Cousins!

I have so many pictures of so many cousins on our cottage stoop. One of the best parts of summer at the lake is all of the cousin time. Last night we went to our last Spaghetti Night of the summer and then returned to the cottage for s'mores and croquet. 

I had to sneak in a picture of Sport. He is clean and brushed, after all.

Kate and Charlie have become great buddies. He and Will have also become great buddies, but their relationship involves more rough-housing. I'm not sure if it's more fun for the three year old or the eleven year old.

Vacavi in Conneaut Lake

Finally...a great little cafe in downtown Conneaut Lake. Not only is Vacavi darling, it serves great coffee and baked goods, and it changes the lunch menu daily. We've definitely gone to Vacavi more than anywhere else this summer. My only complaint is that everything on their lunch menu has meat and cheese. When we asked, though, they whipped up this delicious hummus wrap. Yum! My favorite so far has been the tomato soup.

Now, here is the best thing about Vacavi. They make donuts to order! Yes, fresh donuts made to order. You choose your topping (cinnamon and sugar or vanilla, chocolate or maple glaze) and any extras (sprinkles, brownie crumbs or even bacon). Look closely at the picture above and you'll see the little donut machine and fryer in the middle of the picture. I haven't tried it, but how good does maple glaze with bacon sound?! As if all of that wasn't enough, did I mention that it has a lake view?

My Best Vintage Finds of the Summer

I channel my inner Mike and Frank (American Picker fans, you'll know what I mean) each summer when I search through this crazy part of the country for hidden treasures. It's amazing what people have around here. Each year, my mom, aunt and I return to our favorite antique stores and also manage to stumble upon new places. A few of my favorite finds from this summer...

I love the colors on this Crawford County Fair poster. I found this at an estate sale, and the seller literally had to take it off of the barn wall to sell it to me.

I bought this stack of vintage pennants, and stuck in the middle was this Fairyland Forest pennant from Conneaut Lake Park.

This dog drawing was 80 cents. Yes, just 80 cents! Not only are there tons of treasures to be found, prices are great.

This last find just may be my favorite. I bought this at the same estate sale as the fair poster. This diary was kept by a young woman (I'm guessing in her early 20's) between 1936 and 1940. She lived in the area and mentions visiting familiar towns and places.

Kate found this small calendar tucked in the box below the diary. On it, the writer has marked dates when she received letters from two men (a '-' indicates one man, and a 'v' indicates the other).

She was quite the list maker. Also tucked in the box was this 'Date List' - a list of men who had asked her on a date. Number 7 says, 'the widower'. The list continues on the back of the paper.

I've warned my family to never sell a diary of mine at an estate sale (or anywhere!).

Will's View of Conneaut Lake

This is Will. Photographer extraordinaire.  He's been picking up my camera quite a bit this summer. Below are some of his fabulous pictures - the first two were taken in Pittsburgh and the rest were taken in Conneaut Lake.

We were looking back at pictures of Pip from four years ago. I love this post about my parents trying to name the puppy.

Conneaut Lake Park After Travel Channel

Guess what we did on Saturday? We volunteered at the Park for the Travel Channel's pilot episode of the park update! It was fun, exhausting and eye-opening all at once. I can't give any details of what we did because I had to sign very official papers swearing secrecy about the whole thing.
I can say that we went to Conneaut Lake Park at 7:00 last night for the big reveal. Watch this news clip closely.  We're on it more than once!

WICU12/WSEE Erie, PA News, Sports, Weather and Events

More Pictures from Pittsburgh

These are my Instagram pictures from our Pittsburgh trip. Above and the two below were taken on the Strip. 

The last picture (below) was taken at Carnegie Mellon University.

Beach Club Fire, Conneaut Lake Park

Yesterday evening we walked through Conneaut Lake Park to see the remains of the Beach Club. Firemen were still spraying water on the structure two days after the fire. Sadly, there were more people at the Park than I've ever seen. All just looking in sadness and disbelief. While this was going on, just a few hundred yards away, the crew from the Travel Chanel busily worked to finished up the pilot episode they've been filming all week about the park restoration. We peeked at their progress so far and watched as they used a remote controlled camera to film parts of the park.

Sad Day at the Conneaut Lake Park

We were out of town for a few days. I woke to messages on Thursday morning that the Beach Club at the Park burned to the ground overnight. By the time we got home on Thursday evening we could still see smoke from the smoldering remains. A very sad day for the Park.
Read this link for the official news of the fire.

Ben is 16!

Ben turned 16 earlier this week. I can hardly believe it! He's been in Conneaut Lake almost every one of those 16 birthdays. We celebrated with family and cake the day before and headed off on a quick road trip on his actual birthday.

There's a lot that 'I can't believe' in this post. We visited colleges. Will took the picture below of us exploring at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh.

We snuck in some other sightseeing as well. Pittsburgh's Strip District is an amazing area full of gourmet shops. We stumbled upon the most delicious cafe for lunch. Tucked behind Enrico's Biscotti is the store's small cafe where they make everything. I felt like I was in Italy. They even had barrels of wine that they'd made stored in the basement. Below the kids are in front of a cheese store, and below that, we're in Enrico's Biscotti Cafe.

Travel Channel Filming at Conneaut Lake Park

Poor, run-down Conneaut Lake Park may finally be getting the facelift it deserves. This week, the Travel Channel is filming the pilot episode of an amusement park makeover show at Conneaut Lake Park. We were signed up to volunteer, but the darn show ended up changing everything around and our shifts were canceled. We did next best thing and stopped by to check it out.

As far as we could tell, Monday morning was mostly spent filming 'before' shots. When we arrived around 1:00, the renovation on The Devil's Den had started. It looks like it's going to become a cave theme. Not sure how that's going to turn out, or if the 'Infamous Gum Wall' will survive.

The Devil's Den is one of only two surviving rides of it's type, though we're not sure what that type is. We think it's some sort of 'dark ride'. 

The only other action we could see was the construction of a haunted house on the Midway. We can't wait to see the results during Saturday's reveal.