Hershey and Gettysburg

Thursday morning, we headed over to Hershey. They have a decent sized amusement park, but we were here to see how chocolate bars are made. They no longer allow tours of the actual factory, but they have a free ride that goes thru a fake factory, with singing animated cows and shows you the chocolate process. The kids loved it. We looked around a bit, learned a little, bought a candy bar each, and then off to Gettysburg.

Gettysburg was beautiful. They have a huge visitors center with a museum and lots of info. They have an audio tour set up so you can drive around and visit many of the battle sites and listen in your car about what happened at each site. We didn't have that much time, so we viewed the documentary at the center and walked through the museum, learning a lot. We then drove to a couple of the sites to see what these areas looked like. The time of year with the hills and trees changing was just beautiful to see. It is amazing that so many people have fought and sacrificed for this country we live in. After the battle was finished, the union had won and moved on to is next battle site, the town was left to recover and clean up all the dead and injured left in the area. It was months later when President Lincoln came to the area and declared a national cemetery at which time he gave his infamous speech.

Isabel's Pennsylvania

We left Kirtland for a 6 hour drive to Harrisburg, PA. Isabel was excited to be going to Pennsylvania. Almost a year ago, Isabel one day told me that before she came to live with our family in Idaho, that she lived with her mom and dad (not me and david) in Pennsylvania. Here mom and dad their had died and she came to live with us. She has told me every now and then since then that she misses her mom and dad in Pennsylvania. I have asked her if she wanted to go back and be with them instead, and luckily she has said she wants to stay with us. She has also told me that she has a family in England too. Well, now that we were going to pennsylvania she was excited and asked if we could go to a park their so she could see her mom and dad. Apparently they live in an invisible house in Pennsylvania. She is such a sweet girl. While Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania, we where headed there to see nearby Hershey and Gettysburg.

Palmyra, Niagara Falls, and Kirtland

On Monday morning we hit the road again. This time we left Connecticut to pass through Massachusetts to New York as we drove to Palmyra. We were able to spend the afternoon and early evening climbing the Hill Cumorah, touring the homes of Joseph Smith, and walking through the Sacred Grove. I had not been here in more than 15 years and the church has done a wonderful job of restoring these sites for visitors. It was nice to share these sites with our children and ponder on the events of the restoration of the gospel to the earth. It was nice to walk through the grove and remind myself and my children how much the Lord loves each of us and that he is listening to our prayers. How grateful I am for young Joseph and his prayer in that grove so long ago.

Tuesday morning we drove 1.5 hours to Niagara Falls. We told the kids we were going to see a big waterfall, and Calvin said, why are we driving to see a waterfall, we've seen big waterfalls. Then as we were crossing Rainbow bridge to Canada we had a fantastic view of the falls and the kids all exclaimed, WOW, that is a really big waterfall. And now they were very excited to see the falls and go on the boat ride to them. We rode the maid of the mist and I had told the kids we were going to ride the boat through the waterfall. They loved getting closer and closer and having the spray blown on us, and then they were disappointed as the boat backed away and did not go thru the falls. Not one of them was scared of the sheer magnitude or force with which the water roared over the fall. It was definitely a site to see up close.As you can see in the above picture Matthew joined us in his well covered stroller. After our picnic lunch we decided to head to Kirtland. We really were flying by the seat of our pants. Kirtland was 3 hours away; we were able to arrive at the church visitors site before closing so we toured the Newel K. Whitney home, store, and the rooms above the store, one being where the school of the prophets was taught. A very reverent place where the Lord had appeared. The sister missionaries did a great job us adults and kids too. We sat in the room of the school of the prophets and after the sister bore her testimony of the special events that had happened there asked if we could sing I am a child of God. My heart was full as I sat some where so sacred with my children and listened to them share their testimonies as they each sang the words of the primary song.

In the morning we were able to visit the Kirtland Temple, now owned by the Community of Christ Church. To walk thru that sacred building and see the beautiful workmanship that the saints spent 3 years building for our Heavenly Father. I think of their dedication and sacrifice and how hard it must have been for them to leave it behind, and yet they were so blessed by the events and blessing they were able to receive in the Temple before leaving. Again, the spirit was strong as we sat in the assembly hall in the Temple and sang the Spirit of God, a hymn written for the dedication of the Kirtland Temple.

