Schultz Family Christmas–in August!!!

I have been going to the Schultz Family Christmas since before I was a legal Schultz!  It’s always so much fun to get together and see how the family is doing.  It used to be held on Christmas day.  But as the family got larger it became more difficult to hold it then.  So we had changed it to the Saturday before or the Saturday after Christmas – which ever was actually closer to Christmas.  This worked for a while, but then also became difficult to manage.  So now we hold it whenever the person in charge can manage it.  There are 6 Schultz siblings Robert, Martha, Herb, Louise, John, and Doris – though Uncle Herb passed away a few years ago, Aunt Barb still takes her turn.  This year it was Andy’s parents turn to host and it turned out to be a beautiful day!  I was a little worried as we have been having terrible storms – but God was good and provided a beautiful breeze and blue skies!  It was great to see much of the family, but still missed seeing those that just live too far away to make it in!  I didn’t take too many pictures – maybe I can get a few from Uncle Donald later – but we did have fun!Our newest craze – Qwirkle!  Such a fun family game!Do you see the look I’m getting?  That’s because I had just taken several wonderful pictures of him and he was saying “Really?  You want me to smile MORE?!?!?”Here are a few of the wonderful pictures!  Man, I love this kid!!!! Daniel and his PopPop!  I am so thankful for Andy’s family heritage!  All Godly men and women.  So thankful for the influence and example they are to me and my kids!  God is so good!

First Day of School!

Today was our first day of school!  It is later than we usually start – but we’ve had a very busy summer and this was the first day I had all the kids together!  I surprised them with a field trip to the Franklin Institute to see “Mummies of the World”.  What an amazing display!  if you get the opportunity to do this tour – go for it!  Andy was able to go with us!  I so love it when he goes to these type of things as he can easily translate the dates of the mummies to Biblical times.  It was really neat to see these people who had lived so long ago.  I was a bit worried about how Daniel would handle it – but he loved it!  He was fascinated with all the details and examples of mummies.  I really wish I could have taken photos – but with the delicate nature of the objects that was not allowed. 

After the Mummies exhibit we toured around the different rooms.  Isaac’s Loft is always a favorite……as is the newly redone Benjamin Franklin room.  The kids also enjoyed the new Changing Earth room.Here they are making a news cast about the weather via green screen.  Afterwards you could watch it on a TV outside of the room.Matt rode the Sky Bike and was showing off a bit!

It was a good first day!  Now only about 179 to go!  Tomorrow we are going to start Math, English, Spelling/ Vocab, Spanish (for Matt) and Science.  I am waiting on Literature, Writing, and History until after our staff retreat next week.  I’m really praying that this will be a better year than last! 

Day 4 – Niagara Falls

Our last day!  Our main purpose for this trip was to see the Falls.  It didn’t work out as well as we had wanted it to, but we did get to see a bit of Niagara.  We didn’t actually get to them until around 6 pm.  As soon as we got there we headed for The Maid of the Mist.  It is as incredible boat ride that takes you down into the falls so you see them up close! 

The kids LOVED it!  Well, everyone except Drew.  He didn’t think too much of the water splashing all around.  Since it was sunset we saw so many rainbows!  When Andy took the kids up the side walkway up along the falls they actually walked under a rainbow!  So cool!When it gets dark they illuminate the falls with different colored lights.  It is really beautiful.  Matt wanted to take a “romantic” photo of us!  The last time we had been up there was pre-kid time!  He’s so funny!

We then stayed for the fireworks display over the falls.  We waited FOREVER!  When we called we were told it was at 9 pm – when in reality they didn’t go off until 10 pm.  As it turned out it was only a 5 minute display!  But we saw it and the kids liked it!  We got home very late that night!

Though it wasn’t how we planned it – it worked out well and we saw an amazing display of God’s power and beauty!  We’ll go back another day when Drew is older and he can enjoy it more!

Day 3–Hamlin Beach State Park

Another gorgeous day!  Today we headed to Hamlin State Park which has a beach on Lake Ontario.  I never realized just how large Lake Ontario is!!!  It looks just like the ocean – with waves lapping up against the shore and sandy beaches – though the sand was a bit coarser than the Ocean City, NJ beaches we are used to.  The pictures say what an incredible time we had! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drew had an amazing time!  He loved every minute of it and was so pleasant the entire 7 hours we were there!  To say I’m a lobster would be an understatement!  The weather was so absolutely perfect – a beautiful light breeze and sunny skies – I didn’t feel myself turning crisp!  But it was definitely worth it!  Tomorrow is Niagara Falls!  The weather has been so amazing – I so don’t want to go home to heat and humidity.  We are having such a great vacation.

Day 2 - Erie Canal

Today we awoke to beautiful blue skies and cool temperatures!  LOVELY!!!  Today we ventured out to the Erie Canal Boat Tour. 

It was a great trip – though Drew didn’t think too highly of being stuck on a boat for 2 hours.  Truth is he didn’t get a nap and I really thought he would sleep on the boat – but he decided that he wasn’t going to cooperate!

You go through the locks and see first-hand how the canal works.  I thought it was quite fascinating!

After the boat tour we walked around the locks to see it how it all worked from atop of the bridge.  It was really neat to see how the water from one side rose and the other side fell – making the water level even on each side of the lock. The first picture below is of a boat in the upper lock – the water is receding.  The lower picture is the lock on the other side of the door – the water is rising. The above picture is the water level on both sides so the boat can continue traveling down the river.  The other fascinating aspect of it was that it all works by gravity. 

The levels of the four locks.

After seeing the locks, we walked around the town of Lockport and visited a church with 12 Tiffany stained glass windows – absolutely beautiful!  They are reported to be worth more than 12 million dollars! 

The windows start at the bottom like the first picture above and go up past the balcony as one long window.  The balcony was built a number of years later after the stain glass was installed.  They had an audio tour of the windows and the kids found it amazing how the different textures were created.  Andy liked the fact that the church had Lexan on the outside of the stain glass just like our church has!

We ended the day with ice cream sundaes!! It was a great day!