MX at the Gray Track

It's starting to get much cooler now so on a typical Sunday at the Gray household, this is what you see. You can find at least 3 or more bikes flying through the air & around the track. This picture is Jeff. I can actually watch him ride & take pictures without having a heart attack now. I'm slowly getting used to watching them fly through the air but I must admit...it's still hard for me to watch Jeff without being a little anxious. I will be a complete mess if Dylan ever decides to join the MX world.


A picture of one of the other guys that shows up to ride on Sundays. Like I said before, there are at least 2 or 3 bikes on the track on any given Sunday. Sometimes, there are quite a few more.

This is another one of Grandpa Gray's friends. I'm trying & working on taking better pictures of them riding. It's not a very easy task. The pictures usually end up pretty blurry but I got a handful of decent ones this day.

Grandpa Gray a.k.a. Pa Pa. Yeah...Dylan's grandfather still rides MX. There is a commercial that has a pro-mx rider talking about how his father & grandfather still ride. Every time I see that commercial, it reminds me of these boys. I don't think Grandpa Gray is stopping any time soon so there is a good chance that all three may end up riding together some day, ha ha.


Jeff taking a small break. I love watching Jeff ride! Although, as I mentioned earlier, I still get anxious, lol. Not as bad as I used to though. To my defense, he did break his hand when I was preggo with Dylan, lol.

After Grandpa Gray was done riding his mx bike, he took Dylan for a ride on his 4-wheeler on the trail through the woods.

Dylan rides his 4-wheeler quite a bit now. He even rode it down in the field where all the other mx guys were hanging out. I guess he wanted to hang out with the boys too!

Dylan has a blast playing outside at Grandma & Grandpa Gray's house. They have a HUGE yard where he can run & run! He usually does quite a lot of that too, lol.

Boys & Building

Dylan had a blast playing with his new Geotracks airplane track the day after his birthday. So we decided to get him an add on to his new track.

As you can see, Dylan is super helpful when putting new toys together. Both of the boys are concentrating hard & following directions to try to complete the track!

Jeff's little mini-me. When it comes to things that Daddy is doing, Dylan is always super interested and wants to do the same thing or help as much as possible!

Exploring New Birthday Toys

Dylan & Jeff's birthday party was on a Sunday which was the day before their actual birthday. Jeff stayed home on his birthday & the two boys spent the day exploring all the new toys & putting everything together!


The minute that Dylan woke up, he was already checking out all of his new toys. He didn't waste any time at all! We got home late the night before but we let him stay up an hour past his bed time to play for a little.

Dylan LOVES trucks, cars, bikes, etc. So he was super excited to get a few more for his birthday!

Playdough!!! Dylan loved playing with playdough. He got a huge "art kit" for his birthday that included tons of crayons, playdough, and finger paints. 

Dylan also loves books...especially ones where you can touch & move stuff, lol.

Dylan drawing with an Aqua doodle. You know a parent came up with this idea. I'm thinking it was one that was tired of cleaning up crazy messes, lol.

Just a picture of Dylan & Mommy...but I like it so I put it up too!

After the boys' birthday party, Dylan's car of the car cake was still in tact so Grandma packed it up for us and sent it home. Dylan had a blast disassembling his car a couple days later!

The Pine/Lake Wedding

I got to hang out with Kiersten while the rest of the girls got their hair done. She is my little princess! She loves her Aunt Brandi too. I always get adorable smiles & squeals.

Kristi (Maid-of-Honor), Nicole (Bride) & Kiersten (adorable princess) hanging out at the salon on the morning of the wedding.

Dustin, Aunt Joan & Kiersten. My brother was an usher in the wedding. Aunt Joan (bride's mom) carried Kiersten down the aisle.

Greg (groomsman) & Myself (bridesmaid). He was really tall next to me at the rehearsal but my very high shoes took me up a couple more inches, LOL.

Instead of having a ring bearer, Barry & Nicole decided that the twins, Kadee & Kaylee would be their ring bearers. They were quite adorable.


They did a sand ceremony (instead of a unity candle). The twins came up to pour their sand in & Nicole poured baby Kiersten's in for her.

Bride & Groom

or I guess I should say... Mr. & Mrs. Barry Lake!

The sand. This was very cute. It symbolizes their blended family.

The wedding party & parents greeting people as they left the ceremony. I love that Dylan was trying to give Nadine his bunny. He was a very very good boy during the ceremony but was glad to finally give Mommy hugs!

Aunt Joan & Kiersten

Nicole & Barry leaving the ceremony. Well...not really. They still had to come back for all of the pictures, LOL.

As you can see, I ditched my very high spikes at the reception and opted for some flat sandals. Dylan thought about going to dance with the girls but decided to play with trucks on the edge of the dance floor with the only other little boy, lol.

