Monday, April 28, 2014

New York City Vacation

Now that we are sooo close to NYC, we need a trip to visit! Luann's parents came into town and offered to babysit the kids for a long weekend, so we could make an excursion to NYC. This will be Luann's first, and first for me as a tourist.
Grand Central
Once we got off the train in Grand Central, it was walk, walk, walk. I think we traversed a good portion of Manhattan exploring everything from Central Park, Times Square, and the Empire State building, and lots of places in between.

Ferry passing by the Statue of Liberty
It was a nice vacation, and my legs grew much stronger with all the walking. We managed to not take a taxi one, even though we tried a few times. Now to plan for a family vacation!

Monday, April 21, 2014

Patriot's Day 2014

The official end to winter here in Boston is Patriot's Day. It commemorates the first battles of the Revolutionary War in Lexington/Concord. It's the Paul Revere's ride one with the calls of "The British are Coming." Then the slaughter of the Red coast as they marched back to Boston (and if you ever attend an event explaining it, the actual call was "the Regular's are here." You'd know that if you came to Boston).

Anywho, the actual date of the battles is April 19th, 1775. Patriot's day is held the Monday closest to that day. There are reenactments of the battles, parades, and then the running of the Boston Marathon. It's a fun day. This year my parents were able to join us for the event. It was a little bittersweet after the event of last year, but I'm so proud to see the people of our area carry forward without fear. We won't let terrorists take this day from us.


Kiwi went with Chad to the reenactment of Paul Revere's ride. It's at midnight the night before the battle reenactments. She thought it was pretty cool to stay up that late with here dad.
Soldier's marching to Old North Bridge in Concord.
The Boston marathon. Always fun to see people trying to kill themselves. I hope to run one some day.
The traditional stop at Kimball's ice cream after the race. You can't beat the homemade ice cream shops in our area.


Sunday, April 20, 2014

Mr S and The 6th Birthday Celebration

How fun is it to have someone else help put together a b-day party? Quite fun, actually. As part of a fund raiser for the young men and young women in the ward, we won a hosted b-day party. This year, Mr S got the nod; it helps that his birthday is early in the year.
As noted in the photo above, Star Wars was the theme, and fun was the game!
Pin the Lightsaber on Yoda

Battle the Storm Troopers
All the kids got "lightsabers" (made from half a pool noodle with duck tape for the handle). So cool.
Star Wars = LEGOs, right?
And this little boy is so much fun! This was totally worth it.

Easter 2014

We managed to get a picture for Easter this year, and it turned out pretty good. We do have a pretty nice looking crew.


Sunday, April 13, 2014

Running of the Cars

Also Known As Pinewood Derby! In this ward, we do the Pinewood Derby combined with the same-aged girls. So, Kiwi was participating for the second year; G-man fortunately (for me) aged out.
Kiwi is the car fifth from the left
She did not win any of the fasted cars, but got some sort of certificate for participating.

Sunday, April 6, 2014

Wandering In the Fells

Sometimes, it is fun just to go hiking with no particular plan. Especially on a Sunday around General Conference. And really, how often do I get a picture of me in there?

And sometimes, you just happen on some cool little spots, like this random spring.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

April Fool's

Just for a random posting:

I finally got the corner office. Not that anyone else wanted it, since it has some really odd spaces in it. And, turns out that it was perfect for an office April fools joke.