Massive Phone Dump

Hello, my name is Rachel and I just learned how to download photos from my phone to my computer.  Prepare yourself for photo overload.

Gabe with an ear infection.  He was screaming because of the pain and of course fell asleep in the waiting room just before they finally called us in to see a doctor. 

There's nothing like playing in the front yard in just a t-shirt and undies!

My sweet Gabe would have an entourage of stuffed animals with him all the time if we let him.

Porter LOVES to take pictures with my phone.

Porter found these "stickers" and put them all over the wall.  Those are some pretty expensive stickers buddy!

Costumes from the consignment shop make great dress ups.

It's all fun and games until Superman takes a bite out of your foam sword.

Porter's THIRD dentist appointment, but his FIRST cleaning.  Don't even get me started on dentists!  Grrrrrr....

See what a good mom I am?  I'm reading him a book I hate.  Does anyone else not like The Lorax?

No idea what's going on here . . . 

I'm believe I texted this to my mama one day.  Is she lucky or what?

Love this pic of Porter!

RPI Hockey Game

Lake Superior

Emma and Gabe

My handsome date to the Military Ball.

Flowers John gave me when he was promoted to captain.

Thugs.

Alabama and Rhode Island were the only states we didn't find on our drive to Utah.

The only good thing about driving through Nebraska.

The boys watching a DVD at the laundry mat.  Oh yeah, remember when we moved to NY and had to do our laundry at the laundry mat?  That was fun.

Porter at the Troy Farmer's Market

Emma and I had a girls night out and got pedicures!

Johnny Appleseed

Hey look, it's the abominable snowman!

Good times in Ohio!

Cohoes Falls.  After Niagara falls these are the next biggest falls in the state and they're three minutes from our house!

Pictures from the hospital the day Quentin was born. 

Well, howdy partner!

Gabe getting his Aloha on! 

Albany Duck Tour.  Love this picture of Gabe. 

Look how little Porter is!  That's how long these pics have been sitting on my phone!

Me and my Porter

Porter working on his tan.

I don't think they teach this method in massage school.

For our 10 year wedding anniversary we got a new kitchen table!

Steak and Shake!

I think I might be in love with this baby.  I take lots of pictures of him!

There's nothing a socket wrench can't fix! 

Eating popcorn.  On a gorilla.  While watching cartoons.

Gymnastics class

Batman.  Wearing a cowboy hat.  Carrying a toolbox.  I'd say we're ready for about anything!

Lunch at Los Hermanos! 

 

Gabe's kindergarten class.  Gabe's the one in front holding his arms up like Frankenstein.

That is not a cat, that my friends, is an albino squirrel!  I know it's blurry and it's taken through a screen, but it's real, I promise!  Why do I feel like I have to convince you it's a real albino squirrel, it's not like I said it was a Sasquatch or anything.

That's all folks!  Let me just say that if you made through all of that, I'm impressed.

Salem Sight Seeing

Before we went to Salem I got some children's books from the library about the Salem Witch Trials to read to the kids.  I not only wanted to teach them the history, but I wanted to focus on the importance of social tolerance and the trouble that can come from telling lies.  Note to self, teaching your five year old about the witch trials and then telling him you are going to vacation where it happened . . . not the best idea.  Gabe was terrified to go to Salem!  After promising him there was nothing to be afraid of we set out for our adventure! 

If you want to get in the mood for Halloween . . . this is the place to be!

Trying to avoid anything remotely scary we took the kids to the New England Pirate Museum.  Overall, not scary, but then there were scenes like this . . . 

And at one point I got scared and ended up screaming out loud.  Turns out Gabe ended up being the brave one: )  With the exception of the kids each loosing a hand we managed to survive the Pirate Museum without too much trauma.

"The House of Seven Gables" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is on my list of books to read.  Knowing that we would see the house that inspired the book I wanted to have actually read the book, so I started it a few days before we left . . . and well, I'm still working on it, but at least I could say I was in the process of reading it when I saw the house, right?  I'll let you know how it is once I finish it : )  Here's John and I in front of the House of Seven Gables.

My boys at the Salem Maritime Historic Site.

 Look out!  There's pirates aboard the Friendship of Salem!

Salem Camping Trip

I planned a camping trip to Salem, Massachusetts over Columbus Day weekend.  After booking and paying for our campsite I realized it was also General Conference weekend.  It was now really hard to be excited about the trip I've been looking forward to for weeks because I felt so bad that we would miss General Conference.  I kept telling myself we'd listen to it later, but I knew it wouldn't be the same.  So I paid the fee to change our reservations and we went on our trip this last weekend. True, it was a day shorter than we had originally planned, but it was so much better being able to go with a clear conscience!  

Here's our campsite on the GPS.   It was right on the beach at Salem Harbor.  Notice the rain on the windshield?  It rained all day Friday.  I kept asking John if we should just stay home, if we were crazy for taking three kids camping in the rain, but we went anyway!  When we got to the Boston area the rain was really coming down hard, so we tried to get a Space A room at Hanscom AFB, but there was no room in the inn, so my knight in a shiny poncho set up our tent in the dark and in the rain while the kids and I stayed warm and dry in the car.  Thankfully, our tent kept us dry as it continued to rain all night long. 

Saturday was overcast, but thankfully rain free!  We ended up having an awesome day playing on the beach and sightseeing around Salem.  This is Winter Island where we camped.

The boys and I built this sand castle and decorated it with some of the treasures we found on the beach.  (John was doing homework.)  Have I mentioned he started working on his MBA?  It's going to be a pain having school work that takes priority, but he's got to get it done. 

While camping we only came across one wild animal.  A BEAR!  We ended up letting him in our tent since he was pretty darn cute and we figured he'd be harmless since he had no teeth.

Instead of taking I-90 home we drove through New Hampshire and Vermont to see the fall leaves.  And yes, New England in the fall is every bit as beautiful as they say it is!

Pardon our jammies in these pictures, but we'd been camping and just wanted to get home, especially since it was raining again!  Yep, John set up AND took down the tent in the rain.  He's just awesome like that!