International Art Day at Summer School

Joy the summer school teacher declared that this was international week in our apartment.  For example, on social studies day, each child selected a different country to research.

Today was art day, and each student drew someone from their chosen country (often with a bit of help from Google Images and their big sister the art teacher).

Joy drew a picture of a woman from Norway (she wants to live in Norway someday because it's nice and cold for most of the year--I told her we'll occasionally visit her in the summertime).

Daniel chose Japan because it was one of the only foreign countries he had heard of.  Joy drew the outline of a Japanese woman in a kimono, and Daniel colored the drawing in.

Anna chose Uruguay, because I served as a missionary there.  We found a picture of a woman in a traditional Uruguayan outfit, and Anna drew a picture of her.

Todd chose Canada, because visited it on our recent road trip.  Joy drew the outline of a Canadian in traditional dress, and then turned it into a color-by-number picture so Todd could easily color it in.  (This Canadian doesn't have a big nose and a protruding Adam's apple--those are 4s telling Todd to color those parts peach. :)

Picking Berries with Kristin

Our friend (and awesome realtor) Kristin invited us over today, partly because she misses us now that we're not going to open houses all the time . . .

. . . but also because her blueberry bushes are producing loads more berries than she can eat on her own.

The blackberries are starting to come in too, and Joy happily embraced the challenge of harvesting a handful of them from the prickly bramble.

Anna and I preferred the blueberries, which were sweet, abundant, and thornless.

Open wide!

The Magic Petting Zoo

The three younger kids and I went to a magic show at the library this evening.  Joy would have liked to come, but she was at a Young Women paint night at the church.

Stephen the Magician was a good-natured curmudgeon with a New York accent and loud Hawaiian shirt.  His magic tricks were fun, but the kids' favorite part was that . . .

. . . every trick involved some cute little animal that Stephen would then bring around for everyone to touch.  It was basically a magic show/petting zoo. :)

Daniel, Anna, and Todd were more than happy to pet every dove, chinchilla, and turtle Stephen pulled out of seemingly empty bags and boxes.

And of course, they lined right up to pet the (very patient) bunny he produced at the end.  Because who doesn't love to pet bunnies?

Oh, and Joy's painting?  I'd say it turned out pretty well. :)

NY Road Trip Day 4: Holy Places and Niagara Falls

The Palmyra Temple was on Joy's road trip wish list before we even left home . . .

. . . so Daddy took her there to do baptisms this morning . . . 

. . . then they visited another sacred place nearby.  This wooded area is the Sacred Grove, where nearly 200 years ago, Joseph Smith prayed to know which church he should join.  Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared and called him to be the prophet who would restore Christ's true church to the Earth.  I'd like to take the younger kids to visit the Sacred Grove when they're a little older . . .

. . . but this time they stayed at the hotel with me and played Sink or Swim.

After Daddy and Joy got back from Palmyra, we drove to Niagara Falls.  I thought it would be fun to take a day trip to another country, so we drove across Rainbow Bridge to see the falls from the Canadian side. We joked that we drove "south to Canada" because even though most of Canada is north of the U.S., the waterfall overlook is actually south of the bridge to New York State.

Our first glimpse of the Niagara Falls was nice, but not that thrilling.  In her usual blunt way, Joy commented that it was kind of disappointing in person.

As we continued along the boardwalk toward the portion called Horseshoe Falls, the view became much more impressive.  The mist from the falls made an increasingly vibrant rainbow . . .

. . . and when we got right up next to Horseshoe Falls, the sight was breathtaking.  It looked like someone had knocked a hole in the bottom of the ocean, and all the water was draining out of the world.  We all agreed that we were glad we kept going to the end of the boardwalk, instead of giving up after an underwhelming first impression.

And that's the end of our road trip!  It's been fun, but we're looking forward to getting back to familiar beds and home cooking.

NY Road Trip Day 3: Strong Museum of Play

Most of our road trip plans involved outdoor activities.  Since I'm a California girl, it didn't occur to me that rain might interfere with our plans.

Well, we're not in California anymore.  New York's weather forecast called for thunderstorms all day, so we had to come up with a backup plan.  Instead of driving to Niagara Falls today, we headed into Rochester to visit the Strong Museum of Play.

We gave each of the kids $10 at the beginning of the trip, and told them they could spend it any way they liked (and pocket what was left at the end).  Anna and Todd chose to spend part of their money on a carousel ride at the museum.  Anna says that $1 ride is one of her favorite parts of our trip.

Some of the museum displays asked thought-provoking questions, such as, "Is a motorcycle a toy?"  Daddy and Daniel say yes; Anna says no.  By the way, don't assume those lighted numbers are an accurate tally.  We saw kids voting a dozen times apiece, and each counter resets when it reaches 9999.

