My fifteen-year college reunion was the first weekend in October.  As much as I love Houghton, I wouldn’t have made the drive all the way up there just to go to the half-day reunion.  Luckily, my dear friend Lisa lives not too far from our college and it had been FAR too long since we’d driven north to see her and her family.  I used to make the drive 2-3 times a year, after I’d moved to Baltimore and before Nik and I got married.  Lisa’s family has always truly been my East Coast family (starting when I was a freshman and a VERY long ways from home) and I spent holidays with them.  Lisa and her family came to visit us last year and so we were glad to finally make it to their house!  This was both Ellie and Mark’s first trip there.

Lisa’s house is on a lake so we spent Friday and Saturday enjoying the lovely fall weather both in their fun backyard and near the lake.

throwing acorns – a game that could have gone on forever! 🙂

just missing Lisa’s older two kids (Poor things, they had to go to school.)

Here are a few lovely scenery shots for you from Lisa’s neighborhood (thanks to Nik!).

The wind had made the lake super choppy on Friday but thankfully, we woke up to a lovely calm lake on Saturday morning.  Ellie and Mark went kayaking with Nik and C, Lisa’s oldest son.  Well, in theory that’s what happened.  In actuality, Mark screamed for all of his one-minute boat ride and then I took him out so we could take a walk and they could see the lake!

Saturday night, Nik even got to watch one of the resident beavers swim right by him.

The whole weekend, both girls enjoyed have a sister to play with! 🙂

We had such a lovely time with our friends.  Here’s hoping we don’t let another 4.5 years go by before driving up to western New York again!

(Coming up soon: Part 2- Houghton and Part 3 – sightseeing in Letchworth State Park.)