We left the Poconos this morning. It was pouring. Another year, another wet road trip home.

And post-Poconos, Tessa was so exhausted she spent almost the entire ride home sleeping. As usual. Half the time in my lap…

…and half the time in Michael’s. Love her.

We’re already suffering from Pocono withdrawals. Wish we could have stayed longer. And can’t wait to go back next year.

We woke up early to a gorgeous, gorgeous day. It was perfection.

We all went out to breakfast at a little diner in town, then returned to the farm to enjoy ourselves. Several of us wandered down to the pond again, with the dogs in tow.

Tyler attempted (again) to get Miller to swim, but really only succeeded in getting him to stand in the water–but it’s a start.

The water was smooth and sparkly all day long. So beautiful.

Tessa reveled in some more off-leash time.

Back up at the house, Hunter engaged in some “conversation” with the ladies on the porch.

We all gathered back up at the house and started out on a hike.

First down the dirt road…

(The dogs were in Heaven)

…then into the woods…

…and eventually back to one of our favorite spots by a beaver dam.

An hour or so later, we had returned to the house, and decided to take our traditional group photo. We usually take it on the last day before we leave, but Nina had to leave a day early, plus we didn’t want to chance getting rained out like last year. Gotta take advantage of the good weather while you can!

We cooled off in the shade of the porch for a while. Michael captured this cute shot of Miller lying on the porch. What’s funny is that if you look closely in the background, you can see Tessa looking at the camera, too. :)

My brothers headed down to the pond for some fishing…

…while Michael took Tess out in the paddle boat. Later in the day, my mom and I took her out, too. She was so good, just sitting in between us. She loved it!

I told Kara to relax and I put the baby back in the front pack for a bit. He sucked down a bottle in the gazebo, then had some bonding time with grandma.

After a long afternoon in the sun, we retreated to the house to get cleaned up for dinner and, once again, hang out on the porch with some wine and beers.

Hunter chilled in his bouncy seat.

We ate a bit dinner of burgers, hot dogs, beans, and salad. Then, we couldn’t resist going back down to the pond. The boys fished while several of us savored the beautiful evening from inside of the screened-in gazebo (BUG FREE, it’s genius).

Tessa cuddled with my mom…

…while Michael spent some more time in the kayak.

With a beer, of course. ;)

It was an awesome, awesome day. Exactly what we were hoping for with this trip to the Poconos.

What do you get when you gather 11 adults, 4 dogs, and a baby in the mountains for a weekend?

Our annual trip to the Poconos, that’s what.

Day 1 in the Poconos proved to be a bit… rainy. And it felt somewhat familiar.

When we first woke up, it was still decent outside, so we took advantage and spent some time walking around. Trevor and Kara had to take a ride to a nearby town for some errands, but Hunter stayed back with us. I strapped him to the front of me in his carrier and about five minutes later, he was snoozing.

Before he and Kara left, Trevor and I posed for a pic with the baby.

A bunch of us on the dock… Tyler, Susan, my mom, me, and Marie.

Marie and Tyler even got out on the paddle boat for a little bit.

Miller experimented with “swimming.”

We relaxed in the screened-in gazebo down by the pond. This was after Hunter had passed out. Look at little Tess… she was really good with the baby. Normally, she gets really jealous when I’m holding him and is constantly bugging me, and while she did have a few of those moments today, she was mostly well behaved.

Speaking of Tessa… she was nervous about walking out onto the dock, but that wasn’t enough to keep her from doing it altogether. Instead, she walked really slowly, and with a funny stance–all of her legs wide apart, as if she were making sure to steady herself. It was hilarious.

In the afternoon, it really started to rain, so we all took cover and spent the rest of the day hanging out under the covered porch up at the house.

Hunter kicked back with his grandma (look at how big he’s getting–good lord!).

We watched it pour.

A bundled up baby took another nap.

And the dogs were cuddled…

…and passed out.

In the early evening, we all retreated to our respective rooms for a while. Everyone relaxed a bit and showered before meeting back up at the main house for dinner. The guys enjoyed beers while us girls had some wine and cheese.

While dinner was cooking, I took the opportunity to take a few snapshots of Hunter while he was in a really alert/playful mood. His big, wide eyes… love it!

We enjoyed a group dinner (all 11 of us!) of flank steak, and a salad made entirely of vegetables directly out of Susan’s garden.

After dinner, the fun (see: drinking) continued, as we all sat out on the porch and talked for hours.

Meanwhile, Miller slept on a dirty boot…

…Hunter’s toy got stolen by a big bear…

…and Tessa gave up on waiting for Michael and I, and found a place to relax on her own. This was a chair with a pile of folded up blankets on it in the dining room. I have to emphasize that she RARELY does this. Typically, we have to be sitting down for her to relax. Not only that, but her favorite place to relax is with us–lying on our laps, in between our legs, etc. So the fact that she sought out a place to make herself comfortable means she was really, really tired. :) I guess all of that off-the-leash time and fresh air exhausted her!

Weather is supposed to be much better tomorrow…

Every year, when we make this trip down to Pennsylvania, we stop at right about the halfway point to get frosties. We also stretch our legs, let the dogs out to the bathroom, etc.

Well, now that they have vanilla frosties, Tessa gets to indulge a little bit, too.

Conveniently, the small frosty cup is the perfect size… FOR HER ENTIRE FACE.