2008 summer adventures

Monday, July 28,2008

2008-07-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

It has been a week since we got home from New York. We have all adjust back to real life pretty much . We have definitely enjoyed the dry heat and being able to sleep in our own beds. I miss someone cooking and doing the dishes for me every night.
We thought we would end with the high points and low points of the trip.

LOW POINTS
hot
humidity
lack of sleep
food
wearing crazy wigs
bugs in the shower
sticky underwear

HIGH POINTS
Spirituality
Chill and grill
memories
new friends and old friends
wearing crazy wigs
Got to meet Patrick Star(s)
food
blogging
souvenirs
visualize the Book of Mormon

Here are a few last pictures.

Peter Whitmer Farm home

Cameron catching some much needed sleep.

Wesley Wishing he could take a nap

Chill and Grill
Jacob has a large (9 scoops), Clark and Wesley have smalls, Laurie has a half kiddie. We ate our ice cream while we waited for the real food to come.

Going Home!

The general consensus is to apply again for next year. I guess maybe we'll see you all in 2009!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

2008-07-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

With the pageant over and the final Sacrament meeting through we headed back to Zions Camp. It was sad to see people leaving, most of them having a several hour car ride a head of them. We mostly visited with people and helped them since we are not leaving until Monday. It was a nice way to do things. I could work on a suitcase for a while and then visit since we were not rushed. The kids played games and ran around with the other kids who had not left yet. Clark decided he would shave off his beard. Jacob and Clark decided to document the beard removal. Clark is just glad it is gone.

Today at the Sacrament Meeting President Schwendiman talked about the rains and the Lord blessing the hill and restoring it. I am not sure the campers felt the same way. Many of them packed up and left in the pouring rain.

Clark helps the Isrealson's put pallets (they go under the tents to prevent flooding) back into the trailer. He is in the white t-shirt.

The youth hang out in the shelter until the rain stops.

Wesley and Jacob playing games with the other kids from Zions camp.

We made a quick trip to the top of the hill between rain storms. Cameron shows where the chairs use to be and the walking paths between them.

The FINAL munch and mingle. Okay it really wasn't a munch and mingle, but a pot luck dinner with the campers left in Zions camp Sunday night. It was very tasty and the line was nothing compared to the late night eating frenzy. Yes, we had scones again, and 3 kinds of homemade ice cream.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

2008-07-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

The primary on Saturday had a mini pageant of their own. Cameron played Lehi and a destruction victim. It was very cute.

Guess who came back to the pageant Saturday night. Their flight was delayed so they came to see us.

Jacob and William are HAPPY.

Clark and William

Annie, Joe-Joe, and Cameron

This picture is of the gang and the Sister Missionaries. Jared had a lot of fun with them. He was trying to make Robin feel better than she really did.

Clark and his fellow Visionary Apostle. He is second from the left on the bottom row.

Saturday I figured out where to watch the pageant. Several cast members sit right in front of the green curtain (on the Stage side) that wraps around the stage. These are some pictures I took at the Saturday night performance.

Ethan is in this scene where they burn King Noah. I can't tell you which one he is. They all look the same to me. I can only tell him by his shoes.

This is the Harvest scene after the boat lands in the promised land. It is one of my favorite scenes and I had no idea Robin was in it until just the other night.

Robin is standing with her mother and brothers in this scene. She has the read scarf on her head.

This is Wesley in the wilderness. He is the one with the great hair.

This is Clark walking away in his visionary apostle scene.

This is the back side of the Boat. The storm you can see falls mostly in front of them.

Well, pageant is done for a year. We cleaned up all the 8000 chairs after the performance Saturday night. It took about an hour. Afterward we headed off to a cast party which by munch and mingle standards was pretty weak. Robin went off to bed with Clark early.

Check out the grass. It was green a week ago.

Cameron at the cast party. It was 12:30 am and we were enjoying pizza, chips, cookies and ice cream. I can't tell you how it boggles my mind to eat that late at night and yet I did it every night!

