"I Went to Cornell. Ever Heard of It?"*

About a week ago I realized that the upcoming Sunday was Stake Conference. That means that neither Bryan nor I had any teaching or calling responsibilities. A plan suddenly formed in my head. A few weeks ago, Bryan's sister Melinda and her family moved from Missouri to upstate New York. We'd been trying to find a time to see them and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. They agreed and we drove up on Friday afternoon.

The cousins had lots of fun playing with toys and laughing together.

Then, on Saturday, we walked around nearby Cornell University. Jake, Melinda's husband, knew his audience well and picked the perfect sights for us to see.

First, he took us to this small but beautiful library.

It was seriously cool. 

The kids kept squealing with delight that they felt like they were in Hogwarts.

In addition to being filled with books, it had a pretty amazing view.

After the library, we took a few minutes to rest and regroup.

A highlight of our visit was meeting this bright-eyed beauty. Emma is darling and so sweet.

After the library we climbed more than one hundred and fifty stairs to see the inside of this bell tower.

We had the good fortune of being at Cornell during reunion weekend. One of the festivities was a self-guided tour of the tower and a concert. It was an awesome experience to watch this huge instrument be played. Each song was a workout that required two skilled players.

Did you know that Cornell has a huge chasm running through it? We're talking five to six stories deep. I had no idea. Jake and Melinda took us to see one of the many waterfalls in the gorge.

We did not enter the water, though we saw people fishing and a handful of people in swimsuits.

We also didn't touch the rocks. This sign was on the far side of a chain divider. As we were leaving the gorge, we saw a woman climb over the fence to take a picture with this warning. The kids were all vocally alarmed by her choice.

 

Then we got back to the business of playing. I commented that Sophie's coloring fits with Melinda's kids more than mine. Sophie, Sam, and Emma all have the same shade of blond hair.

Nathan and Phoebe were nearly inseparable. Wherever Phoebe was, Nathan wanted to be. It was sweet to see these cousins become better friends.

As a lovely bonus to our fun weekend, we were able to celebrate Emma's first birthday.

Emma was a big fan of ripping tissue paper out of the gift bags.

 We drove home on Sunday afternoon, glad we had the visit, but happy to sleep in our own beds again.

Thanks Jake and Melinda for hosting and feeding our active and hungry bunch!

*Bonus points if you can name the source of the quote in the title. And no, bonus points cannot be redeemed for cash prizes.

Honesty Above All Else

Me: (with a slightly raised voice, calling to an out-of-sight Sophie) Sophie, what are you doing?

Sophie: (calling from another part of the house) I'm in the bathroom, doing something I don't want you to know about.

Deadpan

"Why are you smiling, Mom? Am I doing something amusing?"

She didn't actually says these words, she simply conveyed them through her expression.

Action Shot

Father Photo Shoot

Bryan spent some of our museum visit on Saturday to stage an impromptu photo shoot. Peter was moving too quickly and sticking with his friend, so he didn't sit long enough to join in on the fun. These were taken in a peaceful Chinese Garden Court.

The End of K, 3 and 5

We made it. School ended for the year yesterday. Phoebe chose to wear the same outfit she wore on the first day of Kindergarten. I remembered the outfit too. But without looking at pictures, I have no idea what the boys wore on that first day. I wonder why that is.

I'm happy to say that Phoebe, who was heartbroken about leaving her beloved Kindergarten teacher, was in good spirits when I picked her up at the end of the day. She got to meet her teacher for first grade, and now Phoebe is excited for the summer to zoom past so she can begin her next school adventure.

Shortly before bedtime on Monday night, the kids asked if I would make bread for their teachers for the next day. One batch usually makes four loaves, so I did a quick count: one for Phoebe's teacher, one for Cooper's teacher, two for Peter's two main subject teachers. Sure, I said, I can do that. Then, after I had started, Peter asked if I would make an extra loaf for another teacher that he works with daily. And then Phoebe asked if I would make a loaf for her bus driver as well. So I made a double batch.

