Can you believe it?! I can't! Two posts in one week! I'm on a roll. July was a big, busy month. I had to narrow down the photos from 1500 photos (yes, that's right) to the "few" below. So, there are a lot of photos below...Enjoy!
Back in Manhattan
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| I love my morning runs. Especially in the summer. |
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| Isabella's drawing of her neighborhood. |
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| Fourth of July on the Hudson River |
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| Watching fireworks. |
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| We walked all the way home from the fireworks show--W 23rd St to W 76th St (plus a few avenues). It was a long haul for the little ones late at night, but this lovely break by the Lincoln Center fountains made it all worth it. |
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| Requisite NYC playground fountain play on a hot day in the Lower East Side. |
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| Brian and I did the midnight bike tour through Central Park. It was crazy and awesome. |
Back in Connecticut
Harkness State Park
Upstate New York
Our big adventure in July was going to the
Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, NY with extended family. After the Pageant our little family continued touring around Upstate New York and explored the amazing gorges, Rochester, and the Finger Lakes.
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| Some friends from church were in the Pageant and saved us super amazing seats. The kids were captivated the whole time and talked about it for days afterward. |
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| We visited the E.B. Grandin building in Palmyra where we learned more about the first publication of the Book of Mormon. It was fascinating. |
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| The Sacred Grove: the forest behind Joseph Smith's boyhood home where he prayed to know which church to join and saw a vision where Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Years later he translated the Book of Mormon and restored the Church of Jesus Christ. |
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| At the Smith farm. |
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| All the Carini's that joined us for our Palmyra adventure. |
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| At the National Museum of Play in Rochester. If you ask the kids what their favorite part of all our adventures was...they will most likely reply, "The Museum of Play!!!" We hope to go back soon. We went two days and didn't make it through the entire museum. |
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| Simon obviously pretty hotel savvy after months of travel...not that we ever talk on a corded phone anymore?! |
Watkins Glen State Park
This state park in the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate NY was absolutely amazing! One of the most beautiful places. It was excruciatingly hot the week we were there. Not only was it 100 degrees, but the gorge held in the humidity and no breeze blew. I felt as if we were transported to another continent; perhaps we journeyed to the Amazon. It was "other-worldly". And one of my favorite stops in all our adventures.
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| This is up in the farmlands of the Finger Lakes. It was amazingly beautiful. Quintessential farm houses, barns and rolling hills. I always dreamed of living in rural Vermont...but I do believe Upstate New York surpassed Vermont in beauty and charm (at least in my book). |
Another day we went to Treman State Park to see
Lucifer Falls, located in another gorge in the Finger Lakes Region.
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| I spy Oliver and Brian. |
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| It was so hot we felt like we hiked to hell and could have met Lucifer himself. Our poor kids are serious troopers. |
Back in Connecticut. Yes, again. It was my favorite season: Blueberry Picking Season!
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| morning run |
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| raspberries too! |
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| These berries were picked especially for Grandma McOmber (my mom) in California |
California
I took a quick, weekend jaunt across the country to see my beautiful niece, Mary, get married.
While I was away Brian and the kids played with cousins and we did a lot of FaceTime.
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| Playing with cousin Nico visiting from California. |
Happy Birthday Brian!
Brian's big 40th birthday bash ended the fabulous month of July!
