Easter Morning

The kids woke up early and came into our room. "Did the Easter Bunny come?!" Danny went down to check and he had come! So, down the stairs we hurried!

We came downstairs and gave Grant the basket that was out for him. It went from this

to this in no time! Impressive, Grant! Glad you like it.

While Grant was busy eating and spreading Cheerios and Easter grass, V and C were busy looking for their baskets and additional eggs!

V found hers under the window and behind a toy basket. By the way, this is her favorite thing to wear to bed- a shirt of Danny's, particularly this purple "Roarty's Racing Rapids" Race for the Cure running tee. (and yes, I suggested that she wear her berry cute strawberry pj's or at least brush her hair, but she didn't want to and it wasn't worth a fight to start off our Easter. It should be a peaceful day, right? )

Christian found his behind some picture frames on the piano and quickly found lots of other eggs!

They were so quick!

Surprisingly, they didn't eat candy before church. Are they really my children?

Victoria practiced the scripture that she was reading in Primary though. Christian took this picture all by himself while I was in the other room. I like it and think he did a good job.

We didn't get a family Easter photo when we looked our best, but tried later in the day.

We were so determined to be on time to 9:00 church and were so on schedule despite the Easter morning festivities. I had laid out clothes the night before, packed the diaper bag, a church bag and a change of clothes for later in the day. We were all dressed and getting into the car. I shut the door and as it shut Danny asked, "Do you have your keys?" Uh, no. "They are in the purse that I used last night. I figured you were driving." "Yeah, but I left them inside."

So, we looked for our spare, but it wasn't there. Danny tried to open our little shed where his tools are, but it was also locked. So, Danny went under the house in his suit and found some utensils in a camping box. He used the knife to unlock a window and climbed in. Isn't it nice to know that it is so simple to break in? Kinda scary really.

Anyway, despite our true effort and desire to be on time and reverent at church, we entered late on Easter Sunday! Ugh! I HATE being late! Oh well, things like that happen. ( a lot at our house.)

After the initial lateness, sitting in the overflow, and hearing my kids greet and whisper loudly to my parents, church was great. My parents came to our ward and sat with us, so that was very exciting. Rachel and Blaine Scott spoke in Sacrament Meeting and we enjoyed their stories and testimonies. The Primary children sang and Victoria and Christian did a great job! We love watching them sing up front. They enjoyed it too. Our friends, the Wolfs, also sang a beautiful duet.

In Primary, Victoria read her scripture: Luke 24:6

"He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee."

She remembered, "he is not here, but is risen," but needed Danny to remind her of the second half. I was proud of her though. That first part was the important part anyway. "He is not here, but is risen." I am thankful for His Atonement and Resurrection and think it is awesome that we have a holiday to reflect on our Savior.

Easter Eggs

Do you think I can post this without rambling? Let's see.

Like a lot of families we have a tradition of dying Easter eggs. We like it.

Christian made a really neat purple and blue one.

Can you guess which mug the egg is in? She's tricky isn't she?

Grant's eggs are plastic.

Finished products! They looked very cool.

Visiting Lady Liberty, landmarks, and toy stores

The next morning we drove for a little over an hour to New York City! It is very strange that I have been an East Coast resident for all of my life except 5 years and that I have never been to NYC. Danny has before in fact he went with his dad and brothers last summer. So he somewhat knew his way around. Comfortable enough to drive into the city and to some neat landmarks that we wanted to see. First stop, Statue of Liberty. We didn't go on the Island, but were still pretty close. It was a very cold morning and we encountered snow flurries both in PA and NY. Here we are checking out Lady Liberty.

I loved the skipping on the way there!

There she is!

Oooooooh, good impressions. Even Baby Grant is participating in the funny pose.

We really are thankful for the freedom that we enjoy in this country and enjoyed seeing a classic symbol of our freedom!

From there we could also see Ellis Island,

the Empire State Building in some fog(smog?),

and the rest of the city.

Then we drove into the city, through some pretty parts of town might I add. We drove through China town. Danny thought it would be fun to look around there. I didn't feel the same way! I like shopping from time to time, but really, 3 kids in Chinatown would be miserable! We kept driving and drove over the

Brooklyn Bridge

and the Manhattan Bridge.

I took these pictures as we were driving on the bridges, so please ignore the poor quality. I tried to edit them as best I could.

I was serious when I said that Danny felt comfortable driving there. That being said, I was anything but comfortable driving there! It was so stressful just being in the car! I just knew for sure that we would be hit or that we would hit a pedestrian or another car, probably a crazy taxi. Traffic laws are mere suggestions in NYC. I was the worst backseat driver(riding shotgun) on the planet that day. Sorry Danny. It wasn't you. It was New York. And while I am being honest about my emotions, the whole day, while intermingled with seeing and doing amazing things, was really stressful to me. I used to think that I was more of a city person, but apparently no longer! It was not the place for me to be with kids. I was terrified of losing a child, having a child fall into the subway pit and be hit by a train, and every other crazy thought that a paranoid mother might have. I may look calm on the outside, but on the inside I was frazzled. Fortunately, distance has caused my heart to feel fonder. I am glad that we took the trip, endured the panic in my mind, and saw and did the fun things we did.

OK, back to those fun things that we saw and did...

I jumped out of the car briefly to take a picture of the Victory Arch. 'Oops, there is an officer there. I better get back in quickly!'

We also drove by Grand Central Station. We parked in a parking deck really close to the station. Don't even ask how much it cost to park! Eeek- that was a third of the cost of the whole trip(well our out of pocket cost anyway.) Oh well, we couldn't really have enjoyed NY if we didn't get to park.