Sunday, July 20, 2008 Zions Camp

2008-07-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures of Zions Camp. Anything goes as you can tell from the pictures. Can you tell that keeping the pouring rain off the tents is a big deal?
This is the motor home we stayed in thanks to our friends the Williams.

This is one of the campsites that brought a full size fridge. They also brought a kitchen aid mixer. I am still trying to figure that one out. She is the one that made 30 dozen cookies for the munch and mingle.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

2008-07-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday and I can't believe that the time has come to end the Pageant. It has been a great experience. One that we could have never imagined. Everyone is excited to be heading home in a few days, but sad about the pageant experience ending.
Robin woke up sick (the yucky kind) this morning. I guess we should count our blessing that it waited this long. We are hoping for a "Pageant Miracle" and that she will be able to go on stage tonight. I am hoping no one else gets it.

Ethan is very proud of his watch tan line. He had a friend help him out one night with the time.

We spend a fair amount of time in the study shelter. We have about 31 devotionals throughout the Pageant. These are a few shots at various times.

Cameron finds many things to keep himself amused. He is playing with Nerds candy here.

Yes, Clark is probably asleep.

Our fellow campers, the Ebelings.

Jacob showing his true feelings.

With the extra time we have in the morning Cameron and the other boys his age have made up a game called "Shark attack". They run across the tables they have connected with long planks of wood. This all happens in the pavilion where we hold munch and mingle.

Everyone has a second costume they change into except Cameron and me. This is Clark, Jacob and Ethan. Robin and Wes were MIA. As you can guess from the costumes, the boys are wild Lamanites in the final battle. I believe Ethan said Mormon kills him.

Friday, July 18, 2008

2008-07-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

Friday, I can't believe how quickly the week has gone by. Everyone who has been in the pageant said the first week feels like it will never end and the second one is over in a blink of an eye. We have had rain off and on. Never during a performance though. We have been lucky. These are some pictures I took during a rain storm on Wednesday. The sun was shining through the rain and made the drops show up really well. We are not in any of them. I was very happy to stay dry.

Clark was always so hot. This was his usual position before pageant. He would be sitting in front of the fan, but another apostle had already figured out that little trick.

Fridays Munch and mingle. Scones, as many as you wanted, Salsa and chips, and ice cream with fresh picked strawberries and rasberries. Yes, it was yummy.

In case there was any question what time we were actually going to bed. This is the time the munch and mingle got over with for Robin and Cameron. It still went for another good hour. Trust me I heard it. One of our fellow campers said she just pretends it is pacific time so she doesn't get freaked out that her 7 year old is up at 1 am eating. I thought it sounded like a pretty good idea.

Family and Friends at the Hill Cumorah Pageant

2008-07-18T01:45:00.000-07:00

Today we broke with our vacation isolation, and had many visitors from back home and from the extended family. Here are some of the pics we took. First, some family pictures:

Apparently the chicken was REALLY good!

Now some folks from the ward back home:

Some pictures of the cast in the boat (Nephi) scene:

Gotta throw this one in of Mormon. His costume was just that good.

Church History Sites

2008-07-18T00:41:00.000-07:00

Thursday was another day with no rehearsals, just activities to keep us busy and enjoying ourselves. Folks who did service projects on Tuesday or Wednesday did Church History tours today (and vice versa). For Laurie and Clark, that meant the former. We rode on an ever-so-pleasant school bus to see the Joseph Smith farm, the Sacred Grove and the Grandin Print Shop sites.
This is the old log home that the Smith Family lived in during their early and late years in Manchester. It is a rebuilt replica, but located precisely where the old one stood.

A great new statue depicting the First Vision in the Visitors Center at the Joseph Smith Farm/Sacred Grove.

Inside the log home. Not much head room if you are tall.

This is upstairs in the log home. This is where, in September of 1823, Moroni appeared to Joseph to introduce him to the idea of starting a new Church and translating an ancient book of scripture.

This is more or less what the fence would have looked like between their farm land and the old log home. In his history, Joseph describes collapsing while trying to climb over the fence the day after the night of Moroni visits. Laurie loved the haystack in the field. Very rustic.