The museum also had a butterfly garden, which was my favorite part of the day.  I could have spent hours watching dozens of exotic butterflies flutter around the greenhouse.  In a world where you're lucky to see a single butterfly in a day, I was enchanted by the sight of so many of these beautiful creatures flying around us, often just a few inches away.

The kids also enjoyed the temporary Wild Kratts exhibit, where you could color a fish on paper, scan it with their special scanner, then watch the image swim around the ocean reef projected on the wall.

Our last stop was the pinball section.  Daniel bought a bunch of tokens and played nearly every machine in the room, but Anna and Todd preferred an old school machine called Swing Time (in the background of the above photo). I stuck with the Lord of the Rings machine.

Of course, Daddy's favorite machine was the Star Wars one. :)

We played pinball until the museum closed, and more than once I thought of my Dad.  When I was a kid, my family would go to Camelot for pizza every Friday, then Dad would buy us tokens to play the arcade games.  My dad loved to use his tokens to play the pinball machines.

New York Road Trip Day 2: Glass and a Pageant

Our first stop on our New York State road trip was the Corning Museum of Glass.

The gift shop on the first floor was a fascinating attraction in its own right, but I'm glad we didn't stop there.

The live glassmaking demos were really interesting . . .

. . . I loved these giant, glowing glass "raindrops" . . .

. . . and Engineer Daddy really liked the technology and fiber optics section.

Our other destination today (and the event that inspired this whole trip) was the Hill Cumorah Pageant.  This spectacular dramatization of Book of Mormon stories has been presented every year since 1937, but it will come to an end next summer, and we wanted to see it while we had the chance.

I didn't take many pictures during the performance, mainly because I wanted to enjoy the show.  It was an impressive production with an enormous cast, and it showed how the abstract principles of Christ's Gospel played out in real people's lives.  It was fun to watch for an hour, but it also inspired me to be a better person when I get home.

NY Road Trip Day 1: Books and Wishes

Who's ready for a road trip?!?

Our family took off for New York State this morning.  I'm so glad I married a man who likes to drive, because I'd rather sit in the passenger seat and enjoy the scenery.

The kids played with their squishmallows . . .

. . . and read books or played with quiet games.  I hope Todd has learned to like chapter books by the time we go on our next road trip, because he went through our bag of car activities much faster than I hoped he would.

When we reached our first hotel, he was really happy to get out of the car.  We ate dinner at a hip little sandwich place (I loved my goat cheese and chutney sandwich--most of the other Hendricksons went with fried chicken) . . .

. . . then we strolled down the street and found this fun little fountain.  The kids tossed in pennies to make wishes.  Anna wanted to tell me her wish, but Joy said part of the game is that you aren't supposed to tell.

Back at the hotel, the kids discovered that a closet makes an excellent changing room when the bathroom is occupied.

Good night!

Seeing Bunnies at the Library

The kids and I went to a local library today . . .

. . . to see a petting zoo they were hosting.  We got to pet goats, sheep . . .

. . . and some chickens.

One of the hens laid an egg while we were there, which the kids thought was pretty cool.  But everybody's favorite part, hands down . . . 

. . . was the bunnies.  Those Mini Rex Velveteen rabbits were so incredibly soft.  Everyone who touched them (including yours truly) couldn't help exclaiming about how soft they were, even though we'd heard a dozen people say the very same thing already.  The girls are both asking that we get a bunny after we move into our house.  That happens every time we go to a petting zoo.

As we were getting ready to leave, Joy noticed a local television station interviewing kids about their petting zoo experience.  When they finished, she asked them to interview her too.  You can watch part of her interview on the station's Facebook page.

Skating Sisters

One of the funny things about moving is that as you go through all of your stuff, you find treasures you forgot you had.  It's almost like Christmas.

For example, today we unpacked some boxes from our apartment storage unit, and found our old roller blades.  Joy put on my adult pair, and started gingerly skating for the first time in years.  Pretty soon, she was gliding effortlessly along our driveway.

When Anna saw the fun she was having, she put on Joy's old child-size rollerblades and began scooting back and forth in our mud room, where there were plenty of things for her to grab onto if she lost her balance.  Next time, we'll bring her helmet so she can go skating out front with her big sister.

Earning Our Lollipops

My kids love coming to Trader Joe's with me . . . 

. . . so they can find the store's hidden toy alligator and earn a lollipop.  Every TJ's has a toy mascot for kids to find, but unfortunately, our Maryland store let the kids do the hiding.  That sounded like a fun idea at first, but we quickly learned that the kids who find it tend to hide it someplace that's incredibly hard to spot, like stuffed behind some bread on the very bottom shelf.  The TJ employees will still give you a lollipop even if you can't find the toy (which was most of the time in Maryland) . . .

. . . but my kids and I agree that it's more fun to earn a reward than ask for a handout.