The rest of what we saw was on foot. We walked by

Radio City Music Hall

Our hotel for the night(HA!) and

Money, money,money, money...Trump Tower. I love The Apprentice(just haven't been as into the current season).

The kids did such a great job walking! We were proud of them for holding hands and obeying so nicely. Victoria and Dad were partners for a lot of the day and Christian and I were a little team too. Victoria and Dad were really quick and noticed lots of neat things. Baby Grant was a champ too. He took it all in when he was awake and slept a good amount too. I don't remember him crying once. And I sure had a fun time walking with Christian. It was a lot of walking, but he made it fun by jumping over cracks or only stepping on lines. It was also fun playing the smile game. We smile at people and see if they smile back. Unfortunately, not too many people smiled back- it is so fast paced there. It made me sad that so many people were so focused and busy that they didn't notice a cute 3 year old flashing them a huge smile. It usually works in grocery stores and malls around Richmond. I did it all the time in high school- flashing smiles at people is a great way to make friends and to feel happy. In spite of our difficulty in NYC I think we'll play again.

We walked by a Disney store and checked that out. Then we stopped at F.A.O Schwartz.

Hello toy soldier.

This guy did the Rubik's cube in under a minute while he talked to us. Victoria thought her cousin Donovan might like to know about that. The kids had fun looking at and playing with the toys. Is that Kangaroo in V's coat? Crazy Kangaroo!

The kids used some of their spending money on some candy there. We enjoyed a nice little break outside while they ate their fun gummies.

Then we took a subway ride to Time's Square!

Christian and Grant's first subway ride.

How exciting! Look at this goofy-faced boy.

We didn't really get any great Time's Square shots. My bad. But, we did get one in front of Toys R' Us and the ABC building.

"Be on the Lookout" Right after we took that picture and I put the camera away we had our second star spotting. (The commisioner of the NFL was the first. He and Danny nearly collided on a busy crosswalk earlier in the day.) Billy Ray Cyrus was in the front seat of a black town car(SUV though) with the window rolled down. I told Danny, "look over my shoulder". He must have seen my double take and whisper so he waved at Danny. Then he waved again when I told Victoria and Christian, "That's Hannah Montana's dad!" Victoria was so excited! Ms. Cyrus is so popular now and her movie was opening two days later. So the timing was fun. I am guessing that V and I may need to go see that on a girls night sometime soon.

Next we explored legos, superheros, dinosaurs, Barbie's house and more at Toy's R Us! Though less famous, we thought it was more fun than FAO

We rode on the indoor Ferris wheel! Nice Job with the pictures, Danny!

Pretty tall, huh?

M&M car, how fitting!

We ate a super late lunch at a nearby pizza place. Afterwards, we were ready to say Adios to the big apple. We walked and walked back to the deck where we parked and headed out right as evening rush hour was starting.

The drive out was almost as horrendous as the drive in. Danny just told me to close my eyes. I wish I had listened. So, the drive out of the city wasn't so great, but it was a great family vacation.

Hopefully these detailed blog entries (family journal entries) will help us remember our fun adventures one day!

Back at the home away from home

The aforementioned milkshakes and the aforementioned model. She is totally playing it up! I told her that I wanted it to look like she had a milk mustache and this is what I got. I love her.

I love this little guy too. He doesn't know I took this one, but it is appropriate. I just think one day we will want to remember how he plays in the bath and shower. He talks, laughs, rhymes, sings etc. to himself. He is imaginative and joyful. We didn't have any bath toys with us, but he had fun with a couple cups that night.

And one more shot of our bathing beauty in the nice big tub.

Part 3- Awesome old bridge and waterfall

We wanted to stop when we saw this beautiful waterfall.



When we stopped we found a really cool 100 year old bridge at the front of Shawnee.

Luckily our camera has a timer and Danny has quick legs.

We had fun crossing the old rocks and exploring for a little bit. I had fun with my telephoto lens. Did you ever know that I would love to become a great photographer. I really want to take a photography class someday. I never have and think I would enjoy it. Does anyone else want to take a course with me sometime? Through the county or a community college would be fine with me.

Little people on a bridge

Victoria and Christian found a great waterfall rock for their Geemaw's rock garden. Neat, eh? It's still wet. Christian was too busy to stop, but luckily V likes being the subject of our photos. Thank you, dear.

When I took this I said, "Everyone say Spring Break!" Not sure why that worked or if it did, but I love it for some reason. It shows our family in a naturally happy state.

Day 2 part 2

Next, we went to the National Canal Museum. We had never heard of it before, but it was connected to the Crayola Factory and was included in admission, so why not. We were glad we took the time to check it out. It was pretty cool.

We learned how to navigate boats over a 90 foot model canal. It was fun to get the boats up and over hills using locks. It was also fun to add coal through a chute. Christian especially loved the water and got a little wet. (OK, really his shirt was so soaked that when we left we had him take off his shirt and put on his winter coat without it. It was cold out there and he would have been freezing walking back to our van.)

We also learned about how canalers lived about a hundred years ago. We could pretend to wash clothes on a washboard, (I am so thankful for a washing machine! Maybe I ought to be happier about doing laundry.)gather eggs, and steer boats.

As we learned about simple machines such as pulleys, levers, and inclined planes I couldn't help but compare our hands on learning to the episodes of Sid the Science Kid that we have seen so many times. It was pretty neat to see more good real life examples of these concepts.

There was also a really neat train portion of the museum. It was fun to watch a huge model train go around and around, turn a train light on and off, and weigh ourselves on really old scales. As if we hadn't had enough fun, the day wasn't done! One more day 2 entry coming up.