More snow

It snowed most of the day on Saturday... This is a picture of our porch before the kids helped to clean it off. They had a snowball fight in the back yard with some of the neighbor kids. There were 9 kids outside enjoying the snow.

First Snow fall

These pictures were taken shortly after the snow started to stick to the porch. Taken about 8am. Kyle, Ryan and Tylor were excited to see the snow falling. Ryan want to have a snowball fight. We will see how much snow will come down....

First day of school in PA

Here are the boys ready for the first day of school. I can't believe that Tylor is in the 9th grade. I did ask him if he would like to repeat the 8th grade. He didn't like that idea. Kyle is in the 4th grade and Ryan is 2nd. Ryan rode the bus to school for the first time. This was the first year that I didn't walk the younger two into their classroom.

Nauvoo, IL

We could have spent a lot more time in Nauvoo. We heard the Nauvoo Pageant band playing and stop to listen. Then we were able to get our picture with them. The boys loved it. There are some many different activities that we could have done.

St Louis Arch

We stopped in St. Louis to see the arch. Tylor would have liked to take the elevator ride to the top but there were three people that didn't want to go. So we will have to go back to St Louis again so Tylor can ride to the top of the arch. We did spend over an hour in the museum that is under the arch.



Tylor thought that the arch spanned the river... tying the West to the East... evidently he was wrong...

Liberty Jail

Our next stop was Liberty Jail. We were able to learn more about the prophet Joseph Smith Jr. and the time that he spent in Liberty Jail. I didn't know that the walls of the jail were 4 feet thick.







I do have to say that I like that the building the jail was in was air-conditioned -it's kind of hot in the midwest in July... oh and MUGGY really, really MUGGY.

Independent, MO

We were able to stop by and see the Independent, MO visitor center for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The boys were just glad to be getting out of the car. They also had a play area for the kids to play in.

The Castle

While visiting with Grandpa Hill, we were able to see the castle that Bob and Bonnie are building. It was really neat to see inside the castle. The boys and I were also able to sleep in the castle. Although the castle was designed and built to be a reception hall /party venue it does have a one bedroom "bridal" suite. The boys loved sleeping in the castle. And it's not something everyone can boast they've done.

This is the main room in the castle. There already has been three weddings here, it's really pretty and a photo doesn't do the grandeur of it justice.



This is the view from the balance above the front door.



Here are the boys just before they went into the castle...

Great Grandpa Hill

Our first real stop on our way east, was to see Grandpa Hill. Grandpa turned 99 this year. Grandpa has two great grandkids that turn 9 this year also. Next year when he turns 100 and the great grandkids 10, I think Nana will want to do some sort of special party... but who can blame her it's not every day that you turn 10 and your great grandpa turns 100. Kyle is one of those 9 and 99 grandkids and he thought that was really cool.

Multnomah Falls

The boys went to Multnamah Falls with their aunts and Nana. They said they have fun. The boys walked to the top of the falls with their Aunt GeorgAnnette.

O.M.S.I.

Nanna has a pass for O.M.S.I. so we went there. The boys went three or four time this summer with Nana. So when I was back in town before we left to go to PA, we went one last time. They have an old (I think WWII era) sub there that you can go on and see several parts of, and it's actually in the water in the Willamette River. The boys really enjoyed it.
Full steam ahead! AEY! AEY! CAP'IN!

A sup propeller (I think)...

Torpedo's AWAY!

Down Periscope.

A little more...

Hey who turned on the red light?

I don't know who that is that is cowering in front of the sub. But that's the outside of the sub that you can see from the dock.

JR Rose Festival Parade

I love going to parades. I would have loved to see the Grand Floral Parade, but I didn't think the boys would like to sit for 5 hours on the sidewalk before the parade showed up. So I took the boys to the Jr Rose Festival parade, which doesn't have quite the crowd. I first had to convince Ryan that a parade would be fun to see. I meet my friend Amy Nelson and her 5 kids at there. Amy's son, Peter, was in the parade with the band from his school. The boys did have fun at the parade though.

This is a train that was at the end of one of the bands that come by.. All the boys liked seeing the train.


Cheese anyone?