Ampersand Preview

Ampersand:

It is my favorite place in the world to be.

I spend most of the year looking forward to this week filled with fun, family, relaxation, and God's beautiful creation. Every time we drive in, I feel so blessed to be able to experience this place.

For those of you who don't know, Ampersand is my family's Adirondack lake retreat. I grew up going there every summer and haven't missed very many years in my lifetime. It takes a lot to keep me away from Ampersand.


This year, Ryan was old enough to experience some of the anticipation as well. We looked at photo books of previous summers there and talked about all of the fun things we were going to do. He could not wait, and neither could I. After a long drive from Nana & Papa's house, concluding with a 30 minute dirt road, we finally caught a view of the lake and Ryan said "There's Ampersand!!!"



We had an incredible week up there. Last year, Ryan was still a bit too young to participate in many of the activities and seemed to get a bit worn out after our 10 days. This year was perfect. He loved every second of it. He glowed in the attention of extended family and took in just about everything Ampersand has to offer. He swam in the "cold cold water", hiked the trails, fed the chipmunks, cheered on the triathletes, went for boat rides, tried tubing, jumped on the trampoline, and cranked home-made ice cream. It was definitely a week to remember.


There are way too many pictures and stories to include in one single post (it would take me all day), so I thought I'd do a series instead. After all, a week like that deserves lots of attention!