Summer Lovin'--Vacation Part 3

After a great 2 1/2 weeks, we had to sadly end our vacation.  We realized that the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, NY would still be taking place, so we decided to go home the upstate NY route to see it.  And since we were right there, we had to do Niagara Falls.  Talk about a highlight! 

We finally made it to Niagara, NY--getting tired of the car already, so we got some halleluia cheers!

We only spent about 3 hours at Niagara Falls but it was all awesome!

We took a ride on the Maid of the Mist--talk about 30 minutes of sheer happiness and fun.  I don't think the grins left faces at all.  It was cool just how close we got to the falls and how wet we really got.  It was the highlight of everyone's day.

You can see a Maid of the Mist boat in the background on its way into Horseshoe Falls.

From Niagara, we drove the 1 1/2 hours or so to Rochester and grabbed some fast McDonalds and checked into our final hotel.    Look at these happy kids--this was the state of our entire vacation...no wonder it was so wonderful. :)

We then made it to Palmyra for the pageant.  The last time I went was as a teenager--it wasn't what we were expecting because we were so used to the Nauvoo pageant (it's a musical).  It was nice being more prepared this time.  Definitely not a musical!

The kids enjoyed holding some of the props and weapons from shows past.

Before the show, cast members were walking around and greeting the audience--the kids were excited to meet them. 

If I'm being honest, I definitely prefer Nauvoo to Palmyra, but it was a good experience.  Definitely mesmerizing for the kids.  I think they really enjoyed seeing stories from the Book of Mormon come to life. 

By the end, we were exhausted and just ready to be back home in Connecticut.

A great end to a great trip.  Lucky us.

Summer Lovin'--Vacation Part 2

On to the next highlight of our vacation--Nauvoo, IL.  

Rita and Clem spent 6 weeks in Nauvoo again helping with the pageant so we headed there a few days after Megan's wedding and stole 3 days from them.  What a treat!  I love that, for my kids, Nauvoo will always be associated with Grandma and Grandpa.

Here are some highlights of our days there, along with lots of pictures.

Pioneer Pastimes--I wonder how long this place will remain one of our Nauvoo highlights--the kids love dressing up and playing all the games and playing house.

Annie was obsessed with the pulley bears.  She just went from one to another to another--we ended up buying her one as her souvenier.  She does it everyday.

This picture of Andrew doesn't capture the fact that the ring he tossed ended up in the tree about 1.2 seconds after I snapped this picture.

At the Family Living Center--hooray for air conditioning. :)

Had dinner at the Hotel Nauvoo--we did last year as well and the kids talked about it for days.  They were so excited to go back.  I guess we don't take them to eat at buffets very often. 

Clem is THE prop man behind stage but he hired on 2 co-workers for one night we were there.  Mary and Andrew were in heaven helping him set up everything right before the show.  They took their jobs quite seriously.

The Old Country Fair pre-show--another one of our Nauvoo favorites.  Seriously, I don't know why anyone who had kids wouldn't go to Nauvoo if they were close.  Everything is free, all the activities are so fun.  Even the concession stand is super cheap.

I love this one of Whitney--thanks to our Rita and Clem connections, we got great, up close seats for the show.  The show never gets old.

We had lots of time with Rita and Clem during the day for site seeing:

Outside the blacksmith shop

And gunsmith...

Made it to the quarry for the first time...

The ox-cart ride--another 'must do'  every year.

Posing at the Monuments to Women Garden

Our hotel didn't have a pool, so we headed to the public pool in Hamilton--super nice and super cheap.  A fun treat for a hot afternoon.

Probably Grandmas first relaxing moment in her whole time in Nauvoo!

We ran into several friends from North Carolina while we were there.  We saw the Nicolas's and the Cutlers but it was bad timing where we didn't get to hardly talk to them.  The next day we ran into the Brinkerhoffs and had a really great chat and then ended up eating dinner at the same place and got to chat again.  Amy's one of those awesome friends that things feel just normal and like old times no matter how long it has been, and it's been 5 years.  A wonderful surprise!!!

What a great time!  The worst part was that it was only 3 days.  We wish would could have had longer with Grandma and Grandpa--it just wasn't enough time.

Summer Lovin'--Vacation Part 1

I need to get this up but after making photo books of our vacation and staring at these pictures for too many days straight, I'm posting a few and moving on.  800 pictures later, vacation is done.  We were gone almost 3 full weeks--Missouri, Nauvoo, Niagara Falls and Palmyra on the way home.  Non-stop fun!