This is the frame home a few hundred feet South of the log home. Joseph's brother Alvin started the construction and planned to use it for his own family and to support their parents in their old age. Alvin died early in its construction, and the rest of the family finished it. The family was eventually swindled out of the farm, and had to essentially rent the home back for several years. They eventually had to move all 11 family members back into the log home before moving on.

This is the front living room of the frame home.

The Palmyra temple is just East of the Sacred Grove. They have arranged the treeline so that you can see the Temple from the Grove and the other way around. If you view the full image and look closely, you can see some plain glass windows that allow a view of the Grove from within the temple. As far as I am aware, this is the only temple that uses any plain glass in external windows.

Laurie and Clark in the Sacred Grove. No pictures of Ethan were found because he got lost and his bus left him.

This is Jacob in the Grandin Print Shop.

Look how big it is... Man, I love being in the Pageant!

Thursday, July 17,2008

2008-07-17T07:31:00.000-07:00

Things have slowed down a lot. We had a run through tuesday morning with full water. Wes and Robin got soaked. The wind was blowing the water back on the stage that morning. They didn't really care since it was hot. Other than that we have spent our days doing service projects, security, sight tours and activities with our cast teams. The boys pulled weeds at a park, and clark and I did mulch around trees along the Erie canal. Robin and Wes went swimming, Ethan went bowling (everyone was bad according to Ethan) and Jacob went to the Chill and Grill. Our Evenings are Dinner, Devotionals, performances, greetings and munch and mingles.

This is us waiting in the food line. It tends to be long and slow. We always try to be up front, but the line is often more wide then it is long.
This was Turkey dinner night. Most everyone was happy. Wish we could say the same thing about lunch. We are all very tired of sandwiches.

Monday night was the variety show. Robin and Cameron did acts with there cast teams. Cameron did Kungfu fighting with the primary kids. It was very fun to watch.
Robin did tinikling. Her leaders are from the Philipines and taught the girls.
Our fellow cast members, the Hobbs, from New Zealand did Poi Balls. Cameron was so taken with it she gave him a set. And I thought I had packing issues.

2008-07-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday. It has been a rainy cool day. Very much need after yesterday. We were in the 90's with a thunderstorm in the afternoon that made things worse not better. Clark was dying in all his layers last night. I thought I would be cold in my costume, but not so far. Cameron and I have found the perfect spot to watch the pageant at night when we are not on stage. It is nice to spend time with him with the spirit so strong and him asking important questions regarding whats happening on stage.

The past few days have been a lot less busy. We pushed really hard through friday with practices and had a great opening night. The crowd was about 6200 and they had about 500 referals. Our family was not on "Lehi Greeting" on Friday. We do it every other day. We went out Thursday the dress rehersal night. Our family hangs out by the information booths. If we wanted to we could go farther out to the parking lot, but there are lots of cast members already out there. By the time they reach us they people have been greeted a half a dozen times ( or so I thougth). On Thursday I had to take Robin and Cameron back to the study shelter and leave Clark with Jacob and Ethan. We had to much murmuring ( my legs hurt, I'm hungry, do we have to do this, she's looking at me, he tried to hit me) and obviously we were not inviting the spirit. Friday night we were able to greet in the bowl. We saw a few old friends from our NY days. Clark spent the night getting his picture taken. Everyone thinks he is Jesus. It's funny because the people want to get his picture and they will stand by him then the restof our family will fill in. With digital cameras today I can tell that our family is being cropped out of the picture. I don't know if the kids have figured this out. Not everyone does it, but they clearly are not expecting a family shot when they stop us.

Saturday night we were back on Lehi greeting. We sent Jacob and Ethan to greet a head of us (closer to the parking lot) for a while and then they went into the bowl to greet. They gave out a few comment/referal cards. Clark and I stayed with Robin and Cameron by the information tents greeting the people coming in. They were better behaved. We were almost done when we approached a couple who had just come in. She was from Rochester and had seen the pageant once before, but not the whole thing because the bugs were so bad she left. The guy was from boston and had never seen the pageant. They had a book of Mormon already because at some point some sister missionaries had approached them in a park and given them one, but there had not been any follow up. They were very interested in signing up to get the DVD's the church has for investigators. So, what did I learn from this, the Lord is preparing the people to recieve the gospel. Also, People are making it through 100 cast members and not being approached. I hope it made an impact on Robin and Cameron and they can see the importance of what we are doing. Wesley has been getting a half a dozen referals a night with his companion.

