Friday, July 24, 2009

June 18








Saturday the 18th, instead of raining, was sunny and rather on the cool side. We went to the Peter Whitmer farm, where the church was organized, and then to the Smith farm and Sacred Grove. Here are a few pictures.
At lunch, the girls decided to put some flowers in the "vase" in the portapotty. Yup, that's the urinal. We debated removing them, but decided to leave them as a fun surprise for the next visitor. So, after dousing the kids with sanitizer, we went on our way.
We made it home Saturday night. All in all, it was a great trip.

June 17

So, Friday morning, we headed to Palmyra. We stopped for lunch at a busy service area, and the kids let out some of their energy by dancing on top of the rocks, much to the amusement of the people driving by.
Once we got to Palmyra, we visited the site where we would watch the pageant later in the evening, and staked out our seats, using towels and some of Becky's knitting yarn.
We visited the printing press, and then walked around the temple grounds.
Then we checked in at our motel and ate dinner there. The motel was rather interesting. I had booked it online, using tripadvisor.com. Here is a link to their site.

http://www.motelmiami.com/


This is what it looked like in person:
The rooms were clean, though, and it was a good laugh.
We bought ponchos for the downpour we were supposed to receive, and headed to the pageant. You have to cross the street from the parking to the pageant site. Here is my comment on this:
Mean People Suck.
These people show up with megaphones and line the public space in the medians, hold up signs, and shout taunts at us and our kids as we run the gauntlet between them to get across the street. The picture is not very good...we were trying to get through them as fast as possible. I had forgotten that there are haters like this out there. The kids did an admirable job of ignoring them. I can't think of less Christian behavior than these idiots show. Once you cross the street, and over the berm that blocks the haters from view, it was wonderful. The kids loved meeting the different cast members and getting their pictures taken with them.
Here are all the kids with Mormon.
We were watching the radar on Joe's blackberry, and the thunderstorms literally split in two and went around us on both sides. We did not have a drop of rain until we were in the car going home afterwards. The pageant was great.


Thursday, July 23, 2009

visitors

We have had the pleasure of a few visits from friends over the past several weeks. Rick, Cathy, and Cara Smith stayed with us one night over Fourth of July weekend on their way to Philadelphia. Then, last Monday to Wednesday, they stayed with us on their return trip to Michigan. We had a great time. Then, last Thursday, Jeff and Vicki Morrison and their kids arrived from Des Moines. We were friends with Jeff and Vicki way back in Mechanicsville, VA, when all the kids were little. They had one baby and then 13 months later had twins. Ours were 19 months apart, and between the two families, all six kids were born within less than two years of each other. Now we each have one more as well. When we get together, it's like we've never been apart.

We watched the play, "This is Kirtland" Thursday night before heading out to Palmyra, NY Friday morning. The weather forecast was terrible for both Friday and Saturday--strong thunderstorms Friday evening, and rain all day Saturday. Not good for watching an outdoor play Friday night and sightseeing Saturday. Oh well, I figured. Nothing we could do. More in the next post.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Camp Jam







The week following Fourth of July, Joseph had the great opportunity to attend Camp Jam. He had competed in a contest several months ago at our local music place where he takes guitar lessons. The kids each played a riff, and the winner got a free week at Camp Jam. The judges were so impressed that he had the guts to get up there and do it even though he had only been playing for 4 or 5 months, that he won! It was a day camp, which culminated with a concert Friday night. He and his band performed "Smoke on the Water." Here is a great picture...also attaching a few we got with our camera.







Jacob's scout camp




The week after Katie had diabetes camp, Jacob attended cub scout camp. He had a great time. On the Tuesday of that week, Joseph, Emma and I helped out. I forgot my camera that that day...bummer. We all got to go up in a hot air balloon. Every day also was filled with BB guns, archery, fishing, sports, and arts and crafts. It was a pretty hot week, so the boys loved it when the fire department came out two different days and hosed the boys down with the fire hoses. I have just a couple pictures now. I need to get some other pictures another mom took...so I will update the post when I get more pictures.

Camp Ho Mita Koda











On June 21, we dropped Katie off at diabetes camp. It is only about 20 minutes from our house, which is way more convenient than the 2 1/2 hour drive to the closest camp in Michigan. It is one of the oldest diabetes camps in the country, started in 1929, only 8 years after the invention of insulin. This was their 80th anniversary year. Here is a link to their site:











She didn't keep a camera at camp, so we just have a few shots from the drop off and pick up.Actually, here is a link to the pictures from her session on the camp website. If the link doesn't work, click on photo gallery on the camp main page.








She was session 1. There are some good ones in there. When we were dropping her off, Joseph said, "This place is so cool, it almost makes me wish I had diabetes." Almost. At the awards ceremony at the end of the week, she one the "Everyone's Best Friend" award for her cabin. Not surprising. She had a great week full of horseback riding, high ropes course, kayaking, and arts and crafts. It was great.