That's the way to see the Ballet

We are fortunate to have the New York City Ballet spent a couple a weeks doing performances just a half hour from our house in July. I really have grown to love going to the Ballet and since I have a niece that may be performing professionally soon, it's a good thing. But nothing can beat going to SPAC, the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and getting lawn seats. I mean really, how many chances do you have to see the New York City Ballet while wearing shorts and flip flops with a picnic lunch and get to play frisbee and eat ice cream during intermission?

Our budding photographer, Bryson, set up the camera using the delay so he could jump back in next to us. The Amphitheater is not crooked, the camera was; just tilt your head to the side to get the straight effect.

In my opinion, that's the best way to see the Ballet.

We took a short hike after the Ballet to see some of the "Saratoga Springs". Bryson tasted one of them. You have to do it once. It tastes really nasty, kind of sulfury (I think I invented a new word).

Then we walked down to the Island Spouter. That is some serious hard water build up.

Just down the path you run into this mountain of mineral buildup.

Of course Bryson had to climb it (he is a boy after all). While he was climbing I noticed something odd...

My poor youngest child is, yet again, a victim of cheap parents and I hadn't even noticed. You see, I try to only buy sandals for the kids every two years (among other cost saving measures) to keep the clothing budget down. So I buy a size bigger so they can use them two years in a row most of the time. Bryson had a pair of sandals that I bought last year that he was happy to wear again this year. A couple of weeks ago one of the straps on his sandals broke and I haven't had a chance to glue it together. So after going to the Ballet and on a little hike, I notice as he's climbing the mineral mountain that he has two different shoes on! Apparently his left crock broke and his right sandal broke. This was lucky because it left him with a pair (even though his toe is busting out of his crock). He was perfectly fine with it and hadn't even mentioned anything!

What a cheap, bad mom.

Hill Cumorah Pageant

Call me crazy (won't be the first time, I'm sure), but when the Bishop asked if we wanted to take the entire Youth out to the Hill Cumorah Pageant this year, I gave an enthusiastic, SURE! What if we have to drive out and back the same day arriving home around 2 am? Why not! Many of these kids may not get the opportunity otherwise. So off we went. We were able to fit a few younger brothers and sisters so whole families could go, so Bryson went with us and the Homer boys were there as well. Here's a picture of Joshua Bassett, Dalton Homer, Bryson, Duncan Homer, and Parker and McKay behind sitting by McKay's friend Mike VanOmmeren.

The weather was great, the picnic was perfect, we all travelled safely, and the show was amazing. Well worth the trip.

Let Freedom Ring!

Independence Day brought with it the usual parades, barbecues, and fireworks. We started off the day with a parade in our friend's, the Homer's, neighborhood. Bryson was able to be in the parade with his friends Duncan and Dawson riding their rip sticks (imagine a skate board with only one wheel on the front and one on the back and both wheels freely swivel - it takes some practice). Dawson is in the gray shirt, Duncan behind him in the red shirt, and Bryson following in the navy blue t-shirt.

Then we went the Homer's neighborhood 4th of July party where they had, get this, a climing wall, a big blowup slide, dunking booth, BBQ, snow cone machine and 2 bouncy bounces. That is a serious block party.

Here's Bryson on the climbing wall - don't worry he made it to the top.

Bryson took his turn in the dunking booth. Even though both Mom and McKay tried to dunk him, we missed the target. Just when Bryson didn't expect it, one of the neighborhood kids sank him.

McKay and I raced up the rock wall. We were neck and neck up until the end when I pulled ahead.

David was the next adventurer up the wall. None of us wanted to race him, though. His arms and legs are too long. We don't stand a chance.

Then we picked up Parker (the teenager had finally emerged from hibernation for the day) and headed out to Dorothy's for a BBQ, walk along the Erie canal to see the steamboats on parade, and fireworks.

Parker and McKay went out on one of the docks. In the picture, McKay is trying to rock the dock and scare Parker. It didn't work, though.

We went back to Dorothy's and played Yahtzee to pass the time until fireworks. Usually we go into downtown Albany and watch the fireworks on the Plaza, but it's crowded and the people can be kind of obnoxious, so we tried the fireworks in Waterford by Lock 2.

We watched fireworks along the bank of the Erie Canal just below Lock 2. The boys sat on the rocks at the water's edge.

You could see the reflection in the Erie canal. Cool!

The more I travel, the more I realize how fortunate we are to live in a country where life is valued, happiness is achievable, safety and security are taken for granted, and where a belief in God still dictates how many people live their lives. There is no place I would rather live than the good ol' USA.

Girls Camp

Going to Girl's Camp in the cradle of the Restoration is just amazing. When you can take the Young Women on day trips to the Sacred Grove, Hill Cumorah, and the Whitmer Farm it adds a new dimension to Camp that the Young Women completely take for granted.

The camp, which I call "The Seneca Lake Village Resort", is located on an old farm with beach front on Seneca Lake in New York (one of the finger lakes). At the time of the restoration of the Church David Whitmer, Peter Whitmer, and Hyrum Smith were baptized by Joseph Smith in Seneca Lake. Christian, Anne, Jacob, and Elizabeth Whitmer and Hiram, Katharine, Mary Page, Mary and Peter Whitmer, Sr., and their daughter Elizabeth Ann, William, Elizabeth, and Vincent Jolly, Ziba Peterson, and Parley P. Pratt were baptized by Oliver Cowdry in Seneca Lake, among many others. It really struck me this year how lucky we are to have the opportunity to camp there (lucky in more ways than just the flushing toilets, hot showers, cabins with electricity and bunk beds, beach with kayaks and canoes, and a restaraunt quality kitchen with dining hall).

Lisa Rubilar and I manning the registration table.

There's never a dull moment at camp with more than 100 people and almost 90 of them teenage girls!

This is half of a group we took to Fayette to visit a replica of the Whitmer home.

With only one emergency room visit, one girl going home sick, lots of time spent in the craft barn, hiking, playing ninja (a fun group game), good food, cooking over the fire, rain everyday, fantastic leaders and youth camp leaders, the Survival Challenge, and ending with an amazing testimony meeting, it was a great year at camp.