Christmastime!!

"When we consider the frailty of the manger, let us not forget the power of the Cross."

A friend of mine posted this on her facebook status. Wow ~ it is so true and convicting.

We all tend to forget the real meaning of things, especially Christmas, but do we think about the nature of the stable in which Jesus was born. Dirty, unsanitary, smelly ~ not a place for our future King.

My hope is that you don't forget the simple way in which Jesus came into the earth, the ugly way in which he gave up His life for us, and the easy way into which you can spend eternity with Him.

I hope you have a very blessed Christmas!

Kendra

Busy, busy, busy...and vacation is almost over...

What a whirlwind of a vacation! It has been great; we have seen lots of "history".

Yes, Yes, I know it has been a few days since my last update. Hope these pics gets you caught up.

Enjoy!

Walking the Freedom Trail in Boston.



For some reason, I love this picture. Taken on the Freedom Trail.


For all my baseball fan friends, we took a tour of Fenway Park. It was a bit pricey, but we all loved it.


Sitting in the "Green Monster" seats. These tickets can only be purchased through a lottery system with the Red Sox. If you are one of the "lucky" ones to earn the right to purchase, you buy 4 of them at $160 each. I must say, they are great seats.


Plymouth Rock...yeah, "big deal"...it actually is kinda small.


Marilyn at Plimoth Plantation outside of Plymouth, MA. We also toured the Mayflower.


Cool looking flowers that look like a cabbage plant. We saw some of these also on the Freedom Trail in downtown Boston. Anyone know what they are???


We stay in Plymouth at the John Carver Inn. The pool had a Mayflower slide and a Plymouth Rock hot tub. I liked the hot tub. The kids LOVED the pool and slide.


Two years ago, my family and I walked over this bridge. Do you know which one it is? Hint: we were here on a missions trip through our church.

Yes, it is the Brooklyn Bridge. We decided to drive through NYC on my birthday. We drove through the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. It took us about 2 1/2 hours on a Sunday afternoon.

And we left through the Holland Tunnel. It took about 25 minutes to enter and drive through it. It was very busy.


We went to Hershey, PA on Monday. The kids did a little packaging of kisses at a mock assembly line.


In the gift shop. Marilyn now likes to try on hats, too.


Our next and final destination is Washington, DC. We went to Mt. Vernon, but didn't take the walking tour. This was taken at the Visitors Center.


The White House. We left our hotel at 6:00 AM to make it to our 7:15 lineup for our tour. Yes, parking is INSANE in DC. But we are too cheap to pay for the metro (subway) every day. The parking is not too expensive, once you get by all the traffic and find a parking deck that takes daily parking.


Washington Monument taken from the tower at the Old Post Office building.


Today, we had a personal escort to tour the US Capitol Building. This is Emily from our congressman's (Aaron Schock!!) office. She was great and was able to take us into the exclusive parts of the Capitol and House of Representatives.


Here we are in the Capitol.


We really had a great day here. It was action packed and we got to see Aaron vote on a bill from the House Gallery, too.


Our time is fleeting.....


Kendra

The many hats of Joel

Joel loves his hats. Here are a few that we have found in gift shops along our vacation.













OK, yeah, I know this is not Joel, but it is his hat. We let him buy this one. It was only $2.95 (most of the others were well over $10 each) and it is a seaman Navy hat that was bought at the USS Constitution Visitor Center. (Shout out to my niece April ~ Huzza!!) The tour of "Old Ironsides" was very cool. Highly encourage you to tour it if you are in the Boston area.


Heading on our way ~ only 1 week left!

Kendra

The regulars are out! The regulars are out!!

New England is just beautiful! I wonder if the people here really appreciate it...hmm....

We drove to Acadia National Park near Bar Harbor (pronounced Baa Haabaa by the locals) in Maine yesterday. It was fairly busy with tourists considering that it is the end of their tourist season. Over 1/2 of the hotels/b&b's/inns are already closed for the season. It definitely is an area that heavily relies on the tourism industry. The day we were there, the Caribbean Princess cruise boat was docked out in the harbor. So, the streets and sidewalks in downtown Bar Harbor were packed with tourists. And, many of them were quite rude, according to my children, and they would know :) But, I digress.

Marilyn at the top of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia NP. It was cold up there. Cadillac Mountain is the highest point along all of the American eastern shore line.


The boys having "fun" at the restaurant. Can you tell Noah is feeling better? Yep, my dilemma: when he is sick, he is more subdued; but when he is healthy, well, you know Noah... Looks like Joel is taking lessons from him. Yikes!


