Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Paul was gone for a week to Singapore. He arrived home on his birthday with gifts for the kids. Rachel received a dress from Singapore, the twins got silk pajamas and Spencer got an airplane that flies around his room. Don't you love Paul's birthday candle? It was all we could find (and I wasn't taking all four kids to the store!)

Rachel in her new Singapore dress

Caitlin and Courtney in their new silk pajamasHappy Birthday, Paul! The kids were so glad to see their Daddy!

Visiting the Whitmer Farm and Harmony

Saturday, we headed back home. It was an extremely rainy day. Luckily, we had plenty of umbrellas! On our way, we stopped at the Peter Whitmer farm in Waterloo, New York which served as the location for many important events in the early days our church. Much of the Book of Mormon was translated there, the Three Witnesses were shown the plates in a wooded area on the Whitmer Farm, and the Whitmer home was the location of the organization of the Church. We also stopped in Susquehanna, Pennsylvania (formerly known as Harmony.) In Harmony, several sections of the Doctrine and Covenants were received and much of the Book of Mormon was translated. There we visited the Priesthood Restoration Site where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the priesthood from John the Baptist. We also braved the enormous potholes full of water to go to the river where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were baptized.

The path to the Susquehanna River (no one remembered to bring a camera to the actual river)

Here's one of the many "potholes" full of water we had to drive through

on our way to the river path.

All of us entering the Whitmer Home

The sister missionaries saying goodbye after a visit to the home where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized.

Palmyra

On Friday, the family headed to Palmrya. Unfortunately, Paul had to work in the morning so we left much later than everyone else. But Rachel and Spencer were able to go with the earlier group and see the Joseph Smith Farm, the Hill Cumorah, the Sacred Grove and the Grandin Building where they first printed the Book of Mormon. Paul and I arrived with the twins just in time for dinner. That night, we stayed in Rochester and the kids had a great time swimming in the little pool.

Oops! I put the pictures in the wrong order. Oh well! Here's the kids swimming in the hotel pool.

Dinner at the Chill and Grill.

Madeline and Rachel wander through the Sacred Grove

The Sacred Grove

Abby, Camille, Logan, Madeline, Rachel and Spencer in the Sacred Grove

Rachel and Spencer enjoy the Sacred Grove with Grandma and Grandpa

The family (without us) at the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center

New York, New York

On day 3, my parents volunteered to watch ALL the grandkids so we decided to take Mike, Jana and Grandma into New York for the afternoon. The weather was rainy and awful but we braved the elements to ride on the double decker bus around Manhattan. During one particularly horrible downpour, we all went inside the bus but Mike, Jana and Paul returned to the top of the bus once the rain slowed down. After the bus tour, we ate dinner at Gallagher's and went to Shrek on Broadway. We had a great time, thanks to my parents who kept our kids entertained while we were gone.

The Empire State Building
Times Square

Mike and Jana experience the sights and sounds of New York on the double decker bus. They especially got a kick out of the honking. If you don't move immediately when the light turns green, you get a ton of cars honking at you (Paul demonstrated for them.)

Paul enjoys the view through his rain splattered glasses

Cute Grandma tries to protect herself from the elements.

Meanwhile, Mom reads stories to the grandkids

Grandpa also gets in on the storytime action

Crayola Factory

On our second day with the family visiting, we went to the Crayola Factory. After all the driving we did the first day, we were thrilled to go somewhere so close by! The kids had a ton of fun being creative and so did some of the adults!

Mike with his blue smurf made from model magic. Look at cute Camille in the background!

He's got the whole world in his hands

Cute cousins making model magic creations

More fun with Crayola stuff!

Caitlin modeling while everyone else was playing with model magic!

Drawing on the sidewalk

Our chalk artists at work

Visit to Lancaster and Hershey

For our first outing with our visiting family, we headed to an Amish Farm in Lancaster and Hershey to enjoy Chocolate World.

Rachel, Dad, Caitlin, Courtney, Spencer and Grandma at Hershey

All of us at Hershey's Chocolate World. Even the air smells like chocolate in Hershey. Mmmm!

Caitlin, Courtney, Paul and Spencer visit a cow grazing in the pasture.

There's my Rachel with her new braces!

Spencer loves looking at the animals

Aren't Caitlin's blue eyes absolutely beautiful?

Courtney loved the donkeys

Mike and Jana and their cute kids

Do we look related?

Grandma and Dad

Recent Cell Phone pictures

Spencer and Courtney at the bus stop today
Courtney at Spencer's soccer practice
Caitlin at Spencer's soccer practice

I admit it's been several days since I last posted but it's been a busy couple of weeks. A few highlights:

• Rachel had a chorus concert last week. She did a great job and was one of 6 students selected for a small ensemble part. Unfortunately, when it was her turn, the girl she sang with hogged the microphone and we couldn't hear Rachel at all. Oh well!
• We had a wonderful weekend because our niece, Camille and her boyfriend, Aaron came to stay with us. It was so fun hanging out with them. Camille is doing a summer internship at the National Institute of Health and Aaron is in his last year of dental school. We hope to see them again this summer.
• Last Saturday was booked solid. We had a primary activity, Spencer's soccer game, Spencer went to a birthday party, we all went to Friendly's for lunch, some people went on a bike ride and we went to a graduation party for the high school grads in our ward. It was a busy but fun-filled day.
• We have been extremely busy with Rachel and Spencer going to swim team every day, Spencer's soccer and Rachel's basketball practices plus our normal things like piano lessons and activity days. Soccer and piano are about to end for the summer so things will calm down a little bit. I can't wait! I feel like all I've done is drive kids all over the place lately.
• I should be doing my chores, so adieu! More to come later!