Western New York, Part III

On Monday, we went to the Corning Museum of Glass.

We saw gaffers blow glass into vases, a flameworking demo, where flameworkers turn glass rods into figures, and a glass breaking demo. 

The glass breaking demo was hosted by a very young-looking physicist, who was surprisingly good at his job.  He had great show presence and presented interesting information.

We also had our own private tour by one of the docents who gave us a brief overview of the history of glass and showed us samples from many different countries and eras.  There were some pretty amazing exhibits. 

This mosaic of Teddy Roosevelt is made out of little tiny glass pieces in various sizes.  Amazing! They also had some of the most ancient glass known to man.  It was interesting to see the art of glass making evolve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Western New York, Part II

 

The next day we went to see where Jenny works at Alfred University and then to Belmont, where Dad wanted to look into some family history.  We didn't end up finding much on his line, but found some information on Asa Cowles and other Cowles family members in the area.

We took the scenic route both there and back, pausing to look at many of the beautiful Victorian Era homes in the area.  Some have been well maintained, while others haven't, but there are many with great potential.  I really like that style of home.

We also stopped in at Letchworth State Park.  I could have spent several more days there.  They had interesting historical sites, camping sites, cabins, restaurants, resorts, and beautiful waterfalls and scenery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Western New York--Part I

I bought a new laptop (yeah!), but with trying to get files transferred to this computer and downloading software, etc., it took me longer to post about the rest of my trip than I thought it would.

On a side note, I am posting from El Cajon, CA with a beautiful mountaintop view and cool breeze coming in through the patio doors, but more about that later.

Back to NY:

The Trip--Dad and I left Thursday morning to make the trip to Canisteo, about a 10-hour drive.  We decided to make a stop just east of Cleveland to see some of the newer Kirtland Historical Sites.  They have purchased more land and rerouted some of the streets so that it is a nicer, quieter place.  We didn't get to see everything because we were pressed for time, but it was nice to see some of the sites again.  We arrived just after 8:30 pm.  Jenny had kept Nina up so she could say hello.  Nina excitedly greeted us at the door and she looked just like a "little Jenny."  At times, she seems identical to the young pictures of Jenny.  At other times, not so much.

Day 1--We took a picnic up to Stoneybrook State Park.   It started to sprinkle a little as we ate, but cleared up again.  We spent some time playing with Nina at the playground.

And then began the hike to the falls.  The path was undergoing renovations and at times was slick due to the recent rainfall, so we thought about turning back a few times.  I'm glad we didn't though as they were really pretty.  I even convinced Jenny to climb the steps to the top of the falls.

Unfortunately, I didn't take very many pictures of the falls themselves, so you'll have to use your imagination. 

A few more notes about Nina for the benefit of those who don't get to interact with her:

She loves to role play and pretend she's the one in charge.  You'll often here her telling her dolls--"That was very naughty!"  or "Have a good weekend, Honey!"

She'll also tell her mom to say some word.  When Jenny does, "Very good job!"

On the trip back from Palmyra, my favorite conversational tidbit from Nina was "I'll be the mom and you be the honey."

As we were driving north, she asked Grandpa and I "Do you want to see where I work?"  She then had fun pointing out her daycare to us.

Jenny is trying to potty train her, which always seems to be a difficult task for both the parents and the child when it's  the first child.  I never hear about it with second children and beyond.  Anyway, Jenny was always encouraging Nina to go to the bathroom before we left anywhere or when we were about to start something new.  Nina's response was always "I just already went!"  She doesn't want to believe that you have to go more than once a day.

When she responds in the affirmative, it's always "Oh, yeah!" 

Me:  "Do you want to go play outside?"

Nina:  "Oh, yeah!"

Grandpa:  "Do you like green beans?"

Nina: "Oh, yeah!"

Jenny: "Are you ready to go?"

Nina: "Oh, yeah!"

To be continued...

10 Things I Like About Summers in Texas

1.  Air conditioning

2.  Traveling to cooler places

3.  Cars with air conditioning

4.  Swimming pools

5.  Thermostats set to 75

6.  Ice cream

7.  Reading books in  air-conditioning

8.  Long, lazy summer nights

9.  Stores with air conditioning

10. Summer rainstorms

Indianapolis

The Drive

Some things I learned or remembered about car trips:

1. Texas is a very big state
2. Books on CD are a wonderful thing
3. Books on CD are even better when you've ripped them all and have them stored on your compact 30-gig Zune
4. When you drink a lot, you have to stop a lot
5. After a 13-hour drive on day one, an eight-hour drive on day two feels like not much
6. It is nice to let your dad do most of the driving while you take cozy naps in the passenger seat
7. I don't like Motel 6
8. Earplugs make sharing a motel room with a snorer a much more pleasant experience

The Arrival

Not ours, hers.  We were able to visit Spencer, Lila, and Miriam in the hospital the evening we got into Indianapolis and the day Miriam was born.  Miriam was, of course, all soft and cuddly and melt-your-heart newborn.  She had an amazingly round head and nice skin for being less than a day old.   I've seen quite a few shortly after arrival and they are usually all splotchy with funny shaped heads--in an adorable sort of way of course.  Lila was amazingly cheerful--much more amiable than I would have been after a long night with no sleep.  Spencer was as happy as I've seen him.  They'll make great parents.

