cooler under here.  Did I mention it was HOT in the DR. 

 I thought I was going to melt.   

Another way to cool off was to drink smoothies from the bar.  You could swim right up and order a fruity drink.  Here I am double fisting some drinks to keep us cool.

That about wraps up our time at the hotel. Next time I will share some pictures about the wedding. 

 I didn't take too many pictures.  I wanted to be in the moment and not behind the lens.  

So I am patiently waiting 

for pictures from the photographer. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a blessed day.  

Buttermilk Falls, Taughannock Falls and Lucifer Falls

We spent another day hiking the gorges

 around the Ithaca area. 

During the summer the bottom of the falls are open for swimming.

 Here we are Buttermilk Falls State Park. 

Here is a view from the top of this set of falls.  This trail had 12 waterfalls along gorge.  This means we had to climb up many more stairs!

As we hiked farther down the trail, the walls began to rise and we were surrounded by all this beauty!

The sun was a bit harsh so my pictures are a little blown out.  But I wanted to try to capture the mist from the falls.  Can you see the stairs along the right side?  

UP UP UP is the name of game today!

Pinnacle Rock

One of my favorite shots, so beautiful!

 Next stop was Taughannock Falls. This was a flat hike along a river bed.  When you get to the end of the trail you see a magnificent 215 foot waterfall.   

This is a view from a platform opposite the falls.

On the way back Michael walked in the water. 

 It was hot and the water was very refreshing!

Our last stop of the day was Robert H. Treman State Park. They have a nice gorge trail but we were pretty tired, 

so we decided to just do the shorter trail along 

the rim of the gorge to Lucifer Falls.  

What a wonderful area to visit.  

There are so many more waterfalls to see.

  We may have to come back here someday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a blessed day!  

Wonderful Waterfalls

 We spent the day at a wonderful state park that is famous for its gorges and waterfalls.  We walked the 3 mile trail and climbed hundreds of steps.  My pictures just don't do this place justice.  It is a spectacular place. If you are near Watkins Glen State Park, you should go visit!

You had to go through a tunnel to enter the trail.

Step by step we climbed the trail.

We saw over 19 waterfalls along the trail.

We walked behind a couple waterfalls.

The river has carved out magnificent gorges.

The walls were covered in moss and ferns.

Yes the greens are really this bright!

We had a wonderful time in the park.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day!

Anniversary Trip

Boy, it has been a long time since I have last blogged.  We have been busy with outside projects, enjoying our pool and going to see our son get married in the Dominican Republic.

For our 30th anniversary we took a quick trip to Ithaca, NY.  Yes, it is a vacation hotspot!  It is a gorgeous area near the finger lakes.

On the way to Ithaca we stopped at the Corning Museum of Glass. It has been on my bucket list for awhile now.  We spent a few hours exploring the galleries and exhibitions.  Then we took a turn trying to make our own glass.

I read about this activity online and thought it would be a once in a lifetime experience.  Michael 

was game for doing "crafts" on our vacation.  

So we both signed up to make something.

 Michael was going to do the most "glass making", so he had to suit up to protect himself from the 2300 degree heat. 

The workshop staff got all the glass from the ovens.  But they did let Michael pull and twist his flower. 

 

 Now it is my turn.  I am blowing an ornament.  She pulls out my glass and dips into the colors I have picked out.

My experience was not as hands on as Michaels.  All I did was blow into a pipe and the girl did all the work.  

Here are our projects that we made.  They are unique and something we will remember from our trip.

  The cost for a professionally made flower or ornament was 25 dollars.  We paid 29 dollars "to make it yourself", so you are only paying an extra 4 dollars to get a glimpse into the glass making process.  From that perspective it isn't a bad deal.

But the quality of the product is kind of, let's say amateur.  Yes, I know we are amateurs, but I thought mine would turn out better since the staff did all the work.   

I think I would have liked to just buy a professionally made ornament.  Michael's flower turned out really cool and he got more of a real feel for how to make something from a blob of glass.

Now a quick recap about the rest of the museum.

You walk through many galleries that display both modern and historical pieces of glass.  

This is a glass mosaic.  There are 1400 glass tiles in one square inch, totally amazing!

 This diorama depicts a glass blowing factory during the industrial revolution.
It is interesting to see how they etched glassware.  The details are so pretty.

 
We learned all about the history of glass light bulbs, windows, windshields, lighthouse lenses, eyeglasses, dishes and the list goes on......

Over all this was a very interesting place to visit.  If you are a homeschooling family, I would definitely make it part of your art and history lessons.

Thanks for stopping by and have a blessed day! 

My next post will be about our visit to the 

many waterfalls in the area.