New York

After Toronto, we headed to Niagara Falls and upstate New York. Our first stop was in St. Catharine's, Ontario to ride the $0.05 carousel. A couple miles down the road we arrived at Niagara. The bigger kids and I took a boat ride up to the base of the falls and we all enjoyed it.

That evening we watched the dress rehearsal for the Hill Cumorah pageant in Palmyra, NY. It recounts stories from the Book of Mormon and how we got the Book of Mormon. Mike and I loved hearing Abby tell us what was coming next in the pageant. She'd see a story from the Book of Mormon start and tell us the end of the story. She is such a bright little girl and we're so pleased to see her learning the stories from the scriptures.

After the pageant we drove to our friends' home an hour and a half away. We really appreciated the Nelsons letting us stay with them for two nights and we enjoyed the visit. They're great! Most of the day on Friday we hung out at their home. The kids loved playing with their children. We swam at their neighbors' pool in the afternoon and then went to a campground to roast hot dogs and hike to a beautiful waterfall that evening. (As much as I think Michigan is very lovely, it is very flat. Translation: no waterfalls.)

Saturday we headed back to Palmyra to see the sites. We've tried to teach our kids about Joseph Smith - and especially the First Vision. It was special to be able to take them to places where he walked and lived and make those stories more real for them and us. (Pictures: In front of the Smith family log cabin, In the Visitors' Center, Mike and Hannah in the Sacred Grove, Abby and Briton on the path to the Sacred Grove with the Palmyra Temple in the background)

We left the sites and drove partway home finishing the journey on Sunday with a stop in Ontario for church.

We had a great time and were especially grateful to be able to spend time together!

Toronto

Monday: The Ontario Science Center

We got into this museum for free (a $53 value) because we are members of our local children's museum (a $60 purchase). It was worth everything we didn't pay for it:) The kids loved the children's areas as well as many of the more grown up exhibits. When we were deciding what to do our last day in Toronto, we considered going back and spending another day there. It was a lot of fun! The pictures show Briton using the conveyor belt in the construction area and Abby building her own roller coaster. After the science center we drove into downtown and looked at the base of the CN Tower - 1800 feet below the top!

Tuesday: Ontario Place

Ontario Place is an amusement park/water park/IMAX theater. We watched a movie (about bugs, of course), played at the splash pad, rode a paddle boat and rode carnival type rides. The kids were thrilled about (almost) all of it! Our only problem was that our kids are small so they didn't meet the height restrictions for a lot of the rides. They thought it was a huge treat to be able to ride what they could though.

Wednesday: The Toronto Zoo

I was really impressed with the Toronto Zoo. The enclosures are big and natural and there are some really beautiful animals. Being our third day of go-go-going, we were pretty tired and didn't see everything, but we liked what we saw. The zoo has a nice splash pad as well so that was a treat for all of us!

O Canada!

Here we were stopped on a bridge. At this particular moment, Briton (and the rest of us) was in Canada and Abby was still in the U.S. Kind of fun, eh?

Shortly before we crossed the border into Canada for our summer vacation, Abby asked us about passports. We explained what they were and in the process I said something like, "Passports help the people at the borders know who to let in the country." Her response was, "Oh, they won't let Briton in because he hits and bites!" I got a chuckle out of that one. (Incidentally, Briton is leaving the biting stage but is in a bit of a "hitting my family members and laughing about it" stage.)

Dinner in Chinatown: Abby eats with chopsticks better than I do. The kids loved the meal - seafood and all!

Visiting the local temple is always a nice Sunday afternoon activity on vacation. The grounds of the Toronto temple are beautiful. It is terraced and has wooded pathways all around that were perfect for the kids to explore. Keeping a certain 2-year-old out of the fountains was unsuccessful.

Some pictures

I haven't updated in a bit so here are a few pictures:

Here is Abby in a tree. She is probably about 7 feet off the ground here. She has become very resourceful in getting into the trees in our yard and circle and she loves it! Briton can't quite make it into the trees on his own, but when he has a little help from dad, he takes off and will go as high as he can get.

We went down to MSU's Bug Room the other day. Our budding entomologist was in heaven. Briton also enjoyed it. He was pretty interested in the bees, but not as excited to hold the cockroaches. (Can't say I blame him?!?)

7 months

Here are two pictures since she is so cute:

Hannah grabs at anything and everything so keeping the bear on the couch was difficult. She sits very well. She doesn't roll, but is now trying (and almost successful). She loves her brother and sister. She does fun things with her tongue. It is always moving and out. She is starting to develop a bit of stranger anxiety. I am not terribly excited about that, but it isn't too bad. She is still very friendly and social.

