July travels

July was filled with lots of adventures! We started off with our trip to LA that I talked about in the last post. After we got home from that adventure, I packed for an awesome trip to visit my family in NY. Unfortunately, Chris couldn't get the time off, so it was just Claire and I. Originally, my brother and his family were coming from Australia, but their 1.5 year old got too ill to fly, so they ended up canceling their plans. Thankfully, their daughter is better, and they are planning on trying the trip again in a year or so. But, I was still able to spend the week and a half with my parents, and my other 3 siblings and their families. It was so much fun, and priceless to see the cousins get together and have so much fun. (Warning: It's too hard to choose which pictures to post, so there will be MANY.)

We left on a red eye flight. On the first flight, the flight attendant asked if Claire wanted to go meet the pilot of the plane. She first said no, but I soon convinced her that she really DID want to go. They let her sit in the captain's seat, wear his hat, and hold on. It was so cute!

I arrived in NY on Thursday morning after flying all night. I enjoyed some time with Wendy, her three kids, and my parents. Claire and her cousin who is just 2 months older, Megan, hit it off right away. They played so well together. The first day there, I found them like this.

Friday, Lori and her kids came. Saturday, John and some of his family came. Also, on Saturday, my in-laws drove up to visit for a while and have lunch. I REALLY wanted to see them, but wasn't sure how it would work out and wasn't ready to drive 3 hours after flying across country. Thankfully, despite the fact that they are in the middle of selling their house and moving, they drove up to see us. Chris's parents, my parents, Claire and I all went out for lunch and enjoyed a lot of time chatting there and at home. It was so nice to see them!

On Sunday, after we got home from church, we celebrated mom's birthday since Wendy's husband, Dan, couldn't be there on Tuesday for her birthday. We had a yummy dinner and her traditional birthday cake - a yellow layer cake with cherry pie filling on the inside and covered in cool whip. Mmm. She was also given her birthday gift. Lori and Wendy worked hours on making a quilt for my mom for my parents' bed. They also made matching pillow cases and two matching little pillows. It looks beautiful!

While waiting for cake, Claire and Uncle John were so cute together!:) She LOVES her Uncle John.

On Monday, we went over to my neighbor's house. She and her late husband were like another set of grandparents to me growing up. I spent my entire summer over at their house, swimming in their pond, boating, playing basketball, horseshoes, playing board games, drinking lemonade, helping out in the yard, etc. She is now married to someone else, and he is equally as cool. :) We spent the morning chatting, eating, boating, and later that evening had a bon fire and made s'mores. My teen-aged nieces and nephews spent the entire day over there in the pond, helping them clear algae, and spending time with my neighbors. My nieces and nephew's love for them, desire to spend the whole day there, and the funny things they did really reminded me of me with my friends, including my neighbor's granddaughter who is my age. We spent our summers the same way. How times change.

Brianna, Sandy, Claire, Mrs. "C", Kaylea, Lori, Sarah. The girls all enjoying some yummy coffee cake, lemonade, and conversation. :)

Josh, Dan, Megan, and Jocelyn enjoying the canoe.

Brianna, Andrew, Kaylea, and Claire enjoying the paddle boat.

My favorite boat is the kayak. It was fun going out with Claire, though a little tricky. I may have bonked her in the head with the ore a couple of times. Sarah was the true pro of this boat. She spent hours in it chasing the geese around the pond. :)

Claire enjoying the swing set.

Wendy, Megan, Claire, Sandy, and Jocelyn enjoying the paddleboat.

Ooops! As they went to dock the boat on the bank, the canoe tipped over. Poor Lori, Josh, and John. Hee hee.

S'mores! Joshua, Mr. C, Wendy, and Claire. While Claire enjoyed roasting the marshmallows, she preferred eating the uncooked ones. The roasted ones were too messy, and she is a neat freak.

Tuesday was my mom's 70th birthday. Even though we already celebrated on Sunday, we wanted to celebrate again on the actual day. Through some convincing on John's part, mom decided she wanted moussaka for dinner and a black forest cheesecake for dessert. Moussaka is like a Greek shepherd's pie that melts in your mouth, is often made with lamb (I made one with lamb and one with beef), has eggplant and a bechamel sauce, and takes hours to make. The black forest cheesecake was a no bake kind that we made the night before. In fact, we made 3. After working in the kitchen for hours, we enjoyed a yummy dinner at lunch time so my grandparents could attend. Dessert was also very yummy. :)

Mom enjoying her black forest birthday cheesecake. Doesn't it look pretty?

