Our Anniversary

Our anniversary was a little crazy.  Brett and Brighton were here and they were going to take the Mega Bus to NYC.  So we had to be up early to get them to the Rensselaer train station to catch the 7:00am bus.  After we dropped them off we decided that we'd go out to breakfast so we started looking for a place to eat.  We saw the Circle Diner at the Latham Circle and decided that was just the place.  We had a yummy breakfast, and a great start to our anniversary!

She's a Junior in High School - How did that happen?

Today was the first day of school.  

Lauren is a Junior this year. 

 I'm not quite sure how that happened, but it has. 

Lauren's 16th Birthday Party

Lauren FINALLY had her 16th birthday party.  

We were in Utah on her actual birthday, and since we've 

been home there hadn't been a good time to do one. 

 And since school is starting in a couple of 

days we decided it was now or never.

Lauren wanted to have a Ghirardelli double chocolate brownie cake.  

It was yummy!

Happy Birthday Lauren!

Labor Day Weekend

Guess where were for the weekend - Boston.  We left Saturday morning, stopped in Springfield to go to the Donut Dip and arrived at the Sheraton in Wakefield around 3:30pm, just in time to check-in.

Once we'd checked in we headed to the Breakheart Reservation in Sagus (about 10 minutes away). There was a concert by the NE Navy Band outside their visitor's center.  It started at 5:30pm.  So we got there, sat up our chairs and blanket, and then we went riding our bikes around the reservation until the concert started. 

 It was a hilly two-mile bike ride.  But it was a pretty area.   The concert was great.  They were really good, and did the kind of band music brass bands should play.

Three piccolo players playing the obbligato  in 

"The Stars and Stripes Forever".  They were awesome!

Lauren in her "vacation" pose. 
She did it at least once everywhere we went this summer.

We'd gone to Boston because our Stake President had asked Glen to attend a meeting on Sunday that he wasn't able to go to.  We decided that if we were going to go, we'd make a trip of it.

Monday morning we went to the
Omelette Headquarters for breakfast.  

Glen had read about it on Yelp and heard that it was good.
He was right!

This waitress had 10 plates stacked on her arm.  

She told us that her maximum is 15 plates.
She must have incredible biceps!

After breakfast we headed to Crane's Beach in Ipswich, MA.  

We'd heard that it was a nice beach and thought we'd give it a try.

We actually got in and swam for awhile.  

Lauren and Glen tried body surfing, and caught a few good waves.

The whiteboard at the parking entrance said
that the water temperature was 65°.  

But that didn't stop us.

After leaving the beach we decided to stop at Woodman's in Essex.  

I'd heard that it was the birthplace of "fried clams".  It was awesome!

And it was!  We ate half and brought
the other half home for another day.

By the time we were leaving the line was out the door. 

I'm glad we left the beach early enough to avoid most of the crowds.

After dinner we headed home.  It was a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Peerless Pool

Peerless Pool in Saratoga Spa State Park is an awesome pool. It has a zero-depth entry that makes it nice if you have younger children as well as older ones. And it lets you get wet inch by inch, if that's the kind of torture you prefer.  We decided to go last Wednesday. It was a perfect day - hot enough that you wanted to hop in the pool. Even if it was REALLY cold!

Stacy spent the night after Mutual on Tuesday and we decided we'd
go to the Peerless Pool since we hadn't been there yet this summer.

Along with the main pool there is a separate slide pool with a 

19' double slide as well as a kiddie pool.  If you look close

you can see Stacy and Lauren at the top waiting to go down the slides.

Lauren went down one slide. 

And Stacy went down the other.
I only wish I could have gotten them both in the same picture.

A picnic with Subway all added up to a really fun day.

Beauty and the Beast

 Last night Lauren, Glen and I went to Proctors and saw Beauty and the Beast.  It was awesome.  I was amazed at how well they did some of the big scenes from the movie like where Gaston is singing his own praises and all the people in the pub do too, or when they sang "Be Our Guest".  They did an amazing job.  It was thoroughly entertaining.

Sadly for Lauren we didn't get home until midnight and she has an AP US History exam today.  But hopefully she will have studied enough beforehand that having gone to the show won't be a problem.

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day we took a trip to Boston to see the lilacs at the Arnold Arboretum.  Lilac Sunday is actually on Mother's Day - but we went to the Arboretum on Saturday. 

The Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University was established in 1872 and is the oldest public arboretum in North America.  It's huge - 256 acres in the middle of Boston.  There were tons of lilacs still in bloom, and the smell was heavenly!

They have a Bonsai collection at the arboretum with some really old trees like the one below that is more than 200 years old.

While we were strolling the gardens we looked up and saw a hawk or falcon just sitting on the edge of a building watching all the people.  It was a beautiful bird of prey.

After wandering the gardens and eating our picnic lunch we walked back to the car and headed to the Boston temple.  Lauren waited outside while Glen and I went in and did a session.  It is always wonderful to go to the temple.

We had decided to spend the night in Boston, so we went to dinner and then to the hotel.  In the morning we picked an LDS church meeting to attend that didn't start too early, but that would get us home in time for Jared's phone call. 

The weather was wonderful and we had an awesome time.  And to top it off we all (Erin, Justin & Bennett and Brett & Brighton) all got to skype call (sadly no video) with Jared.  We talked to him for just over an hour and it was wonderful to hear his voice and some of his experiences.

All in all, it was a wonderful Mother's Day!

Great to Know!

I saw this message on my DIL's FB page from someone she knows who is living in Hawaii.

"Guess who is an Elder in my ward... Elder Brooksby!!! I was staring at his tag and realized that grandma told me that Brett had a relative here on a mission so I ask him and its his BROTHER!! Too cool. He is awesome! He has a really positive energy! Great Missionary! I was so excited! I had to tell you. Love you lots!!"

It's always great to hear that your son is a great missionary. It made my day!

This is Winter?

With no snow and temps in the 40s we had to PAY to have our winter fun. On Saturday we went to the Schenectady County Recreational Facility near our house to do a little ice skating.

Fun times and sore ankles were had by one and all.