Food, Food, Food, and oh yeah, More Father's Day!

Well it only took a year, but last Friday we finally went to our first Buffalo Fish Fry! They seem to be quite popular and we read that a place called Mississippi Mudds, out in Tonawanda, was the place to go. Turns out, the fish fry is at a restaurant called Old Man River, a block away. And yes, you order your seafood from the "Omr's Seafood Shack." I don't know how it passes food inspection regulations, as it looked less than sparkly inside, but I just tried not to think about it!

A shot of the place from across the street.On the other side of the street is a big river (not sure which one) and there's lots of families and activity going on. It made me feel like I was in San Diego.

Here's Trav and the Carters... Denyse is, as you say, "the biggest hater of seafood EVER" but said the chicken sandwich was good :)

And the fish was great! Ryan thought it was a bit too breaded, but I liked it and would go back again.

As usual, Collin wanted food too (the nerve) and so I walked across the street to sit under a tree and nurse. I thought I was fairly secluded, but many families passed by, throwing frisbees and walking their dogs. They didn't seem to mind me much, which was nice since I usually feel like I have leprosy or something when it's time to feed Collin. I'm usually banished to someplace far far away :)

So Trav and I agree that we have a bit of a bad habit. Going out to eat. It's like our favorite thing to do. I would even say I enjoy it more that shopping *Gasp* Not WAY more, but more. We usually try to keep it to just once a week, generally on the weekend, but last weekend we splurged and ate out again on Satuday. Don't judge us too harshly! Travis finished his last day of school for 6 weeks (Hooray!) and it was the night before Father's Day, so I thought we should celebrate by going somewhere that Trav has had his eyes on since we moved here. That's right, Jack Astors. It's ok to say it. That's his favorite part :)

It's was pretty good (45 min. wait- so other's must agree), but the menu isn't extensive unless you're a drinker. Don't know if we'll go back, but we had to try it at least once!

So on Father's Day we did dinner a bit differently than usual... we made sushi rolls. The Cardon's introduced us to this and we love it. Well, I loved it- I think Trav did too. I just bought crab meat and the seaweed sheets and made sticky rice and walaa! Of course the best part was the avacado and cream cheese and dipping it in soy sauce tinted with Wasabi. A little untraditional for Father's Day, but what the hay?!

Being Trav's first Father's Day I felt it was appropriate to get him... that's right, a tie! Trav quite likes ties and is a fan of the striped genre, as you can see. Well, I looked and looked and just kept going back to the paisley ones. Now I know for sure he won't wear pink so I got him a blue paisley one (it's in the center) and I guess I'll just have to keep working on the whole "pink phobia" thing. I think he likes it, even if it's out of his comfort zone. He's good about stuff like that. Unlike my dad, who claims that my mom trying to buy him a tie would be like him trying to buy her a bra. I told you he was all about the analogies! :) And then Collin and I collaborated on a little crafty/wall hanging/decoration. It's stellar, I know. But I think it has a child-like quality which is totally what I was going for. At least that's what I'll say. I didn't emphasize it much in the previous post, but I really do think Trav is such a good dad. I could tell that before we even had a baby though. And while I may have to remind him that babies are not toys (thanks mom), I'm glad he's with me on this whole "parenting adventure" we signed up for. :)

Father Goose

All my life I was told that I look like my dad. Not exactly what every girl wants to hear while growing up! Especially when her two sister's take after their mother, but I don't mind so much anymore. Actually, I would say that any resemblence, looks or otherwise, I have with my dad would be quite a compliment. I do think that we share many characteristics... we are both OCD in some respects. We enjoy a good itinerary, "to-do" lists, planning, neatness, etc. We are both perfectionists and probably too hard on ourselves. I think my dad is a talented teacher, something I'm still working on! He was actually my husband's leader in Young Men's and Travis says he still remembers many lessons that my dad taught. I was also the beneficiary of many "life lessons" taught by my dad through the years. Here's just a few....

My dad has taught me:

1. To be tough!

It was the night before we were to leave to go skiing at Sunrise for our very first time. I was probably about 12. We had rented skiis and my dad was teaching me how to get in and out of the snap/latch thing on the ski. I was pushing on the release and my hand slipped and my thumb nail got bent back way too far and was spurting blood and hurt like a you- know- what. My mom started fussing over me, taking me to the sink to rinse it and trying to find the Advil. All the while my dad is telling my mom that I'm just fine and to get back over there and try again. I just remember thinking, My dad has no heart!! Here I am, majorly injured and he's wanting me to try it again!! Haha. No sympathy. Pain is for sissys, right? You have to be tough!

