Noel's vacation with Grammy and Grampa

Noel came to visit us for 10 days in early June while Paul and Michelle went to Scotland and England to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. We enjoyed our time with Noel, even though some of our days were rainy. Eric and Moose, Cathy and Nicky all came for a weekend visit. Noel enjoyed meeting the dogs, and playing board games, during their visit. We chose a beautiful, not too warm, sunny day to go to the Bronx zoo, before our weekend visitors arrived.

It was a belated celebration of her 6th birthday.

Before our weekend visitors, we took Noel to a Butterfly Sanctuary in Deerfield, MA. on a rainy day. There are over 3500 butterflies and moths in this marvelous place, filled with wonderful flowers, trees, and tropical plants that are home to butterflies and moths from around the world. We spent a lot of time there before and after our lunch. Noel was fascinated, and was able to see some butterflies leaving their cacoons. Two of our favorites were the Cairns birdwing, a beautiful green butterfly, and a beautiful irridecent blue butterfly from South America.

We were able to take Noel to Lake Ossipee to enjoy some swimming, and playing in the sand.

She loves the beach and building sand castles and collecting rocks. She wanted to carry them up the 80 stairs to the house. We suggested she build a small rock garden, which she thought was a great idea. She placed her rocks near a tiny maple sapling and some clover, near a shrub in front of the house. We will leave her rock garden in place with her name and date on a rock in the garden.

Memorial Day Weekend at Lake Ossipee

We enjoyed a "five day" weekend at Lake Ossipee, and were able to visit with all the cousins at their cottages. The weather was excellent, even though black flies and mosquitoes were present. Our sun was blocked from view on Monday, when we learned that the smell of fire in the air was the result of 50 forest fires burning 100 miles north of Montreal, Canada. The smoke resulted in an abstructed view across the lake for the day.

Monday evening we did have a sunset glowing on the lake, and the "fire clouds" were beginning to weaken. We learned that the smoke traveled as far south as Albany, NY, and Cape Cod, with northern Maine, NH, and VT experiencing heavier smoke, and smells.

This is our view on sunny days, when the wind is not blowing the waves across the lake toward us. The Ossipee Mountains are in the west. Barre had taken this picture on a previous visit.
For those who are not familiar with our location on the lake, we are on the "high banks", and walk 80 steps to reach the water!