The garter & bouquet toss were entertaining as always. Well, at least the bouquet toss was. The flower girl caught the bouquet but another little girl wrestled her to the ground trying to claim it too!

Dylan slow danced with me at the reception, lol. I was pretty sure he was going to fall asleep on my shoulder. He also danced with Aunt Joan too. He was pretty wiped out by this point in the day.

Groomsmen dancing with the Groom?!? They were sharing some brotherly love, LOL.

Dylan & Daddy.

Dylan started waking back up as the reception went on (as you can see, lol).

I love this picture. The bride surrounded by a group of 2 year olds begging for chocolate, LOL. Dylan started chasing the twins around, trying to get their attention. It would work for a little and they would run, squeal, and have fun. Eventually Kadee would get side tracked or bored and Dylan would run by her again, trying to get her attention, lol.

Nicole & I at the reception. I can't believe she is married with a beautiful baby girl & 2 adorable twins!

Congratulations Nicole & Barry! Best Wishes to you both!

Ricketts Glen State Park

For our vacation this year, Jeff booked us a site at the campground in Ricketts Glen State Park. Neither of us had ever been there before, but we heard & saw pictures that made us realize that this is where we needed to go. This large park contains 13,000+ acres of absolutely beautiful scenery in Luzerne, Sullivan & Columbia counties. There are 26 miles of hiking trails to explore that include one very stunning Falls Trail that has 21 waterfalls ranging from 11 feet to 94 feet!

Lake Jean

The campground in the state park is located on Lake Jean. Our campsite was on the corner of a little peninsula. There was even a path down to the shore of the lake. It was so gorgeous there. The trees were already changing colors. The opposite shore of the lake looked vivid with an array of reds & oranges.

This is the view from behind our campsite. There was a rocky path straight down to the shore of the lake. Jeff enjoyed the close proximity to water very much, haha.

Ducks stopped by to visit at least once every day that we were there. They were obviously used to people. They hopped up on the rocks and climbed our path & stood about 5 feet away at all times. They wanted fed but we didn't cave, lol.

The Falls Trail

A little sidenote, I hate having my picture taken and hate being on this side of a camera. So at times, I just act like a giant goof & make the most ridiculous face ever.
This is The Falls Trail. We hiked the big loop on Wednesday starting at the top right of the sign. We saw 18 waterfalls on our first day of hiking. We ended up hiking to see the rest of the falls on Friday. It's hard to keep track of all the falls' names and what they look like but I tried my hardest, lol. I have a ton of video of all the falls too that I will add to this post later so check back.


Jeff perched on a log in a stream taking pictures. You can visit his flickr site below to see his final pictures from Ricketts Glen. He has quite a bit more on there than I have posted so go check it out: Click here!

Oh yeah... I want to mention that it was calling for showers & possible thunderstorms this day. As you can see from the picture, it was not dreary at all. It was extremely foggy all morning but eventually cleared up.

Onondaga - 15 feet

Jeff took beautiful pictures of all the waterfalls. It's hard to capture the essence of a waterfall but I think that this one shows it perfectly.

F.L. Ricketts - 38 feet

The entire trail is gorgeous. The abundance of huge waterfalls take a little away from the overall beauty surrounding the whole area.

Shawnee - 30 feet

Yeah that is a full-size fall tree laying in the falls. They never look that big in pictures but are huge in person!

Huron Falls - 41 feet
This waterfall was really hard to get pictures & video of because it curves quite a bit. Sorry for the stupid chatter & extreme shaking of the camera. I tried to cut that part out before I uploaded it but I must have forgot to actually cut it out, LOL.



Ozone - 60 feet

We actually ate lunch in front of this waterfall. It was awesome.
That definitely beats eating lunch pretty much anywhere else.  Can you think of better scenery, lol?

The trail was awesome. It is, however, labeled as a "difficult hike" which is understandable because the terrain in rocky, can be slippery, and descends steeply on both Ganoga & Glen Leigh sides. The scenery is well worth the effort though! It's definitely a place to tread softly & cautiously. There are warnings at all of the entrances of Falls Trail making you aware that it is a difficult hike, wear proper footwear & be in good physical condition.

R.B. Ricketts - 36 feet

B. Reynolds - 40 feet

Wyandot - 15 feet

This is at Waters Meet facing the direction that we just came from. It is at the bottom point on the big loop where the water from both Ganoga & Glen Leigh side meet...hence the name Waters Meet, haha.

A compass carving in one of the big rocks at Waters Meet.

Erie - 47 feet

(right)

Tuscarora - 47 feet

(left)

We climbed down a steep bank to stand in front of this waterfall. I'm not even sure how or what he is standing on, lol.

