Our family had a fun family vacation in Boston and other New England areas last week. We were able to visit my sister and her family who live in Boston and see some fun things in the area. Since I can't figure out how to put a caption for each picture, you'll just have to figure out what they are.
In Maine we saw the Portland Head Light lighthouse, went to the L.L. Bean stores in Freeport (recognize the giant shoe?), played in the ocean, and of course enjoyed some Ben and Jerry's Icecream that is famous in New England. Scott served his mission in New England so it was fun for him to drive through some of the towns he lived and served in. We got to see some of the apartments he used to live in and some other sites he remembered from his mission. We also enjoyed trying chocolate covered blueberries. Yummy!
In Vermont we went to the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial which was fun for Scott since he had his district meetings there while on his mission. The kids enjoyed riding in a golf cart to some sites around the area. The missionaries there were so kind to our family!
Here are some of the things we enjoyed in Boston!
- The New England Aquarium and touching all kinds of sea animals. The kids especially loved touching the star fish.
- The Duck Tours where we went on a tour of the city on land and then going into the water. Our tour guide was great and we learned a lot of fun facts about Boston!
- Touring the USS Constitution, walking the Freedom Trail, and seeing the Minuteman Visitors Center
- The JFK Presidential Library and Museum
- The kids especially enjoyed riding the subway and trains around the city.
Warning! There are lots of pictures! Enjoy!
Kaitlyn had a fun birthday yesterday! It's hard to believe she is 8 years old and getting baptized this week.
We had a fun time at Caden's Pinewood Derby tonight! He won first place! That means his car was the fastest out of 16 boys! He won each round and ended up with a total score for four races of 10.457 seconds. Way to go Caden and Scott! And thanks to both grandpas for giving us some great advice and help on the car. As you can see in the picture, Caden got a trophy to stick his car on. This Pinewood Derby involved five different wards in our stake. The other picture I posted shows only the boys in our ward. As you can see, our ward did quite well. We ended up with the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners! This is probably Caden's last Pinewood Derby before he turns 11 next year, so we were so happy that he won first place!
Caden turned 10 years old yesterday! He invited some of his friends to a bowling party at the local bowling alley. The kids had fun bowling, eating pizza, eating a bowling pin shaped cake with doughnut hole bowling balls, and playing the arcade games. Caden was excited to receive some Lego Star Wars toys from some of his friends. He has read the whole series and has really gotten into the whole Star Wars thing. We gave Caden a new bike since his old one is too small for him now. Scott and I can't believe we have a ten year old. It went by so fast! It's definitely been a fun and challenging experience! 
This post is a week late, but the kids started school last Monday on the 24th. Caden is in 4th grade, Kaitlyn is in Second grade, and Mckay is in Preschool. They all love their teachers! As much as I enjoyed doing fun things with my kids over the summer, it will be nice to have them at school. In our family it is a tradition to take a picture of the kids on our front porch on their first day of school. It's fun to compare each yearly picture and see how the kids have grown!
