Ahh...vacation!

General Conference is a wonderful time for a vacation...and we felt like we really needed one. However, if anyone remembers last time we went on vacation at General Conference time, you have to get a bit creative and this trip was no different. We managed to look up some chapels in Pennsylvania but could not locate the one (even using the GPS) on Saturday morning. So Randy attempted to play billiards, ping pong, and swim with the kids while I listened in with headphones in the hotel. Later on we downloaded the audio so that we could listen to the Saturday sessions on Sunday. Randy drove about an hour each way to a chapel that he found (with google maps) to attend the Priesthood session which he really enjoyed. Not only was he touched by the Spirit but the members there welcomed him generously and shared their ice cream social with him. He returned home late but in high spirits. I found the messages to be comforting...knowing Heavenly Father's love for His children and how to receive revelation (communication from Him) so that we can receive the help and protection that we and our family so desperately need.

So, we vacationed at Lake Harmony, PA, in the Pocono Mountains. The area was settled due to coal mining and rail building. There really wasn't much to go see... a couple of hikes to a little water fall called Hawk Falls and one to some rocks with a natural gap between them called Split Rock but the resort was wonderful. They had an indoor water park that we didn't go to with the kids so small but we did enjoy pool and baby pool, billiards, ping pong, bowling, coloring contest, a game called Ship, Captain, and Crew, a Veggie Tale Movie, popcorn, walking with the leaves turning lovely colors (just like to postcards you see), miniature golf, parks and playgrounds, the lake and beach, simple foods, a townhouse with a huge tub (we fit the whole family in on our last night) and even a sauna (that Randy and I enjoyed while letting the kids think as Mary Joy put it, that the room had its own changing room! To her credit, the other changing rooms at the pools did look a lot like that.)

Unfortunately, vacation had to end. We went via Philadelphia so that we could go to the Franklin Institute...it was wonderful! We entered right at the time of a wonderful light show being displayed in a rotunda with a large statue of Benjamin Franklin. There was classical music playing, the lights were changing colors and screens were showing highlights of his life and great contributions...it was quite the welcome upon entry! I loved that Mary Joy wanted to stay and dance to the music on the marble, wide open space and that made it all the more wonderful and beautiful to me. We saw heart and eye dissections, and found areas in the museum that put together our favorite of the parts of the New York Hall of Science and the Maryland Science Museum plus more. We got kicked out of the building before we got to see everything (and then got to spend hours in traffic trying to get out).

Now we are home again, oh, that is good...as Grandpa Bart's little story goes (ask him if you haven't heard it yet), "Might be good, might be bad, too soon to tell."