Conestoga - 17 feet

This is where the waterfalls start to get tricky, lol. There is so much water everywhere and it's hard to tell what they consider a "waterfall." Most of the big falls are labeled with wood signs but the others, you are left to guess, haha. I think I figured them out and I am going to try to post a picture of video of all 22 waterfalls.

Mohican - 39 feet & Delaware - 37 feet

As we were hiking, I wasn't sure if this was supposed to be one waterfall, two or three, haha. Anyway...I think I figured out that the first fall along the path is Mohican and the second fall I know is Delaware. Again...there is water falling pretty much everywhere so sometimes it's hard to tell where one ends and another begins.

Seneca - 12 feet

Ganoga Falls - 94 feet

This is the big one! It is hard to capture in one picture. It is huge! So here are a few more pictures & video of the biggest falls in Ricketts Glen State Park!


I was standing in front of the 94 foot waterfall, Ganoga Falls. It literally took my breath away. There is so much wind & mist that come off of the falls. I'm not sure how long I stood there. I was mesmerized!

This is Jeff standing in front of Ganoga Falls. You have to walk right up to the bottom of the falls. It is breathtaking! It's hard to put a 94 foot waterfall in perspective in a picture. As you can see, Jeff looks so small in front of a wall of water and it's hard to think that there is another 80 feet above the picture, lol!

From the bottom of Ganoga Falls...


From the top of Ganoga Falls.... Yeah, that's right. We had to climb 94 feet up the very steep, rocky trail, lol. The log that I was sitting on at the bottom looks like a small stick from up there!

Cayuga Falls - 11 feet

Oneida Falls - 13 feet

Mohawk Falls - 37 feet

Also...an example of the steep, rocky steps!

At this point, we finished our hike for the day by heading down the Highland Trail which connects the two sides of the Falls Trail at the top. We packed up the cameras for the day because it had started to rain a little bit. It had actually been calling for thunderstorms and rain earlier in the day. Fortunately, we only saw rain when we could have cared about it least. We were so hot & tired from the hike back up the mountain, the rain kinda felt good, haha. We headed back to our campsite on Lake Jean and Jeff made us some coffee & a yummy dinner! It was a fantastic day!

The Beach Trail

This trail runs along the lake from the camping area around to the beach and is about a mile long. It's a real easy hike which is exactly what Jeff & I were looking for after the long, difficult hike the day before. Needless to say, we had a few sore muscles, lol.

I could not believe how vivid all the colors in the trees were. It was not that colorful where we live. It still isn't that colorful here! It was beautiful.

Out of all the awesome pictures that Jeff took, this one is my absolute favorite. I can't even really explain why but it just is. I love it!

This is the beach at Ricketts Glen State Park. It is obviously quite deserted during the "off season."

Around the Campground

It was a little chilly at the end of September in the mountains of PA. I definitely enjoyed the fire! Friday morning was so cold & windy. It was a reminder that summer is gone!

There was so much color everywhere. It was awesome to just explore the campground itself. It all looked like something out of a movie.

Adams Falls, Evergreen Trail & the bottom of the Falls Trail

Adams Falls - 36 feet

On Friday, after tearing down & packing up all the camping gear, we decided to hike to the remaining waterfalls. At the bottom of Falls Trail, there is a parking lot for the general public. Also next to that parking lot is Adams Falls & the Evergreen Trail. We saw 18 of the falls on Wednesday & the remaining 4 falls on Friday. If you go to Ricketts Glen, don't forget about Adams Falls which is on the opposite side of the road as Falls Trail but is one of the coolest looking ones!


This is not part of Adams but is the runoff of the pools below Adams Falls. This whole area did not look like Pennsylvania at all! It was amazing! Like I said...don't forgot the waterfall on the other side of the road. The whole area is very unique.

Evergreen Trail

The Evergreen Trail is 1 mile of easy hiking that takes you through an old growth forest. There are huge Hemlocks growing & fallen that are estimated to be more than 500 years old. There are more pictures from the Evergreen Trail on Jeff's flickr link at the top of this post if you want to see more from this trail.

The Falls Trail (from route 118 up to Waters Meet)

Murray Reynolds - 16 feet

Sheldon Reynolds - 36 feet

Harrison Wright - 27 feet

Over the week, Jeff & I saw all 22 waterfalls in Ricketts Glen & hiked a handful of other trails as well. It is one of the most beautiful places in Pennsylvania so if you ever get the chance to go check it out...please do! It is well-worth the hiking! Sorry it took me so long to post these pictures.  We actually went on vacation in the last week of September but it took me a little bit to sort through everything.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures & videos. Be sure to check out Jeff's flickr link at the top to see more!