Camping and Palmyra day 1

Besides going to Utah to see grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins, the kids each had two requests of things to do this summer:  Zabien - go camping, and Eliza - see the place where Joseph Smith lived.  In fact, Eliza has been begging to see "all the stuff about Joseph Smith" for almost a year now.  On our 20 minute drive to church, we go past a state park which is surrounded by a beautiful forest.  In August of last year after learning about Joseph Smith in primary and nursery, both kids mentioned that those trees must have been where Joseph Smith prayed.  Although they were in the wrong state, I mentioned that we could see the sacred grove and a pageant about the book of Mormon next summer.  They surely remembered my promise because every Sunday when we drive past that same forest, they both ask the same question, "when are we going to see the place where Joseph Smith prayed."  Finally their wish was granted.  We decided it was the perfect way to combine both of their requests if we camped near Palmyra and spent a day seeing the sights.

We left on Monday July 11 and drove the 5 hours up to Phelps, NY where we set up our tent at Cheerful Valley campground.  It wasn't a bad campground, especially considering that we didn't actually book a site until the Saturday before we planned on going.  All the kids were super excited - even Hazel who didn't have a clue at what was going on, she just liked standing on the tarp.

                                        

Zabien and Eliza even set up their own camp chairs (which Hazel immediately claimed)

                                   

and set out their own sleeping bags. 

After camp was set up, they took some time to play on the playground, relax in the pool, and bounce around on the giant jump pad.
 

Love this baby girl wearing my sunglasses

Bruce got the charcoal hot and ready, then played with the kids in the pool, while I cooked the dutch oven chicken pot pie. 

It was super delicious, and loved by all.  I'm so glad I bought that charcoal chimney - it made dutch oven cooking loads easier, especially since we had a batch of dud wood. 

After dinner, we played on the playground some more.  I asked the kids, "who loves camping?"  and this is the response I got. 

Hazel loves the swings at the park - she could literally play there forever.  Soon it was time to start a fire so we had good coals for marshmallow roasting.  Hazel was eager to help us by gathering firewood.  (I'm sad this picture is blurry because she was super cute trying to pick up this log and bring it over to the fire pit, but she was also moving around way too much to get a decent shot)

Finally the time had arrived.  I bought giant marshmallows at the store thinking they would be awesome on smores.  Actually, they were so big the older kids had trouble eating them, and Hazel didn't even know what to do with it. 

 Overly ambitious, Zabien wanted to roast 2 marshmallows, but he didn't want to eat either one. 

I love Eliza's face in this picture.  I seriously have never seen this facial expression before.  Too funny! 

That first night got surprisingly chilly.  I was glad I packed the kids fleece sleeper jammies because they sure needed them.  I wish I could say that we slept well because the temperature was cooler.  Wrong!  We accidently left the tent partially opened and got eaten alive by mosquitos.  Not kidding.  Zabien had 10 bites across the back of his neck and 10 more on his hands.  Hazel had at least a dozen on her face and probably 10 more on each hand.  Poor girl.  I had a bunch on my ankles, and somehow Eliza miraculously ended up with none.  This is what you get when cold, mosquito bitten kids want to snuggle with a sleepy mom. 

4th of July

We started off our 4th of July celebration early by attending the Chalfont parade.  Somehow we got there insanely early.  We found some great spots near the end of the parade.  Forgetting how long it can take a parade to march it's route, we ended up waiting for 1 hour and 15 minutes to see it.  The kids were convinced the parade was never going to come. 

Hazel was pretty excited to sit in this little chair though. 

Still waiting for the parade to come. 

Finally it did

Last year on the 4th of July, the kids attended their very first parade.  It was a good one, in which the kids collected an awful lot of candy.  Now I think their expectations of parades are much too high - you see here in Pennsylvania, for some reason, only 4 or 5 people throw candy.  In this case, no candy was actually thrown, but some parade participants walked over to hand the kids a piece of candy.  Poor Hazel got over looked every time someone came by.  I don't think she cared too much - she was pretty happy with her baba. 

