Birthday Fun

My work observed Veterns Day today so I felt like I had a real birthday for the first time in a long time. I appreciate the birthday wishes from everyone, thanks.

I got a new camera lens and thought I would share some of the photos I took of Ira as I was adjusting to it.

It was a beautiful day today so we headed to the park to play with the new camera lens and the new Aussie Football (Footy) I got from Sharon. Footy is another variation of football that resembles a mix of Rugby, Gaelic Football, Soccer, and American Football. I won't bore you with all the details, but if you're interested you should check out some videos on youtube. I discovered it doing some research this summer on all the different kinds of football with the World Cup happening. I stumbled on it as the season was starting in Australia and kind of got into it. Anyway, I've been wanting to play, or try at least, and Sharon was nice enough to do some research and find a place to buy a ball.

Ira really liked the ball. Sharon and I had been playing for a bit and he started to get fussy so we went to give him some attention and play with him, but when we got there all he really wanted was the ball. It was cute.

I've got some work to do, but now I have a ball all I need to do is round up some people to play with.

We went out to dinner at a little Brazilian Cafe, Minas Carne, we've been wanting to check out. It's always nice to get some beans and rice Brazilian style, not to mention some meat fresh out of the Churrasco. Ira apparently really like it and the Brazilian guy working the counter really liked Ira back.

Happy Halloween

 Halloween is such a scary time of year! and a fun time. This year was full of fun activities. We went to our church Halloween Party where Sharon's youth class hosted an awesome 'Blind Man's Cave' that all the kids enjoyed.

 We decided to try out a fancy pumpkin carving kit this year. I have to say they turned out pretty good compared to past years.

And what is Halloween with out a fun, cute, and delicious costume for the little one.

I was surprised Ira didn't mind the hat. He seems to be a hat kind of kid.

Family Fall Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Quinn came and visited a few weeks ago. We had a lot of fun showing them around the area, especially with the fall colors starting to emerge.

Kent Falls with the family

 While I was working on Friday Sharon took the family apple picking. Yum.

 We made a random last minute stop at this old machinery museum. Kind of random, but they had a lot of old trucks. My grandpa's would have loved this place.

 The fall colors have been wonderful this year, especially when the sun comes out.

 Ira loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa

Ira's starting to figure out he's dad is kind of crazy.

We did a bunch of hiking and Ira spent a lot of time in the backpack chill'n. He was a good sport about it.

Child Plumber

I'm happy to help you out mom, let me get in here and take a look.

Pilgrimages

We love ice-cream and so we made our pilgrimage to Ben & Jerry's original factory in Northern Vermont.

Getting There

 We left a warm blue sky Connecticut with our hopes high and camp ground reserved. Just before pulling into camp at 9:30pm the rain started to come down hard. Upon arrival we opted to transform our little 2-door Honda Civic into a bed instead of putting up a tent on the already wet ground in the pouring rain. It was an interesting night.... Sharon says that she felt just like the Princess and the Pea, only the pea was a spare tire and the 100 mattresses was a skinny piece of foam. 

But I think Ira loved it. He is such a good traveling kid.

Fall Colors, local farms, and Applefest

Before visiting the factory we took some back roads and visited a small cheese shop, sooo good. The owner told us about a local 'Applefest' going on up the hill, to the right, and the third 'driveway' to the left. We  checked it out.

 They were making some Apple Cider. You can see the apple dicer in the background and the apple 'musher' or three garbage disposals mounted on a table

They poured the mush onto a press and squeezed the apple juice out for the cider.  They used the cider to make some amazing donuts and cider syrup.  We also got some local goat milk caramel sauce.  Yum.

The fall colors were great even though the peak was a week earlier and the storms during the week had brought a lot of the leaves down.

Some creative Grafiti out in the middle of nowhere VT. We thought it was funny though. 

Ben & Jerry's Factory

 Ben & Jerry's had a cow directing parking traffic, perfect.

The weather was a little brisk, but it's never too cold for ice-cream, right? The tour was pretty fun, the best part was the free samples at the end. The flavor of the day was Chocowlate Chip. Vanille Ice-cream with fudge bits shaped like cows, pretty tasty.

 Father and Son pose in sheer happiness.

Sharon, VT

We drove right by Sharon, VT on our way to Ben & Jerry's so on our way home we decided to stop by, not because Sharon shares it's name.

 It is the birth place of Joseph Smith, Jr. A man we believe to be called of God to be a prophet in these modern times; given authority to speak and reveal the will of God and to bring men closer to Christ.

 There is a nice visitors center, this monument, and a few old remnants of the houses his parents and grandparents lived in.

Quinn Fall Update

What a great weekend!  Conference was excellent, and it was nice to be snuggled up in the house with Anthony and Ira, eating cinnamon rolls and left overs. 

We're loving the beginning of Autumn.  The colors are turning to gold, and it’s started to get a little chilly.  

 Ira is as cute as ever.  After learning how to stand up, he’s finally figured out how to sit down from standing position.  I never thought about what a valuable life skill that is, until he spent a week panicking every time he stood.

He’s enjoying figuring out how to feed himself, and especially loves squeezing all the juice out of orange slices and rubbing it all of his hair.  This picture is just really exciting cereal though.

So, I’ve used all of my birthday money for an oil painting class and am really enjoying it.  After signing up, a huge wave of fear washed over me.  I hadn’t picked up a paint brush since high school!...that’s just about 10 years.  And just as I suspected, by talent is about where it was when I was 16, maybe a little worse.  But what do you expect when you bury any amount of talent you have? 

Anthony and I went to the Irish Festival last weekend, which made me reminiscent of my shortlived Irish dancing days.  The team here is a world class, award winning bunch of cute kids.  

Big news on the Ellsworth side of the fam, is that my sister Carolyn had her baby!  Hurray!  This is her 6^th son, and her husband made it back into town with just a few hours to spare.  What a blessing.  I know where to go with all of my raising boys questions. 

Anthony and I went to the dentist and eye doctor for the first time since 2007.  Is it a bad sign that I’ve made my contact supply last that long?  It feels like a luxury to get some of that stuff done, and my teeth feel sooo clean.  

So that's about how life is.  Love you guys!

  sharon

Manhattan Temple

We found a couple in the ward that has willing to teach us the ins and outs of a temple run in the city as well as do babysitting swaps with us, so with that we made our first trip down to the Manhattan Temple.

We learned where the good places to park are, including the garage we used which had this sign posted. We felt welcome despite the misspelled name.

The Temple was beautiful of course, but it was different because it didn't have the incredible landscaping and breathtaking/eye catching architecture as most other Temple's I've seen. It blends into the city well though. The church has definitely made good use of the real estate here as it is used for everything. The interior reminded me of 1920's city style. Efficient use of space in good taste would my summation of it.

It was a beautiful day and  Central Park is only a few blocks away so while we were babysitting all we had to do was go into the park and let the kids play. We'll have to get more creative as it gets cooler.