July 2009

We had a wonderful July together! The highlights included:

Trip to Beaver, Pennsylvania:

Brig, Anna, Caleb and I travelled to Pennsylvania to see my family. My dad drove in from Missouri, so we were all together for 4-5 days. We visited the Pittsburgh Zoo, celebrated my Dad's birthday, played ball in the yard, went swimming, rode dirtbikes, and had a campfire and cookout at my Mom's, and laughed and laughed at my hilarious brother. It was AWESOME, and, of course, I am ready to go back!!! Tomorrow!!!

At the Pittsburgh Zoo

Mom and Dad at Dad's Birthday Party


Anna Dressed up by Cristen to Fake Terrible Injury after Bike Accident


Trip to Niagra Falls, the Hill Cumorah Pageant, and Gettysburg:

We left Beaver on Friday morning and drove (the kids' favorite part) to Niagra Falls. You can see from the pictures how excited Caleb was to be there! We then drove to Palmyra, where we visited with our neighbors, the Semadeni's, who are serving a mission there. We saw the Smith homes, the Grove, the Grandin Press, the local Pizza joint, and the pageant. While we got rained on at Niagra Falls, we were lucky enough to have the rain stop so that we could enjoy the pageant.

After the pageant, we drove toward Gettysburg until 1:30 am, when we finally found a hotel room! (We had stopped earlier, but due to some road construction in the small NY/PA towns, the hotels were full.) It was great to get a bed! In the morning, we headed to Gettysburg. On the way, Brig, who was driving at 85 mph in a 55 zone, was pulled over by a policeman, but managed to get out of a speeding ticket with only a warning!!! Nice cop, but he lost some serious revenue on that one! I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Gettysburg, after having read The Killer Angels and seen the movie about a zillion times. It was actually much smaller than I remembered. My great-great grandfather, Fulton Valentine Shindledecker, was an 18-year old who took the train over from western PA to Gettysburg to help fight "the Rebs." Most of the pictures of Gettysburg were taken at the field where Pickett made his famous charge.











Visit to Virginia:

After leaving Gettysburgh, we drove to McKenzie and Nate's cute home in Richmond. It was awesome to see them again, and we wish they lived closer!! While we spent most of the time trying to hold Kenna (of course), we did take some fun sightseeing side trips with Nate. These inculded a tour of Monument Avenue, with its HUGE statues of famous Confederates, and Hollywood Cemetery, where some famous confederates, like Jeff Davis, JEB Stuart, and George Pickett are buried.

Will, Cristen and family also came down to visit at the Winns and to see their first great-niece. Of course, having them there was a blast. Will kidnapped one each of McK's forks and spoons, and had a great time posing with them all over VA.