I thought this cute little car with the driver dressed up as Uncle Sam was very patriotic

A cute little girl waving her flag.

I was so happy to see/hear these bag - pipers

There was even an appearance by none other than Herbie

Zabien was thrilled to see so many tractors and requested several pictures with them. 

After the parade, we jotted home to pack a lunch.  Then we headed to Valley Forge for their Independence Day carnival.  The weather was humid and hot.  I don't remember there being hoards of people there 2 years ago when we went, but a lot of people came out this year.  We had a difficult time finding a place to park.  When we finally got in, we decided to have our picnic beside this tree. 

After lunch, the kids used the strength they got from lunch to try and hit the liberty bell. 

Zabien

Eliza

Bruce

Hazel spent some time looking for Colonial ruins in the sand.

Zabien really wanted to throw at this dunk tank

Eliza actually hit the bullseye, but not with enough force to dunk her. 

After the games the kids spent a very short amount of time building a log cabin with these pool noodles. 

Next we made our own tri-corn hats

such adorable kids

We attempted to dress up as Colonial time period citizens

Hazel managed to keep the hat on long enough for me to snap a picture

Then it was time to enlist in the Continental Army and train like a soldier.  The wooden muskets went quickly, but the kids patience won out.  Other kids got bored by the marching and standing at attention, which left us with a few muskets to practice with. 

After their short stint in the army, we did a couple of crafts including a fingerprint USA flag and firework art.  Then we took a turn sitting in a firetruck. 

Hazel was less than thrilled

Some patriotic face painting right at the end of the carnival.  Eliza got red, white, and blue hearts and Zaby got a Captain America shield. 

Before we left Valley Forge, we walked up to the soldier's encampment area and saw a live demonstration of the shooting of a cannon.  Eliza was terrified by it (she doesn't like loud booms), so she ran behind the cabins and didn't come back until it was over.  Zabien thought it was pretty cool.  He was a little nervous about the loud sound, but when it wasn't as bad as he feared, he wanted to watch them shoot it again.  We took a few minutes to get a family picture with the cabins in the background.   

We ran into a family in our ward (which never happens outside of church).  The kids really wanted to take a picture with Sawyer - he's birthday buddies with Zabien. 

Being silly at the entrance to the soldier barracks. 

Oh why do I have to be small?  I want to climb these cabin walls. 

After we were done at Valley Forge, we let the kids take a late nap, grabbed some dinner, then headed south to Quakertown to watch the fireworks.  We got there an hour and half early, so the kids had some time to play on the playground.  Zabien and I laid out our blankets.  The forecast was not looking good, so they moved the fireworks up to half an hour earlier.  It's a good thing they did.  About half way through the show, we were caught in a torrential downpour.  It was raining so hard, it would have been quite comical to get a picture of all 5 of us huddling under one small umbrella.  The firework show, despite the downpour, was quite impressive.  They rushed a 30 minute show into 15 minutes.  It was like the grand finale for the whole show.  The kids were so excited about the fireworks, they were champs during it despite being soaked to the bones.  Hazel found the fireworks fascinating. 

Happy 4th of July.  It was great to spend Independence Day in a place where independence began. 

Spray park

This summer has been the summer of fun.  Every single day (except Sunday), we have left the house to engage in summer fun.  This year, a town somewhat close by opened up a new spray park.   This is the first one in our area, and I really hope it is the beginning of many. 

Isn't she a doll face?

I think the expressions on their faces speaks for itself. 

Eliza

Zabien

Hazel

 

She was a little weary of the water spraying on her...

but not enough to damper her grin

The weather has been sooo hot and humid this summer.  The combination of playground equipment and water was so perfect to cool off. 

I love how these two little girls interact.  Besides "dada" "E- I- Ya," (Eliza) is the only other word she says. 

A quick break for lunch, and they were right back at it. 

You know you had a fun day when baby girl falls asleep doing her absolute favorite thing at the park.