Sandy Pond 4th of July!

After a good day in Cincinnati, we headed North to Sandy Pond.  Sandy Pond is essentially the hub of the Youmans/Whipple families.  My great-grandparents (on both sides) built cottages on Greene Point on Sandy Pond long ago.  My parents both grew up spending weekends here in their lake houses which are about 400 feet (?) apart.

When I was a kid, I'd come to Sandy Pond for 5 weeks (or more) in the summers and on big holidays most of the family is here.  This year was of course no exception and we were able to see Aunt Maureen and Uncle Bob, Chris (cousin) and Lindsay, Aunt Linda, Amy, Grandpa Whipple and Grandma Youmans so far.

We started out our 4th of July weekend on Thursday with a trip to the Oswego County Fair.  Oswego County is mostly rural and their Fair includes many barns of livestock competitions and, more importantly, a demolition derby.  We always enjoy the carnage of this event:

 

After the derby was over, we played a handful of fair games.  A bit of skee-ball and a racing game between Dad, Shannon, and I.  Shannon took the victory...

 

On the 4th of July we had a big family breakfast complete with pancakes, eggs, and bacon at the Whipple cottage.  This is delicious in part due to the fact that we have a cast-iron griddle that is rumored to have been seasoning for 100 years.  It's also delicious because Uncle Bob/Aunt Maureen are great cooks.  Lastly, it's delicious because we put hotdogs in the pancakes.  All I'll say about this is, don't knock it till you try it.

 

It was a bit cold so we hung around the house and inevitably ended up at another big family meal... the spiedie meal complete with baked beans, potato salad, and spiedies.  Spiedies are a little hard to explain... here's the wikipedia. 

 

 After essentially gourging ourselves all day, we enjoyed a rainbow to cap off a beautiful 4th of July.