A visit from the other Brintons

Peter's twin brother Phil and his family came to visit this past weekend. We had a great time and the kids played so nicely together. I love this picture (courtesy of Malesa's blog). They all look so happy.

We went to Explore and More on Friday and the kids had a great time (sans Spencer, since he was at school). For being such a small space, they pack so much in and do a great job. My kids always have so much fun there and visitors are always impressed.

On our way out of town we stopped at Baker Methodist Church, which is a little church in East Aurora that is famous for its Tiffany stained glass windows - they're beautiful! They're one of my favorite things to see in East Aurora. We only spent a few minutes because we had to get home to catch Spencer as he got off the bus. We also drove by Millard Fillmore's house. Phil was excited because he thought that he thought the Fillmore was the guy who invented the TV, so it was a little bit of a let-down to find out that he was the 13th President of the United States. Maybe next time they go to Idaho they can visit a shrine to Philo T. Farnsworth.

Saturday we went to an egg hunt at Clearfield Community Center that was put on by the town. I had a friend tell me that in previous years there were hardly any people there. That was definitely not the case this time - it was packed! There were two different gyms with the eggs set up - one for ages 5 and up and one for the under 5 crowd. So Peter and I had to go into different rooms. I stayed with Spencer, but wasn't able to get very many good pictures. My excuses: It was very crowded, the lighting wasn't good, and he's not a very willing subject.

Here he is after the egg hunt got started. There were so many kids running every which way. Spencer was disappointed that there were so many eggs, but he only got 2. Luckily there was a man who had extras to give to the kids who didn't get very many, so he ended up with 4 eggs total.

Oh, the happiness that a silly band can bring! Marshall has such a sweet and expression-filled face.

Marshall and Hannah were in the room of kids under 5. So Marshall was on the older end of the spectrum and cleaned up. Good job, buddy.

Hannah seemed to like her eggs, too, although she is a much more astute observer. She can just stare at people and wait to figure things out for a while.

The Easter Bunny stopped by and the kids got a picture on his lap. Except for Hannah. She was a little afraid of it and started screaming when we tried to put her on his lap. Oh well. The other kids enjoyed it.

We then went to an Easter "Egg"stravaganza at the Niagara Power Vista in Lewiston. It was crazy packed. They had some displays and crafts and things, but it was really too packed to enjoy it too much. The kids' favorite part was riding the escalator up and down.

Then we went to tour Niagara Falls. it was a cold day, but it's always fun to go there and see the impressive display. It really is amazing and it's an incredible amount of water. I read a novel last year called The Day the Falls Stood Still that was about a woman who grew up in Niagara Falls and how their lives really revolved around the water. It also talked about the amazing hydroelectricity generated by the Falls. I never really thought about it much before. Since the hydroelectric plants went in, some of the water is diverted away from the Falls, so it's actually not as much water going over as there used to be. If the Power Vista hadn't been so crowded, we could have learned more about that. Anyway, it was a good book and I recommend it.

Here are some pictures of us by the Falls.

And a couple of just the Falls. Horseshoe Falls was kicking up a lot of mist that day.

We went back to our house and watched a session of conference while the kids watched a movie. Then Peter and Phil went to Priesthood session. Malesa and I fed the kids pizza and Malesa helped me laminate and cut out file folder games. Super exciting stuff, but we got a lot done and it was fun to have some downtime to chat.

Sunday morning we watched another session of conference, had lunch and then they left. We were all sad to see them go. Malesa got some cute pictures of Hannah and Katelyn - they look a lot alike and were so cute together.

They are moving to Allentown, PA, so hopefully we'll be able to see them again soon.