Letchworth State Park

Yesterday we had a really fun family day. In the morning we made homemade waffles. Steph has a recipe that we put together that uses 5 grains: wheat, barley, whole grain oats, amaranth, and qinoa. I got to use my new automatic Belgian waffle maker and we used Steph's home-made strawberry jam, and they were delicious. Then we got all cleaned up and ready and spent the majority of the day at Letchworth state park. It is known as the “grand canyon of the east” and is a large park with beautiful vistas overlooking a large valley carved by the Genesee river. There are 3 main waterfalls – upper, middle, and lower – with walking trails connecting all of them. It took some time with the 5 little boys and a 2-kid stroller, but we were able to hike to all 3 of them. The upper one is about 50 feet tall and 100 feet wide. Above the fall is the framework for an old railroad bridge that was used to cross the gorge. The middle fall is about 100 feet tall and 200 feet wide. You can actually get pretty close to the top of it and look over the fall, which was pretty cool. We had lunch in the trees just to the side of this fall. There were several points along the trail that gave beautiful views of the falls and the surround valley. We’ll try to get some of those pictures uploaded soon.

On the hike from the middle to the lower fall, Steph saw a small bat on the side of one of the trees. It was about the size of a mouse with wings. It caught her eye because it was awake and moving around. She tried to use a stick to point it out to us from about 8 feet away. I told her to be careful, because I didn’t want it to bite us and give us rabies. It flew off and we thought it was gone. But then it turned around and acted like it was dive-bombing at the boys. It came near Kolby and he let out a high-pitched scream that was really funny.

The lower fall is maybe 20 feet tall, but still very fast flowing. The mist from all the falls got us wet; especially at the lower fall. The ground there was big puddles of mud. Up to that point we had done pretty well keeping everyone clean, but within seconds everyone from the ankle down was covered in big gobs of sticky mud. We had everyone ride home bare-footed so the car wouldn’t get dirty. There was a really cool bridge just below the lower fall that crossed the river. Needless to say, the kids were exhausted, and all but Kolby slept all the way home.

We got home, threw the younger boys in the bath, had Kolby and Eli take a quick shower, bathed ourselves, and then jumped back in the car and went to dinner at Macaroni Grill. A while back Steph and I had participated in a survey and received a $25 gift card to Macaroni Grill. The kids were so well behaved and the food was absolutely delicious.

Today at church Steph and I were in charge of teaching one of the primary classes again for someone who was out of town. We were in charge of the 7-8 year-old class. There were 4 of them. Last week we wondered if they had been bored by our lesson, so we tried to liven this one up. This lesson was on the importance of work, as evidenced by the pioneers who settled and built the city of Nauvoo, Illinois. When they first got there, the area was a mosquito-infested swamp – not much of a great place to live. But the prophet Joseph Smith must have been inspired, because within a few years, they were able to change it to a bustling frontier city with nice homes and a temple. I think it appropriate that he named it Nauvoo, which means “beautiful” in Hebrew.

So this time we took a DVD on the life of Emma Smith, the prophet’s wife, and showed a clip from the Nauvoo period. We did an activity with cookies, sugar, and 2 identical cups that they really liked. We wanted to visually show them the importance of doing those things that matter first. The sugar represents things we can do that are fun – not bad things, but things that won’t matter in the grand scheme of things – such as playing video games, or watching a movie, or playing with friends. The cookies represent things that have more significant import – reading your scriptures, saying your prayers, living the commandments, going to church, etc. We filled the first cup with the sugar first and then the cookies, but they wouldn’t all fit. Then we filled the second cup with the cookies first, followed by the sugar, and they all fit. This was a great example to the kids of the importance of working hardest for those things that really matter most in life. We also wanted to emphasize that it is important to work, but it is also important to have fun. During the pioneer times, one of the games they would like to play was a stick pull, where 2 people sit across from each other and try to pull the other person up from the ground or the stick from them. We brought a broomstick and let the kids try the game.

We got to enjoy a wonderful pork roast with farmer’s market red potatotes and carrots this afternoon. Tomorrow we will get to enjoy the leftovers with some bbq sauce as pulled pork bbq sandwiches. I love Sundays because they are such peaceful, happy days that we get to spend together as a family. It is so nice to have weekends again to spend with the family.

Work continues to go well. Now that we are a month or so into the program, they have started to increase the load of the clinics back to normal, so things have been a little bit busier. They are also putting the new residents with less of the more experienced residents, so we are learning to do things quicker and more efficiently. I continue to absolutely love what I am doing. There is so much more I need to learn, but each day is a new adventure to look forward to. I don’t know many other fields in medicine where I can see such a variety of issues, look under the microscope for yeast or fungus, perform a biopsy to gain an answer, or cure people of their cancer. It is so much fun.