2. To remember my mom's birthday.

I don't remember how old I was, but it was somewhere in the 6-9 range and my mom's birthday was that weekend. Well my dad though it would be nice if us kids picked out her presents for her. Something from the heart, you know? So he got us all in the car and took us to good ole' Mervyns. I don't know if it was such a good idea to give us free reign on the gifts though, because that year my mom ended up with the tackiest presents, including some gawdy earrings and over-sized t-shirts. One of which I specifically remember said, "NOT!" in big bold letters across the front (remember when that was popular to add on to the end of any sentence?) My dad always did have the best of intentions... :)

3. To eat all your dinner- especially the meat!

When I was away to college I decided I wanted to try out being a vegetarian. Not because I felt strongly about the whole vegetarian "cause" or saving animals, but just because I didn't really enjoy meat and wondered how long I could go without it. Well, I really should have kept this endeavor on the DL, because when my dad found out, I got an email outlining all the reasons why I should not become a leaf eater. I searched EVERYWHERE for it, but to no avail. Sad, because it was quite funny. All I can remember is that he told me that the word vegetarian actually meant "bad hunter" and something about only being able to make it to the telestial kingdom. Oh yeah, and that a certain homosexual acquaintance of ours was a veggy. That was probably offensive to many people on many levels... I apologize.

4. To have fun!

My mom's not the only one who can be groovy :) Some of my favorite memories of my dad were when he would come home from work and take us to the park. We would ride our bikes to the school park down the road (tugging him along as he visited with ALL the neighbors- such a people person) and we would play tag on the playground equipment, run races, and basically just tucker ourselves out. I loved every minute of it. One time he called us over to a long, trough-like drinking fountain and told us to look real hard into the bottom of it. We all obediently looked down, when he smacked his hand into the nasty, stagnant water puddled at the bottom, soaking our faces. I am a germ-a-phob and will NEVER forget that!

On a more serious note, my dad has taught me:

5. To be aware/kind to everyone

On a trip to Utah to go to General Conference, we were checking out of our hotel and the bell-hop happened to be a slightly older, foreign man. I didn't take much notice until after we were in the car and my dad pointed out that the man was probably an immigrant without much money and how honorable it was that he was working hard at whatever he could do to provide for his family. His point being, that no job is lowly and to never look down on someone or treat them badly for doing an honest day's work.

Growing up in our ward, there was a family who had a boy around my age that was a bit awkward and didn't have any friends. Unfortunately, he wasn't treated too well, and one night I remember my dad sitting my sister and me down and painting a picture of what his life was like. He knew more about him, than most did, since he was the YM President. I had never treated him badly, but I wasn't exactly friendly to him either. That talk opened my eyes to how sad his situation was and made me more aware of how my actions could affect people. I always thought my dad could be a motivational speaker because that was one of many talks my dad had with me that taught me compassion and made me want to be a better person. He also comes up with killer analogies during his "talks". I think my life has been likened to a car, a race, a recipe, what have you. It's great, I'm always wondering what he'll have for me next. :)

6. To work hard

If I could only describe my dad in one way, it would be hard worker. That's all I've ever known, is a dad who leaves for work before we wake up and comes home exhausted at the end of the day. He traveled a lot when I was growing up and I remember wondering what nights he would be home. My mom said she was so embarrassed one day at the grocery store because we were in the check-out line and I guess I very loudly asked her, "Is dad sleeping at OUR house tonight?" I can only imagine! But what's amazing to me is that even with how hard he worked at his job, I never once felt neglected or like my dad didn't spend enough time with me. Somehow it seemed he put 100% into his family, church calling, and job. And he's still at it.

Well, he likes to tease me that I write "novels" when I send emails/blog and it seems I've done it again. :) I am just so grateful for my dad and his example to me growing up. Many times when I need to make a decision, I wonder what my dad would do in that situation. I know that I am who I am today (not trying to say I'm all that great, but what good qualities I may have...!) is because of him and my mom. We like to joke around in our family that my dad would be a general authority by now if he wasn't stuck with the rest of us! We kinda bring him down just a bit :) I will always look up to him and admire all he's accomplished in his life.