Hartford, CT

Saturday morning, after the popcorn selling, we started our drive up to Hartford Connecticut. Along the way we stopped to see the Statue of Liberty. It was fun to take the ferry out to the Island. We did not go inside the statue, but it was beautiful to sit and remember all that it stands for, the freedom and liberties we have in this country. We drove thru NYC and it took us an hour and a half to cross about 20 miles to the other side. The traffic was crazy, even on a Saturday, and reminded us how blessed we are to live in Idaho without the crazy congestion of a gigantic city. The kids loved looking at all the tall buildings. We crossed through 5 states to get to Hartford: Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. We paid about $30 in tolls to drive there.

We made it to Hartford, and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins there. My brother Aaron and his wife Rachel have 3 cute kids. Annaliese, Beckum, and Aiden. Their oldest is a few months older than Isabel, and the girls had so much fun being together. They have a beautiful home with a fantastic view of the tree filled hills of Connecticut. We were able to attend church with them and just spend a relaxing Sunday there.

Maryland

We left a week ago, and it has been a busy week. The flights out to Maryland were good. The kids did well, but they are getting use to being on an airplane at this point. And babies are easy as long as I prepare well. One the 2nd flight the three youngest all took naps at the same time, which was nice since we awoke at 5 am to catch our first flight and were all tired. The next day we took the kids to a park I use to go to as a kid. This park was worth the 30 minute drive from my house. It had huge slides and playground equipment. Well, since that was more than 25 years ago, it has all been replaced with newer, safer equipment, which now makes it look like a regular park. But it is in the woods with several hiking trails and a nature center, which looks the same as it did when I was 8 years old. So that was fun to see and we had a great time hiking a trail through the tall beautiful fall trees. The trees are in full Autumn color with reds, yellows, orange and purples. It has been beautiful as we have driven all over.

The next 2 days David and I spent mostly at the Sail Boat show in downtown Annapolis. Kylynn spent those days at my brothers house with the kids doing schoolwork, taking walks to the neighborhood park, and playing at the house. Calvin was able to watch his cousin Collin play at football practice and then Saturday morning he was able to help sell cub scout popcorn at the local grocery store. Uncle Gerritt dressed him up in his troop shirt, complete with scarf and hat. He loved it. It will be fun when he turns 8 and gets to join cub scouts too.

Itinerary

It may change when we get to Europe, but for now our itinerary is as follows:

10/5 fly to Maryland. We are staying with my brother, who still lives in the area where I grew up. We will be attending the sailboat show and visiting the area including DC.
10/9 drive to Hartford, CT to visit another of my brothers. We plan to stop and see the statue of liberty on the way.
10/11 head to Palmyra to visit the church sites there.
10/12 head to Niagra falls
10/13 we are still undecided, we may head back to Maryland, or maybe venture to Kirkland or see the beautiful country side in pennsylvania.
10/14 if we haven't yet, we need to head back to MD for the power boat show.
10/18 Fly to Poland. We have a direct flight to Germany, and hour layover, and then a 1.5 hours flight to Krakow, Poland.

Hopefully the kids will get some sleep on the plane. Most likely we will take a short nap when we arrive and then get up in time for dinner and a short evening activity before bed. This should push us through the jet lag and adjust us to the time diffence.

At the end of November grandpa plans to fly over and join us in Poland for a few weeks. He would also like to spend some time in the Alsace France area to do some family history research. We plan to go with him to see the area too.

12/20 we fly back home, but won't reach Idaho until the next morning. The flight we booked has a 12 hour layover in CA which we thought would be easier on the kids. This way it will feel like flying all day, getting in late, we can get a couple hotel rooms, go to sleep as soon as we arrive, and then awake rested in time to make our flight home to Idaho in the morning.

Packing for Poland

We have spent the last 2weeks preparing for our journey. We are mostly packed and interestingly enough we have less luggage then our last trip. Of course we don't have to pack life jackets, snorkeling gear, or food. But thought that the winter gear would be similar in size to all the extras we took on the last trip. Poland will be chilly when we arrive.

When preparing for a journey, I find 2 tips that really help me. First, I make a list for each of the kids of what needs to be packed. And second, I start packing at least one week before we are to leave. With the list I can know what I have packed and what I have left to pack, so hopefully nothing gets forgotten. Starting a week early allows me to not feel a mad rush or stress in the last few days before we leave. It also allows plenty of time to make extra trips to the store for things needed. It does mean that my kids will wear the same couple outfits during that last week as the rest of their clothes are packed.

Since we are going to Europe and are expecting to travel some by train or quick weekend trips by plane we wanted to bri g mre carry on sized bags. So while we have less luggage, we actually have more bags to deal with, they're just smaller in size. But that is a problem for David. I pack, he gets to figure out how to transport it to/from/around the airport and where ever we are going.