And in the end...its all for them

I guess what it really all comes down to is that we hope the two weeks we spent traveling the east coast this summer will be something our children remember for a very long time.
We hope that it opened their minds to the idea of how big and powerful the world really is.... to how diverse and fragile our lives sometimes are especially here in America... and how precious the time we spend together as a family really can be when we set aside the time to put away the hustle of the world around us and just focus on each other for a time.
Without computers, iPods, and PS2 games. Without all the phone calls and pager beeps. Short simple conversations about everything we could think of to a mere conversation about nothing at all. Holding hands and lingering closely together under a deep blue sky. Seeing a smile on the face of a child as she learns something for the very first time or remembers a silly tale from the past.


Those are the things I will remember the most about our trip to New York this summer.

K-Town, Chinatown, NBC Studios, and more...

We couldn't get over Korea Town! Kenny's 2nd grade teacher - Ms. Nik had never even been there! We spent several hours there walking through the markets, bookstores, bakeries, and outdoor shopping carts. Everything was exactly as if we were back in Seoul, Korea. We ate Melona bars, Pot Bing Soo, and had a Korean BBQ dinner at a restaurant that cooked the meat for you on a burner in the center of our table.

In Chinatown we found a small hole in the wall type of place that served the BEST chinese food! It was located in the basement of a large apartment building. When we were done eating and walked out the door of the basement entrance there was a line of people out on the street waiting to get in. I guess we had gotten there just in time to beat the rush!

NBC studios was a fun place to stop and visit. Too bad they weren't in need of any more audience members for shows like SNL and Conan O'Brien!

World Trade Center site...

While in NYC we toured the World Trade Center site where they are building a memorial to honor all the people who died during 9/11. A tall chain link fence surrounds the deep cut hole where the twin towers once stood.
There was a unique quietness there as we stood and read the names of the people who died in the attack. In the corner lay a clump of flowers with a handwritten note from a child that read, "Happy Father's Day" and "I love you".

By subway, train, and ferry...

We used several different modes of transportation on our two week trip. Automobile, Trolley, Ferry, Train, Tram, Railway, Subway, and good old fashioned walking. The favorite seemed to be the Ferry boats and the trains. As we found out on our trip to Disney World last spring, sightseeing the various different places can add several steps to our daily excercise routine! I wonder how many miles we clocked this trip?

After a long hot day of traveling we certainly took advantage of the hotel swimming pools! Did we mention that we ran into a celebrity while in Manhattan? As we walked by the NBC studios...out walked David Hasselhoff! We caught him just in time to snap a photo! Arnold and I recognized him from Knight Rider. The kids recognized him from "America's Got Talent" and of course who can forget that he was on "Baywatch"?

Statue of Liberty...

We spent our first day in NYC taking the ferry boat out to Ellis Island and touring the Statue of Liberty. We met Kenny's 2nd grade teacher, Ms. Nikolakis there. She filled in as our personal tour guide for the day! She spends the summer months working as a part-time nanny for several large hotels in NYC. Her job the night before we met was for the Producer of the broadway show "The Producers". She watched their daughter while they went to a show and met some friends for dinner! Wonder if she could get Lisa involved with that gig?!

We spent the second half of the day touring Manhattan. Times square was one of our favorite. The kids stopped to pet a Police horse that was on the side of the road. They couldn't figure out why the policemen wouldn't let them feed the horse an apple like they do here at our neighbors house! We also stopped by the Manhattan Toys R Us store. They had a full sized working Ferris Wheel in the lobby of the store! Unbelievable!

Nikola Tesla....

Arnold remembers hearing his dad talk about the man this statue portrays. We spent several hours at the Power Vista Visitor Center in Niagara Falls, NY learning about how the water flow from the falls generates power for the entire area.

We couldn't resist getting a picture by this sign before we walked over Rainbrow bridge to Ontario, Canada. Half way across there was an American Flag, a light pole, and then a Canadian Flag. A plaque on the walkway showed us exactly where the border ended and began again. It cost nothing to enter the Canadian side from the American side, but upon our return we had to put 50 cents into a turnstyle in order to return to the states.

Niagara Falls from both sides...

While in NY we had the opportunity to tour Niagara falls both on the Ontario, Canada side and the New York side. We took a boat tour called Maid of the Mist that allowed us to view the crashing water from right underneath Horseshoe falls. Then we joined a walking tour that took us right underneath Bridal Veil falls where Lisa and Kenny enjoyed standing on what the workers nicknamed "Hurricane Deck". Jessica and I were content to watch from afar. Needless to say we were all soaking wet by days end. The observation deck on the NY side allowed for us to view the falls from 200 ft in the sky.
The Canada side was our favorite as it had a better view of both falls as well as the novelty of being able to go through customs and take the kids on their first "out of country" tour! It felt strangely good when the customs agent on the America side checked our paper work, looked up at us and simply said, "Welcome home." While in Canada we spent the evening watching the sunset and the falls slowly illuminate with different colors of the rainbow and then to end the day we stood on one of the observation decks and watched a 20 minute fireworks program set off over Horseshoe falls. The view was perfect! What a great end to a funfilled day!

