Harvey's Lake 2017

Ah, the glorious annual getaway to our northeast PA lake house.  This year, it came just one week after the boys returned from Camp Birchwood.  Didn't slow them down!

This year will be remembered for several things, not the least of which is the most family members ever assembled!!  27 people and 6 dogs.  (Not all sleeping at the house, but still...)

Mur-ca!  We had an impressive array of patriotic shirts this year too.  And because the 4th was on a Tuesday, there were lake firework shows for 4 consecutive days!  Why Monday?  Don't know.

You know this happened.  Conner paddleboarded on the orange kayak all over the place, catching yellow perch, pickerel, catfish and bluegill. Read on to learn of a historic fish story.

The dock was busy throughout the day.  Swimming, kayaking, tubing, rowboating, etc.  Several new inflatables made for awesome games.  Winchester and Faith are concerned for Carson's safety in this pic!

Conner caught this handsome fella, then showed Daddy where another one was located.  "Wait!  The other one is guarding a nest of thousands of tiny babies!"  He dutifully returned this guy to the nest.

If you look closely, you'll see Carson sporting several life vests at once.  He has on six, to be exact.  And he entertained us all by jumping in from the dock and shooting up out of the water because of super-buoyancy.

The extended family is really growing.  Two little ones joined us for the first time this year.  Rutherford Marsh and Genevra Dalton (pictured here being expertly fed by Alex and Faith).

It is a challenge feeding such a crew.  The Lawrence Marsh family has traditionally offered a pasta bar for dinner one of the nights.  Reminds us of a picture from two years ago! Nate is pictured just behind Conner, and he brought 40 lbs of halibut he caught on a trip to Alaska.  One fish!

A few of the young NY Marshes families are cool with sleeping in tents out back.  That helps so much with evening elbow room!  This playset has been the highlight of many, many family photos dating back to when the NY Marshes were as young as these kiddos!

Closing in on elder-statesmen status, Daddy and Uncle Ted love the Lake like crazy.  Here they are on the 4th.  Daddy has an mildly patriotic shirt on, and Uncle Ted's is...stronger.

It is always a bit of an adventure traveling to the Lake.  This year we flew to and from Phili and rented a car. It was nice to return home in a new Impala.  Comfort and style, baby!

A big deal for the Marshes

 

 

Taking a quick break from summer adventure posts to offer some perspective on what seems like ancient history:  our family's adoption experience.  The Russian adoption story has reached the news again with highly political underpinnings.

 

We've watched over the last five plus years as international adoption numbers have shrunk significantly.  It is sad to think of all the children in other countries desperate for families, with prospective parents unable to bring them home.

 

 

It is pretty clear that we lucked out bigtime when you consider our timing.  You can see from the chart that we started the process of bringing the CNMs home just as the decline in Russian adoptions to the US began.  And they sure did plummet from there.  We had heard many success stories in the years leading up to our adoption experience, and many more unsuccessful ones after we were done.

Adoption is a complicated process that seems to be inextricably linked to societal and political issues.  It is difficult to legally create a family through adoption, and even harder when two different countries have to agree on legal documentation.  We hold out hope that Russian orphans will be given opportunities to grow up with parents, somehow, some way.