Liberty Turns 1
We celebrated Libby’s birthday at Aunt Susie and Uncle Mark’s house in Syracuse, New York. 
Pink is Perfect!
What’s more appropriate than a PINK cake for our girl?  My sisters tried to dissuade me, but I was determined. 
(BTW, I think I have 3 other ridiculous pictures of myself blowing out a candle for a 1 year old)

Disdain
Unfortunately she is now the 2nd of our children who was not impressed with cake.  Sigh. 

At one, Liberty is a sweet tempered happy baby girl.  She loves her brothers, especially Levi and loves her parents, especially Dad.  She is stubborn in her own way and refuses to lay down while you change her diaper and refuses to let anyone feed her. She has to do it herself.  She is endlessly patient it seems, for which I’m very grateful.  She’s not talking or walking yet, for which I’m also grateful!  But she has mastered the small set of stairs in our house and is pulling herself up on the furniture now.  I love her little red curls and her blue blue eyes.   
We love you sweet baby girl.  You are such a joy in our lives. 

Grandma Wesel
We also got to spend some time with my Grandma Wesel while we were in Palmyra.  She was very interested in who looked the most like her.  We decided that Sarin wins.


Hymas Girls

Wesel Girls

Kindred Spirits 

Free Ride

Picture if you will for a moment,  a small nursing home room with two very old people in it.  Walkers, wheelchairs and stacks of books line the walls.  Not much room to move around, right?  Then picture 6 more people trying to cram themselves into the room, three of which are little boys who have just spent several hours in the car.  Yes, I know it was a recipe for disaster, but we did it anyway.  This picture of Cade was taken just before he launched himself onto the bed, bumping Grandpa George’s recently replaced knees.  George was reading at the time and hollered out so loud it gave us all a heart attack and I thought for sure he’d had a real one.  On closer inspection we found that he had been mostly startled and only slightly hurt.  At times like that I would like to know what is running through a child’s head just before they do something like that.   They were told in no uncertain terms to behave themselves,  to be very quiet, still, etc.  But just like you never think to tell them “Don’t eat the Dandelions, I never thought to say, “And remember, don’t try to fly and launch yourself into the air over a very old man.”   I think I have Calvin and Hobbes to thank for such moments.  But I suppose that’s backwards.  We have Calvin and Hobbes BECAUSE all little boys think like that.  
At any rate, I was mortified, and Cade was banished from the room. Rock was in the car trying to sleep in preparation for our long drive home that night and the girls and I needed to visit with Grandma so no one could take the kids out of the tiny room even though they were past ready to leave.  I figured the nurses didn’t get paid for childcare, so  that’s when I decided to pull out the iphone games.  Angry Birds is very handy in moments of desperation.
My dad later asked George how the visit went and George told him that our kids were very “rugged”.  When leaving the nursing home that day, “rugged” was not on the list of adjectives I would have used to the describe them.

Tired yet?  I sure was.  We didn’t stop to catch our breath once while the girls were here!  Next we took Alli and Sarin up to Syracuse and Palmyra to visit family and see the church sights. 

The Sacred Grove


Every time I look at this picture I think, “Wow, that’s a lot of legs.” 
 

There is a wonderful story in the Friend magazine about two little girls who couldn’t be reverent in primary.  So their primary leader took them to a butterfly farm to teach them the concept of being still and quiet so the butterflies could land on them.  She taught them that to feel the spirit we must be reverent in the same way.  My kids and I just heard this story in primary a few weeks ago.  So imagine our surprise when Alli and Sarin came out of the grove and told us about their special visitors….

Rock and I wanted to spend some quiet time with each of the older boys in the grove to let them feel the spirit of the place without their brothers distracting them. (smile)  So we told them about the girl’s butterfly visitors and then we each took a boy through the grove to share our testimonies with them.  Thanks to the butterflies, they were very reverent and still.  Cade kept his little arms folded the whole time I was with him.  We then met in the middle and switched boys.  It was a very special experience that I hope they remember. 

The Hill Cumorah Pageant
I LOVE the Hill Cumorah Pageant and have been counting the days till I could take my kids to see it. 