And I'm pretty lucky to have this guy for the father of my children!

At least Collin seems to like him pretty good! :)

If only we could master the "sleepy eyes" when taking a picture!

Fun With the In-Laws!

Last Thursday, Collin's Grandma and Grandpa Evans came to visit (aka Trav's mom and dad)!

On Friday we visited Letchworth Park. It's a whole lotta driving to get there and look around, but it's worth it! hehe. It was breathtaking, but make sure you know how to get there before you start the trip! :) Truthfully, we only had to turn around once, but I like to give Trav a hard time. We've heard that Letchworth is the "Grand Canyon of the East". I guess you could call it that, just add thousands of green trees and much smaller canyons. It's about an hour and 20 min. to get there, then you pay to drive into the park, which is about 18 miles, and then just drive to different lookout points. There are trails and waterfalls and beautiful views.

I like this picture because you can see a man in the bottom left and it just shows how enormous the water fall is!

We also saw quite a few animals including a deer, a beaver, chipmunks, and squirrels.

This little guy didn't know it, but Trav was soon to run over his cousin squirrel on our way out! So sad! I was looking at Collin when Trav saw it run out. I felt the bump, then stupidly looked behind us to see him, paws up, on the pavement. I don't even like animals, but I so hate to see them die! Trav assured me though, that we did the forest a favor, as it was a mafia squirrel that beat his little squirrel children.

Could this BE any more picturesque? Seriously people, this was the scene as we drove away.

We were pooped after our little trip and decided to go have dinner at "CheeChee Burger" (as Wayne called it :) This is one of the faces Collin was making on the drive to the restaurant. He was crackin' me up. It looks like he's getting ready to eat... maybe he was excited that we were going to CheeCheeBurger and thought he was getting nummies. Haha.

Wayne still needs to take it easy, since he's still recovering from his surgery, so we just hung out around the house on Saturday. They watched Collin in the morning while Trav and I went garage saleing (sp?) and then Wayne played ref while Trav and I played Badminton.

Darn Trav beat me again!! I can't catch a break in this game!

It was nice having them come to church with us on Sunday and then we had friends over that night to play Mafia, so they joined in on the fun. Forgot to take pics of the killing though. :)

On Monday, Trav had school all day, so we spent the morning inside. Wayne caught a pic of Collin getting his "reading time". I'll have a Scripts Spelling Champ for sure! (hopefully if you know me well enough, you know I'd consider my child quite the loser for being in that-certainly not a goal I have for them! Let's get real :)

Then we went to Delaware Park for a picnic and enjoyed the nice weather.

That night we went to an FHE/BBQ at Cheektowaga Town Park with a bunch of friends.

Which one is Trav?!

Wayne got this pic of Trav that I love! I'm sure Trav will be thrilled that I included it. :)

Don't let that winning smile fool you though, he's about to wreak havoc on the flock of seagulls that wanted to join us. Funny cuz you can see one invading in the background of this picture.

He and Ryan decided to put their footballs to good use, trying to hit the seagulls that were dive bombing our dinner. First the squirrel, now the sea gull. Can this man be stopped?! And look at poor, impressionable Marcus in the picture! I'm afraid he'll be held accountable for this one.

On to the church history sites! We spent Tuesday in Palmyra, first at the Hill Cumorah.

Then we visited the E.B. Grandin Publishing Building. This was our first time there and I really enjoyed it, minus the talkative man with all the obsure questions on our tour :)

In the display box is a first edition Book of Mormon. There were 5,000 printed and it took about 2 years to complete the project.

Then we went to the Smith Farm. We were in the log cabin, and the sister missionary was right in the middle of describing the First Vision, tearing up and trying her best to bring in the Spirit, when Collin just let one out. That's my boy! We had to wait until she was done with her presentation to step out, and here is what awaited us....

I think he was quite pleased with himself. It was such a mess, I just stripped him right down in the grass. Now how many people can say they've been naky at the Joseph Smith Farm?

While in the Sacred Grove, Collin had his hands clasped together like he was praying. So cute. Of course he's really doing one of his favorite things, sucking all over his hands, arm, whatever he can get in his mouth.

On Wednesday we went to Niagara Falls. We dropped his parents off at the Falls, then drove farther down to park ( we just though $18 was a little pricey to park). Of course that meant walking through the mist and getting soaked :) Always a good time.

