From Kirtland to Cousin!

We can't slip through Ohio without stopping by the Kirtland temple...
Definitely a family favorite...
We also stopped to pay our respect to our Great (X5) Grandma, Mary Duty Smith
Then we bolted to Indiana for some cousin face time. Oh how we LOVE our little Belle!

The Answer Is, 11 Hours and 27 Minutes

Well, we did it again. Here we are 8 months later at Hill Cumorah!
We took in the full percipitous glory of the hill both by foot...
...and by bum...

After a picnic lunch a-top 'O-hill, we headed to the Joseph Smith farm...
...and explored all the wondrous places Jospeh hid the golden plates from the angry mobs...
Next we visited the tree that the Smith family planted in Alvin's memory after his death...

And while the big Toads wandered through the Sacred Grove, the little Toads couldn't be pried off a little bridge over a stream. So we hung back and played "Pooh sticks" (that is "Pooh" with a capital P... as in Winnie the Pooh). If you haven't played, all you need is a bridge over water and sticks. Drop them on the upstream side of the bridge, run to the downstream side of the bridge and watch them sail away. Our game was less "Pooh sticks" and more "Beaver Dam" (that is dam without an n). Not much flowed through... so Tad suggested we play "rock sink" instead.
BTW, the question to the answer is,
"How many hours can the Toads travel without totally loosing it?"
11 hours and 27 minutes (all but 2 hours as tethered drive time) is not too shabby.
Unfortunately, we still had another 1 hour and 30 minutes to go before we reached Kirtland, Ohio where we got to fall over and veg out.
Next up on the agenda, a quick fly-by the Kirtland temple on our way out to Indiana to visit Uncle Steve, Aunt Missy and cousin Isabella. On to Nauvoo from there! Wish us luck!

Sea Monkeys, They're Not Just For Breakfast Anymore

So I bought brine shrimp eggs to hatch and watch develop under the microscope.

Superkid was busting with excitement to have his own pets, but a little worried about how he could possibly name them all. But the biggest fan was me. I totally freaked out every time I took a peak through the microscope. I reminded myself of the mad professor I worked for in college who nearly pulled his hair out in excitement every time he peeked in on the C. elegans I was growing. 'Lil Chief could hardly take it. He HAD to see what all of the fuss was about. Problem is, you can't see a thing when you squash your eye on the objective.
We all lined up for days to watch our little pets develop and squirm around. In the end we all agree that we will NEVER buy orange juice with pulp again. Big Abi told us her room mate refused to drink OJ with pulp because she felt like she was swallowing sea monkeys. While they make great pets, I prefer to keep even the thought of brine shrimp (i.e. sea monkeys) out of my breakfast beverages.

Easter Day!

The fun started early! I stepped out of the bathroom Easter morning to find 4 Toads piled up in my bed anxiously awaiting THE HUNT! ...2 of them skittered away while I scrambled for the camera!

Superkid was thrilled to find a new snuggly dragon!

Abizella melted into a puddle when she found a her own snuggly Piggie and an Elephant and Piggie Book to boot!
And can you believe that the Easter Bunny Moonlights as an Angry Bird?
Totally rocked Tad's world.
As for 'Lil Chief, he added a "Sha-ow" to his puppy dog collection.
This one came with bunny ears. It also spent the rest of the day licking my leg.
With Easter baskets in hand we were ready for the EGG HUNT!

And they're off to the races!
They just kept coming and coming!
The Easter bunny was tricky, but not too tricky for this kid!

And of all happy coincidences, our friends showed up in coordinating Easter outfits!
What a handsome crew! They totally belong in a catalog!
...and can you believe that ALL 7 of the little Easter angels are looking at the camera
AT THE SAME TIME?!!!
We got one last squeeze until the next visit...
One of the great thingst about the Zellers is that they have local grandparents, so we know we will see them again soon (but never soon enough!).
Then it was off to church for the rest of us.
Yes. This all took place before 9:30 a.m. which is partly why there is no more photographic glory for the day. But we did enjoy a nice evening with the Andrus sisters and many rounds of Princess Paper Dolls. What a great Easter!

Easter Hand... errrh...I mean...Easter Egg Coloring!

Nothing like a little dye to get you in the Easter spirit.
Nobody was short-changed this year, full dipping rights for all!
And bragging rights during Nursery too!

Our Favorite New Jersey-ians!

We had the BEST EASTER treat! Our favorite New-Jersey-ians came to town and stayed with us!
It has been far too long!
We had lots of fun catching up.
And we even successfully found a place we could play in peace together!

Our Last Supper

Okay, it has been a full week and a half since they left... and I am still too heart broken to even talk about it. I was planning on writing a gut wrenching post about how our New England cousins are our life line, how our family has grown up with theirs, and how bleak our future here is without them but my feelings are still way too tender. ...and it is embarrassing to cry on commuter rail.

I had no idea when those two wild and crazy kids, Andie and HH, decided to re-locate to Rhode Island that they would become the most important family in our lives. But back then, outside the big people, there was just one little person...

Now we have filled the room with some pretty crazy characters!
We love them all!
We all lined up for our, "See you in June!" squeezes...
...even little squeezes...
I'm telling you, I will always love New England, but they took the best part with them.