Here are some more photos of our favorite Sister missionary doing what she does best, Missionary work.

So, let me tell you about munch and mingle. I think munch and mingle has two lives. The before pageant starts and the after. Before-- most people showed up to them we mingled and ate and then wearily made our way to our campsites. After-- most people still show up to them we mingle. This can and does include several brass instruments, electric and acoustic guitars and people singing. We eat ( alot). They go on for a long time and then sometime around 1 am people wonder off to their campsites. I tried to take some pictures the other night, but I remembered kind of late into it.

This is Ethan and friends munching. This night there was watermelon, carmel corn, and little deli sandwiches and wraps. We have had everything from Ben and Jerry's ice cream ( cast member works there), to meatballs, brownies, cookies. Anything is game.

Robins is in the green hat with Cameron next to her. Behind Cameron is the band setting up.
I took these pictures a few days ago. They are of the descension scene. Cameron runs across the stage and sits on some stairs until Carl (plays Christ) is on the third to bottom step, then he and the other kids get up and go over to where Carl touches their heads.

Cameron is in the gray shorts. Carl knows all of the primary childrens names. He's single and 23 if you know anyone. Of course there are over a 100 young single adult girls here.

July 10th...

2008-07-10T23:50:00.000-07:00

They keep telling us that if we just hold on for a few more days the schedule will lighten up. For now, here are some more photos. As you may be able to notice in the photos, today was media day. We all had to wear our pageant t-shirts for the day, and this evening we performed a full dress rehearsal for an audience of a few thousand people.

Wednesday , July 9,2008

2008-07-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been very busy and hot. Most of the kids and Clark have been at rehearsal during most of the day and then we have had practices into the night. Our family was also responsible for the Munch and Mingle (Chomp & Chat) on Monday. We did it with two other families. We took BBQ beef in rolls. One of the families we were with brought cookies. Any guesses how many dozen? Look at the bottom of the blog for the answer. I'll give you a clue. She made 4 dozen extra. Tuesday we had flags. The flags run all around the bowl. We had to put them up and take them down. Not to hard, but we were told we would not have to put them up since the night before it had rained. Wrong, we had to scramble and get them done. This is tent city. We are supposed to spend our non-rehearsal time in the tents with our fellow cast members. It's great for the kids, not so much for the adults.

This is Clark and Jacob on the stage right after we march on. Jacob is a Lamanite warrior.

This was definitely picture day. Even Wesley was all smiles. We all kind of collected except for Jacob who stayed with his team cast. It was really hard to find people because they all looked a like and no one looked familiar.

This is Mormon. He has quite the outfit. We walk in with him for the processional (the opening scene of the pageant in which all the cast members line up within the aisles of the audience and march up onto the stage).

Robin is on the left. She is dressed as Nephi's oldest daughter. She has another costume to change into when the boat scene is over.

This is some of Ethan's little group of friends (& little brother) Ethan is second from the right.

The kids are hanging out with some of their team cast members or fellow scene cast members.

Clark's costume (1 of 2) has 3 layers to it. they are all big and heavy. Mine is bulky and I am pretty sure that the shirt is worn backwards since it chokes me. Wesley wins for the hair though, hands down!

More dress rehearsal pictures. I thought mine was bad until I saw some of the others. The cute ones are few and far between. Tomorrow night is the real dress rehearsal. Apparently, there will be quite a few people who will come and watch.

Missionary or spoils of war slave, which one do you think is cuter?