The Stage with the Hill Cumorah in the background

We got pictures of the boys with their favorite Book of Mormon Heroes

Reagan and Nephi

Cade Moroni and Moroni

Levi with Nephite Warrriors

Jesus comes to the Nephites

The boys know their Book of Mormon stories so well that they noticed the Ammon story wasn’t in pageant and were bummed about that.  I think they were really looking forward to seeing him cut off some arms.  And during the Waters of Mormon scene when Alma baptizes his first convert, Cade leaned over to me and said, “That’s Helam!”  I was duly impressed!  
It was wonderful to see Pageant again!  I’m going to start prepping the boys now to be on the Work Crew someday!!!

Every summer Central Park does free, high quality Shakespeare plays with big name actors in it that Rock has been dying to go to.  So Alli and Sarin helped me surprise him with one.  It was tough to work the logistics and even tougher to keep it a secret, but we did it!

Throughout the day he received the following Shakespeare quotes: (with a few cheesy lines of my own)

She’s beautiful, and therefore to be wooed; She is woman, and therefore to be won.

They are in the very wrath of love, and they will go together. Clubs cannot part them

For where thou art, there is the world itself, And where thou art not, desolation

Come what sorrow can, It cannot countervail the exchange of joy , That one short minute gives me in her sight

I would not wish any companion in the world but you…

If thou wilt but show thy love, meet your lady at the top of the Belvedere Castle this night when the clock striketh 6:45.

Did my heart love till now? Forswear, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.

Lovers ever run before the clock.

Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast. 
         Noteth thou that my lady in waiting twill be present.

Then Sarin stayed home with the kids and Alli, who was dying to see Shakespeare too, went with me into the city to meet Rock. 

My lady in waiting and I on the train to NYC.

While Alli stood in line for our tickets…..

(So happy she got a ticket.)

I went up to the Belvedere castle to meet Romeo.
Juliet finds her Romeo

We enjoyed a very well done version of All’s Well That Ends Well.  There were several recognizable actors, but the one I recognized the most was from one of my favorite movies, Runaway Bride. 
Fun night!

Levi reached that momentous milestone of 3 1/2 this month and so we took him to…. the Hibachi Steakhouse!!!

Catching food in your mouth! 
Rock’s face is my personal favorite of this picture.  You don’t see that look very often on my husband’s face.

Dad’s turn.

Just little bit nervous.

Levi opted for the cat.

He also chose to skewer his food with the chopsticks and stick it in his mouth that way.

Happy Half Birthday, Levi!

Time for some more catch up.

We started our Fourth of July by having a patriotic breakfast and dressing up in our most patriotic duds.

Pop Tarts with stars! Yummy!

Daughters of Liberty.
I could not pass this shirt up when I saw it in Philadelphia. On the back it says Philadelphia 1776. It’s perfect not only because my daughter’s name is Liberty but because I think Liberty is so important I named my daughter Liberty!
Her shirt says Red, White and Cute! And it’s not just talking about her hair!

Then we went to a flag raising ceremony and listened to a reading of the Declaration of Independence.

This is the Continental flag because this was one of the places it was first flown-by Washington’s troops.

The kids were a little more interested in other things…..

but we took them for the patriotic exposure and we plan on doing it again every year!

Next we drove to Washington’s Crossing where…you guessed it, George Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas night 1776. There we heard the Declaration AGAIN! This time it was a little more fun to listen to our reader…


After the reading, this Patriot did a musket demonstration for us. The boys were in awe.

No, Rock is not becoming a polygamist. This is just the really cute picture Alli took at the end of the day that Rock messed up by looking back at the wrong moment and by swinging his hand just right so that it looks like he’s holding Sarin’s hand too. lol.

You would think we finished off our all American Fourth of July with a barbecue and a good fireworks show. But no. We were all plum out of patriotic steam by the end of the day so we opted for a quick and easy dinner at IHOP, put the kids to bed early and watched a great British film instead.


Nothin like Swedish Pancakes and some P & P on the Fourth! God Bless the USA!

Sunday we attended the tiny branch here on the island for church.  It was one of the neatest experiences of my life.  People who’ve been on a mission in other countries, especially developing countries know what it’s like to attend a meeting like this, but for me it was a first and I loved every second.
First, a picture of what the building looked like. 

