These last few weeks...

...have been a whirlwind to say the least...

Here we are driving back to Western NY with our extra passenger

...who loved looking out the windshield...

and eventually fell asleep - WITH his sunglasses on :)

We spent a couple days at my Uncle's Pond in Albion

I went to my cousin Kaitlin's baby shower, too

LOVE this picture of Malacai and Great Gramma laughing together

After a fun-filled weekend at the 4th, we headed north to Toronto...

Andy and I decided not to eat any American food the entire week. It was SOO fun!

Here we are at a Greek restaurant (see the Lamb and Chicken going?)

...a hilarious note left by housekeeping at our hotel...

My first time having Muscles in North America (this was at a Belgian pub)

Vietnamese food!!!

Our yummy dishes with our mango and avocado smoothies....sooooo good!!!

We went to Toronto because Andy attended a Narrative Practice conference. He had a great time and learned a ton. I spent my days at coffee shops (and I watched the World Cup in the hotel room). It was a really fun and relaxing week. We loved exploring the city and trying new restaurants in the evenings :)

After returning from Toronto, Andy drove back to B. Falls to work :( and I headed with my family to VERMONT for family vacation. It was SOOO fun!!!

This is the vacation home we rented

Always have to stop at Dots (love the towing tally)

My sweet nephews!

LOVE this picture of them jumping on the bed with their hats backwards...ha!

We got to see my cousin Adrian at his house an hour north of our cabin

We relaxed and enjoyed feeling Mar's baby move

Craig looked like a homeless guy in the park :)

cutie Cai by the waterfall

Whenever you are with the Pierces, you know you'll play games:

(this game was at a local coffee shop)

Here's me, Craig, and Linco in the cabin playing Battleship

...with Pierces you also have ICE CREAM!

Here we are at the train station waiting for Cosheem!!!

Cosheem lives in NYC and came to stay with us over the summer since he was 6 - he's a brother to me and I love him! Our first stop was this farm to pick up raw milk - SOOOO good!!!

He enjoyed meeting his nephews

Of course if you're in Vermont, there's bound to be:

CHEESE!!!! Lots of cheese tasting

I loved this old cheese factory.

Going back to our roots (not really) we stopped at the Pierce town grocery

Here's the boy pretending to sit on Uncle Craigy

I love that in this photo you can see Mar, Craig, and me!

isn't nature the perfect playground?

We loved swimming in this river

Mooms and Cosh hugging

We drove up Okemo Mountain. Mom is strong holding a ski lift in her hand :)

Then we hiked to the tippy top

And climbed an old fire tower

Where it was SUPER windy, but a really nice view!

We went to this cool shop where 75 local farms sell foods they make on their farms

Loved Craig hanging out the window everywhere we went:)

SWIMMING!!!!

Enjoying the local towns...

We ended our trip with a stop at one of my favorite Diners: The Blue Ben

I had an amazing meal! Southwest Benedict:

Corn muffin topped with poached egg, salsa, avocado, black beans, and homefries. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!!!

...It was a great way to wrap up family vacation:0)

Shortly after returning to Beaver Falls, I left with three of my friends to scout an area of the Allegheny National Forest. We saw the following wildlife:

-a chipmunk

-a salamander

-a deer

-2 porcupines

-a bear!!!! It was slowly running across the road, but it looked at us and I saw its cute light brown nose :)

The weather was really rainy, but it was still beautiful. We decided to save space and weight, so we just stayed under a tarp rather than in a tent:

Wendy improvising without a bowl:

Eating a meal:

...one of the things I always do when I return from backpacking is "surveying the damage" done to my legs. I thought this one warranted a photo because we rock climbed, so I had bruises, and we bushwhacked it, so I had lots of scrapes and scratches too:

So that's what I've been up to the last few weeks. This is my last week before I start RD training, so I'm feeling the "panic" of trying to get everything done before my schedule gets much busier...