 

The Robinsons

We enjoyed playing with Michelle and Eliza and the Robinson Clan.  They are fun kids with unique abilities.  We played games, read books, swung on the swing set, told stories,  painted toes, played basketball, got wet at the sprinkler park, had a picnic, grilled pizza, and otherwise had fun family time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Isn't This Working?

I've returned from trip number one.  It was enjoyable and I will be doing more posts about the various sites.  But until then, hopefully these little tidbits will keep you eager with anticipation.

 

Today, I was trying to upload  the pictures I had taken on my trip from my camera to use in my posts, so I plugged in my card reader and nothing happened.  Usually, Photoshop automatically opens.  Then I opened Photoshop.  Still, it did not ask to import my pictures.  "What's the deal?" I wondered.  Next I tried to manually import the pictures.  It wouldn't read my card.  "Why isn't this thing working?"  I tried to access it several more ways...nothing!  I was starting to get frustrated.  Then it dawned on me--I hadn't put the memory card in the card reader.  So I muttered my favorite expletive, "idiot," and went to go get my card out of my camera.  Amazing how it all worked like it was supposed to after that!  Ironically, minutes after that I succumbed to one of those online IQ tests which measured my IQ at 145.  Good thing they didn't ask me how a card reader works!

 

One of the first things I did was go check on my garden.  A big thanks to my mom, who kept it watered.  I picked three ginormous cucumbers.  One was 14 inches long!  I also picked several tomatoes and am anxiously awaiting several cantaloupe (which I thought was yellow squash when I planted it) and zucchini.

Girl's Camp 2008

Well, it was another fun year at Girl's Camp--hot, definitely unseasonably hot--but fun nonetheless. 

 

We were one of the smallest wards with only seven girls, but we let our presence be known.

 

 

 

Back Row:  Megan Sawyer, Monica Sawyer, Me, Hannah Brown, Charly Allred, Paydon Hatch

Front Row: Sharon Machada, Bretta Weatherholtz, Janine Loppe, Amy Bagley

 

There were the usual arts and crafts and swimming and tubing down the river. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were also games of Big Bootie, Four-On-A-Bench, Sally Walker, Scum and more every night--favorites of the leaders and the girls.

 

We had stake cooks so we didn't have to cook over fires in the heat.  We spent a lot of time telling the girls to DRINK WATER!  and most did well--only a couple cases of heat exhaustion and nothing serious.

 

One of the most memorable experiences was tug-o-war on the first night.  Can you see the anchor on the end there?  That's Bretta Weatherholtz for those of you who know her.  When her team won unbeknownst to the other team, her team stopped pulling but the other side kept going.  I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but she was inside the loop.  When the resistance was gone, she went flying and bounced along in the dirt.  We were all worried that she was really injured, but nothing serious happened.  She got the wind knocked out of her, a mouthful of dirt, and one of the lenses on her glasses popped out.  When we ascertained that she was really okay, we spent the rest of the evening giggling.  The stake theme was Steadfast and Immovable (Mosiah 5:15) and our ward theme was Anchored in Christ.  You can imagine the fun we had with our tug-o-war anchor not being steadfast or immovable.

 

 

On the last night, I gave them some glow sticks which had glasses frames and rabbit ear frames along with a scripture from Isaiah 60:1-2

1 ^aArise, shine; for thy ^blight is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

  2 For, behold, the ^adarkness shall cover the earth, and gross ^bdarkness the people: but the Lord shall ^carise upon thee, and his ^dglory shall be seen upon thee.

 

They had much fun and a restless night. 

And what Girl's Camp would be complete without the good natured pranks?  We won't talk about the mean leaders who kidnapped their make-up and left them a ransom note.  (They had to earn their scripture bead by reciting the camp theme scripture from memory or never see their make-up again)  Oh and there might have been something about those same mean leaders Saran-Wrapping them into their cabin.

 

It only took me a three-hour nap on Saturday, nine hours of sleep Saturday night, and another two-hour nap today to be almost caught up from the sleep deprivation.  And tomorrow I'm off again to Indiana and then western NY.