June, July, August… the good months

Yay! Summer is almost here! As each new month and season comes I am always faced with the memories I have of Gracie. Somehow each month stirs up the emotions and memories of our times in 2011-2012 because this was our last year with Gracie. That year was filled with good times, bad times and some very scary times. But I can say that June, July and August- the summer months were filled with good memories and good times. These were the months that we got our happy little girl back. Most of the beautiful pictures and videos we have were taken during this time. Gracie was receiving chemo and it was working. She was laughing, talking, walking… I mean running ☺ and she was acting like a 1 year old again! We were able to be home in between treatments and everything was going as planned. We were doing fun things as a family and spent so much time in the Adirondacks, trying to enjoy family, friends and life that summer.
One of our first trips that summer was soon after Gracie was diagnosed and discharged from the hospital. We were asked to visit a friends camp at Piseco Lake. Everything was very new to me and I was a very neurotic mom (more so than now) at that point. I was afraid of everything that could possibly make Gracie sick- germs, bugs, not being near a hospital, etc. With some convincing and a lot of hand sanitizer we went. I was so nervous about everything, but it went away when we got there and were welcomed by friends like everything was normal. At this point our life had changed, we were not a normal or typical family anymore- we were a family with cancer. But being around friends and family takes that away and made me and my family feel so much better and normal. Geoff and Luke took off on a boat with the boys and Gracie and I stayed back with the girls. I thought she would be tired and would love to go on a walk, but she did not want that! She wanted to be free and crawl/walk/explore the camp. It was an awesome sight to see after what she had just been though and diagnosed with. We left Piseco and headed home that night. I will never forget our drive home. Both Luke and Gracie were tired and a little cranky. I put in a CD and Justin Timberlake’s “Baby, Baby” song came on. Geoff and I sang as silly and loud as we could- Gracie and Luke were hysterically laughing at us and wanted more! I will never forget that moment, those smiles, those laughs <3. Our second trip that summer was to Daggett Lake near Lake George. My brother came home from Hawaii to spend some time with us. So Uncle Ken, Mimi, Grandpa, and all 4 of us headed up to Daggett Lake for a week. The camp we stayed at was perfect. It was perfect in the way that it offered tons of family time. This camp had no cable TV, no phone- just time to talk and do things with our family. We hiked, took walks, swam, had fires, laughed, ate and played with the kids. I remember Gracie running around the living room in the camp. She would run circles around the coffee table, keeping us busy and entertained. We also headed in to Lake George for an evening. Walked around, shopped, watched the boats, listened to music and headed out to a nice Italian restaurant. We were lucky enough to get a table on the balcony of the restaurant. I have a great memory of Gracie sitting in the high chair eating, laughing and entertaining us all, then getting down and watching and waving to people from the balcony. At night all of us would always be gathered in the living room and even though this camp did not have cable TV it did have a small TV with a VCR and some movies we could watch. I find it ironic that my kids chose to watch Lion King over and over and over… “Hakuna Matata, It means no worries for the rest of your days…”. These are some pretty important words that we tried to live by at that time and need to be reminded of every so often. We all left that vacation singing that song for quite some time! Our last vacation of the summer was a long weekend up to a friends camp at 4th Lake in Old Forge. Our families joined us at this beautiful place and we settled in the first day on the dock, enjoying the sun, company and watching the 5 cousins together. The next day Hurricane Irene hit and we were confined to the indoors, but we still had fun! Again, family time to talk, play games and interact together always makes the best memories. The next day you wouldn’t have even known that a storm had hit. The lake was so calm and peaceful- not even a ripple in the lake. I know that Geoff and Gracie had some precious together time early in the morning at this beautiful place. I have so many memories of Gracie at this camp- on the dock, climbing the stairs, walking on the porch and stopping to kiss the person on the other side of the window that was waving to her! It is such a beautiful place with such great memories we continue to head back each year, but without our Gracie…. While we were there we took a family photo of the Lawton’s because all of us were there. Cooper may not have physically been there, but if you ever see the picture and look at Aunt Kara you know he was there and arriving soon! It’s a picture we’ll never be able to recreate or take again when they’re older, but I’m so thankful we had the opportunity to take it. It’s funny how we didn’t know what was coming in the months after summer and still chose to have these great trips and memories with our families. We all know what happened next when September came. So on that note I want to leave this blog feeling happy, remembering good times and reminding everyone how great and special the summer can be with your family. With school ending very soon and summer almost here please take the time this summer to do the things you love to do with your family- camping, swimming, bike riding, boating, hiking, going to the beach, parties, enjoying the sun, laughing, playing…. Making memories with your loved ones. I am planning on doing all of this- so you may not see another blog until September! Have a wonderful and safe summer ☺