Upstate New York- Part Three

Thursday was spent in Niagara Falls, Canada.

We went way out there in our Maid of the Mist steamboat!


It was an incredible experience to be so close to Horseshoe Falls!

On Friday we traveled to Palmyra to see the Church History Sites.


It was so peaceful and quiet in the Sacred Grove.


Being together with family made it even more special.



Later we went on a boat ride on the Erie Canal.


Ben liked observing the murky water from the deck.




The Strong Museum of Play ended our sight-seeing adventures.
Even the dads enjoyed themselves!


Aren't optical illusions so fun?




I thought I was going to melt from all the cuteness!

There was a miniature grocery store inside the museum.

There were aisles and aisles of fake food to choose from.

To complete the shopping experience,

you checked yourself out at the cash register and picked up a receipt.

Hannah, Samantha, Lauren, and I went through about five times.


Matthew, playing the giant xylophone in the Sesame Street section.


I always wanted my picture to be taken with the Berenstein Bears! :)

Upstate New York -Part Two

We began our second day by looking at some cute gift shops in Corning.

This pic of Mom and Matthew was taken in a cute little toy store.

Lauren and I also have some tacky photos (see top of blog).

I figure, if my mom is allowed to post embarrassing photos of me,

I'm allowed to post some of her wearing a skunk hat, right? :)

Matthew's shark hat is pretty cool too.

This picture was courtesy of me, Jessica. :)

I'm working on the photography skills...

We ate lunch at an adorable New England cafe.

This is Dad with his prize! Yay Dad!

He won a blue glass pitcher after the glass-making show.

This glass museum was SO COOL!

They had everything glass you can possibly imagine.

I liked the historical section.

Some of the things Romans did with glass is just incredible.

But the boys enjoyed the hands-on stuff.

Like the glass-breaking show. It was pretty exciting.

For dinner we picked Chinese!

Dad is teaching Ben how to properly use the chopsticks.

Look at the concentration on that kid's face!

We finished our day with another Waterfall Hike at Watkins' Glen.

Aww, so cute!!!

Around midnight the rest of our family finally arrived at the hotel.
We heard stories about flight delays, potty accidents, and blow-out diapers.

Mom was very glad to not have toddlers on this trip.

Upstate New York -Part One

Hi it's Jessica!

No one has posted about our vacation to upstate New York yet,
so I thought I'd take the initiative!

Our trip began when we boarded our flight out of Knoxville.

Matthew obviously didn't want his picture taken in the airport.

While on the plane Ben told us,

"This is the best day of my life!

I wasn't so enthused. I discovered that me and flying don't agree with each other...

After we got checked in to our hotel we went to Letchworth State Park.

When my dad's family used to visit our Great-Grandparents in New York, they would spend the day there.

Dad wanted to give us the experience too.

Isn't that waterfall beautiful?!

We couldn't capture it in a picture, but there was a gorgeous double rainbow over the falls!

You just have to love Lauren's style. :)

Benjamin's too. :)

4th of July

Happy Birthday America! Isn't it great to live in this country. I am truly grateful for the freedom I enjoy. Our family got together with some friends and had great food and fun.

I had the best grilled chicken sandwich. It was so yummy! You start with a bun, add the grilled chicken (marinated in zesty italian dressing), spread herbed cream cheese on the bun, place acacado on the other half of the bun, then for the real treat: add some sliced peaches. It was divine.

Our evening was not without some drama. Most of the kids were sitting in a group watching the fireworks. They were having such a great time...when suddenly a firework shot sidways. They screamed and ran for their lives. The firework had shot right at Benjamin. These are his shorts. Poor little guy! I was a little frantic for about 15 minutes until we checked him out. He was burned on his arm and the back of his leg. Fortunately, his shorts did not burn for very long. I felt so unprepared for something like this. I was so glad that our friends had a whole stash of first aid supplies. Time to get a first aid kit for my car!

You've got to love the smoke bombs! All the kids had a great time running through the smoke.

Brock shows Matthew how properly light a "punk."

I Am Afraid!

Have you ever been afraid of watering a plant? Well...I am, and I'm going to tell you why. This is one of the ferns that hangs on my front porch. I have two of them. I love getting these ferns every Spring. It's a real Southern thing. It seems that everyone around here hangs ferns on their porches.

For the second year in row, cute little birds have built nests in my ferns. Both of them. We love to see the tiny blue eggs in the nests. We have seen the eggs hatch, and the baby birds finally leave the nests.

Here is the scary part. I am afraid to water the ferns. I have a fear that the birds are going to attack me. They fly away when they see me coming, but I can see them watching me from the trees. I just know that the birds think I am going to damage their nests. My ferns might die for lack of water. I begged Brock to water them for me the other night. He MADE me do it (he did go with me,though). He said that I must face my fear. He told me that facing my fear would build character. What a mean husband (I still love him).

Happy Father's Day!

What would Father's Day be like without homemade cards and some of dad's favorite treats.
This year the kids picked out some of Brock's favorite snacks. He got BBQ Pringles, Snickers, Peanut Butter Captain Crunch, and Red Vines. He was so happy to have his favorite junk food all to himself. Actually, because he is such a good dad, he shared his chips.
Brock was double lucky to get a DVD he has been wanting for a while. I got him The Police 20 year reunion concert. He went to the concert in Salt Lake City last summer and had the time of his life. Now he has the concert to watch anytime he wants. We love you Brock! You are the best dad!

Jessica is not a nothing

When Jessica looked at my last post she said, "I am a nothing. I don't do anything." I want everyone to know, especially Jessica, that she is not a nothing. She has so many great talents. Recently, Jessica accompanied me when I sang at enrichment night. I was so proud of her. She is getting so good at the piano. She practices all the time and loves it. I think she is going to hate this picture, but it was the only one I could find of her at the piano. I love you Jessica. You are quite something!