Assateague Island

We took mom and the kids to Assateague Island this week. Temperatures were in the upper 90's so it was perfect for some water fun. The first day we played on the Bay side of the island. The water was so warm and you could walk out for a mile or more without the water going past your waist. the kids loved it. The next day we were on the ocean side. The water was cooler, but that didn't stop the kids from enjoying the waves. Everyone had fun swimming, building castles, finding ponies, and staying cool.

New York Trip

While Grandma California is visiting us we thought we would take a trip up to New York to see the Hill Camorah Pageant and other church history sites. So we packed everyone up and made the 5.5 hour drive to Palmyra, NY

Before we went to Palmyra we stopped in Rochester where our hotel was. As we were driving through the town we saw some aircraft doing some amazing tricks. Come to find out the Blue Angels were doing an airshow right down the street from our hotel the following day and we were watching their practice. It was crazy some of the things they can do.


After we checked into our hotel we made our way to the Hill Comorah.

(The monument at the top of the hill)

(All the chairs set up for the pageant)
While we waited for the pageant to start we drove over to the Sacred Grove and the Smith homes. This was mom's and the kid's first time there. We all felt the special spirit that resides there.

(The grove from the apple orchard)

Back at Comorah we snapped a picture with some cast members and waited patiently for the program to begin. It was amazing. The script and music were wonderful and the set and special effects were really neat. I'm so glad we were able to go and take the kids.


It was so late by the time we got in our car to get back to the hotel the kids crashed in the car.

After a good night sleep we were ready to tackle a new day filled with fun. First on the itinerary was to head over to Niagara Falls. Wow! amazing. I'll let the pictures tell the story.










Incredible!
After Niagara we went back to Palmyra and spent some more time at the Grove and the Palmyra Temple.

After that we checked into our campsite where we took no pictures. (darn it!) It was a nice little KOA and we wished we had spent more time there. By far the most memorable moment of the trip was that night when we were all trying not to laugh at Audrey body slamming Jared while attempting fall asleep. Lots of fun and memorable moments.

Let Freedom Ring

Our 4th of July began with our Ward's patriotic Breakfast. The cub scouts were asked to present the colors and they did a wonderful job.

When we got home we made these fun shirts.



It was a last minute stab at doing something fun for the 4th with Kevin out of town. We had the paint left over from previous projects and the shirts are some of Jared's undershirts. They had fun putting them together.
Later that evening we met up with our neighbors for popits, sparklers, and fireworks. The popits and sparklers were a hit.



I love this next picture because it captures each of our children's reactions to the fireworks so perfectly.

Jared is covering his ears, he has always been sensitive to loud noises. Audrey looks like she is ready to run away as fast as she can, she was not a fan. Anna is in the process of exclaiming, "This is awesome!"

Our Neighbors

After our fireworks we headed inside for a little treat and then off to bed. We missed our dad today, but managed to find some fun things to do in his absence.