This is our neighbor Katie Rodgerson. She is a site missionary out here and training us (the cast) how to engage the audience and hopefully get referrals. They have done 3 workshops and they have all been wonderful. Our family has been assigned to be Lehi greeters. This means we meet the pageant people at the edge of the parking lot area and help them get to the bowl to watch the pageant. This does not make a lot of sense to me. It means a LOT of walking with Cameron, and oh yea, its a parking lot. Wesley will not be with us. He is an Alma greeter which means he is in the bowl (seating area) working the crowd so to speak.

This is Clark in his vision apostle scene (brown shorts, white t-shirt). I tried to get one of him in the destruction scene which, by the way, is very cool, But he is only standing for about 20 seconds before he becomes a victim. Clark Gets soaked in this scene (yes, more pond water). They have this very cool spray of water to make the scene look more dream like.

Ethan and Jacob are having fun running around with the kids their ages and doing battle scenes. Jacob has to carry this really heavy club while Ethan has a large sword. Jacob has gray shorts and white shirt on in these pictures. I think he is dying in one of them. Ethan is leaning against a back wall in his dead position. Ethan is also in the Noah scene carrying a very heavy metal banner thing. I'll see if I can get a picture of him carrying it.

These are more pictures of Wesley and Robin doing the wilderness/ boat scene. They are both about ready to be done with rehearsals. Robin made it to 1 hour of her team cast yesterday. Today was much better. She only had 2 rehearsals that were 1 hour each. Wesley still has more practices because he is in the wedding scene in the wilderness. Yesterday we did our first run through and the they used water (from the pond) to make it look like the boat was really in a storm. Robin was so not happy about having to take a shower at midnight last night.

The weather has been so Hot and Humid. Yesterday when I ran the humidity was so bad I could see it. I run on theses country roads that role along with lush green trees and oh yeah, DOGS! Guess what? no one has fences out here and everyone has a dog. I have been chased by 3 dogs and only run 3 times. Robin said it felt like D.C. which is probably true. It was in the mid 90's with humidity. Today was a little cooler and we were able to be on the stage and not feel like we were melting. We have only had rain once, Monday. It rained hard.

These are pictures of the Descension scene. I am in the blue shirt and Cameron is on a step in a white shirt. I will see if I can get one of him and Carl ( guy who plays the part of Christ) at the next practice. Cameron and a lot of other kids run across the stage and then wait for Christ to come down the stairs before they go up to him. He touches Cameron's head. Cameron thinks that is pretty special.

For those of you wondering about the food, Lets just say nobody is loosing weight while we are here. I have to run to burn off what I ate the day before. Even the missionaries give away treats in their devotionals.

30 Dozen- They are some of the ones that brought their refridgerator with them, from out of state.
Remember, The Church is true!

Sunday, July 6,2008

2008-07-06T19:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday to all,

We have had a down day here at the hill. At least that is how they are describing it. We didn't have any physical rehearsals. We did meet in the study shelter which houses about 600-700 people for sacrament meeting. Elder Cook (Gene R. Cook) was our main speaker. He was great. He told us of his own pageant experiences were he was cast into the "crowd scenes" He then told of the scripture stories that had crowd scenes in them and how important every member in the crowd was, for example the woman who touches Jesus' hem.

The afternoon consisted of spiritual rehearsals (going over the scripture stories we act out). Cameron got to meet Carl. He plays Christ. The primary children could either give him a high five or a hug. Cameron chose the high Five. He said he would give him a hug when he was dressed up like Jesus.

Our evening fireside was Brother Pinnegar and his wife. He was also wonderful. The whole fireside was missionary work and what one person can accomplish at the pageant and elsewhere. Ethan took notes so I know he was paying attention.

We got to see our Neighbor Katie Rodgerson. She is serving a mission here at the church sites. It is so fun to see a familiar face. We have a couple of families from Utah in the pageant. One is even from Kaysville. I haven't seen them, but as we were sitting in the opening devotional Jacob pointed out a kid and said, "I think that kid goes to my school."

I didn't take any pictures today, but a have some from yesterday.

This is Clark's scene with Samuel the Lamanite. He is a wicked torch bearer here.

