The Play Museum

On Wednesday we went to the Strong Museum of Play.  It was so fun.  It was nice to have a laid back day as well.  Due to hotel mix ups, the Mellors headed to New York City a day early so we were solo at the museum.  This place was insane.  I think it's the largest children's museum in the US.  There was so much to do.  We were there 4 hours and still hadn't made it through the whole thing.

Part of the Train wing.

Train ride.

Flying an airplane

With all the things to play with, Charlotte's favorite was still the books.  They had bookshelves everywhere that were themed the same as the exhibit.

Her cute face.

This little grocery store was my favorite.  I would have died as a child to play here.  You got to shop for your own food  and then check it out and even print out a receipt.  Char loved pushing her cart around and loading it up.

Char loved Sesame Street land.

Jack on the news with Rosita.

Lego land.

Jack climbed the beanstalk.

 

Jack told us he was doing his homework.  I guess this is what he thinks Logan does all day.

New York part 2

The next day we went to Palmyra.  This was definitely my favorite part of our trip.  We saw Joseph Smith's home and farm, the Sacred Grove, the Book of Mormon Publication site and Hill Cumorah.  There were many tours to be taken, but with three rambunctious children, we were very tour unfriendly.  It was a challenge to take it all in with our kids running everywhere but I still loved and enjoyed it.  It further strengthened my testimony of the Gospel and definitely magnified my love and appreciation for Joseph Smith and the saints.  The missionaries were very kind and accommodating though.  Later that day we went to Niagara Falls.  It was soooo cold.  Still cool to see though.  

Joseph Smith's home.

Charlotte trying to nudge her way past Logan into the roped off rooms.

Jack picked out his shoes for the day...

The Sacred Grove.

Touring the Book of Mormon Publication site.  The Sister Missionaries were very patient with these boys.

Brett and Logan practice folding Book of Mormon pages.

Hill Cumorah.

Niagara Falls.  This picture says it all.  It was cold.  We were basically in Canada after all.  Char's face kills me.  The kids did really good though considering the lack of circulation in their fingers. 

We ended our night with the hot tub to reset our internal thermostats.

The Big Apple

We mustered up the courage to take our kids on a 23 hour road trip touring some sites in New York.  We went during Logan's spring break and our good friends, the Mellors came with us.  We have been talking about doing this since we moved here but when we finally started looking at cost and drive time, we started getting cold feet.  About a week before the break we got crazy and booked hotels and put our plan into action.  On Sunday evening we drove three hours to Baltimore to stay at Brett's brother's house.  The next morning we headed to Rochester to our hotel.  It was about a six hour drive but we had a late start so got there that evening.  We ate dinner at Dinosaur BBQ which turned out to be delicious.  We have learned that Yelp never steers your wrong, almost every food decision during our trip was made by checking Yelp.  We hit the pool for a swim and then we put the kids to bed.  Using baby monitors, we snuck into the Mellor's hotel room for a little Bachelor Finale.  The men weren't interested but Whitney and I had to finish the terrible finale.  This brings us to day 2 of our trip.  More to come...

So much driving...

Checking out the room at the hotel in Rochester.

We went swimming that night at the hotel.

Jack and Lincoln.  Or as Jack calls him Linky.

We ate at Dinosaur BBQ that night.  So good.  Logan and I were starving and ate a whole rack of ribs.

Gigis

Somewhere along the way Jack started using the word Gigis (pronounced gee-gees).  It just randomly popped up and then he started using it every time he said his prayers.  It always went like this, "Heavenly Fodder, thanks for my new Gigis..."  So overtime we started quizzing him about Gigis to see if we could make any sense of it.  Here is what we compiled:
Gigis are:
faster than Lightening McQueen
taste like ice cream
smell like flowers
green
taller than a giraffe
don't make noises
can swim
live in Gigi houses
So keep an eye out for Gigis.  That sound like quite the sight to see.

Siblings

Jack and Char are good buddies.  They love being silly and playing together.  They are alike in so many ways and yet so different.  They both can be very active, silly, and energetic.  Often times Char reminds us of a little Jack.  But then there are stark differences too.  Jack has always been obsessed with transportation and wheels.  Char will play with cars but she always picks the tiny cute ones.  They both like to read books, but Char seems to love it more and it started at an earlier age.  Basically, my boy is very much a truck loving, energetic, physical, dirty boy and my girl is a very sweet, gentle, sensitive, girly girl.

We call this her over-smile.  It's when she has reached her cute peak in a smile, but then overdoes it into this rodent like face.