the river

For over 50 years, my mom's family has owned a cottage on the Allegheny River. It is affectionately know as "The River." Not that there aren't 500 other houses around it that share the river. It just is what is it. My mom's uncle bought it when she was a kid. We spent a lot of time there as kids. Now I'm taking my kids there. My uncle owns it now. 

Back in the day it had an outhouse. I remember when we got an "indoor" half bathroom. And it was probably around 10 years ago that we got a shower. As kids, we would always "bathe" in the river. Just in the past 5 or so years has a full indoor bathroom (shower and all) been added. The weekends are always happening. Several of my cousins and my sister live in the Pittsburgh area. So they help keep the place going. I love the generations that we see there. And it's kind of weird that our parents were my age when I have most of my memories there. 

We came home from Timber Wolf late Tuesday (which is a whole other adventure to tell you about). Spent Wednesday in New Martinsville returning trucks, 4-wheelers and trailors. "Rested" on Thursday. And took off for The River Friday morning. We came back Sunday night. The kids were asleep by 7:30 and we were in bed at 8:30. Some serious re-coop time is in order!

This is our weekend in review.

Millie has been with my parents for the last 6 weeks or so. Her stint with them this summer has been shorter than most. They spend most weekends at The River and Millie is a favorite among everyone. She's such a good dog. We brought her home this weekend. She's officially getting old. She has her first lump on her leg. And she's SLOWING down.

Thank goodness Daddy is now around to swim.

Gary Pap and Millie hanging on the hidden rock.

Sophie chilin' in the canoe.

The majority of the kid's time was spent playing Play Doh or swimming.

We went tubing again. In these TINY tubes. Great for kids. Not so much for adults.

Sophie & Mommy

Ted & Daddy

Ben picked up a little too much speed, crashed into Ted and they both took a spill. Ted cried for about a minute and then got right back on.

My cousins have a small brewery going on there. This was a bottling assembly line. According to most, they actually have some pretty good beers.

A little nap action in the camper

And some napping on the chair. Gary Pap actually took a longer nap than Sophie.

More Play Doh.

A little camp fire time after baths. The other little boy is my cousin's son, Charlie. All 3 kids had a great time together.

Most mornings you can find someone sitting here on the porch. Note the trailer on the other side of the yard. That's the other place you go in the mornings.

Playing in the tent

John put his trailer in the back yard several years ago after he lost his river spot down the road. Around these parts, he's known as "Mayor John." He hosts the morning crowd with coffee, folding chairs and good conversation.

The view Ben and Ted had from the tent they slept in.

We all caught up on our reading. Sophie was really behind on People magazine. I think she's ready for the current issue.