The food is getting a little better(they could only go up from the hot dog.) Ethan would not eat the chicken tonight for dinner because he was sure it would kill him. I told him it was blessed and he would be fine. This was last nights Beef stew. There was a biscuit with it, but it was snagged off my plate.
This is us eating in the "Study Shelter". All of our devotionals happen here along with eating.

This is Robin and Lehi
Robin figured out she practiced 5 1/2 hours yesterday. Wesley was on stage more than that. For those coming out Robin has a speaking line that goes something like, "Let my father go."

Wesley is the Character that carries this little tent thing on a pole like in a wedding processional . I am sure there is a real name for it, but I don't know what it is. He is also one of four that tie Nephi up on the boat. I asked him if he follows Laman and Lemuel or Nephi after they get off the boat. He told me he follows Nephi. They don't show that part in the pageant, I just wanted to see if he was a good guy or bad guy. He is married to this really skinny 14 year old. I will see if I can get a picture of them together on stage. He is most excited to see how they are going to make the rain/storm for the boat scene. Apparently, he and Robin are going to be soaked.

Ethan and Jacob practicing their fight scenes. They both lose and die. I think Jacob is a Lamanite and Ethan is a Nephite. Jacob is fighting his new friend who came from New Zealand to be in the pageant.

Cameron likes primary. For those who think their callings are hard--He is in primary from 9-12, 1-5, 7-9,10 each day. Yes, those primary helpers are amazing.

I ran out to the Temple and Smith farm home yesterday morning. It was a great run on rolling hills. It is about 3 miles from the hill. The weather is suppose to get hot and humid next week, bummer.

July 4, 2008

2008-07-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July. We survived our first day of pageant. I wish I had my camera with me today there were some choice moments for pictures. I'll remember to take it tomorrow. Here is a run down of the Highlights.

Robin and I were discussing dinner(one of her favorite topics) and I said I hoped we were going to have a good dinner and she said like macaroni and cheese. To this I said no. Well, guess what we had for dinner. Hot dogs and macaroni and cheese. Our hot dogs were so burned most of us did not eat them. We are trying to decide if it is better to be in the front of the food line (like today) or the back. I am sure by the time the last people ate the hot dog cookers (pageant cast members) had gotten a system down and they were not burning them to a crisp.

Another highlight was the casting. First they took the children Robins age, 9-13, and cast them. Robin is Nephi's oldest child. She is in the scene titled Lehi in the wilderness. I was the next to be cast and I decided I really was not wanting to be a dancing girl so I waited with all the other oldish ladies to be cast. They pick out 5-6 women at a time and try them in different roles. I never was selected out mostly because I am to short. All the women they took were tall. I did get assigned to be a slave woman in the Abinadi scene. I get to wear basically a brown sack with a belt and really bad hair. Luck me. The boys and Clark went next. Ethan and Jacob tried out for the "Movement roles" Basically that means a dancing warrior. They are fighting warriors, but not dancing warriors. They are in a couple of scenes. They change from Nephites to Lamanites in the middle of the show. Wesley did not want to dance. He waited with the other young men/men to be cast. Little did he know that he was even more likely to be singled out than the dancing warrior. He was pulled out for several different roles, one of them being Christ. He was very relieved to not get that one. He did end up being Ishmael's second oldest son. He will be in the same scene as Robin. Clark is three different characters. He is an vision apostle in Lehi's dream, he is a Nephite that is unbelieving in the Samuel on the wall scene. He is also victim in the destruction scene.
Okay, I have to go to bed it is late and tomorrow is going to be a long day.

Thursday, July 3,2008

2008-07-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

I am putting this in today because I do not know what the next several days will bring. We spent the day getting ready for pageant. We hit Walmart (twice) and went out to the Hill Cumorah to meet up with our friends the Williams who have so graciously loan us there motor home. The campground was full of Happy Campers. Many of them have been there before and know each other. We are the site closest to the pavillion and group bon fire. Hmmmm, I am not see a lot of sleep in the future for us. I'll have to take pictures of the campsites. It is pretty amazing. Several people brought their fridges. Yes, the full size thing. The people we talked to came from Pensylvania with theirs. The tent shelters that people have brought out are pretty amazing also. I am thinking these are people who know how hard it can rain. We have to put our tents (the boys are staying in) up on pallets to keep them dry. We are hoping to head out early to the Hill Cumorah tomorrow and give our great friends the Pulley's a break from us. They have been so great to let us crash at their house for the past few days.

