Ithaca

 First of all, let me start this post by saying, WHAT WAS I THINKING????  After visiting the Palmyra sites we headed to Ithaca and here we decided to go camping...CAMPING!  Like I said, I really was NOT thinking when we made the reservation a couple months ago.  Camping...mid July...8 months pregnant!!!!  That first night was HORRID!  We were losing daylight fast and we had to get the tent up quick, which got us sweating good.  Either that or the fact that it was 90 degrees and extremely humid...I was dripping!  Getting the kids to bed was another story.  Katelyn screamed for what seemed like forever saying that she wanted to snuggle, which I was not going to comply with.  The kids were complaining they couldn't sleep but they did, of course, eventually settle down.  I was shocked that I was able to fall asleep at all.  But, not for long, I was up at least 4 times to use the restroom.  Then, it got a little chilly in the middle of the night because of our wet bodies.  The kids slept in, so that was good, but I was ready to hightail it home the next day.  We did still however need to explore Ithaca.

The Cornell campus is very similar to Duke and Princeton's architecture.  But they do have beautiful gorges and waterfalls surrounding and going through it.

 

 It was really hot that day and we had to do a bit of bribing to get the kids going.

 Kate has a new obsession

 and Jake's obsession with cheap ice cream continues

 We stayed at Robert Treman State Park (part of the Finger Lakes) where they have this place you can swim right next to the waterfall.  Pretty cool!  The kids loved it too.

 Rachel was brave and jumped off the diving board a couple of times.

 Love those faces!

 The grilled corn master :)  We were not much in the mood for hot dogs (at this point we had enough eating out junk) so we had lots of fruit and veggies for dinner instead.

 But of course what is camping without s'mores...or cookies and marshmallows.

 And believe it of not, we stayed the second night.  Why?  Who knows?  BUT, it was 100X better.  A lot cooler, no humidity...and the kids went to sleep in seconds.

The next morning we did a hike of Buttermilk Falls, which came recommended by a couple of friends.  For some reason I had it in my mind that it was a walking trail...not a step master hike.  It about killed me.  I did take it extremely slow and it was very beautiful.

And thus ended our fabulous family vacation!  I think we put a good 1200 miles on the car.  The kids did fantastic with only a few movies, road trip bingo, window stickers, and the Phantom Tollbooth audiobook.  We made a few extra stops for Katelyn, who made it all the way accident free :)  I sure loved spending this quality time with my family, and we made some great memories!!