Upstate New York Trip

The kids and I just got back from an amazing trip to New York to visit Matt's mom. I took a million pictures to share the highlights, but I didn't even come close to capturing all the things we did. Our fun activities included, swimming at the rec center, exploring a sensory garden, playing miniature golf, visiting the fish hatchery, going to an amusement park (Sea Breeze), going to the zoo, petting animals at Lollypop Farm, playing at the beach, swimming in a lake, roaming the kids museum, catching frogs, playing croquet, eating lots of treats, going to yard sales, washing cars, making cookies for neighbors and home-teachers, planting flowers, climbing trees, playing tennis, visiting the Joseph Smith Farm and the Sacred Grove...that's all I can remember but I'm sure I left some things out. My mother-in-law kept us busy every day until we were worn ragged! We had such a great time!

Upstate New York is so gorgeous! This is Matt's backyard! What a spoiled boy he was growing up here. There is a creek running through it which means lots of mosquitos. We all had our fair share of bug bites! But it was worth having such a fun backyard.

The Chill N Grill in Palmyra is awesome! This is a SMALL cone! I can't imagine how big the large is!

These pictures were taken at Lollypop Farm, which is a Humane Society. In addition to the regular types of pets, they also have goats, pot-bellied pigs, emus, lamas, cows, horses, goats, deer, and sheep. The kids saw a wild fox while we were here as well. I think we discovered Jaxon's love for animals during this trip. You can see the excitement and joy in his face in each picture! Jaxon tried to ride this goat but the goat would have none of it and Jaxon fell off.

Click on this picture to see Jaxon's expression! He would pet this huge cow and say, "Nice cow!"

This statue is in the visitor's center at the Joseph Smith farm

Us in front of the Joseph Smith log cabin
The view of the Palmyra temple from the farm
Tori and Jacob in the Sacred Grove
The monument at the top of Hill Cumorah If you don't know what these things are, visit http://www.mormon.org/

Catching frogs was by far Jacob's favorite pasttime. He was constantly outside looking for frogs, but even when he caught one and let it go, his craving was not satisfied. There is a creek that runs through the backyard so Jacob would be out there for hours catching frogs over and over. Even Tori enjoyed catching them, although she wasn't as obsessive as Jacob. And Cole was the expert because he would catch them with his bare hands before we got the net. Jaxon loved to look for them as well and would say, "Foggy? Foggy?"

We took a trip to the beach at Lake Ontario. Unfortunately the water was roped off so we couldn't swim, but the kids still loved playing in the sand.

This was at Canandaigua Lake. The water was a perfect temperature and the kids played in the sand for hours!

The children's museum in Rochester is amazing! We spent about five hours there and we still didn't see everything! Thanks, Amy!

They had a couple of fish tanks filled with Finding Nemo characters. This was perfect for Jaxon because he is currently going through a Nemo phase!

The boys loved climbing the tree in the front yard!

These are some pics of our trip to Sea Breeze, the amusement park. It is such a perfect family place. They have a water park area and regular ride section. And in both places, they have fun rides and water slides for all ages. We spent the entire day there and the kids couldn't get enough! I think this was their funnest day. The boys were so brave going on all the big rides - I was very proud of them! Amy - you have to make a trip to Sea Breeze! Jack would be in heaven!

Poor Tori at the end of the day. This picture was taken at about 9:30 at night. Notice that Jaxon is still going strong! Tori and Jacob were troopers riding all the kiddie rides with Jaxon. Of course Cole would have gone, too, if he wasn't so darn tall!!!

Click on this picture to see the boys' faces. Pure joy!!!

Last year when Matt's dad died, we planted a cherry tree in his memory in their front yard. The kids had a lot of fun adding new soil and planting flowers around it. Mary had a "Poppy's Tree" stone made to sit right in front of the tree. It's a great reminder of Jim whenever we see it!

Our trip to the zoo

A fun carousel at the mall