The Farm Trip

Grandpa Monkey, Bryce, Audrey, Jeremy and I drove out to "The Farm" in Western NY this weekend for a Shannon Family gathering. The car trip was mostly uneventful...except for Bryce getting carsick, as usual. I was also sick from some unknown virus/bacteria and had been running a very high fever prior to departure. Sadly, my illness lasted throughout the weekend, so I wasn't able to have as much fun and take as many pictures as I would have liked. Nevertheless, we all enjoyed our visit and Jim and Mary's wonderful hospitality!

The focal point of the gathering was the Vince and Lois Shannon First Annual Golf Tournament. Like any Shannon event, this one had its quirks. For instance, everyone was supposed to be in costume. Jeremy went as a golf pro, which is pretty funny once you watch him golf! Bryce really enjoyed the putting, but preferred to use the handle rather than the head.

The weather was pretty crummy while we were visiting, though we did have a few moments of sunshine to enjoy while we were in the pool. Bryce was very excited about swimming, but Jeremy was not...the water was VERY cold! They stood together on the top step for a while, but wouldn't go in further. Finally, Bryce decided he wanted to go down the slide.

Jeremy was less than thrilled, but did his best not to show it. He told Bryce to close his eyes and mouth, so as to not get a bunch of water in them. You can see that Bryce took this advice very seriously!

The water must have been really cold! Just look at Jeremy's face!

Bryce came up out of the water and started crying. It was way too cold for him to enjoy!

Later that afternoon, we took the "Gator" out to one of the ponds. We saw lots of frogs and birds and even went on a paddleboat ride. Bryce really wanted to go fishing, but we didn't bring any gear. Next time...

On the way back to the house, we stopped off and picked blueberries and raspberries for a snack.

As I mentioned before, the weather was pretty crummy. Twice while we were visiting, we had to evacuate to the cellar because the wind and storms were so severe. We also lost power for the better part of Sunday. This fact may have contributed to the food poisoning that almost everyone ended up with on Monday...and it certainly is the reason for the multiple flooded roads that we had to detour around on our trip home!