A long post (with lots of pictures) about Cousins Camp

 The Mars family does a Cousins Camp every other summer or so.  This year, with the wedding and 100 other various activities, we had to settle for a quick weekend Cousins Camp.

We kicked it off with a trip to Wingfoot Lake to sail with Dan.  Not only did we get to sail, we also saw the Goodyear Blimp come in for a landing!

Wow.

 Playing at Grandma and Grandpa's house is always a treat.

 And cousin Asena make the cutest sad face ever...  she was faking the sad part.

 On to the main event...

 On Saturday, we all boarded a tour bus at 6am.

 Can you feel the excitement?!

 Our first stop was Niagara Falls!

 Did I mention we all had matching shirts?  We were easy to spot.

 Grandma and Grandpa took all 50 of us on the Maid of the Mist! 

 Emily rocked some sort of upward wind in her hair.

 Dad's signature pose... I give up.

 My man. 

 It was very misty.  And quite beautiful.

 The closest thing we got to a group shot...  who is that guy in the plaid?  Hmm.  Not a Mars.

 Feeding frenzy #1...

 In Palmyra, NY we stopped for a while at the Sacred Grove on the Smith Farm.  This is the place where Joseph Smith prayed about which church to join and saw a vision of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  The forest is gorgeous and there is a peaceful spirit there.

Don't you love family pictures!?

Attempt #2...

Alli and Ruby with the temple in the background.

Feeding frenzy #2 involved pizza!

We spent the evening at the Hill Cumorah Pagaent.  It is an amazing show with a cast of over 700 people!  They tell the story of the Book of Mormon, and it is performed right on the hill where Joseph Smith was given the gold plates.
 The actors come out and greet the audience before the show... which our kids loved!

Uncle Tevita got into it... with a few towels and scarves, he had a (somewhat) convincing costume.

The pageant was spectacular, and after the pageant ended, we got back on the bus and drove through the night.  The kids slept and the grownups did not sleep at all.  Overall, it was a great time for everyone.  Alli ranked it among her top three days ever.  Not bad.
Read more about Cousins Camp on my sister Emily's blog or on my sister Marissa's blog.
More to come on our summer adventures...

Why you shouldn't run out of gas when the power is out

 So after the big storm in DC, we woke up to a gorgeous morning.  We took the kids to the pool and leisurely got ready to head home.  Our hotel had power, and we didn't realize the extent of the storm damage. 
As we left the hotel, we noticed that the traffic lights weren't working.  Betsy's car didn't have much gas, so we looked for a station.  We found several, but without power, you can't pump gas.  Our cars got separated, and Betsy's car ran out of gas.  They stopped in a parking lot and called AAA.  In the meantime, we found them again.  And we passed one working station with about 100 cars in line.  Yikes.

 And we hung out by the parking lot.

 Considering the heat and unplanned delays, we still had fun.

 We waited and waited for AAA assistance.

 Finally, we saw a man with a gas can in the parking lot.  He too was out of gas.  When he was done fueling up, we asked him where his gas came from.  He sold us the gas can and told us where to find a working gas station... without much of a line.
By the time Andy got the gas and returned, AAA came and gave Betsy gas, so Andy sold the gas can to another stranded motorist who was extremely grateful.
So after a three hour delay, we were on the road.
Goodbye, DC Temple!

 On our way home, we found out that our neighborhood was without power.  And the next few days would have record temperatures.

And so we left our kids with Andy's sister in Wheeling for a few days.  And we went home to no power.  The storm hit Ohio Friday afternoon, and we got our power back Sunday afternoon.  And we got our kids back Tuesday.

Beat the heat... DC style

 The month of June was a good one.

We took a little trip to Washington DC for my niece's wedding.  (For more on the wedding click here.)

The wedding stuff was over by noon, so we spent the rest of the day sightseeing in our nation's capital with Andy's mom and sister and her kids.
 Did I mention it was the hottest day of the year?  Oh yes.

 Our plan was to stay cool in Smithsonian museums until it cooled off in the evening.  So we went to the Air and Space Museum, the American History Museum, and the Natural History Museum.

 Ruby got to see THE ruby slippers.

The museums were cool, it was just that walk between that was sweltering. Luckily, Betsy's stroller could hold a bunch of kids... hot, sweaty kids.

 The mall is large... and not air conditioned.

 And the hope that it would cool down in the evening didn't pan out.

 We saw a bunch of monuments.  The Vietnam Memorial is lovely and thoughtful.

 By the time we made it to the Lincoln Memorial, we were all wilted.  We took pictures to prove we were there.

Then we just needed to walk to the nearest metro station... which isn't very near as it turns out.  We walked across the Potomac River (which is wide) to the Arlington Station.  And we caught the last train back to the central station.  Then we took a very crowded train back to our hotel.  And as we walked the three blocks to our hotel, an epic storm hit.  June was asleep, but Alli and Ruby were wide awake and quite freaked out by the winds and lightning and debris.  The camera was packed away, and I was carrying June, so I do not have pictures of the storm.  But it was violent.  When crossing an intersection, I was worried Ruby would be blown over.  We made it into the hotel just as the pounding rain started.

When we got back to our room, we bathed the kids quickly and put them to bed... and they were instantly asleep.  We called Betsy and Grandma to make sure they made it back to their hotel (they were one stop up on the subway).  They were not in their hotel.  They were stuck in the subway station.  The power went out and they had to carry two sleeping kids and a bunch of stuff up a giant (about 6 flights of stairs worth) escalator that wasn't working and the lights went out in the middle of it.
Andy left our hotel to pick them up and take them to their hotel. 

We like to make lasting memories on our vacations.

Partying...

Summer is slipping away.  We have been so busy... and now I am attempting to catch up a bit.
Ruby turned six!  She has a loose tooth.  Time really is slipping away.  Read more about her party here.

The party was one of the best... the kids stayed busy and happy, everyone had fun, it wasn't too complicated for me, and I had help from my mother-in-law and sister-in-law and Andy.

Happiness!