A Day for Reminiscing

2008-07-02T21:14:00.000-07:00

Today (Wednesday July 2nd) was a decompression day. We did some laundry at the Pulley's and did some driving around town to remember our old homes at Whipple Park and 156 Edgemont. We also spent some time at the Strong Children's Museum. Once upon a time we had a family pass to the museum, and Wesley and Ethan spent many hours there learning, climbing and exploring. This time, Wes and Ethan were a little more reserved and spent most of their time talking about the good times and fun exhibits they remembered (many of them are still present and fun for the little ones). Cameron, and to some degree Robin, were the direct recipients of the museum fun today. See pictures below:

I know I've done this a million times, but I wonder if my voice will really go down the pipe this time?

What? Were they thinking only people three feet tall would want to play in the Post Office?

Bar code scanners can be so frustrating...

<Insert your caption here>

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

2008-07-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday Canada!
We got up really early- 5am to catch a flight up to Buffalo, NY this morning. The plan was to see Niagara Falls and ride the Maid of the Mist, a boat that takes you right up to the falls. When we got there we decided to do the boat first thing before it got crowded. The American side of the falls was empty. We went to the falls often with visitors in the summer when we lived here in NY and never had we been there with so few people. I wondered what was up and Clark's answer was gas prices. Then we went to the Canadian side. It was packed. Cars, people, I had never seen it so busy. We finally found an over priced place to park and started our venture to the falls. We stopped at a Dairy Queen ( they only served ice cream) for lunch and I asked the kid behind the counter why it was so busy. I am sure he thought, "Stupid American Tourist" but he said, " It's Canada Day, our country's birthday." Oh joy, we have picked the busiest day to come to Niagara Falls. We did manage to make it to the falls and take a few pictures.

Monday, June 30, 2003

2008-06-30T05:59:00.000-07:00

So, It has been a few days. Here are the latest updates on our fun filled summer.
Monday, June 30, was our monument day. We walked about 5 miles that day. Cameron was a real trooper. We started with the" big spikie thing" as Cameron nicknamed it. The rest of you might know it as the Washington monument. The kids wanted to ride the elevator up to the top, but I need to get tickets months in advance for that and so we just looked from the outside. Here is a side note. There were extra fences everywhere. I am assuming it had to with crowd control for the fourth of July. We had to take the round about way to get around the reflecting pool. so we didn't get very close to it.
We went to the World War Memorial which is very nice and quite impressive. It is very large with a big reflecting pool and fountains.
We walked from the Washington monument to the Lincoln Memorial. Again, Cameron was not impressed with the size of it. He must think everything is huge based on pictures.
We walked over to the Tidal Basin and The FDR Monument. It is a really nice memorial with lots of water features, statues and few people. I don't know if it is off the beaten path or people just don't know about it. The walk around the basin was very long and the kids were very good about it. Cameron had fun feeding the ducks.
We walked around the basin to get to the Jefferson Memorial. We made it inside just inside as the rain came down. Except Ethan that is. He apparently did not read the sign. This is Cameron on a 100 year old Bridge that we went over as we left the Jefferson memorial. When we came out the kids were starving so we headed to the nearest pretzel cart. It kind of helped, so we could carry on. We finished off the trip with a trip to the Holocaust museum. I would recommend for young children. They have a very nice kids display that walks them through the life of a young jewish boy. The display is based on a book called Daniel's house by scholastic.
We stopped on the way to the metro at the printing and engraving gift shop. Wesley was worth the most of our kids. Guess It's time to cash him in.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