I don't recommend going to sleep at two in the morning before the last day of school. You probably won't have all the energy or patience you need for your freshly freed children.

The bread was good though.

We spent our first afternoon of break going through each piece of schoolwork that the kids have been collecting all year. This is usually a project I do on my own as we prepare to move. But we're not moving this summer, and I didn't want to do this work by myself. Peter said we could throw it all away as far as he was concerned. Cooper wanted me to take pictures of every single piece of schoolwork, so we could have a record. Phoebe refused to throw away anything, each piece is a treasure.

At the end of the afternoon, we had filled one and a half trash bags with papers.

After all that work (and yes, it was definitely work), we finally cleared the great room enough to have a celebratory pizza and movie filled evening. 

The kids are all looking forward to waking up today, wondering what we have planned for summer.

I'm wondering the same thing...

The Met

On Saturday we had our first proper adventure in a long while. We drove the two hours into Manhattan and spent the day with our good friends who live in the city. We spent hours in The Metropolitan Museum of Art and just scratched the surface of what was offered. We also took a break partway through the day to play at a fun playground in Central Park, right next to the museum. We ended the day eating tacos in a shop just big enough to hold our party of twelve.

This display held Egyptian Hieroglyphs and felt like we were in an old-school pyramid. You know, as opposed to the new-school pyramids.

More pictures from Egypt, plus a handy padded bar for tired patrons to lean on. Or climb on.

Peter and John stuck together all day. I know Peter had a ball, I hope John did as well.

Apparently this display is talked about in The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan, a book that Peter has read several times and I have only read once and have thus forgotten the details to. When we walked in he said, "It's just like I pictured it!"

There was a lovey Chinese Garden that held these sweet shutters.

We ventured outside to eat and play. The kids all ran and enjoyed themselves immensely while the adults reveled in sitting and chatting. However, after we'd been there for awhile, Cooper came over and said he didn't feel well. His head hurt and he was sniffly. Bryan gave Cooper his grownup-sized sunglasses to help with his headache and Cooper sat nearby for the rest of the park visit. By the time we got home, Cooper was really sick. He missed Primary (he sat in the back of Priesthood while Bryan taught that class and I taught my Primary class) on Sunday as well as his penultimate day of school on Monday.

At least the shades looked cool.

Back inside the museum, we saw some very impressive armor.

And on our way to find the European paintings, I spotted this down a long hallway. I hadn't even known to look for it, but I was thrilled at its discovery! After spending the last few months reading about the American Revolution, this painting was a special treat for me.

Also, it's gigantic.

See?

We finally found the two Caravaggio paintings I'd been searching for, tucked into the European paintings section. After that, we all agreed that we were worn out and ready for dinner. However, there was one more display that Peter desperately wanted to see: Cleopatra's Needle, located outside the museum. So we took a little walk.

See the obelisk in the picture? That's Cleopatra's Needle. Its twin lives in London.

We then hiked ourselves over to an allergy-friendly Greek place that had zero seating. Deciding that was not an option, we moved a few doors down to this restaurant that touted itself as the best of San Franciscan cuisine, which had then been transplanted to NYC. That makes our adventure bi-coastal, right?

After walking back to our car, we made one last pit stop at the museum.

We ended our fun day by driving through the Lincoln Tunnel for the first time (our previous visits took us across the George Washington Bridge) and a quick pass through Weehawken, NJ, notable as the location for the disastrous duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton.

We had a great day and loved seeing our friends!

Open Your Eyes!

Tomorrow is the last day of school. We are all ready. On Friday afternoon, the kids had a picnic of produce on the deck, ready to celebrate the finished antepenultimate day of school.

Also, pictures are better when the subjects can actually keep their eyes open long enough to snap the photo. Pesky wonderfully warm and bright sun...

Feats of Strength

To the Point

I'm sick. Stuffed-head, drippy nose, watery eyes, just-want-to-crawl-into-bed sick.

So that's what I'm going to do.

Goodnight.