summer's over; here's what we did

we had a whirlwind vacation during russell's month off this summer. we visited with most of the roberts clan for the 4th of july and dawson's blessing in kansas. katy and dan were gracious to host everyone for a busy and fun weekend.

loved the pool!

sun-bathing beauties kenzie and laney, pool shots, and miss marin trying the stairs

we tie-dyed patriotic shirts (russell has a bowl of dye, not a severed finger...).

calvin loved the swing-set too...

john, westin and savannah with their catches and my boys fishing in their jammies:

katy's ward had a 4th of july activity at a park, complete with a game of kickball. i was on one of the teams and my boys were on the other...

family pics before it started raining (above) and after (below)

boys love to play (and pose) in the rain...

fireworks

we made a quick church-history stop at the liberty jail in missouri on the way home

thanks to katy for putting us up in your awesome new house and for the pics i stole from your facebook...=) it was so fun seeing everyone.

the drive was 26 hours round trip! but the boys did great, we decided to push our luck and join our ward members on a trip to palmyra, ny. we left for the 9 hour drive to upstate new york two days after we got home from kansas. we had such a good time with good friends from church.

waiting for the hill cumorah pageant to start...

not sure why i didn't take any pics of the actual pageant...it was dark, so maybe that's why. anyway, it was lots of fun!

we toured the joseph smith family farm

log cabin:

view of palmyra temple from farm outside the sacred grove

smith family frame home, calvin and friends kade and kanigh sword-fighting with sticks outside the sacred grove (inappropriate, but pretty cute), and with friend haley and her boys touring the printing press building where the book of mormon was published

at the top of the hill cumorah

we also enjoyed the pool in our hotel, a delish dinner with everyone at the cheesecake factory, and a day trip to NIAGARA FALLS...


we rode the "maid of the mist" boat tour and i decided to leave the hood on my poncho down. sadly, the camera ran out of battery before we could get a shot of my awesome soaked hair. mason wasn't thrilled to get wet, but the rest of us loved it!



it's been a really hot summer here, so we frequented the woodland mound splash park...
(calvin's friend kanigh had his birthday party there)


we also went to the cincinnati zoo, which was really hot, humid, and smelly, but entertaining.
the boys sure loved it!

happy fall!