2008-06-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

Wow, Forget everything I said about the weather in the earlier post. It was so HOT today. It might have been that we were not in any museums. We started off the day at the Iwo Jima memorial and from there went to Arlington Cemetery. Here is my hind sight advice. Pay the money for the shuttle bus. It was a long hot walk all over the cemetery. We did make it in time to watch the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. Cameron's comment was "well that wasn't worth it." He has not enjoyed most of DC. I am glad he is my youngest.
Okay, Jacob just walked out of the room and said, "one down twenty more." He is refering to how many more days until he gets home. He informed me he is a home body.
After the cemetery we went to the National Zoo. It was cooler there and most everyone was some what entertained. I would not recommend eating the food at the zoo though. Yuck.
After the zoo everyone was tired and ready for some air conditioning. We headed to the Washington DC temple. I am wondering why it is the Washington temple when it is in Maryland. It is a very pretty temple. The visitor center had this very neat photo essay of President Hinckley and the temple dedications he attended. A local couple had gone to most of the dedications and taken pictures. It was very touching to see the Prophet and his sweet wife we all loved so much is these great pictures.
We topped off the day with a night drive through DC to see the memorials lit up.
Something I forgot to add yesterday was that my brother, Robert, who lives about a 1/2 mile from us called me to ask what was on fire by our house. At the time I was standing on a platform waiting for the metro. When I told him that he said " Oh in that case never mind. I'm sure it's not your house." as it turns out a near by orchard was burning some branches.

Saturday, June 28,2008

2008-06-28T18:21:00.000-07:00

So, that was Ethan's previous blog about our trip. It needs a few more explanations. First off he hates to swim in public pools, enough said. The weather here is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. There has been a nice breeze most days. The crowds today were pretty big. There was some kind of folk culture festival happening on the mall today. Robin said it best today when she said we can only see 2 museums a day. Today we made it back to the Air and Space museum and we also saw the Natural history museum. Robin told me the natural museum was her favorite so far. We thought we lost Cameron in the Natural history museum when we went into the gift shop. He had slipped past us and went farther into the store and I thought he had gone back into the museum. Clark, Wes and Jacob split up into the museum while Ethan looked in the store. I am not even sure how you would find a lost child in that museum and with that many of people. Glad we found him.
Our biggest challenge is food. We have breakfast down, but lunch and dinner are another thing. There's a pizza place right across the street. We have had it for dinner the past two nights. We get back from the city late and no one wants to sit and wait for food. Lunch we eat what we can find down town, subway, fast food. Ethan who is the pickyest eater is getting tired of chicken strips, since that is the only thing he will eat. Here are some pictures so far.

First few days

2008-06-27T19:09:00.001-07:00

Hey all you guys, its been interesting the past few days. Wednesday night we were panicking with packing. Thursday was ok, but really boring. Some of us had just gotten Tetanus shots so our arms were sore. On the flight there was an inflight trivia game, Ethan won 4 times and Clark got the alltime high score on the trip. Once we landed we freaked out about how hot it was and how cramped the minivan is.
It didn't help that the GPS device was programed to take us into N. Carolina, and we didn't notice until we had gone about 20 miles past the hotel. We made a U-ie and made it back to our hotel, only to find out it has a ridiculusly tiny pool. We went out and rented Mr. Bean's Holiday from a red box.
On Friday we went to go see the Int. Spy Museum. It was a lot of fun for some of us. It was interesting because it only talked about Spy stuff more than 20 years old. Guess they're not giving away any hints. We also went to see the National archives and the Dec. Ind., Bill of Rights, and Constitution. The Archives Gift Shop was outrageously priced, wanting 4 bucks for a pen (Admittedly they did have an interesting design which made them great for left handers, Ethan was so disappointed that they were so expensive. After that we made our way down to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, which we were only in for a half hour before it closed. We are going to go back tomorrow to see more stuff there. (and that building has awesome A/C, and DC's heat index is supposed to be at 105 tomorrow).
Sorry pictures aren't up yet, it took a whole hour and a half to even get them on the computer, and its 12:12 AM here so I need to go to bed. I'll put in some pictures tomorrow.

Setting up

2008-06-20T14:06:00.000-07:00

Hey, this is the blog for the Christensen's summer vacation. We'll have more stuff up around friday or saturday!