Fetters Family Visit!

The second week of August, we were thrilled to have my sister, husband, and niece Chloe come visit us for the week!! We had been looking forward to this visit ever since we last saw each other in Columbus, Ohio 7 months prior!  Taj was super excited to see his favorite cousin Chloenkers, he couldn't wait to play cars with her and wrestle!  We had a FUNfilled week with them, so much adventure and nature! From extreme tree climbing, boating, paddle boarding, and waterfalls to mediums, wine-tasting, bonfires, and sunset dinners, we had an adventureFULL time!! 

They arrived Saturday evening, and received a picture-perfect welcome into our little town of Bemus.... concert on the lake and a gorgeous sunset!  We ate dinner and caught up.  The boys stayed up to greet Chloe and the second she walked through that door, the 3 of them disappeared into the game room to play until almost midnight!!

On Sunday, we gave them the tour of our town via golf cart, bikes, and then later went boating and swimming in the lake, finishing with a dinner at the Casino!

On Monday, we took them to Peak n' Peek Ski Resort and pool area where we beat the rain for a whole hour or so, and enjoyed the pool!  Chloe had a blast going down the slide.... Taj was too little and chicken for the slide :)

once the thunderstorm and pouring rain chased us away from the outdoor pool, we moved in to the indoor pool, jacuzzi, and playground.  We headed home for lunch and naps, and when the boys woke up we took the Fetters on a forest hike around Long Point State Park.  The kids had fun skipping rocks, and picking wild blackberries along the way:

On Tuesday, I introduced my sister and Chloe to our favorite grocery store, Wegman's, and then later in the afternoon had a girl's wine tasting evening with my friends Amanda and Kristina.  We took my sister to 21 Brix Winery (same place we took my parents in June), had drinks at a new wine bar Brazil and dinner at Forte in Jamestown.  FUN!

On Wednesday, we went on an all-day excursion to Elicottville and Niagara Falls.  We first stopped off at Elicottville, another ski resort 40 minutes north of us, where they have an adventure park during the summer season.  Chloe, Bryan, and even Brad went extreme tree-climbing!  It was like rock climbing with the harnesses, except they climbed very, very tall trees! Chloe is so athletic that this was a piece of cake for her, she made the grown men look like boys, HA!

even the boys attempted the toddler version of the tree climbing!

next up, mountain coaster!!!

Then just in time for sunset, dinner, and light show at the Falls.... it was my sister, Bryan, and Chloe's first time crossing the border into Canada too!

On Thursday, we totally slept in since we got home WAAAY past our bedtimes the night before.  My sister had heard about my medium experience I had in July, when I visited Lilydale (a spiritual gated community 20 minutes away from us, that houses the best 20+ mediums in the world).  She believes in spiritualism and is intrigued with mysticism, readings, psychics, angels, and all sorts, so before they flew in I had arranged an appointment for her to get a reading down by the very popular John White.  After lunch on Thursday, we took the kiddos over to Lilydale to explore, while the daddies had their guy time.  My sister went to her reading appointment, and I took the kiddos into the fairy trail forest, where we hunted for fairies and explored all their houses!  It was very cute and magical for them!  We even visited the pet cemetery!

Playground time....

After our spiritual afternoon at Lilydale, we made dinner at home and then roasted smores over our bonfire by the lake!  Chloe was looking forward to having a bonfire all week long!

On Friday, the guys took the kids on a canoe ride around the lake.... and Chloe and Bryan both tried paddle boarding as well!  I was planning to take Petra paddle boarding too, but we ran out of time :(

Friday night drinks at our house with some of our friends, and then a fabulous fancy shmancy dinner at french restaurant La Fleur.  We had a GREAT time.... you couldn't put a price tag on the lovely culinary and drinking experience we had, ha ha

sister and husbands prom pic!

On Saturday, the last and final day of our beloved Fetters visit was spent once again boating and playing on the lake, and even a sister-only sushi lunch and wine tasting (again) at local wine merchant.  The babysitter came over again to watch the kids and put them to bed.  The kids had their homemade pizza and movie night, and Brad & I took Petra and Bryan out on the bikes for sunset drinks at the Hotel Lenhart, then dinner at the Italian Fisherman. You can see just how rosy the sunset was!

A funny thing happened on the day the Fetters were supposed to head to the airport...... Brad convinced Bryan to stay another night to finish the AV wiring for our TV system and speakers.  So, Bryan and Chloe were able to switch their tickets to Monday!! Woo Hoo!  An extra day for the cousins!!  Unfortunately, my sister had to be back so I ended up just taking her to the Cleveland Airport.

What a wonderful week we had with the Fetters!  Lots of girl time for my sister and I, cousin bonding, and even brother-in-law bonding for the guys with all their late nights at the boathouse!  I really wanted Chloe to do things she wouldn't normally do out in California, and that's exactly what we did!  Bike riding, forest hikes, swimming in a lake, boating, paddle boarding, canoeing, tree-climbing, seeing waterfalls, and a bonfire!  Mission accomplished!  If we had had more time, I would have liked to take them to the beach at Presque Isle in Erie, Panama Rocks, Chautauqua Gorge, Alleghany National Forest Red House beach, and Midway Amusement park..... but, we'll just save those for next time!  I'm so happy they enjoyed their stay, and even though the weather was less than perfect, we had incredible sunsets and at least my sister and family now know what our town looks like and the kind of life we live!  Somehow, I feel very grounded now that my whole side of the family has been out to visit us.... i feel like I have come full circle and can just enjoy our life now and not have to worry about proving anything.  It was awesome to hear my brother-in-law and sister say they would like to come back and spend the holidays with us another year, and go skiing!  And we also discussed Chloe coming out for the summer once she is old enough to travel by herself.  The best part of my sister's visit was that the cousins had a tremendously good time together, they were inseparable!  Chloe taught the boys how to play hide and seek, and lots of other games.  She was such a good helper with the boys and loved reading to them every story time.  The boys got so spoiled having Chloe here, and like we usually do when we have visitors, we stayed up partying and playing EVERY night!