"Ithaca is Gorges"

I have seen people wearing these green shirts that say "Ithaca is Gorges." We went to our first state park on Saturday. I have to agree with the shirts. It was amazing. There were huge gorges and waterfalls. The place was called Buttermilk State Park. At the base of the park there is a huge swimming area that the falls empty into. Then there are about four different hikes that circle the main falls. We hiked up the "rim trail" and down the "bear trail." Unfortunately I forgot Brigham' s pack, so I ended up carrying him most of the hike. (Good thing I am tough ha-ha )Down was not too bad, but up was pretty difficult. Caleb was teasing me that "the stallion was stronger than the mare." Rather than explaining my pack weighed more than his, plus he had a carrier for his, I quickly agreed with him and made him carry both for a while to prove it. He He He He

Caleb's parents have a book called "A 1000 Places to see before you die." This fingerlakes region is listed as one of those places. I definately agree. There are several state parks in this area. Buttermilk state park is not listed as one of the favorites, but it about knocked my socks off. I can't wait to see some of the "favorite" parks.

I wanted to make a slideshow with all my pics but, unfortunately my laptop does not have movie maker on it. (BUMMER!!!) So, maybe I will make one when I get home. Stay tuned.

Random Ramblings: more info than you ever wanted to know about me

On the drive here we clocked our new car's gas mileage. 41 miles per gallon. Yeah!!! It makes me not regret trading space for economy. We got our license plates in the mail today.

I have had such extreme reactions to my kids here. I have never had so many people stop and admire Brigham and Kaiya before. It is almost like kids are a novelty. On the other hand I have never sensed so much annoyance with my kids. Even when they are being well behaved some people give me looks like "oh brother, kids." I realize I am contradicting myself from my earlier statement, but it seems people either really like or really hate kids here.

Caleb has his first test today. He is a little nervous.

Some days I really love being a mom. Other days, well, not so much. Today I love it! I just want to spend all my free time with them. Everything they say and do is cute.

Just for the record I hate Walmart. However, there is no place more comforting than Walmart. Whenever I move to a new place it is one of the first places I like to go. When a new town is stressful Walmart is relaxing. Call me strange, but I find its familiarity comforting. I know what to expect at Walmart. I know where things are. I know I will see a yellow smiley face staring back at me. I know I will see large blue signs and older workers saying "hello." I suppose it is a love hate relationship. I hate Walmart, but I love seeing one in a new town I move to.

Have I died and gone to heaven? Okay, so I love love love the Wegman's grocery store here. If any of you have ever been to one you know what I am talking about. If you have ever been to a Trader Joe's it is just like that but gigantic. I can't stay away I think today was my fourth trip this week.
To start with it is about four times as big as my Macey's grocery store back home. It is more the size of a Super Walmart except it is just a grocery store. So, the first thing I notice walking in is the produce section. It is huge. I have never even seen some of the fruit they have to sell. Anything you want to buy, they have it. Also they have it divided into regular and organic sections. Amazing. I now realize how some people can just live on fruit and vegetables alone. When you have so many to choose from you don't get bored of the traditonal apple, orange and banana.
The bakery and the deli sections are just as big. They could be entire stores by themselves. I can never choose which loaf of bread to buy because there are at least sixty different types of fresh bread. That doesn't include the bagels, muffins, doughnuts, cookies, cakes etc. Now, these aren't the baked at four in the morning breads. The bakers are making the loaves fresh all day. There are at least six workers at each station decked out in full chef attire. It is just fun to watch them work. Plus, there is nothing better than buying bread that is still warm and bagels that are being pulled fresh off the pan.
This brings me to the candy section. Imagine a candy section with floor to ceiling sized bins lining a huge section of the back wall. Filled with every type of candy. It is divided into gummies, chocolates, licorice, hard candies, etc. Surrounding the top of the candy section are tracks that little trains and truck drive on. Now, Brigham loves to go see the trains.
Today I wandered in the international foods section. It is a little overwhelming. I wanted to try so many different things. Enough rambling. I am a little embarrassed to love a grocery store so much. But what can I say. It is just a fun palce to go and see so many new products. I could definately get used to this type of grocery shopping. It makes Shopping fun again. Wow! Talk about a random rambling. How about a novella!!!

It's raining again. Although rain is my favorite type of weather I am little bummed not to take the kids to the park like I planned.

One of my kids hid my pilates dvd (grrrr!) If the weather clears I hope to go on a walk later.

Enough of my ramblings. If you managed to read the whole post-wow! I am impressed with your dedication. If you didn't that's okay. I am not sure I would have either if I hadn't written the whole thing. Have a great day. I hope to post more pictures of my lovely new town later. Tah-Tah for now.

New York, New York

After 2900 miles and 30 hours in the car we made it to Ithaca, New York. We met our landlord and moved in. It is a cute little 3bedroom 2bath house. It has a large yard and is located right on the edge of Buttermilk Falls State park. Although it takes about 30 minutes round trip to drop Caleb off at school, I like the quiet of the countryside.

The Cornell campus is beautiful. I love the old buildings. It also has some beautiful landscaping. Below is a picture of Caleb in front of the language lab. Just behind it are some waterfalls. I haven't taken as much time as I would like to explore the campus because it has been raining. However, as soon as the weather warms I hope to find a park for the kids to play in.

Moline and Mentor

Day Two: We finished driving through Nebraska and stopped for lunch in near Winter Quarters, Nebraska. While there we toured the tabernacle the saints built to announce the sustaining of Brigham Young as a prophet. I was amazed at the dedication of the saints. Brigham Young asked for the saints to build a tabernacle. So, for three weeks over 200 saints dedicated their time to build this tabernacle. It made me wonder if I would have been willing to do the same.

