Boys Trip to Moab

 Greg goes every Spring to Moab on a bike ride 

with his buddies.  This year he decided to take

Tanner with him.  

 Tanner had a great time and seemed to really

enjoy mountain biking.

 Tanner and Greg

 Tanner and the guys

 Looks like they are taking a little break

Tanner was the only brave one to cliff dive

Spring Break

 I'm finally getting around to posting our Spring Break

pictures.  We went to St. George for a week at the 

beginning of April.  The weather was not so good.

But, there was one really good day and we took full

advantage of it.  We spent some of the day relaxing at

the pool.  Then we drove to a place that we heard had

some big cliffs to dive off.  Christa got brave and

jumped!

 This is me on the way up to the cliffs.

 Bryce jumping --  Him and Tanner were REALLY

brave and they jumped from the highest cliff MANY

times!

 The water was snow about 10 minutes ago!  Hehe,

this is Tanner jumping

 The next day, was really windy and cool.  We found

a place that had some Indian Petroglyphs.  It was

about a one mile walk.

 A few of the Petroglyphs

 Went to the Wind Caves - on a windy day!

Christa and Dotta coming out of the big crack in

the rock

 Tanner peeking his head out of the crack in the

rock (he looks like a ground squirrel)

 Bryce is the "King of the World"!

 Our friends, Becky Conant and her kids, Macade, 

Tanner and Myles met us and spent part of the day

with us.  Greg and I and Becky went to the temple

early that morning while the kids chilled at the

condo.

 Bryce playing on the mountain bike trails

 They had a great time!

 Greg showing Bryce how its done

 We went to Mesquite, NV one night for dinner

at an All-you-can-eat buffet.  Christa and Dotta

are enjoying their meal.

 Wendell and Ruth, our long time friends met us

for dinner.

 Debbie (oops, didn't get a picture of Wayne and

Jesse) also met us there.  

Tanner and Bryce loved the crab legs.  I think 

Tanner is trying a crawfish.  EWWWWW!

Day 2 Lake George

We went to Ft. Ticonderoga which was a fort built by

the french in 1755-1758.  Ticonderoga was the gateway

through which nations passed in war and in peace.  For a 

generation spanning the French and Indian War and the 

American Revolution this post on Lake Champlain 

guarded the narrow water highway connecting Canada 

with Britain's American colonies.  Whichever nation controlled

Ticonderoga controlled America.

During the French and Indian War Britain and France fought to possess Ticonderoga as a 

launching point for each nation's aim of continental conquest.  In the American Revolution

Fort Ticonderoga was the scene of America's first victory in its struggle for independence 

and the United States' northern stronghold protecting New York and New England from

British invasion from Canada.

A soldier stands guard

An inside view of the Fort

I loved these windows

Bryce up inside the Fort

Beautiful view of the King's Garden outside the Fort

We spent the rest of the day at a Six Flags Indoor Waterpark.

The only pictures I took were of the boys surfing!

Tanner trying a trick to go from his knees to a sitting

position.  He also got good at laying on his stomach and rolling

over twice and landing back upright again.  

Bryce doing a trick (pulling the board out and back in)

without crashing

Surfing the wave

The next morning we got back in the car and drove 4 hours back

to Connecticut where we had a yummy dinner with Christa's

nanny family.  Laura is Italian and also a great cook!  I can't

believe I didn't take the camera in!  We spent the night

at a hotel in Danbury, Connecticut then flew home.  It was

a wonderful week!  A week of:  Green wonderful trees, lots

of driving, togetherness, toll booths (lots of them), bridges,

waterfalls, church history sites, Spiritual experiences, more

trees, lakes, fun, a few yellow and orange leaves, nice New York

people, some not so nice New York people, bus rides (watching

rude people almost get in a fight as they are pushing and shoving

trying to get off the bus--pretty comical!) more driving, picnics,

more toll booths, roasting marshmallows at a campfire, and the

list goes on and on!  

Lake George

We left Canada early in the morning for a 6 hour drive to

Lake George.  Our first stop was to the Peter Whitmer home

back in Fayette, New York.  It is about a 30 minute drive

from Palmyra, so it made me realize how important it must

have been that Joseph Smith became friends with Peter and

that the church was organized in this home.  It would have been

quite a long buggy  ride!  I also forgot to mention before, that

after being to Palmyra, I realized The Hill Cumorah was not

close to where Joseph lived.  It was a very long walk.  

These are acorns that fell from trees at the Peter Whitmer home.

Greg was inspired when he said, From the mighty oak comes

this tiny acorn.  Just like the church being organized and

starting out so small and has now grown into a mighty church! 

(or something like that...I guess you had to be there!)

Lake George at Sunset

It was pretty chilly

Walking around the shops, Christa and Tanner trying

on some cool shades!

This picture is for my mom!  She loves Betty Boop!

2nd day in Canada

We spent the whole day doing tours at Niagara Falls.

This is us after we got off The Maid of the Mist!  It

was awesome!

A beautiful view of the Falls

One of the tours we did was the walk to see the 

rapids.  (Before the Falls) 

An interesting wall that we saw during this walk, a rock wall

covered in chewed up chewing gum!  Bryce is adding his!

After a long day visiting the Falls, we headed back to the hotel

and relaxed.  Greg and I went to find a grocery store so we could

make dinner in our hotel instead of eating out.  The cheapest lunch we 

found was $75 for all of us!  We ended up getting a roasted

chicken, some frozen vegetables with pasta in them, cottage cheese 

and ice cream for dessert.  Much more affordable!! (and pretty

creative, if I do say so myself!)  All we had was a microwave.

1st day in Canada-Niagara Falls

On the drive to Canada (I couldn't resist this picture!)
We spent a TON of time driving during this trip and
the kids did great together in this cramped back seat of
an SUV.  They didn't have any arguments!

One of the bridges that we went over

Once in Canada, we walked around on a street 

called Clifton Hill.  It kind of reminded me of Vegas, flashy,

touristy, EXPENSIVE!  We went to the Ripley's 

Believe it or Not Museum.

Christa and Bryce on a VERY large chair

This is what they do to misbehaving children in Canada!  haha

Life sized keyboard (it really worked)

Standing over the falls

The Canada falls

The New York falls

At the Hersheys Factory

I refrained from buying this HUGE candy bar!  Well,

actually it wasn't too hard (it cost $50!)

Yes, this is a live man dressed like an Elvis statue!