Marilyn actually found this very, very small sand dollar at Sand Beach in Acadia.


Joel found snails, mussels, and this crab claw. He wanted to take it home. NO!! I said. Could you not just imagine the smell in 2 weeks!!!


Yea, I'm not even going to explain this pic. I think my blog will get a PG rating now. However, I have to say, this is such a beautiful pond. We have hiked here now 3 times... Go figure.


Backstory on this pic: Brian and I went to Acadia on our honeymoon and on our 10 yr anniversary. We have gone on this same hike each time. 15 years ago, we took a picture of these 2 unusual trees, wrapped around each other, growing oddly. 5 years ago, those same trees are still there, only much larger. Well, of course, we had to go visit "our trees". It appears the base of the left one (by Brian) is choked out by the center "wrapping" and does not have any trunk left above it. We think that both tree bases are now feeding the one top.


Today, we traveled into Massachusetts and the Boston area. We spent most of our day at the Minuteman National Historic Park. Everyone remembers Paul Revere. But did you know that Mr. Revere was only 1 of 40+ riders that night. He and William Dawes started out from Boston, taking different paths, and as they traveled toward Lexington and Concord, other horsemen followed suit. And, their cry was NOT "The British are coming"; it was "The Regulars are out". Just a history lesson for all of you. :)


My boys near the Old North Bridge. It is possible that this tree was a sapling when the scurmish took place back in 1775.


Minuteman statue at Lexington Green, site of the most casualities on that fateful day. "The Birthplace of American Freedom"!!!


Yes, the colors are really this beautiful here!


Our adventures continue,
Kendra

Day 3 and 4 of our trip

What fun ~ a nor'easter in New England! Actually, we didn't see the worst of it. It only rained where we were. Some places saw inches of snowfall. The kids actually thought that would have been "cool" (sorry for the pun) :)

This is the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA. (Notice the weather!) It was nice, but we again think that they charge way too much on admission for what is there. Nonetheless, it was pretty neat inside.


Joel shooting at the peach basket hoop. Noah was (and still is) sick, so he didn't do much there. You know he wasn't faking it because he was very much looking forward to the stop on our trip.


In South Deerfield, MA is where the Yankee Candle company is headquartered. And, I "demanded" that we stop at their factory store. You would never believe this place unless you have been there. Brian estimates the size of this shop at around 100,000 sq. feet. Everything you can imagine is at this place. It reminded me of the Longaberger homestead, only bigger, and yet different. I got out of there with some great 2nds and just a small hit on my wallet. :)


When you go to Vermont, you HAVE to go to Ben & Jerry's. It is required! The tour is short, but you get a free sample. Need I say more.


About 1 mile up the road from B & J's, is a place similar to Tanner's Orchard. However, at this place, you actually get to watch them make the cider. It is an interesting process. Good thing I like apple cider, because the apple "puree/mush" they use to make it does not look appetizing at all.


Moose sighting! Moose sighting!! Saw him and a couple other moose just off the interstate/parkway in New Hampshire. The kids were extremely excited ~ well, Joel was anyway.

Marilyn and Joel at a natural pool spot called the Basin. Notice Joel with his moose. He has named it "Puddyoneshoe". Tomorrow he plans to call it "Puddytwoshoes". Where does he come up with these things????


Most of the colors are gone, but not all of them. It is so beautiful here.

Wish you were here to enjoy this with us!
Kendra

Finally, a new post!

Sorry to my faithful followers (my sister, etc.) that I have not update my blog for about 2 months. You know, I would have been more diligent in posting, but my children demanded my attention (i.e. schooling!)

OK, OK, here is my newest post. And as time allows, and if I have internet access, I will try to update at least every other day. I promise!! so check back often!!


At the border, waiting to get into Canada. It took about 15 minutes to get through this.


We made it!!


Niagara Falls at night. They light it up every night. I was told, "You have to see it lit up at night." True.


This picture is a bit blurry because it is at night, but I love it!


Horseshoe falls.


We took this tour "Journey Behind the Falls". It was pretty cool, however, it cost way too much money. In fact, EVERYTHING on the Canadian side of the falls costs WAY TOO MUCH!! The falls are beautiful, but it really has become a tourist trap.


This doesn't even look like me! Brian picked up some lady and pretended it was me. HaHaHa!! Some movie star with shades :)



Until my next post,
Kendra