June

Summer at last.  BBQs, popsicles, swimming etc.  All our dreaming through winter was finally coming to life.  The Newills hosted a birthday evening for Taylor and it felt like a kick off to summer.  We ate ice cream, flew kites, played kickball, and made big bubbles.   Taylor even pulled out a boomerang and the boys had fun throwing it into the field and then hunting it down.  We love all our Indiana friends and have so much fun together.

I love all these cute Ali expressions.

Peter almost never gets out of his crib without permission, so it was funny to find him just snuggled up on our floor.  I know he went to sleep in his bed...

 I never trust them with popsicles in their clothes...

Father's Day Questions 2016

Lisa has this tradition in her family and I've always loved it, so I'm excited to finally have kids that can answer Father's Day questions.

What does daddy do at work?

Peter: “I no know”

Jane: “Gets us some strawberry milk and chocolate milk.”

What does daddy do at home?

Peter: “I no know, maybe he doesn’t do dat”

Jane: “Uhhh, computer… put me to bed.  Play with me, and I also push daddy off the bed and then sometimes I like to pin daddy down, and I like to fly the new turtle kite.”

What are daddy’s favorite sports?

Peter: “The grey ball.  Oh, is the pink ball.  We need a buy a pink ball. He’s favorite sport is you go to the tunnel and you go to the rocket ship.  The rocket ship and the temple.  Remember we go to the temple last day?  We need to go to the temple.”

Jane: “Swimming, and playing soccer, and doing, and playing football and basticball”

What does daddy like to watch on TV?

Peter: “the race cars one”

Jane: “Uhh, football and knocking people down on the ice, and making tricks on the ice and watching daddy loving mommy.” (???)

What does daddy do after you go to bed?

Peter:  “I no know.”

Jane: “Watch TV… and put me to bed and then I have a hard time going to sleep.”

What does daddy like to eat?

Peter: “I no know, maybe is like chocolate.”

Jane: “NACHOOOOOS!!!” Anything else? “Nope”

What does daddy do at church?

Peter: “A horse at the church.  A horse is dog… when we go to the church.”  (???)

Jane: “Sit on the bench and be quiet.  He gets me the toys that I use and he gets the right one.  If he gets the wrong one, I will be sad.  I get all the toys out so I can choose the one that I want.”

What does daddy wear to church?

Peter: “Some pants… like I got pants.  (Gasp) Where are my pants?!?!”

Jane: “a jacket, and some pants… and a tie.”

Does daddy like to clean the house?

Peter: “No, I’m gonna make a messy house.”

Jane: “Yeah, but Jane and Peter like getting out the toys and having a messy house.”

What’s your favorite thing to do with daddy?

Peter: “Read a books”

Jane: “Uhhh, push daddy off the bed and he also cries and tells me a story. I think that’s enough that I like.  I think I like throwing the soccer ball to each of us and then throwing the soccer ball and we have a race to go get it super-fast and see who’s the fastest.

Who does daddy love?

Peter: “Mommy”

Jane: “Jane and Peter… and mommy.”

Dayton Air Show

 It was Chris's idea to go to the Dayton Air show.  I hadn't been to an air show since I went with my dad as a kid.  I loved it then, though, so I was on board.  I actually ended up being even more fun than I expected.  There are tons of planes and helicopters to walk around and see and impressive planes doing tricks up the sky.

This jet was our absolute favorite.  It was loud and fast and we couldn't believe some of the maneuvers it was capable of.  Jane was NOT a fan of this plane.  It was way too loud for her and she covered her ears and pouted any time a jet was flying.

Alice wasn't a fan either, but Chris couldn't get enough of it.  It was funny to look over and see this boyish perma-grin on Chris's face and then Alice just falling to pieces.

The kids did have a really fun day, despite the noise and the highlight was probably running through these sprinkler stations they had set up to help people cool down.  They always wanted to go "one mo time."

As we walked out at the end, they had a fire truck set up with the hose just going for anyone who wanted to get wet.  Jane ran through it with Chris and then surprised us further by wanting to do it again.  She was drenched.  Chris must have used her as a shield because he doesn't look near as wet.

Palmyra

On our way in to Palmyra, we stopped next to one of the Finger Lakes and threw rocks in the water. It was miserably hot and humid and we were just melting, so we didn’t stay long.  At least Peter named it one of his favorite parts of our whole trip.  Throwing rocks in the water will always be one of Peter’s favorite things.

Our first church history site was the Peter Whitmer farm where the church was organized.  It wasn't open yet and it was significantly less humid than right beside the lakes, so we were content to just walk around outside.  The highlight was definitely finding a frog and watching the kids timidly (for Jane) and not-so-timidly (for Peter) chase it around.  

Jane still doesn't know how to blow properly.  She always makes and F sound.

 We drove in to Palmyra and got there around noon.  We stopped at the Hill Cumorah first because it’s the first one you come to.  In retrospect, we should have gone straight to the Sacred Grove, but this is how it happened.  We hiked up the hill Cumorah and as we got to the top, it started to rain.  We brought one umbrella that the kids used and Alice and I took shelter under a tree.  We acquired a second, larger umbrella when a nice young man came up and offered his to us.  When I tried to protest that I couldn’t take his umbrella, he simply said we looked like we needed it more than he did and he was probably right.  We were very grateful. 

We missed the sign for the Sacred Grove and found ourselves on Main Street where the Book of Mormon was first published, so we stopped there.  The kids were very tired and restless, but they did well through most of the tour.  At the end though, Peter was rolling around on the floor.  He fell asleep on the way to the Temple, but not enough to stay asleep when we stopped there.  So the kids ran around the temple grounds for a bit and then we headed to the Joseph Smith Farm/Sacred Grove.  We tried to do the tour first, but the kids were pretty done.  Also, we brought the stroller for them and left it outside each house we went into.  While we were in one, it started raining.  It was more like a downpour.  Chris ran out and tried to get the stroller back to the van as fast as possible, but Alice’s car seat was already pretty wet.  I was left to manage the three wound-up kids in the Smith Frame home by myself.   They were a little out of control and there were so many things they couldn’t touch.  At the end of the tour that we didn’t hear a word of, we headed back to the van tired of dealing with tired kids.  By then it was 6:30.  We strapped the kids into their seats in the van and I fed them snacks until they both passed out while Chris got some time to decompress in the Sacred Grove by himself.  I took a turn after that.  It was still a great experience, but I would have liked to have spent more time in there and it was the place our kids would have enjoyed the most.  We just did it all in the wrong order.  It was still a great trip and I am still surprised they did as well as they did.  They are troopers.  The Sacred Grove is such a special place.  Strolling through the Sacred Grove, I was struck with the beauty.  So untainted. So natural.  As pure as 14-year-old Joseph’s faith. In these woods, our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared and my life has been exceedingly blessed because of it. I know it happened and I was grateful to have my testimony reconfirmed that day. 

Chris took these on his phone in our hotel room the next morning.  I love these monkeys.  I can't believe they're all ours.