last blogger on the block: Taking the kids to Ithaca

For Labor Day weekend, Ryan and I took the kids to Ithaca, NY to see our old stomping grounds and Cornell University. Ahhhh, the memories we have of Upstate New York are priceless. We had such a great two years there while Ryan got his MBA at the Johnson School, and we couldn't wait to tell and show our kids everything.

The four hour drive to Ithaca was miserable. It seemed everyone had the same idea to get out-of-town at exactly the same time we did, and no one informed the road crew that it was a holiday weekend and they shouldn't be working anymore. So our drive there took much longer than anticipated, but it was all good once we got to our hotel room and finally got the kids BACK to sleep at midnight - in beds instead of car seats this time.

Saturday we spent hiking Watkins Glen. It's got to be one of the most beautiful things Mother Nature has created. The kids loved it and used their cameras to take pictures of everything. I couldn't believe they were able to make it all the way up and then all the way back down the gorge without complaints at all. I remember taking my Grandma and Grandpa up Watkins Glen when Ryan graduated years ago, and they made it all the way to the top, too!

After eating lunch at our favorite place on Seneca Lake, we headed to Taughannock Falls for a quick view (because kids were napping in the car) of the huge waterfall. From there we drove back to Ithaca to the Children's Sciencenter and let the kids play and explore till it closed.

After church on Sunday, we drove to Palmyra to visit the church historical sites. We visited the printing press where the first Book of Mormon was printed; Joseph Smith's farmhouse where the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph and told him where the gold plates were buried, and Joseph's second home that his brother built before he died; we walked through the Sacred Grove where Heavenly Father and Jesus appeared to Joseph Smith; we stopped at the Hill Cumorah visitor's center and drove to the top of the Hill to see where Joseph Smith uncovered the gold plates; we drove by the Palmyra Temple on our way to the Peter Whitmer Farm and brand new visitor's center where Joseph moved to finish translating the Book of Mormon. It was a long day, but we all thought it was so interesting to visit all of the sites we read about in the Doctrine and Covenants.

On Monday, we hiked up Buttermilk Falls before heading back home. I didn't realize it was such a long, uphill hike with so many beautiful waterfalls along the way. This is one of those hikes I did a million times when we lived there, but it was all so new and fascinating now that I was doing it again eight years later with my now four kids. Man… a lot of great things can happen in eight years! =-)

There was so much more Ryan and I wanted to do while we were there, but with four little kids, we had to pace ourselves. I'm sure we'll go back again in a few years and do a few more fun things with everyone, but I think we had a good first introduction for now.

Watkins Glen…