Uncle Sam's Tractor

Gus was pretty excited to see Uncle Sammy's tractor, but when Uncle Sam let him drive it, I thought Gus was going to jump out of his skin.  They drove around the yard for about 45 minutes.

Playing with Natalie

One of the best parts of going to NY in Gus' eyes is getting to play with his cousin Natalie.  They always have a blast at Kid's Territory (the local playground).

After a rough afternoon of playing at the park, Mom and Gus take a little rest on the sidewalk.

Leone Family Pictures

Jessica and Amando were in town for the baptism.  It was great to see them and hang out with the rest of the family too.

Jessica and Marlin

Godparents, Armando and Jessica with Marlin

Anne and Marlin

Right to left: Aunt Mary Jo, Gus, Marlin, and Nonni

Wild Animal Day at SF Library

The library had a guest speaker who brought some cool animals.  Gus really liked the Blue Tongued Skink.  He also liked looking for 4 leaf clovers outside of the library.

Blue tongued skink

Looking for 4 leaf clovers

 

Poppy's Hats

For some reason Gus found Poppy's hats.  I am not sure how it happened, but before I knew it he was modeling all of Poppy's cow boy hats.  It was pretty funny.

Marlin Pictures

I know they always say that the second child gets left out of everything so I want to make sure there are some pictures of Marlin from our trip to NY. 

Aunt Ingrid and Marlin

The Lake

We are truly blessed that when we are in NY, Anne, Eddie and Dorothy always welcome us to the the lake.  The boys love playing on the little "beach" with all the toys Anne keeps down there.  Gus just loves playing in the water and I am sure next year Marlin will too.

Even though it was pretty warm, Gus wanted to wear his wet suit.  He doesn't have those good Italian genes that produce insulation from the cold.

He liked looking at fish off the end of the dock.

 

Ferrara Family Pictures

Of course we spent a lot of time with Natalie and Sarah, but we also go some time in with Matt, Christine, Matthew and Stefania.  It is amazing how much little Matthew and Marlin look alike.

Right to left: Stefania, Gus, Christine, Marlin, Matt and little Matthew

Poppy trying is hand at feeding Marlin.

Empire Farm Days

Empire Farm Days is an annual event in Seneca Falls.  It is one of the largest farm equipment shows in the country.  We, of course, base our whole family vacation around these three days.  It is heaven for Gus.  He got to climb up in all the tractors, combines and other equipment that he wanted.  He pretended to be harvesting and all sorts of other things.  It was a blast.  Marlin slept through most of it this year, but wait until next year.

 

Fishing With Uncle Sammy

Gus had gone fishing with Poppy and caught 25 sunfish, perch and even a couple of bass.  But Uncle Sam wanted to take him out to catch a "big fish", maybe a Lake Trout.  We did finally catch one.  The kicker was when Gus was reeling it in, there was a lamprey attached to the trout.  Gus started to get a big head because not only had he shot two cans with one BB, now he had caught two fish on one hook.  Good memories!

Driving the boat

Reeling in the "big one"

The lamprey still attached to the lake trout

Gus thought the lamprey was pretty cool

Driving us home

Sharp Shooter

Poppy and Uncle Sam decided Gus was old enough for a BB gun.  Gus had been used to the idea of a "range" from our archery range at camp.  So we went over the rules and let him shoot it.  Uncle Sam had to saw off the stock a little so Gus could actually rest it against his shoulder.  He got the hang of it pretty fast and was very proud when he hit two cans with one BB.                                            

One Down

Two Down

Done