We walked in and were greeted by a wonderful local man who barely spoke English, but had a welcoming gentle smile as he shook our hands.  Then we sat down in the little chapel that was no bigger than a typical stake center multi-purpose room.  The prelude music came from a keyboard playing hymns on auto play.  The hymn numbers were listed on a standard issue board, but they had two hymn numbers per song.  One for the English hymnal and one for the French.  Sunlight streamed in through arched windows with bars on them and ceiling fans spun above our heads to keep out the oppressive heat.  The opening hymn was sung in many languages, haltingly played by a woman doing her very best and a congregation trying to do theirs.  It was the slowest I’ve ever heard or sung the hymns, but it was Wonderful.  It was wonderful to see these people on a little island in the ocean faithfully doing their best to sing hymns to our Heavenly Father.  It was priceless.  I looked around the room at such different people than I’m used to seeing in a church meeting.  Such varying colors of skin and tongue.  And I was overwhelmed by the truthfulness of the gospel.  I’m so grateful to be a member of this church.  To be able to go anywhere in the world and gather with fellow saints and to hear their testimonies of the savior and his power to change and heal and to know it is the same as mine.  And I’m so grateful for faithful missionaries who willingly come to the ends of the earth to find these people and teach them the truth.  Another great experience I’ll never forget!

When we came home, we found this little guy above our door!

He scurried down the wall, between my feet and out the door, but not before we caught a picture of him. He was no bigger than 2 inches!

Sunday night we went to Anacaona, another romantic restaurant on the beach.  This time we got to watch the sunset and it was beautiful!  I’ve never seen the sun set into the ocean before.  It was a bright orange fiery ball all the way down!


Studly Rock

There was live saxophone music and the food was the best we’ve had yet. It was a perfect ending to our perfect trip!

One last picture before we left the island.

And when we got home tonight, these four cute kids were waiting for us! 

They are holding the gifts we brought them.  Hanging Howler monkeys that… howl. 

After we got home, Levi, Rock and I were sitting at the table and I gave Levi a hug and kiss again and told him how much I missed him.  I asked if he missed me.  He said, “Yes.” and then waved his hand nonchalantly over towards Rock and said, “I missed him too.” 

The one activity we paid for here other than our hotel was a Beach Escape.  We were taken to our own secluded beach on a little island called Little Water Cay.  We were the only ones on the beach for the whole day.  They packed us a cooler with lunch, sparkling cider and goblets, chairs and umbrellas.  It was heavenly! 

Here’s our beach (remember, make it full screen

The only company we had all day was…

this bird and his mate who hung out with us all day..

a Pelican,

and an Iquana!  We also saw an Osprey,  but didn’t get a photo of him.

And I even found my own conch shell IN the ocean!

A perfect day we’ll never forget! 

I interrupt my George Washington tour for an update on our trip here to the the Caribbean. It has been wonderful and beautiful and so relaxing!

Here is another view from our room. Rock downloaded an awesome program to his phone that lets you take panoramic pictures. He’s been having lots of fun with it. I’ve never seen him take so many pictures! I recommend you make these full screen though because it’s much better. Use your mouse to navigate it.
The view from our balcony.

Down on the beach

Here is my view on the beach.
We laid here all morning Thursday and got nice burns for our time. It was worth it, though!

Thursday night we went to dinner on the beach! So romantic! (again, make it full screen)

Friday we explored a little bit and found some fun things around the island.
I am pointing to Providenciales where we are staying. It is one of the Turks and Caicos Islands which are part of the British West Indies. It was fun to come into the airport when we went through customs and see a huge picture of Queen Elizabeth on the wall!

We found some local flora and fauna on our walk….



Found this little guy and about three others just while we sat and had some ice cream. They are all over the place here. Our boys would be in heaven!

Driving here is an adventure as they drive on the left side of the road! Here’s Rock in our backwards car. It is SO weird to get into the driver’s side and have nothing in front of you because the driver’s side here is actually on the right side of the car! Rock has done a great job driving (I’m not brave enough) and we’ve almost gotten used to it!

Friday night was dinner at Coco Bistro, the most popular restaurant on the island.

You eat outside under a canopy of Palm trees.


It was just perfect until dessert when a thunderstorm sent everyone scurrying inside the tiny indoor section. We ate our dessert crammed together with 50 other people while it poured buckets outside. But it was the best sorbet I’ve ever tasted!
Driving home was a bit treacherous with the huge 6 inch deep puddles that covered the entire road from side to side in places. There is no drainage system here because it doesn’t rain enough. It’s pretty much 80 degrees every day all year long!

