Erie and New York

 Last week Tyler had a PA conference in Erie Pennsylvania.  Being in PA school in PA is very confusing to explain to people.

 One of the freedoms that homeschool affords, is that we can tag along on things like this without it being a big deal at all!

 So we went.  And it was wet.  When it rains here, looks and feels like it is going to be wet and miserable all day and then sometimes the weather surprises you and the sun will pop out for the rest of the day and it will be 80 degrees!  Or you will wake up to blue sky and a sudden storm will pop up and last.  You can never tell.  So I haul rain jackets, coats and blankets everywhere we go.

 We couldn't check into our hotel until 3pm and we arrived at 8am, so the girls and I spent the day buying socks and eating out.  Having 3 young kids is rare here.  I feel that a mom taking her 3 young kids to Cracker barrel at 9 am on a Wednesday, is very rare here.  I get comments everywhere I go.
  Well, the sun did come out on Wednesday and so we visited the beach on lake Erie!

 The girls loved it.  We didn't find shells, but there were lots of pretty rocks.  Alex had collected a couple special ones and when it was time to go I agreed to let her bring them to the car (I NEVER do this).  The girls jumped at Mom's generosity and when I turned around I laughed out loud to see they had both stacked their arms as full with as many pancake rocks as they could carry.  It was hilarious.

 Thursday we woke up and went swimming!  I am often told by Heidi that Hotels with swimming pools are the greatest things in the world.  After swimming I saw that there was a small window of sun scheduled for the day so off the girls and I went to pick some apples at a huge orchard.

 Quinn loved the stroller, Heidi loved the basket and Alex loved the apples.  Everyone won.

 Apple picking was on my "Must do in Pennsylvania" list, so I was tickled to put a big check mark next to that.

 Alex has eaten half of the apples already.  By herself.  I may have mentioned that an Apple a day keeps the doctor away.  It seems to have fueled the apple fire.

 3 cranky girls later we loaded up the car.  As we were driving off I saw that there were GRAPES we could have picked!!!!  I stopped the car and thought long and hard about it.  I decided at that moment it wasn't worth getting everyone back OUT of the car.  I've regretted it every minute since.

 We went home and did homeschool for the day.  Homeschool is really fun on big soft hotel beds.  I got Heidi her own 'homeschool' book and she absolutely loves doing her own preschool stuff while Alex is doing Kindergarten.

 Friday was our golden day.  We went to breakfast with one of Tyler's instructor's who had caught a ride to the conference with us.  She is a doll and the girls fell in love with her at once.  She ended up walking around the conference center with the girls and I for a good hour.  After being asked if these were her grandchildren 10 times in a row, we decided to adopt her as our Pittsburgh Grandma and she accepted.

 We left her and went to spend the afternoon on Presque Island State Park.  It was beautiful being out on the skinny peninsula with all the fall leaves.  We found a beach and went exploring.

 It was a windy day and a bit chill, but it reminded me of visiting Canada in the Spring when Heidi was almost a year old.  This stroller on a beach with a baby in it.  It keeps happening.

 I 've had this long standing dream of walking on the beach with 3 little girls looking for treasures.  This could have possibly been that dream coming true. But I hope it happens again when all 3 can walk.

 The girls LOVED the beach.  The were sad that there weren't many shells, but we came home with a bouquet of seagull feathers.

 Quinn was an angel.

 I can't stress how windy it was.

  I had this fear that if I let my eyes wander away from any of the children, for just a moment, they would disappear.  While I dream of taking my children to the beach, I also have nightmares of giant waves and/or sharks sucking them into the ocean, lost forever.

 The time passed quickly.

 There seem to be an abundance of ladybugs in Pennsylvania.  The girls find them everywhere and threaten to bring them home.  They are my favorite bug, but I don't want a car full of ladybug carcasses.

 We littered the beach with stroller tracks and then decided to move on, hoping for a less windy beach with more shells.  This was pushing my luck.

 We found another beach, more windy if possible.  And within 5 minutes (after I spent 10 minutes getting everyone out of the car and ready to beach) everyone was crying and half of us were wet.

 The first picture represents the moment when the wave snuck up and caught them off guard.  Heidi may have even had her eyes shut in that picture.  Here you see the moment Alex realizes she is in danger, and Heidi reacts to the sudden cold wave of water over her feet.

 She stumbles backwards as Alex flees, only to trip and land completely in the water.  I saw this moment coming.  That's why I took the pictures.  Unfortunately I didn't foresee the fall and unfortunately my camera didn't catch the next frame.

  30 seconds later while I was consoling Heidi, a wave stole Alex's sandal forcing her to forsake dry clothes to save it.  Before I knew it EVERY child was sobbing.  That also happened to be the moment Tyler texted and said it was time to pick him up.  Perfect timing.

 But it wouldn't really be a Brady family outing if someone didn't have to pee in the bushes and if it didn't end in tears.
  So we picked up Tyler and headed north to Niagara.

 Fortunately we ended up getting a good deal on a hotel super close to the falls.  We were able to easily walk to the river from where we stayed.

 Unfortunately the weather pulled a fast one on us and when we were 50 feet from the viewpoint it started to hail.
 So instead of taking a boat ride up to the falls on the Maid of the Mist, (kids under 6 were free!) We got a family picture and left.

I don't know why I thought breakfast could wait until AFTER the falls, but hungry kids are usually crying kids and therefore this was our Niagara Falls breakfast.  Alex is still talking about the time we had chocolate cake and orange juice for breakfast.

 We left Niagara and headed East to Palmyra.  Our original plan was to see Niagara in the evening and take a jaunt over to Palmyra and then head home Saturday.  But the day got late on Friday so we modified our plans, then believe it or not my Mom was on her way to Palmyra that day!  We extended our vacation one day and got to see Mom and Dana at the hotel and share Sunday breakfast.  What are the odds!

The Hill Cumorah was our first upstate New York destination and it was lovely.  The leaves were already dropping, but there was such a beautiful mix of greens and oranges and reds everywhere.

 I tried to have a spiritual thought on top the hill, and the girls were decent in the visitors center. By this point we were all tired of the car and ready to run and be silly.

 It was amazing to be surrounded by all that church history.  It was fun to take the kids but I look forward to going back and spending time really experiencing it.

 Next we went to the Smith family farm.

 We took the tour and got to see the houses and all.

 A temple has been built on the property and it is just beautiful

 The whole area was gorgeous, and Heidi made a mouse house out of rocks.

 The kids were nearing their limit as we made it to the sacred grove, so we stuffed them full of swedish fish so we could have a happy moment in the woods.

And we did.

Saturday night was swimming. Sunday morning was Grandma and Grandpa D breakfast and then we took off back home.  We made great time until we were within 60 miles of Pittsburgh.  A few of these lovely back ups (that are so prevalent in Pittsburgh) and our arrival got pushed way back.  But we passed the time with terrible Knock Knock jokes and rhyming games and all was well.