The Stimpson family vacation, 2010 version

For our summer vacation this year, we started off in Kirtland, OH, seeing the various church history sites there.













Next we took the roundabout way from Kirtland to Palmyra so we could see Niagara Falls (both US and Canada side).



















Got to visit the Sacred Grove and had a great time at the Palmyra Temple, as well as seeing other church history sites in the area.


After a much-too-long drive through New York and Pennsylvania, we stopped for a really quick, much-too-short visit to Gettysburg. (We'll have to go back there again to get a longer visit.)


I dragged my family to see my birthplace (which they probably loved most of all of the whole trip). Unfortunately, there are many buildings at Walter Reed, so I really have no idea which one I was actually born in. My mother (silly her) really hadn't a clue, given that she gave birth to me 39 whole years ago.



















We saw many of the Washington DC tourist sights. (No, Kermit himself isn't a sight, but he's at one of the Smithsonian museums, which is.)















We enjoyed a great experience at the DC Temple.









In Pennsylvania, we saw Valley Forge and Washington Crossing.



And finally, Philadelphia with the Liberty Bell (which is much smaller than I envisioned) and Independence Hall.












I was exhausted by the end, but we had a great time. Nice to experience a bit of both church history and US history (and my personal history, too!).

Mark

This would be our favorite husband/dad, particularly first thing in the morning:

Happy 29th!

I could pretend that it's my 29th birthday, I suppose, but it's really our 29th wedding anniversary. And I'm so grateful that he has stuck it out with me this long. Only the rest of eternity to go! (I love him, by the way.)

Hawaii

Made it through another trip to Hawaii. Much to the dismay of our children, they didn't get to go with us. We had a great time, but it really is different without them. So we take along representations of them so it will be like they're there with us. (Katrina=penguin, Camilla=giraffe, Bethany/Emma=elephant, Matt/Andrew=car)





On the Big Island we saw some waterfalls,







hiked across a caldera,


saw some great sunsets










and some sea turtles.









On Kauai we saw (and heard!) lots of chickens and roosters,





saw some pretty views,





some beautiful sunrises,










some more waterfalls,



two lighthouses,













and had a fabulous time kayaking. (This is not us, but these are other kayaks doing the same thing we did on the same river--couldn't get a video of us kayaking since our camera was safely tucked away in the dry bag.)


It was a lovely visit, and nice to be with our friends, the Hendricksons!

Wahoo Trini!

Congratulations to our newest graduate! Our little Kiwi seems to be all grown up.

Cutest ever!

I just really love being the Ama to these two. Best job in the world!

Almost there!

Seventy-six down, two more to go. Parent-teacher conferences, that is. Not that I'm counting down or anything! I don't mind visiting with the teachers themselves (for the most part), but I get tired of the wait times for the 7 or 8 or 9 teachers once you get to the junior high and high school level. And I only have 3 kids. Perhaps that's why--I didn't want to spend any more of my life waiting on those really uncomfortable chairs/seats/benches.