Road Trip

We did a road trip while in New York upstate to see the church pageant at Cumorah's Hill in Palmyra, New York. 

Getting to stay in a hotel is the best as a kid! 

Actors in the pageant! I love how they make the stage right on the hill. Right outside the gates there are all these people protesting the Mormons and it is just amazing to feel the effects of the Spirit as you enter through those gates and feel at peace and safe compared to right outside when you feel terrible because of the protesters and the lack of the Spirit. 

Ellie was shocked, she thought these were the real gold plates!

All the kids sat pretty well during the show chowing down on candy and snacks! Late night for these guys but very worth it. It was a great experience to get to bring them here and see this awesome show. 

The next day we saw some sights. This was Joseph Smith's home.

Outside Joseph Smith's home, when I asked Ellie to smile for the pictures she said "Cheese, Nephi's house!" She was close!

We were all pretty hot and sweaty and gross, I thought we wouldn't get that after we left Houston!

That house is the Smith's larger house they moved to. In that house the mob came in looking for the gold plates and he had to hide them in the bricks around the fire place once and once in-between his sister who pretended to be sleeping. 

We got the special experience to visit the Sacred Grove and walk around there guessing where the spot was that the First Vision took place. 

Outside the Palmyra Temple. Great trip together, I'm really glad we got to do it!

Next we headed to Niagara Falls. What an amazing sight!

We took that boat ride and Ellie was so ecstatic to see a rainbow!! The lines were a hassle and it was so incredibly crowded but it was a great experience for the kids.

We got soaked and much better views of the falls from down here!

Ellie

Rachel

Colt and Livy

Maiden of the Mist! Good times! We drove halfway home that night and stopped at a hotel. Livy is the friendliest kid around and made a friend in the pool there. When she got out she told me "we were talking about having a play date and there is only one problem, they live in Canada." Yeah, I'd say that's a problem!

The drive back was beautiful!

July 2015 continued

More from our great weeks in New York! These magnetic tiles are their favorite thing to play with, nice creation Liv! There was also some smash brothers going on. Livy gets so into it and said, "I'm gonna give Sonic a whoopin he'll never forget!"

Collecting things at the bay! Perfect spot of these kids to explore, collect, swim and play!

Silken taking the kids for a ride on the Kayak!

Checking all the traps and seeing what treasures are in there!

Checking the crab traps on the docks! Colt loved being the big kid and hauling them up for the kids to see!

These two are the best of friends and silliest monkeys together, always laughing and being goofy!

We packed a lot of great times in the trip to New York! We got to go to a Long Island Ducks baseball game which had a fireworks show at the end.

We got some special treatment from a player on the York team who served his mission in Mom and Dad's ward. That was really awesome of him to let the kids in the dug out and get us the tickets, so we were cheering for the York team instead of Long Island!

The kids got a fun night with Poppy! Don't worry we didn't make him take them all by himself!

We spent the day at the bay today. Can't see the kids much but I just loved the picture of the bay today. 

Livy is always wanting to fly kites so we got some and gave it a try. It was a perfect kite day and they all had those kites up there with no problem!

Kayaking the bay!

It was such a beautiful day we hit the beach too!

How much cuteness can you fit in one wagon!!

Eric wasn't there with us yet so Ellie was taking over my bed, how do kids sleep like that!!

The most popular toy at Grammy's house is these building tiles, love them!!

Colt and his buddy Johnson!

Rachel and I had a little Ralph's date, so fun! She loves to sneak off and have one on one time. She's such a sweetie and so into taking care of the littler kids!

Sparkler fun

Could she get any cuter!!

Another great day at the beach water park! One trip to the water park made for a rough memory for Colt! We took a pair of flip-flops home that were the same as Colt's but happened to not be his we found out when we got home and saw his sitting there. Poppy told Colt the cops were going to come get him for taking them and that was it, he was hysterical! Grammy had to drive him back to the park and return them and talk to a cop around there to clarify to him that they wouldn't come get him! Poor kid!! He is such a rule follower, which I love but I felt so bad for him!

Dan does lots of swinging and everyone takes turns pushing. He was scratching his knees so Colt made a plan-push once, scratch once, push once, scratch once-it was too funny to see him taking over and doing it!