More to come from Turks and Caicos…

As Alli put it in her blog, here in the East, if George Washington ever walked in a place, they make it into a park or national monument.  We’ve tried to take the girls to as many of these as we can and we’ve done pretty good so far.  The only big one we haven’t done is Mt. Vernon which I will definitely do before we leave the East. 

Washington was a great man and I love seeing so many of the places he walked and worked and sacrificed for his country.  It is remarkable to me that he never wanted to be in the lime light.  Never wanted to be President.  He simply wanted to go home and be the farmer he was.  He served his country out of civic virtue, not out of political ambition.  There is a quote I love by Benjamin Franklin that I don’t have with me right now (because I’m still sitting on that Turquoise beach, remember? tee hee), but it says something about how the best men to be in politics are the ones who don’t really want to be there.  The doctors and farmers and regular men who have no aspirations to be that powerful.  They are the best men for the job because they serve faithfully and then leave when they are done without corrupting the system.  Oh that we had always had men like George Washington running our country.   Well, here is Part I of our George Washington tour…

Washington Rock was the first place we went.  It is just 15 minutes from us here in New Jersey up in the Watchung hills, I mean Mountains. (They don’t really know what mountains are here in the East so we try not to make them feel bad when they call hills mountians.) It is where Washington watched the British troop movements down below in the valley  from a place of height and security.  It gave him enough strategic advantage that it allowed him to win some important battles.  Today it still provides a beautiful view down into the valley, though you look down on cities instead of farmland as GW did.
 
Allison plays George.

Our next stop on the GW tour was in New York City where we  saw the church where Washington prayed on his inauguration day (though I didn’t’ get to take the girls in because it was having some work done.) 
We also saw the place where Washington was inaugurated here on these steps.  This is actually right across the street from the NY Stock Exchange.

Next, in Philadelphia we saw where he sat and presided as the constitution was written.

On the way home from Philly we drove through Valley Forge.  This has to be one of my favorite places of all time.  It was beautiful, quiet and peaceful.  It had a sacred feel about it.  One walks through this place with reverence.




This arch was erected in honor of those who suffered here at Valley Forge.  The inscriptions are beautiful and give a powerful reminder of what took place here. 

“They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more.”

In my opinion, we were on holy ground that day.  I’ll never forget it.

Our next big day trip was on July 2nd to Philadelphia.  Rock was wonderful and once again watched all the kids at home so we could explore.  Hmm I think he deserves a vacation to the Caribbean! 

It was a lot of fun to be there on the 2nd because that is the actual day that the Declaration of Independence was presented to the Congress.  It was tweaked for 2 more days before they finally agreed upon it and then signed several days after that.  Here’s what Independence Hall looked like while we were there:

Alli was quite miffed.  Wonder how much that special scaffolding cost! 

George Washington’s chair in the background.  We also got to see the copy of the Declaration that they read from the steps of Independence Hall on July 4th 1776.

Liberty Bell. 
Ya know, they won’t even let you touch it! 

Now for all the firsts we saw in Philadelphia.  These first 3 were created by Benjamin Franklin and are only a few of the many things he did in his life.  What an amazing man he was!

 
Sight of the first fire station.  You can’t see it well, but that’s Ben with a fire hat on the brick wall to the right.

First Post Office-the guy in costume was our tour guide!

First Library

Here’s the list of all Ben’s accomplishments.  His tombstone and grave are just behind me here.

Other firsts:

First official US Court room

First US Congress.  The Senate was upstairs, the House of Reps was downstairs, thus the term upper and lower houses.

Home of the First Continental Congress

First National Bank

First Stock Market

Betsy Ross home, sight where the first US flag was sewn.

Beautiful old colonial homes.

Signing the Constitution

When this summer trip was in the planning stages we were hoping to get to Washington DC while the girls were here, especially because Sarin is taking US History next year.  But when DC became too expensive we decided on Philly.  And it was perfect.  Philadelphia is oozing with history.  Every nook and cranny has some great event attached to it.  All three of us decided that between the beautiful buildings, both modern skyscrapers and  historical landmarks, and the wonderful history in Philadelphia, we like it much better than New York City.   I can’t wait to go back!  Who wants to visit next?