First Half of July

Low key 4th of July, with pool party at the Bernhisels' in the afternoon and fireworks in the Coyote Ridge Parking lot in the evening. Eliza wasn't with us as she was at FSY in Denton.

Leona did some art classes over the summer with Gpa Cole. It was fun to see the two artists working together.

The Caldwells were back for their yearly visit, and we maximized the time we could spend with them. We all were at Levi's splash pad birthday blast.

Also during their visit, Ruby got her ears pierced. The rest of us went to provide moral support. Ruby and I also celebrated our birthday together. I brought coconut cream pie to the party and she brought ice cream sundaes.

 

Back to Virginia

Driving through rural upstate New York heading back to Virginia we listened to the "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack. That was also the soundtrack to the following exchange.

Leona: I'm feeling really carsick!

Tim: Is it because of the song?

I'm glad that we can keep alive the ageless tradition of parents torturing their children with their music selections.

Unfortunately, when we passed back through Virginia the cousins were all sick so the slumber party that the kids had been scheming about didn't get to happen. Fortunately, we did still get to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Roueche. We went kayaking with them in the little lake by their house. It was beautiful weather and the water was very calm. Tim was too small to kayak so he stayed in the small motorboat that they also rented. Grandma Roueche spent most of the time holding onto the back of his shirt or life vest so that he didn't tip over into the water. Each of the girls got to go kayaking. Clara and Eliza both liked it, and were pretty good at it, having gone kayaking at YW Camp earlier this summer. Leona was not a big fan and much preferred the motorboat to the kayak. Nevertheless, she was surprisingly good at it for being so small.

After resting up, doing some laundry, and repacking one last time, we drove home stopping for the night in Memphis, Mississippi. Our official state marking map now has a lot more states marked off.  Now we just need to hit the mid-west and Florida to finish off the country.

Leona's Favorite Part of Virginia was: Hanging out with extended family and swimming.

 

Palmyra

Palmyra was a really nice stop. It was the biggest house, with a nice yard for one so that was a bonus. There was even a raspberry bush in the front yard and a woodchuck living under the shed in the backyard. We were pretty close to the Church History sites that we had gone there to see. 

I think going to the Smith family homes was the favorite part of Palmyra for most of the kids. It was cool to get to visit places that you've read about in scripture. The senior missionary tour guides were excellent.

We went to the print shop where they printed the first copies of the Book of Mormon. I thought this was one of the coolest things that we saw. They had totally restored the building so the floor that we stood on was the exact same floor (albeit sanded down a bit by years and sanders) that the people stood on in the 1800's. There were also really good senior and sister missionaries running the tours. 

After having heard that the Gold Plates weighed about 60 lb. (about as much as Leona) it was crazy to imagine Joseph Smith running with them down the Hill Cumorah and through the woods back to his house, while fighting off attackers.  

The Sacred Grove was my favorite part of Palmyra. It was just so peaceful. I was surprised by how open and big it felt. I imagine forests/groves as being stuffed with trees, but if I'd stopped to think about it I would have realized that you have to have enough space between trees to let the sunlight filter down to each tree. It was a beautiful summer day and there was sunlight making the light feel green and hopeful. There were mosquitos, but they seemed to mostly annoy you rather than eating you alive. 

We let anyone who wanted to go by themself to have some time to say a prayer. When I did I felt very peaceful. Even though there were quite a few people in the Grove with us, it still felt like a reverent place. I know that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ and that through him They restored the gospel of Jesus Christ on the earth.

Leona's Favorite Part of Palmyra was: the Grandin Printing Press, the Smith Family House, and walking around the Sacred Grove.

 

Vermont is for Ice Cream

On our original Vermont itinerary we were supposed to go for a hike in the beautiful scenery, but it was raining pretty heavily so we had to skip the hike and go straight to Ben and Jerry's. Later that night Collin and I went on a short hike, all of the kids refused to come, choosing instead to relax at the Airbnb. Vermont was BEAUTIFUL, but so full of bugs. I drove Collin crazy by walking with my hands over my ears, because bugs kept trying to fly into my ears. We did also see a porcupine in the wild though, so worth it.

Leona's favorite part of Vermont: Ben and Jerry's Tour and Eating Ice Cream there

 

Maine

We brought the east coast heat wave with us up to Maine. It was pushing 100 the day we arrived, but by the next day it had dropped into the 60's. We stayed in a second floor apartment right across the road from the beach. It was a great location. The water was super cold, but that didn't stop the kids from playing in it.

For dinner we went to a restaurant where everyone tried lobster (out of Collin and my lobster rolls), no one was a huge fan, but Leona liked it ok. Afterwards we walked around and saw some salt water taffy being made. We bought some and tried it back at the apartment. People liked the taffy much better than the lobster. While we were there we tried to buy blueberries like in the "Blueberries for Sal" book, but all the blueberries were from New Jersey. 

The beach was really beautiful, although on day two it was a bit chilly for my beachgoing taste. We also enjoyed going to a local lighthouse. It was on its own little island with a rowboat for people and a pulley system for sending supplies across to the island. Apparently it got automated about 20 years ago, so no one lives there anymore, but up until that point there'd been a family living on their own little island.

Beach snails

Leona's favorite part of York, Maine: the Beach

 

Boston

On our way to Boston from New York we stopped in Connecticut for a bathroom break and stopped in Rhode Island, at Taylor Swift's ocean mansion (for 30 seconds), to add to our growing tally of states.

After NYC we were pretty beat. Also the Texas heat followed us north to Boston, so we took it a little easier in Beantown. We toured the USS Constitution as well as another ship, whose name I forget that was a WWII era ship. Those were both fun to explore, and also made us all grateful that we aren't sailors in the 1800's.

The other main thing we did, besides eating at an amazing pupusa restaurant, was to walk the Freedom Trail. The stops are as follows: Boston Common, Massachusetts State House, Park Street Church, Granary Burying Ground, King's Chapel and King's Chapel Burying Ground, Boston Latin School Site/Statue of Benjamin Franklin, Old Corner Bookstore, Old South Meeting House, Old State House, Boston Massacre Site, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere House, Old North Church, Copp's Hill Burying Ground, USS Constitution, and the Bunker Hill Monument. We didn't do them entirely in order as we did the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill Monument the first day, and then did the rest in order. It was quite the hike around Boston, but we learned some interesting facts about the city and US history along the way thanks to eavesdropping on tours we passed and the self-guided internet tour we found. Everyone was relieved when we got to the final stop, as somewhere along the way it had become a bit of a forced march, but everyone kept a pretty good attitude about it.

This little nasty then caused the next leg of our trip. While Leona was brushing her hair she felt and correctly identified, without seeing, the tick that must've jumped aboard her head in Central Park and hitchhiked up to Boston. I put on my big girl pants and acted nonchalant about using tweezers to pull it out of her scalp while inwardly completely freaking out. It was one of my finer mom moments. While I was able to remove it intact the pediatrician told us that she still needed a prophylactic dose of antibiotics. We were able to get her into an urgent care along our trek northward in Salem.

While in Salem we stopped off at the locations where they filmed Hocus Pocus. It was cool, but also took a little of the magic of movies away since A) it was much smaller than it looks in the movie, B) it was bright and sunny, not dark and eerie, and 3) there were camp counselors hanging around who were prepping for summer camp in the village, which seemed decidedly less ominous than a witch trial. :) Still as our only nod to the Salem Witch Trials, it was a fun stop, and even had a nearby playground.

Leona's favorite part of Boston: Boston Cream Pies (that may or may not have had coffee in them)