Saturday, April 25, 2015

Day 5 - Ithaca & Cornell Campus

There are so many beautiful falls in Itahca.
We had fun exploring Cornell's campus.
It is fun that the Duran's get to live here for 2 years 
for Graduate School, 
and fun to see where they spend all of their time.
We climbed the Bell Tower and
heard an amzing concert at the top.
AMAZING!
  The amazing Harry Potter Library. 
We flew home out of Elmira, New York.
It was a very fun week!  Let's do it again soon!

Friday, April 24, 2015

Day 4 - Palmyra

Palmyra Temple
Hill Cumorah
In the summer of 2013 and we took our whole family
to New York to see the church sites.  I never would
have guessed I would be back to these sites less than
2 years later. I am so grateful I could return to
Palmyra on this Girls trip.
Smith Family Log House
I love that the Smiths read the bible as a family every night.
This is the room where the 6 Smith Brothers
slept and where Angel Moroni appeared to
Joesph 3 times in one night.
Smith Family Framed House 
The fireplace where Joseph hid the gold plates
under the bricks from an angry mob.
The Sacred Grove was dead.  It made me think that
each of us has cycles in our lives too. Like the Sacred Grove
we have to renew. The account of Jospeh Smith's vision
said that it took place in early Spring. It may have looked
more like this when Joseph had the first vision.

 The Grandin Building
where the Book of Mormon was printed.
This is the Peter Whitmer Farm,
where the church was established on April 6,
and the first Sacrament was blessed and past.
  It was an amazing day! I am so grateful for the chance I
had to go back to these beautiful church sites.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Day 3 - Central Park, Rockefeller & Museum

We rode the Subway to Central Park.
We walked through the park to 5th Avenue 
to the Neue Galerie to see 
The Woman In Gold painting.
This is the replica of the actual painting we saw.
In 2006 this painting sold for $135 million US dollars.
 It is an amazing piece of art.
I have not seen the movie yet, but I love the story
behind this amazing painting.
We had to wait over an hour in this long line to
see the painting. It was worth it!
We were able to go to the top of The Rockefeller Center.
The view was amazing from
the Top Of The Rock.
You can see the Empire State Building,
World One, Stature of Liberty 
& Times Sqaure from this side.
 Our hotel was close to the famous Macy's. 
The craziest thing we did was rent a car in NYC to
drive to  Upstate New York.  Way to go Janene.
She did awesome getting us out of the city.
We had a great time in NYC.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Day 2 - Matilda

 
We went to see the Broadway play Matilda.
The book, the movie and now the Broadway
show are a favorite of our family.
Pigtails, chocolate cake &
Ms Trenchbowl were amazing.
Front row seats in
the balcony made it extra fun. 
LOVED IT!!

Day 2 - Aladdin

We loved seing the Broadway Show Aladdin!!

Times Square

Toys R Us Ferris Wheel
Janene & I made it onto the jumbo screen....top right corner!

Day 2 - 9/11 Memorial

Lori ~ Emily~ Janene~ Amy
 We spent the morning at the 9/11 Memorial.
It is an incredible museum.
This is World Trade One.  It is next to the site
of the Twin Towers, replacing the office space. 
This is where the North Tower once was.
They have a beautiful water feature,
with water flowing into a giant hole.
Below this is the museum. The South Tower is similar,
with a giant fountain as well. 
This is inside the museum.
This is one of the cement foundations. 
This is called The Survivors Staircase.
It is the actual staircase that many used to escape
the inferno and blazing heat of the fire on 9/11.
They have rebuilt the buildings undergournd to
show proximity of the twin towers.
This is the North Tower. They won't allow you to 
take photos inside. This tower showed videos and
talked about the events of that day.
This is the front of one of the fire engines
that arrrived to help on 9/11. It is hard 
to imagine just how hot the flames where,
but this picture gives a very visual idea.
This is the top of one of the towers.

There is an incredible
spirit in the South Tower.
There is so much reference inside.
There is a film about rebuilding as a Nation
that was really touching.  It talks about experiencing
the sorrow so we can know the good. It made me
think of the scripture that teaches us
we must have opposition in all things. 
This is the only tree that still stands.
The tree and the museum represent hope,
courage and moving forward even stronger.
I am so grateful we could visit
the 9/11 Memorial. Let us never forget!!

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Day 1 - New York

We had a wonderful time on our Girls Trip
to New York to visit Amy. 
It took us half a day to get there.
We were so excited to meet Amy
at the Doubletree Hotel. 
I got to sleep the closest to the window
and this was our amazing view
of the Empire State Building
from our room.

Monday, April 20, 2015

Happy April

We have had a great month. 
Here are some of the highlights.
 James had a 60 mile bike race in Morgan.
He did AMAZING!
I am so proud of him!
The Stevenson's opened their pool for the year.
We always have fun at their pool & love their waterslide.
They are such great friends and neighbors.
Perfect Spring Day.
We had the Bahr Twins over to play.
Lucy loved having two friends for the day.

  We had a big snow storm the week 
we got back from Oregon.  12 new inches.
We met with Mr. King, Abby's band teacher for next year.
He will be an amazing teacher.
 Abby has decided to do Percussion in 7th Grade band.
Cousin Alex came over to play.
Lots of fun!