Part 1 is a highlight of all things Missouri:

 

Cardinal Game--

at $4 a ticket, we couldn't pass it up and drove a 19 1/2 hour day to be able to attend the Cardinal game the next night.  Shirk cousins and Nanny and Papa went too--fun fun.

 

 

4th of July Minute to Win It--

we spent the 4th with my entire immediate family.  Massive heat and dryness cancelled some firework shows so we decided to eat and have fun differently down at Casey and Kellie's house.  Megan and I planned out a ton of Minute to Win It Games--let's just say that Shirk competitiveness is fierce (and emotional for all kids under 10).

Face the Cookie (sliding a cookie down your face and into your mouth without hands)

Elephant Walk (knocking over water bottles with their trunks)

Double balloon toss--JT might have been using the wall to his favor

 

City Museum--

We'd never been before but definitely hope to go back.  An insane museum that is a glorified climbing and play area for ALL ages.  The outdoor climbing structures were incredible.  The kids loved the 10 story slide.

Talk about a giant ball pit

Human Hamsters

 

Megan and Nate's wedding--

The true purpose of the entire trip.  She looked beautiful, they are happy, it was great.

And hot--talk about a nasty sticky sweaty kind of day.

 

 

Can't get enough of Nanny and Papa's jacuzzi tub. :)

 

3rd Annual Cousin Tea Party--

We had it again, fancy tea party on Aunt Ginna's china.  The kids love planning what to wear, using extra great manners, and dancing afterwards.  Must say, we have a stylish bunch. :)

 

 

St Louis Zoo--

We haven't made it to the zoo the past few years b/c it's been too hot.  But after our first week of 105 degrees everyday, when the weather showed only a high of 95, we knew the zoo was the place to be. :)  Have a new sea lion exhibit that was really amazing.  Fun day with cousins again.

 

Six Flags--

We tye dyed shirts for the 2nd year in a row--Matt and I joined in the tye dying fun too.   Six Flags happened on the VERY last day of our entire trip.  It also happened to be 105 degrees but with all the cousins and lots to drink, how could we go wrong?  Lines were short, we played hard and ended our time in Missouri on a super high (and very tired) note.

 

A great time with great people.  I could spend time with family all the time.  It was wonderful. :)

Seder

Youth Conference at church this year was centered around life at the time of Christ.  Matt and I were asked to be in charge of a Passover Seder (to help the youth appreciate the passover and understand its importance and significance in Christ's life as well as for Jews today), a vignette of the Last Supper and to tie everything together with a talk on the sacrament today.  

It was a big undertaking.  There were plenty of moments that I felt too busy to be working on this but the end results were really great.  The whole evening was successful and, as usual, I learned a lot and made a lot of connections that I never had before.  I think the youth learned a lot too (which I guess was the true purpose of the night)-they were an amazing audience.

 Our "Last Supper" tables.  The youth were seated at tables all around with this as the focal point.  

Matt and I were dressed to look from the time period but ending up looking like we are twins.  :)

Lego Fun

The kids are little Lego lovers at this house.  Mary and Andrew especially can spend hours creating things or rebuilding sets they own.  I enjoy seeing their creativity and my attempts and Lego building with them remind me that I lost a lot of my creativity and imagination somewhere on the road of life.

We were excited to randomly be at Barnes and Noble back in June and see that they were having a Lego Building Challenge coming up like the next week.  When we arrived they divided the kids up at different tables and were given a Harry Potter challenge.  They had to build something Harry would use to defeat the bad guys or they could create something/one that Harry would be up against.  Again, so fun seeing their creativity flow.

The troll from the girls' bathroom

A dementor

Happy kids...that's what I like.

Visitors...

Whoa it's been a long time.  Between craziness at the end of June and then a month of July travels and life in general, it's been a while.  Lots of catching up to do but we'll try.

Our Bowman cousins came up for a week at the end of June.  We were official the Singer Bed and Breakfast and they were officially the 'see all that you can see in New England in a week' vacationers.  The kids were in heaven getting to see cousins--it's rare for us to have kid visitors up here, we mainly get grandparents.  A fun week where we enjoyed short mornings with them, a few evenings, and one down day.  

We would have taken more but were grateful for the time we got.  Plus the fact that we went to Missouri only 2 weeks later made saying goodbye not too bad.  Hopefully they'll feel like there is more they didn't see and want to come back in a few years. :)