boating at Uncle Al’s

We go to ‘Uncle’ Al’s (he’s the uncle of a friend of Andrew’s from work) one day each summer in August to enjoy boating and relaxing on Cranberry Pond, which is–literally–a stone’s throw from Lake Ontario. When we started, there were no kids, and some of the couples weren’t even married yet. We were carefree and only worried about how many times we’d gotten to tube or water ski. Now, the littles outnumber the adults easily and it’s all arms, legs and lifejackets all over the place.

I was curious to see how long we’d been going to Uncle Al’s, which led me to this post–from TEN YEARS ago! Apparently, we went the summer moved here. I hadn’t remembered that. We even brought Andrew’s sister, Abigail, along on that trip. We didn’t go last year (obviously, COVID) but we did go in 2019 with Maelle when she was only a month old.

Speaking of Maelle…there she is on her first tube trip! (Right-hand tube with the blue hat.) She didn’t last long, but I was glad she was brave enough to try. The littles took turns riding before we stopped for a swim break, during which Maelle had to be held–naked–over the side of the boat to pee. Poor thing had been holding it for so long! It might be the only thing she remembers from that day…

The day at Uncle Al’s typically begins with boating and lunch, followed by time spent relaxing on their deck. With all the little kids running around, I’m not sure there was a whole lot of relaxing (!!), but the good views and good company make up for it. After dinner, we all loaded up for a sunset cruise. (This is actually a ‘small’ crowd–we were missing a family of five due to illness!)

The boat chugged slowly around the lake and Maelle loved being up front watching for other boats and ducks.

This girl loves the water–pool, lake, ocean–and I love showing it to her. Growing up, I was never more than a couple hours from an ocean, if not closer, and being this far away might be my biggest ‘trade-off’ for making Western New York our home. Yes, we have the Great Lakes and Finger Lakes, but they aren’t quite the same. I do, however, want to give our local ‘beaches’ a chance, especially as Maelle gets older.

Anyone have any WNY beach/lake recommendations?