The Clarks Come to Cleveland!

Matt's parents put together an awesome family vacation, we had so much fun! Thank you so much Rob and Anne for the awesome trip it was a blast!!! Thank you thank you!!!!!

One small apartment filled with 15 people...chaos. Matt's family arrived in Cleveland on June 18th, a few stayed with us for two nights and the others were in hotels. It was so fun to have everyone here and to show them all where we lived. While they were in the area before we headed out on our road trip we went to Kirtland Historical sites, the Kirtland Temple, the John Johnson Farm and while we were at the John Johnson Farm we stopped and picked $30 worth of strawberries at a farm next door, that was a lot of fun with the kids. We ate chocolate strawberries that night for Rachel's birthday and me and matt have a year's supply in our freezer! We took them through down town Cleveland and out to Lake Erie, showed them Matt's school and campus and looked at some of the beautiful mansions in Shaker Heights. Julia and Spencer loved meeting Luke

and Luke loved playing with them on the trip.

At the Kirtland Temple there is a little Museum

the kids could dress up like the Saints.

Madisen looked so cute!

Luke and Aunt Sarah
Julia, Spencer, Adrienne and Luke

Luke was snoozing in his new stroller that we love love love!!! Thanks mom and dad!!

Niagra Falls and other New York Church Sites

After we left Cleveland we drove up to Niagara Falls, NY and saw the falls on the Canadian side on Friday night and Saturday morning we went to the American side and did Cave of the Winds, which is really fun and cooled us off. Later we drove to Palmyra, to the Sacred Grove, we saw Joseph Smith Senior's log cabin and the frame house. We saw the Palmyra Temple, went to EB Grandin Printing Press, The Martin Harris Farm and Hill Cumorah. Later in the day we drove to Fayette, NY and visited the Witmer log cabin. Luke's new favortie thing to put in his mouth...his feet.

Cave of the Winds, Luke didn't seem to thrilled.

But he sure looked cute in his pancho.

The sound of the falls knocked him right out.

What a party pooper!

Our family in the Sacred Grove.

Matt was able to come this far with us, until Sunday night

then he had to turn around and head back home, but I'm

glad he was able to be there.

(gotta love what the humidity does to my hair!)

The Allen Family, Charlie, Rachel and Mckay.

(Madisen sneeked into the pic).

The McArthur Family, Emily, Doug

Julia, Spencer, Madisen & Sawyer.

Philly and The Amish....Oh and the Chocolate..mmmm

Second Destination was Philladelphia, Pennsylvania and we drove down the country side to see Amish people (sorry no pictures) and we also we so lucky to go to Hershey!!! And saw all the yummy chocolate being made, the city smells like chocolate! This is inside the Church of Christ, where Benjamin Franklin was buried. People are literally buried in the floor of the church and you're supposed to walk on the headstones (they are flat on the floor) to show respect and to show that you remember them. This is also where they find the glasses in the brick on National Treasure.

Some of the gang in George Washington's Pew.

Liberty Bell and the Indenpendence Hall behind it.

Inside Independence Hall, this is where they signed the Declaration of Independence.

At the Hershey Chocolate Factory, above is Rachel holding the 5lb Hershey bar

with Spencer and Madisen.

They take you on a ride through the factory and it was way cool, here is a little glimpse.

Last but not least Uncle Doug caught red handed.

We also went to the Susquehanna River in Harmony PA. And saw Valley Forge.

Washington D.C.

Final Destination of the trip was Washington D.C. Where we stayed in a nice and comfortable hotel for three nights. Everyone else had been there before but I hadn't so I was excited to see all of the sites. Here are some pictures of some things we saw...

Here is Luke and his cousin Mckay who is 2 months old, they are about the same length but Luke's a little thicker. One night Luke was laying next to Mckay on the bed and I caught him sucking on Mckay's foot! (By the way Luke loves to suck on his feet).

We saw a few of the Smithsonian Museums, the Natural History one, Air and Space and the Holocaust. The picture above there are 4 Monks sitting behind us.

The rotunda of the Capitol Building.

Me and Luke are standing on the star which is the center of the Capitol Building and of D.C.

The White House

Arlington, Iwo Jima Memorial. I never realized how huge this actually is. See

the first bent knee that is probably as tall as me. It was so amazing!

Lincoln Monument.

(It's huge!)

Washington Monument in the background and the WWII Memorial,

which is beautiful!

Some of the other things we did and saw in D.C. were: Vietnam Memorial, The Museum of Art, The Spy Museum (way cool!). We were lucky enough to get a tour of the Pentagon.

How nerdy can one husband get?

This is my nerdy, but frugle husband. Matt usually has to head to the hospital pretty early and I'm usually still asleep, the past week he's had a very easy schedule and I caught him before he left for the day...this is how he looked.

Some might say, "Why does Mary let her husband out in public like that?"

Well the truth is he doesn't wear the goofy glasses, he wanted to, but I gave him "the look." He got them from the hospital, he gets to wear them during surgeries so stuff doesn't get in his eyes...gross I know. Anyway thanks Matt for riding your bike to the hospital and school so we can save money on gas, or so I can go to the pool! hehe.

The exciting things happening this week are:

-Matt's whole family (well minus Dave & Meg who are in Korea, and Cam who is in Mexico) are coming to visit us tomorrow! They fly in tomorrow and stay in Cleveland till Friday then we're heading on the road together to Niagra Falls, Palmyra, PA and down to DC! It will be a fun family trip!

-We found an awesome, old brown leather reclining chair for our living room!

-Mom got us a new stroller for Luke, Thanks Ma & Pa!!!

-We get to meet our new little nephew, McKay finally!

Pool Babe

Luke had his first trip to the pool last friday and has been back twice since, he loves the water. Since Matt won't be nearly as busy this summer because he's doing research, he got a pool pass too. All the women in my ward, in my city have them too, so there are plenty of people to go to the pool with. The weather has been sunny, hot and humid so the pool is the perfect place to be! When it's super bright outside Luke just closes his eyes and he's fallen asleep twice in my arms in the pool. It's really funny when I laid him down the like the picture above, he was awake but just wouldn't open his eyes, I'd tickle him and he'd laugh and squirm around but the whole time he's eyes were closed. He's a silly boy.

This is how excited he was for his first trip to the pool!