Bear Mountain State Park

Bear Mountain is about 45 minute drive from our house in Connecticut.

a view of the lake

walking to the paddle boats

Caitlyn had fun

we found a great walking stick for hiking up one of the paths

at the end of the hike

the whole family

Ice Cream Sandwiches

We had made chocolate chip cookies the day before or so.   So, when Jared made a homemade ice cream sandwich, Caitlyn of course wanted her own.

July 4th Sparklers

Since we had only received our stuff on the 3rd, the Independence Day holiday didn't really get celebrated properly (no parade, no grilling out, no fireworks).  I did however find our 4th of July decorating box, which had sparklers in it!

Caitlyn had fallen asleep early so Josh got some special time.

 Then I started playing with the delayed shutter function on the camera, trying to capture Josh writing his name.

 Then we started seeing fireflies.  Either we'd never been outside this late in Chicago, or our last house didn't have any because Josh was mesmerized.

We are here!

We finally made it and got the keys to our rental house.  Our stuff doesn't arrive till the 3rd, so for now we are just trying to enjoy the pool.