Our Cuddle Kid

I just wanted to post some adorable and memorable pics of our old man kitty Cuddles! He's been with us for so long, he's our first child and all the kids have known. He's 19 years young and still is able to climb up and down the stairs looking for the boys when they aren't where they are supposed to be. His golden years consist of eating, drinking, litter box, and nap time with lots of snuggles in between from all 4 of us!

He recently got his summer trim and he has definitely been enjoying it during this heat wave!

Fun in the Sun

Before the "heat dome" set up here in western NY, we all took a picnic at Clarendon falls for lunch on a day the boys had off of school! We were the only ones there so we set up in the shade right by the beautiful falls.

Of course the boys had to get into the creek and check out the rocks!

Later the boys enjoyed a competitive game of badminton in the back yard as the sun was setting.

In early May I got my veggie garden in! I started several tomato and pepper plants from seed, and already had garlic growing from last fall. I added carrots, beets, marigolds, kale, cilantro, spinach, and lettuce seeds! The deer have been nibbling on the bigger plants so I recently had to set up a wire fence around it.

My peonies were beautiful when blooming! I cut several bouquets and had them inside to enjoy.

Nick took a solo trip to Oklahoma to take care of some family business, so we sent selfies while he was away.

On a nice sunny afternoon I went with my friend Christina to a secret place where we sat in camp chairs with music and snacks. The hours flew by!

And on June 11 I turned 38 years young and CHOPPED my hair off! Took off a total of at least 12" for a great summer cut.

My First Aurora

I'm late to post, but just wanted to throw out my 2 cents on the recent solar storms resulting in powerful auroras being seen all over the US! For the first time in my life I was able to see these and even more amazingly I caught pictures on my camera!

Since moving to western NY we have tried many times to head north to Lake Ontario shores for a glimpse at the aurora, always disappointed that we saw nothing. Well this night I knew we had the best chance we would get, and when I saw reports from the state start coming in I knew it was time to head north!

We grabbed the kids around 10:30pm with some warm blankets and coats to go up and see what we could. As we walked out the back door to get into our car, I looked up and saw a strange stringy cloud. I watched it and quickly realized it was not a cloud---THAT was the aurora! Directly overhead from my backyard. The set the excitement and we all piled in the car to find a darker spot. We watched the colorful "clouds" dance as we drove north about 15min.

We claimed a dark spot on the beach and let our eyes adjust, but you could see the swirls and ribbons in the north and overhead. The colors were definitely not like in the pictures--evidently the camera can pick up more than our eyes can. However we did see hues of pink mostly. 

It was neat to watch them appear and swirl, then disappear slowly. We stayed about an hour then the kids were getting bored so we headed back home. How exciting to know we saw the aurora finally! They say we are entering a very active period for the sun, and should expect much more activity to come. I'm here for it!