Abby

Abby sure cracks me up.

When you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she says an entomologist and a co-pilot. She is going to study bugs and fly airplanes and every time she goes up in an airplane she'll take a different bug. (She really loves bugs.)

Last night we were in the car waiting for Abby to buckle herself into her car seat:

Mike: Abby, do you have your buckles on?

Abby: No, dad, not yet.

Mike: Whatcha been doing back there?

Abby: Well, dad, I've just been laying around.

Maybe you had to be there, but it was really funny. Sometimes we need to encourage Abby to stay focused on the task at hand and it was so funny to hear her say she'd "just been laying around."

And this, my friends, is an Abby original. She calls it a "uni-corn":

The rest of our trip

We spent 3.5 days in Utah following the funeral. It was actually pretty laid back. We took it easy and didn't try to do everything. Sunday I attended my Murray Ward. I felt right at home. In Relief Society there was only one lady who had not been in the ward when we were there. (I believe there were several ladies serving in Primary or YW who I didn't know, but I found it kind of fun that RS had barely changed.) After church Hannah and I headed up to the cemetery and spent some relaxing time there with a sack lunch. We then went home for dinner with my parents, sisters and their families and 2 of my grandmas. It was so much fun! I love being with them.

On Monday, mom and dad took us downtown to Temple Square. Growing up I loved going to Temple Square. (Do any of you remember the little boy in the tree movie?) I was thinking a while back that my kids probably won't grow up with Temple Square around the corner so I need to make sure they get to visit while we are out visiting. After lunch at Crown Burger, we met up with Kaye and got to make some nice visits to the Wessman grandparents. Again, a very nice day...

These last two pictures are from Temple Square - the new temple cross-section (amazing) and Hannah posing behind the Conference Center look alike podium in the Church Museum.

On Tuesday I got to visit Holli and Haley and their combined 4 kiddos! I didn't get any pictures, unfortunately, but loved the visit. We missed Shana and her 3 little ones. Afterwards, my mom and dad and I went here:

Wednesday morning we hung out at home with mom and dad and then mom and I ran some errands on the way to the airport. There's kind of a detailed story that is hard to explain, but I had a little tender mercy that morning. We were in the right place at the right time and it saved some heartsickness and $$$. I was very grateful. We flew home that afternoon. Hannah did have to sit on my lap both flights, but she is sure an angel - such a good traveler.

I was surprised to see Mike waiting for me inside the terminal at the airport. I figured I would meet him outside. I liked it. It was so good to see him!

Ray Casaday 1920-2011

0My grandpa passed away last week. The funeral was beautiful and I feel blessed to have been able to travel home and be with my dad and the rest of the family. My brother, Brian, who lives in Ohio was able to come out. I loved that my parents and the 5 of us siblings could all be together. All of my cousins were there as well - except for Sara who has a really good excuse. She is on a mission. The funeral was really nice. My dad and each of his siblings spoke. They shared memories and testimonies of the Plan of Salvation. First thing this morning, we had a private family viewing with just my grandpa's posterity. It was a sweet and tender time for me and I was reminded of the real power of family. My grandpa was a loving grandfather, had a strong sense of patriotism and was dedicated to the gospel.

Obituary

2008 University of Utah Veteran's Day Honoree

Deseret News article - November 8, 2005

I miss my kiddos, but it has been good to have Hannah with me. She did very well on the flights and we were lucky (again) that flights were empty enough that I could take the car seat aboard.

My dad (right) and his sister and brothers...

The funeral was "with full military honors". Here the marine is presenting my grandma with the flag that draped the casket.

My brother is the second from the right (no sunglasses).

My uncle had this arrangement made. Can you tell what his drink of choice was? I was always offered a soda when I visited their home.

One of my early memories of my grandpa was that he brought us boxes of chocolate donuts. He sold packaging and Salt Lake Donut was one of his clients. My mom picked up chocolate donuts for everyone this morning. One of my cousins commented that grandpa always ate donuts with a fork. I hadn't remembered that, but I had to take this picture when I saw my dad eating a donut during the luncheon.

My parents, siblings, grandma and I...

The silly shot (only those wearing sunglasses allowed)...

My grandpa has 19 grandchildren. Here are the 18 who are not on missions right now.

First beach trip of 2011

Memorial Day marked our first beach trip of the year. We had a fun time with each other and two other families from our branch. It was worth the wind and COLD water!