Monday, July 7, 2008

The best weekend

I love the 4th of July. It's one of my favorite holidays - I love the time spent with family & friends, eating great food, playing in the sun, and celebrating America. It reminds me (again) how lucky we are to live in this great country!!

Cory and I spent the night of the 3rd having a pre-celebration. We went to my favorite sports bar (they have the best chicken wings ever!), sat on the grass of a huge park at listened to the Syracuse Symphony perform live, and watched a spectacular fireworks show right over Owasco Lake. We spent the 4th relaxing and playing with friends. We had an afternoon BBQ with our friends Jonathan & Jaime, and their adorable new daughter Brooke. We played badminton, ate waaaay too much food and generally enjoyed our day off from work/school.

This is Cory perfecting his badminton serve. I caught him at the perfect moment!








On Saturday, we went to a place called Sonnenberg Gardens. It's a 1887 Queen Anne-style mansion, complete with 50 acres of gorgeous grounds. It was owned by a rich guy named Thompson and his wife Anne. We went on a waking tour of the estate and got to hear all about the grounds and the family who lived there. It's now owned by the state of New York, but it was fun to imagine what it must have looked like 100 years ago! It was very pretty, so of course we took a bunch of pictures. I'll just post a few of my favorites.


8 comments:

Andrea said...

I never went to Sonnenberg while I was there- I wanted to, but companions didn't. I'm glad you had such a great weekend- we did too. Only one more fourth of July and you'll be home!

MiriamR said...

That is a great photo of COry!!!! I can't believe you caught that. I want to go back east so badly. All your adventures make it look so great to see all the historical monuments, not like the west. Anyway thats all. We miss you guys.

Heather said...
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The Jones Family said...

Sounds like a wonderful way to spend the 4th! Makes me wish we all still lived close enough to walk to USU stadium and enjoy the fireworks there. Loved the pic of Cory! Miss you and glad you had a happy holiday!

Karrissa Winward said...

What a cool place, glad you had a good 4th!

The Carpenters said...

Hi Sarah,
This is Cathryn Halliday Carpenter. I saw your blog on Brooke's. We are living in Massachusetts - so not too far! We're actually going to the Cumorah Hill Pageant next week, most likely! It would be so cool to see you there! It sounds like you guys are really enjoying the area.

The Carpenters said...

Some of our friends that we haven't seen forever are going, so we wanted to go up and see them & the pageant. We are probably going up on Friday and then camping overnight in Palmyra. We'd love to see you. Maybe Friday night would work?

Lincoln and Alisia said...

those gardens are beautiful and I LOVE that bad mitten pose pic your hubby flying through the air.