And then later that night we went to the Original Anchor Bar to eat. Supposedly this is the very place that wings were "invented". They even have the story on their menu. Pretty tasty. We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa and miss them already.

The Not-So-Eternal Flame

More hiking!

Last Tuesday, we decided to go on a little "day adventure" with the Carters. It's about a 30 min. drive south to hike to the "Eternal Flame". It was only 1.3 miles total and didn't take too long, which was just perfect since we both had our little ones with us. Near the end, you hike along a creek until you get to the waterfall that has a natural gas leak behind it. The smell of gas permeated the whole area. It smelled much like my sister's kitchen did when I attempted to cook on her gas stove, but didn't quite know how one worked..... oops. Much to our dismay, the phantom "Eternal Flame" was not burning! Apparently you're supposed to bring a lighter to start it up, as it frequently gets put out by the waterfall. The only reason I knew where it was supposed to be, was because I had seen it on other people's blogs. Thus, we had to give it a thumbs down. :(

The Carter's will never trust us again for leading them on a fruitless treasure hunt!

Trav attempting to be Tarzan.

The Collinator was screaming for food by the time we reached our destination, so the Carters gave me some privacy as I donned my "supermom cape" :) Some hikers up above me weren't so obliging. I looked up when I saw a group of kids waving and shouting hi. Of course I was covered, and only briefly thought about giving them a show. Kidding! We had a great time and would love to find some other good hikes in the area. So I guess I'll just keep blogstalking and copying everyone else's good times :)

FuN In Da SuN!

Last Wednesday, the Mia Maids and Laurels went on a little hike to Niagara Gorge for mutual. I seriously looked forward to it ALL DAY. (I was getting a little tired of the house!) As you can see, there are four leaders (Tiff is taking the pic) and three girls. This is fairly typical of any YW activity :)

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The water was breathtaking- like a bright teal color. Where we are standing is still the U.S., but on the other side is Canada.

We had a fun picnic before the arduous hike. Complete with sandwiches that Sis. Varona made with her homemade bread. She is an amazing cook!

Collin came along for the ride. His first time in a Baby Bjorn.

We had to keep our eyes on Hunter, who liked to pick up millipedes along the way. Barf. And yet this girl is terrified of ants. Seriously!

It was really a very short hike, made up mostly of steep, rock stairs to get you to the water. From where I'm standing taking this picture to where the girls are by the water, was a very steep, dirt incline. I wanted to touch the water, but Sis. Varona played the mom card on me and said it was too dangerous with Collin. Sigh. I almost did it anyway, then decided to be a good example and obey my leaders, hehe.

So while the girls had fun, Tiff accompanied me back out so I could feed the babers.

Here is an example of one of the many flights of stairs we hiked. Can you see little, bitty Tiff at the top?! Needless to say our behinds got a workout!

Saturday afternoon, we went to Crystal Beach with the Shaws and their friends that were in town visiting, Jamielynn and Clark. It was a lot of fun, minus the hundreds of high school teeny boppers. Apparently we chose to go on school "beach day" :( And we were lucky enough to have a particulary intelligent group of kids that were fluent in the "four letter word" language, next to us. Who knew you could insert " f@#*! " 8 times in a sentence. No joke. I wanted to cover my little baby's ears. So glad they remembered their smokes too. That just topped it off!

Rach made us yummy subs for lunch.

Da Girls :)

Collin wasn't lovin' the beach too much, which makes me nervous for Oceanside, CA.... but maybe being a couple months older will help. Trav and I are whity white, but we took comfort in the fact that we could never be whiter than Collin, hehe.

Isn't this picture a gem! Haha. I didn't even see her do it. You have to beware, taking pics with my camera! Love ya, Rach! :)

And the ever lovely border. My worst fear is getting stuck in this mess and having to use the bathroom- ya know what I mean?! It would be like that scene out of Two Weeks Notice. And I would find a camper!

Well, fun in the sun was over by now, but I had to document our first experience at CheeBurger CheeBurger! When we first saw this restaurant, we just made fun of it, but apparently it's quite the place. And I knew my brother, David, would be jealous of the Mason jars they serve your drinks in! I only know of one other restaurant that does that and it's in the depths of a ghetto in Phoenix. It's called LoLo's Chicken and Waffles. Classic. A must if you visit the city of the sun. Kool Aid never tasted better. :)