After a few more hours of driving we stayed the night in Moline, Illionois. W saw a lot of flooding along the way. The air felt very humid.

The fun part of Moline was the rate we got on the hotel. I had called on the cell ealier that day to reserve a room. When Caleb came out of the hotel he said you aren't going to believe the rate. I asked him what he meant. He told me that the rooms were all booked. The clerk said the only thing left was the suite so, they would charge us the regular price for the suite. Then she changed her mind and said "actually it is our fault, so I will just give the room for free." So, our memory from Moline is the hotel suite we got to stay in free of charge.
Splash!
The kids loved all the space. It had a kitchen, living room, bedroom, and a bathroom. The bathroom had a regular tub/shower and an oversized jacuzzi. So, I added some bubbles and let the jets run until they had bubbles up to their shoulders. They loved it. I loved it because it kept them occupied for at least an hour.

Day Three: We stayed overnight in Mentor, Ohio. It is only a few miles from the Kirtland temple. We were hoping to arrived before the visitor center closed. But we didn't make it. We decided to eat dinner and then just drive by the temple. Caleb decided to stop and double check that the visitor center was closed. While he was peering in the windows, looking like a prowler :) , an elderly missionary (from Tooele, UT) saw him and asked if we wanted to go inside. He opened the visitor center and gave us our own tour. It was actually nice because the kids could run around during the movie and no one cared. Afterwards we walked in the gardens and around the temple.

Kirtland is an incredible place. I highly recommend it. I can't believe I didn't have my camera, but it was seriously one of the most beautiful scenes I have seen in my life. I think it was the time of day and just after a rain storm that added to the beauty, but It has been my favorite place so far.

We saw Ogallala but, failed to see Gus or Clara

Day one: We left early Thursday morning. Stayed the first night in North Platte, Nebraska. While there we saw a Veteran's Memorial park. The memorial also had a full sized train caboose. Brigham and Kaiya loved climbing on it.

I have two fun memories from this day. First, at one point on the drive I heard Brigham ask for another sucker. This is only a minute after I gave him one. Thinking I would turn around to find it stuck to the floor of the car I saw it in Barney's mouth. He quickly informed me he was sharing with Barney and now needed one for himself.

The second memory was later that night when we checked into the hotel room. Brigham went straight for the bed. He pulled down the covers, climbed in, picked up the reciever and proceeded to jabber away. It was so cute to see him just lying there repeating his usual phone conversation, hello?, yes, yes, bye.

Over all it was a fun day. The kids traveled very well and Caleb was happy to stop and eat in Ogallala, Nebraska. I loved that Caleb drove all day, so I could just relax and enjoy the scenary.

Road Trip

Check back later for pictures. We left on Thursday and arrived on Sunday night. It was a great trip.

Some of my favorite "Dad" moments

1. I love how dads are so tough and strong, but become so tender when handling a little baby.

2. I love the image of Caleb getting teary eyed at the birth of Brigham.


3. I love walking in a room and seeing one of my children asleep on Caleb's chest.


4. I love that my own father is so patient and hardworking. He is willing to sacrfice so much time for his children and has so much wisdom and faith to share with others. I love that he is so talented and that so many of his students have told me he is the best guy in the world.

4. I love that my father-in-law has a joke ready for every situation and is so giving to others.

5. I love that my father has sung "You are my Sunshine" to me every Valentine's Day as long as I can remember.

6. I love that Caleb works so hard each day to provide for his family.

7. I love that my father-in-law has a stockpile of helpful sayings, quotes and advice to share.

8. I love that my father has always shown respect and love towards my mother.

9. I love that my dad took time out of his schedule to take me on "daddy daughter dates."

10. I love the pure happiness on Caleb's face when he plays with his children.

11. I love that Caleb takes time to read to his children each day.

12. I love that my Grandpa Gilbert is so sweet to my grandmother and is such a gentleman to everyone. I love to see his soft laugh while he watches my children play.

12. I love that we have a day dedicated to think about the contributions our fathers make in our lives.

I am so lucky be surrounded by great fathers. I want to wish them all a Happy Father's Day.

Saturday at Art City Days

Emilee and Brigham

Bailey, Kaiya and Brigham

Caleb and Travis

Brigham got the be the conductor

We spent the weekend at the Art City Days. It was fun to see the parade, enjoy the carnival and watch the fireworks. Brigham was really fun to watch this year. During the parade he was fascinated with the firetrucks at the start.

After the parade we walked to the carnival where Brigham rode the train 3 times with his older cousin. Thanks Chance and Bailey--awsome older cousins! He also rode on the cars, but his heart belonged to the train. So, after one final ride on the train we left.

That night we watched fireworks at Caleb's parents house. Brigham was obviously more fun to watch than the fireworks (not that I am biased). At the first boom he said "oohh." He continued to repeat that word over and over throughout most of the show. He had his train named "Salty" with him and at one point during the show he said "see 'em Salty." Then he said "Salty's turn" and held the train up high so Salty could get a good look at the fireworks. Gosh, I think my little boy is adorable.

More Photos

Palfreyman Family Reunion 2008

The Palfreymans held thier reunion at Trestlewood this year. It was a great get together.

Sprinkles of Fun

Monday afternoon I let the kids run through the sprinklers. This was their first time ever. Kaiya my little daredevil got right in and started splashing. She loved it. Brigham was quite timid at first, but eventually he warmed up to the idea. Later he even attempted to make his own swimming pool. I love memories like this. There is nothing better than watching your kids experience the simple joys of life.

Why use a swimming pool when you have a bucket!

After awhile the sprinkler was not enough for Brigham. Using a dose of his ingenuity he grabbed an empty bucket and filled it up. He soon realized this was not going to work and returned to splashing in the sprinkler.