Life in the Slow Lane (The Pearl): June 8-14 Sheldrake House

"There is only one success...to be able to spend your life in your own way." -Christopher Morley

We love the Sheldrake area of Cayuga Lake. It's the perfect place for a little vacation or just an afternoon picnic. The area provides houses with lots of open yards and easy access to the lake. For these reasons we decided to go back to a house we stayed in last summer for our first family vacation of 2024. Kyle and his family decided to come for a week this time...more time to play, relax and enjoy life. We really don't do anything very exciting when we're together on the lake. We just spend time making wonderful memories, eating good food and taking it easy.

The weather could have been a bit warmer for swimming and boating, but we did have a few days to take in those activities. This week the temperatures are in the high 90s throughout the Finger Lake, so last week's cooler weather was much better. We had time to hike, eat, paint, eat, play games, eat, ride bikes, eat, explore, eat and enjoy each other's company. We even had one very fun day on the runabout.

We always have time to kill the first day before we can check in...this time we had lunch at the Ithaca Beer Co. and then rode bikes around the marina.

This house is perfect for us.

The boathouse, dock and beach are a lot of fun.

The best part of this house is all the outside space. Lots of room for the kids to play, ride bikes and use their scooters.

The living spaces.

Where all the great food is created.

The bedrooms.

Enjoying the yard.

Cora gave up her training wheels on this vacation. The best place to learn to ride without them is a grassy hill. She did amazing.

The kids had a great time riding their scooter and bikes.

Even the rain couldn't dampen the fun.

Just a bit of the wonderful food we enjoyed this week.

Kyle is the head chef, Brytanie, the kids and I are the sous chefs and Stan is the lead dishwasher....we do help him a bit.

We spent a lot of time creating art. When the weather was nice we painted outside. The view was amazing.

Some of the beautiful rocks that were painted this week.

One morning we hiked to Taughannock Falls. Everyone but Brytanie had been here before, but it is a favorite of ours.

It's an easy hike with a great payoff at the end.

Playing in and along the water was a lot of fun. Water temperature is about 63º so the wetsuits felt good.

We went to lunch at the Finger Lake Cider House one day. Good cider, good food, things for the kids to play with and we even got to pick fresh strawberries from the field.