The sacred grove...

Several different times throughout the trip and since we've been home we've had the occasion to hear what the kids say was the best part of the trip. Each time Arnold and I hear them express their excitement about being in the Sacred Grove our hearts just melt.
It was definitely the highlight of our trip and something we will remember as a family for a very long time.

Twenty six temples and counting...

We have a fun family tradition in that whenever we travel and wherever we go we take the time to find the nearest LDS temple to take a picture in front of for the kids. When Arnold and I were growing up in the church you could basically name all the temples located throughout the world without any problem.
Now that the church has some 121 temples and counting it has been fun for us to collect pictures of the children in front of temples all across the country. Palmyra NY was no exception!

Caterpillar in the sky...

We made it down from the trail to the visitor center and almost walked right into a caterpillar that was hanging in mid air from a thread of cocoon web maybe?
We had to stop and take a look at it. It made for a very interesting picture.

One adventure after another...

Up near the Hill Cumorah Monument we noticed a large moth just sitting at the base of the steps of the monument. It seemed to capture their attention and they soon found a way to scoop it up and hold it in their hands.
Somehow where ever we went Kenny was able to find critters that needed a home. By the time we arrived back in Mobile we had collected or seen a moth, a large double eyed butterfly, a caterpillar hanging from the sky, a multi colored dragonfly, a snake, a bunny, lizards, catfish, and several deer.

Trail behind the Hill Cumorah...

As our tour of Hill Cumorah came to an end we walked the nature trail leading from the monument at the top of the hill down to the visitor center.

Visiting Hill Cumorah...

While in Palmyra, NY we spent the afternoon at the Hill Cumorah visitor center and gardens.

We couldn't have asked for better weather or a better place to start our vacation.

Start spreading the news....

New York immediately appealed to Lisa and it seemed somehow overnight she turned into this young woman who fit right in on the streets of Manhattan. We'd prefer her in pigtails and princess shoes but who are we to change the course of time?

Road trip of a lifetime...

This summer after Lisa and I returned home from YW camp our family spent two weeks traveling up north through Tennessee, Viriginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and finally New York State where we spent time visiting some of the most amazing places in history.

We started out in Hershey, PA where we toured the Hershey Chocolate factory! What a fun way to start our vacation! You could just smell the chocolate as soon as you entered the city of Hershey! We rolled down our windows and enjoyed the sweet smells! Even the light posts on main street were chocolate hershey kisses!

Next we drove up to Palmyra, NY where we toured all of the original church history sites including Hill Cumorah and the Sacred Grove.

Next we found ourselves in Ontario, Canada and Buffalo, NY touring Niagara Falls up close and personal! We even have the rain ponchos and slip on shoes to prove it!

New York City was next on our list of things to do and after we booked ourselves into a hotel on the New Jersey coast we spent the next two days figuring out the train and subway system well enough to get ourselves to Times Square, Rockefeller center, the Empire State building, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Chinatown, Little Italy, and K-Town (also known as Korea town).

Driving back to Philadelphia we found ourselves back where we started in a small town near Hershey, PA where we picked up a generator we had bought off of ebay. Its actually what started this whole trip in the first place and may have very well been one of our favorite stops along the way.

What turned into a quick trip into Womelsdorf, PA to pick up our generator turned into half a day of fun on a Dutch Pennsylvania farm with a wonderful family who had lived on the farm for generations. Raising each of their children to work on the farm and learn the values of the culture they lived.

Our kids fed 15 year old catfish that have grown to be as big as Jessica, saw snapping turtles, chased jumping frogs along the pond, rollerbladed through the family's country store, watched a Paul Revere filmstrip from the tops of the rafters in an old barn house and found a new friend in the family's youngest son, Kevin.

We were so impressed with the Brubaker's family values, hard work ethic, and sweet honest nature. We will never forget meeting the Brubaker's. What wonderful friends they have become!

Several hours into the night we found ourselves in High Point, North Carolina - or as most people know it - the "Furniture Captial of the World". We spent two days here checking out the furniture outlets and trying to find some furniture for our house. About a year ago we made our first trip to High Point and furnished our new home with amazing bargains on furniture that we had seen in Architectual digest and only dreamed about owning one day.

This trip proved to be a bit more difficult as we were looking for more specific pieces rather than whole house ensembles, but after a few hours we were successful and found several pieces to bring home with us. If we didn't have the original price tags to show the markdown, you would never believe the deals we got! I guarantee it!