On Tuesday or Wednesday night, most of us all went bowling! The little ones were in bed at home with Wendy with them. It had been a while since I had been bowling, and we had so much fun! It was very...interesting the different styles of bowling I witnessed. Ha! Afterwards, we went to Abbott's Custard (a Rochester favorite!) just before they closed. Mmm. So yummy!

Thursday night we went to go see the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, NY. It's an outdoor play that shows for a little over a week every July with a cast of over 600 people. It tells some key stories from the Book of Mormon. Growing up, I was in it about 5 times, and then once again after my mission. It's such an awesome experience, and I go every chance I get. The only other time Claire had gone was when she was 7 months old and she slept through it since it starts at dusk. This time, she loved it. I was shocked that she stayed awake for the whole thing! It goes until about 10:30 or 10:45, so it was a late night for her. She loved it. She is still telling stories from the pageant. She says, "There was a boat, and a storm, and the boat ripped. And there was fire, and it was scary!" After watching it though, she said her favorite part was the Jesus part. :) It's my dream to one day be in the pageant with my own family.

Before we went to the hill, we went to a nearby favorite - The Chill and Grill. They have yummy garbage plates (another Rochester favorite - a combo of macaroni salad, fries, hamburgers or hot dogs, and sauce all mixed together.) They also have HUGE portions of ice cream cones for really cheap. Mmm. Aunt Cay and Uncle John were entertaining Claire so I could finish my food. 1...2...3!

Papa giving little Claire a piggy back ride from the car to the seats.

I LOVE this shot Lori got. This was right as pageant was starting and all the people were piling onto the stage. I love the look on Claire's face as she clapped!

This is what she was seeing (but not so blurry of course. Sorry.)

On Friday, I had to fly back to California. I've never been one to be homesick, but this trip to the summer weather, lush greenery, and family memories made me a little homesick. Monterey, CA has none of that. But the most important thing CA DID have was my sweetie, and I was excited to see him again. :)

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the week.

(Sorry it's sideways.) This is the little man, Jason, doing what he loves most - playing the piano!

Claire LOVED the animals. She spent a lot of time on the back porch playing with kittens...

Cammie, who we know as a dog, but Aunt Cay convince Claire is really a water buffalo...

and the watering can. Oma's plants hopefully won't die from Claire over-watering them. Claire and Megan also decided it'd be fun to take "showers." They took turns dipping their hands in the watering can and wetting each other's hair down. Too cute!

Speaking of Claire and Megan, here they are taking a REAL bath. They're pretty cute together.

Claire, Josh, and Jocelyn all drawing/ coloring together. Claire's artistic abilities really grew while we were visiting. She can now kind of draw people, and you can tell they are people! It helps that she's good at holding a pen like her daddy taught her. :)

Paling around with her cousin, Josh.

The 3 stooges. I did not ask them to pose like this. They just all did this together. Hee hee hee.

Sarah and Claire.

Aunt Wendy reading scriptures stories at night. Claire and Megan both have their capes on and were saying "Super Claire! Super Megan!"

The day after we got home, the local mall was hosting a fun, free kid day. They had crafts, games, a petting zoo, face painting, prizes, etc. We took Claire there and had a great

Claire was determined to get her face painted, so we waited in line for over an hour. She LOVED it and still talks about her butterfly.

Giving Clifford the Big Red Dog a high five.

At Christmas time she had a petting zoo experience, but was afraid. This time she loved it. She was actually a girl after my own heart and ended up chasing one of the ducks in circles. I love chasing ducks. :)

Claire really likes to do what her daddy does. She got her hair stuck in a bubble fan thing a few days ago because she was trying to shave like daddy. I was trying to help her say a prayer at a meal and she wasn't saying it out loud. I asked why, and she said it was because she was praying in her head like daddy sometimes does. She of course also likes to help daddy play the horn. He lets her push down the keys sometimes while he's practicing. She also puts her hand in the bell when he's practicing. Here she is playing HER horn (a cheap one Chris bought off of ebay a long time ago.) She looks pretty good! I think we may have a future horn player!