Vacation!!

Rylan left us behind to join Kacy and her fam on the ferris wheel. He was too excited to wait!

(Written mostly by Kevin with a few tidbits from me)

K: Early Friday morning (4am), we left for our 7 day vacation to the East to view historical church sites and enjoy Niagara Falls (on both the American and Canadian sides; we got passports for the boys so we could pass into Canada. We went with Janell's Dad and Mom, oldest sister and her three oldest kiddos, and younger sister and family. Vacationing, for me, is very stressful, from the moment we leave our house until we finally get back I'm a big ball of stress. I can't help it. We had two layovers, making the overall traveling time excruciatingly long. Our first layover was a 4 hour stay in Minneapolis. We decided to stuff our carry-ons into a locker and go to the 'Mall of America' via the tram system. Janell, Tamera and our little family went to H&M. Janell was on fire, trying on clothes like a fashion model, all the while, I tried to keep my eye on a certain little boy whose only diversion is mischief. J: I have been so excited to go shopping at H&M! I used to wander in there in Belgium and I've always wished they had one out here. They have some in California...maybe I should open one in Utah!

K: After an hour we had to dash back to the airport to get on our plane again. We were not seated together (Rylan, Kevin, Janell on separate rows), so we had to switch people to finally be together. I listened to a book on mp3 (Fablehaven by Brandon Dorman) and read my book (The Road by Cormac McCarthy) to keep myself occupied on the plane. J: I had Asher with me so my plane time was spent keeping him entertained and sleeping when he finally fell asleep. I bought the movie Cars for Rylan and he was excited to watch that and watched it throughout the trip.

K: It was 6pm when we finally arrived in Buffalo, New York. It was raining. Tom and Eva Jo had arrived earlier on a flight with Kacy and her family. They picked us up from the airport in the minivan we would be sharing for the week. The other two families had rented their own cars. We all met up at the Buffalo Road House Grill to eat. I ate a hundred peanuts and tossed the shells all over the floor. Rylan stabbed peanuts with his fork. I got a steak. I started getting a cold, so we dashed over to the Walmart and got some medicine. Unfortunately, I was sick the rest of the week. J: An employee of my mom's previously lived in Buffalo and said we HAD to try the “beef on weck”, a french dip type sandwich with horseradish. So I did. Those of us who ordered it weren't too impressed. It was good, just not great.

K: Saturday, we went to the Darien Lake theme park. We went on several roller coasters and a ton of kid rides. The kids loved it. The skies were cloudy so we did not take advantage of the water park portion of the park, but we were sufficiently worn out at the end of the day when we finally left. Rylan loved the log rides, motorcycle ride, the carousel, bumper cars (although he was unable to move for more than 10 seconds). Some of the rides he did not like were a spinning ride and the kid roller coaster although he willingly went and did not cry.

See his face in the above photo? He wasn't having much fun!

J: We left the park (Darien Lake) to go to the Hill Cumorah pageant. Because of the cloudy skies, the occasional rain, and the summer wardrobe we had all brought with us, we stopped at Target on the way to buy some jackets and blankets. The jackets were used the rest of our vacation so it was a good purchase!
We laid our blankets out on the grass in the very front and set up to watch the pageant. I had tried to find the siblings of a couple in our ward but never saw them. I spent much of the pageant trying to calm down my two noisy boys who did not want to sit and watch like I did. What I did see, I enjoyed and Kevin said it was much better than he had anticipated. The special effects were great with fire and water and I just thought it was well done. Oh, and we were all amused by the protesters who used megaphones to tell us what we believe not having their facts straight. While walking in I had mentioned to mom what a different feeling it was going from the parking area with people yelling at you and saying all these negative things, compared to entering the pageant area with the beautiful hymns playing and smiling friendly faces. It's great to have the true gospel and they happy feelings that come with it! K: The protesters said really bizarre things that were not correct. One called everyone “Mormon” (singular) like we was talking to an individual named “Mormon”. The contrast between these protesters and the actual show is a testimony builder, not destroyer as they probably believe they're doing. The pageant was good with fire spewing from the earth and a boat sailing on a stormy sea. I wonder how many non-LDS people view it each year? They have two week temporary senior couples each year to help out at not only the pageant by also the surrounding church tourist spots that get super busy at that time. J: We think Kevin's parents would be great at this in future years (when they are not on a full time mission, of course!).