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.

Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

We had a variation on our traditional Halloween dinner. We usually have a cheese pizza with the eyes, nose, and mouth out of pepperoni. But this year Lauren choose to have mummy hotdogs instead. We also had sweet potato fries (because they're orange), black jello jigglers, and orange Crush.

Of course we had to have the sugar cookies shaped like ghosts, bats, and pumpkins too!

We also had chocolate pretzels that looked like ghosts.

I know it doesn't look like Glen is watching "Ghostbusters",
but he is. It's a tradition and such a funny movie! You can just
see Jenny's head. She and Lauren pulled out the hide-a-bed.

Jenny and Lauren carving pumpkins. They were very creative. Lauren made hers look like a pineapple, and Jenny used the seeds from inside to make hers have teeth.

This is the one Michelle made.

Lauren's glowing in the dark outside!

We hope your Halloween was as fun as ours!

The Summer is Ended, The Harvest is Past

Since the growing season is pretty much over here in New York the garden is looking pretty pathetic these days. Today I went out and pulled up our carrots. As I did a scripture came to mind. No, not Jeremiah 8:20, as I'm sure all the seminary students are thinking.  It was actually the parable of the sower.  It's pretty clear that even though all of these carrots came from seeds planted in the same soil, within 3 feet of each other, and received the same sun and water, their increase was a lot different.