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Wednesday, October 16th, 2013

Dana and I took one more quick trip before we had to get on the airplane. Magnus played with Grandma Rose while Dana and I went to see the Breakers mansion in Newport. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting us come visit!

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Tuesday, October 15th, 2013

We were so lucky to have such beautiful weather on our trip out here. We wanted to go to the beach one more time before we had to leave. We stopped at Second Beach to get some sand for Elina and had a great time running in the water. Some of us got our pants a little bit wet…

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Monday, October 14th, 2013

Dana really wanted to see some cranberry bogs while we were in the area. He found some on a map and we drove out to them. They just happened to be in the middle of harvesting some of the bogs so we were in luck!

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Sunday, October 13th, 2013

On the road again! We had a great time visiting with all our friends, but we had to be moving on. We got to wish Cheryl and Jae good-bye before heading back down to Rhode Island.

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Saturday, October 12th, 2013

The finished cakes! Ruth woke up early this morning to finish putting the cakes together. The cake toppers came all the way from Bangkok and everyone loved them.

We were so happy to be able to come to Cheryl and Jae’s wedding (and eat this yummy cake!)

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Friday, October 11th, 2013

Ruth’s job for the wedding was to make the wedding cake. So, she spent most of the day baking, and she is thankful for the help she had from Mara, a friend of Cheryl’s. To keep himself and Magnus busy and out of the way, Dana went out in search of nearby waterfalls. Dana and Magnus had fun seeing three awesome falls. Here is Magnus having fun throwing rocks into the water at Honey Hollow Falls. We also stopped at a round church built in 1813 in a little town. Dana thought it was interesting that it was built with the cooperation of five different religious congregations at the time. We also really loved seeing all the autumn colors in abundance. They were everywhere you looked, it could get a bit overwhelming.

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Thursday, October 10th, 2013

Today, we left New York and headed to Vermont for the wedding of Ruth’s friend Cheryl. Before we left we stopped in Palmyra to see the some historic pieces of the Erie Canal. Dana also, wanted to go to the Sacred Grove again. The tree there looked very beautiful. This picture is from in the Grove. On the way to VT, we stopped in Rome, NY to see Fort Stanwix NM. Dana was only able to walk around the outside of the fort (it was shutdown). We then drove through the Adirondacks Mountains and crossed Lake Champlain into VT right at the time of one of the prettiest sunsets we have seen. We finally made it to Burlington for the night.

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Wednesday, October 9th, 2013

Happy Birthday, Matt!

We started the day by visiting the Smith Homestead and Farm in Palmyra. Dana was very excited to be able to see it and then go to the Sacred Grove behind the farm. It was a good morning. In the afternoon, we headed to Niagara Falls. We were only able to be on the New York side of the falls, but it was really cool. We also took the Maid of the Mist out on the river. It is a really big waterfall. We stayed until it got dark and the lights came on. We had fun seeing the different colors shine on the falls. This view is looking south to American Falls, with Horseshoe Falls in the distance.

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Tuesday, October 8th, 2013

Early in the morning we headed to Palmyra, New York. On the way we did a quick stop in Albany to see the State House. Magnus really liked it, because there was a ceremony honoring firemen, so there were a lot of fire trucks and firemen present.  We got to Palmyra early enough to see some of it. Our first stop was the Grandin Print Shop, where The Book of Mormon was first published. That was really interesting. We also saw the Martin Harris home and the Palmyra Temple. Our last stop for the day was the Hill Cumorah. It was very pretty looking with all the trees changing colors.

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Monday, October 7th, 2013

We had a slower day, today. We did a little walking in Newport, making sure to stop by the Viking Tower. That night Ruth met up with an old friend from high school and we had dinner at a local seafood restaurant. Magnus also spent much of the day wanting to be called, and only answering to “Batman.”

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Sunday, October 6th, 2013

We had a great time getting to meet Karen and Kate this trip. Magnus also had a fun time playing with his cousin.Kate. It was sad to leave, but we had to get back to Rhode Island. On the way home we did stop briefly to admire the Brooklyn Bridge.

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Saturday, October 5th, 2013

Having spent the night in NJ, we headed back into New York City to see some more sights. One thing we had wanted to see was the Statue of Liberty, but it was closed due to the gov. shutdown. We did learn that the free Staten Island Ferry went near it though. So that is what we did. Magnus thought the statue was really neat. We also took the time to visit the Manhattan LDS Temple. Dana then headed off on his own to see some other sites. He was able to walk to Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and The Empire State Building, among other sites. That night we had a delicious dinner with Matt and Karen, and we were also able to help set some things up in their new home.

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Friday, October 4th, 2013

We drove with Ruth’s parents to New Jersey to visit Ruth’s bother Matt and his family. But before making it to their house we went into New York City. We walked around Lower Manhattan for a while, stopping at Wall St. and Federal Hall NM (which was closed). We went to Trinity Church and then headed over to the 9/11 Memorial at the WTC. It was a somber place. They have made two enormous waterfall pools in the footprints of the twin towers, and around the edges are the names of those who lost their lives. Here Magnus stands at the North Pool looking up at the nearly completed WTC 1 building (or Freedom Tower) which stands at 1776 ft tall. We feel fortunate to have been able to visit.

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Thursday, October 3rd, 2013

South of Hartford, CT lies a little town called Rocky Hill, where in 1966 dinosaur tracks were discovered while trying to build a state building. CT decided to make the site a state park and built a dome over some of the tracks, reburying the rest to preserve them. In all there were over 1500 tracks found, the majority made by Dilophosaurus. It was really interesting to see the footprints made by dinosaurs in the very spot where they were originally made.

We also visited the site where the new LDS temple will be built in CT and Buttermilk Falls, a waterfall nearby.

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Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013

Stepstone Falls is Rhode Islands biggest (and pretty much only) waterfall. It has a total height of about 10 ft., with the tallest drop of about 3 ft. But it is in a marvelous setting. And with the lower water amount this time of year, some of the falls flow under large granite slabs. The trees had turned a multitude of colors adding to it. After the falls, we went around Jamestown, making sure to stop at the lighthouse on the southern tip of the island. We really enjoyed the views from there as well as the amazing rocks.

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Tuesday, October 1st, 2013

Fossil Hunting on a beach in Portsmouth yielded some great finds. It helped that some random guy who figured out what we were doing was willing to show us the right place to look and how to look. After that it did not take long to find impressions of ferns, grasses, palms, and other marshy plants from about 2 million years ago.

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Monday, September 30th, 2013

Today, we went to Purgatory Chasm in Massachusetts. It is a cool place where there in a big fissure in the rocks made by glaciers in the last ice age. Now it is a great place to climb around on rocks. This spot is called Fat Man’s Misery. Magnus thought it was great. He also did really well maneuvering over and around the rocks, even offering to help us in some spots. On the way home we stopped near Jerimoth Hill in RI. Dana did the short walk to the highest point in RI, a boulder at the top of the hill at 812 ft.

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Sunday, September 29th, 2013

We had a nice time visiting in the Newport Ward for church. Afterwards we made a quick stop at the Cliff Walk to see the beautiful water. That afternoon, Magnus made a wonderful discovery when he found a harmonica at Grandma’s house. He was even more pleased when he learned what it could do.