Johnstown, PA

I'll be honest I was somewhat excited for summer. I thought it would be nice to slow down just a little--no more making sack lunches for Kailyn, making sure she did her homework, having to wake up Caden from his nap so that we could go and pick Kailyn up from school, etc. Unfortunately (for me), summer has been super crazy. We started out the summer by making a trip to Johnstown, Pennsylvania (a little town 1 1/2 hours outside of Pittsburg). Ken has a great job possibility there, so we thought we needed to check out the town to see if it is something we would consider.

The good:
-Great job with great potential and a great learning experience for Ken
-Job would maybe allow us to potential get a job out west where we really want to settle down
-VERY safe town. We were told even downtown you never have to worry about being robbed, and kids actually walk to school with no worries.
-The people were very friendly
-Beautiful area (lots of mountains--by eastern standards).

The bad:
-Far from all of our family
-Small town (I LOVE big cities)
-Library not that impressive. You had to pay to participate in their summer reading program. (Never heard of that one before.) You also had to pay to check out any videos.
-The ward is small and VERY spread out. No playgroup, no cooking group, no book club...what would I do.
-The only YMCA is downtown and far from where we would probably settle down. I have loved the Y these last few years, it is how I survived.

Here are some pictures from our journey:

Kailyn loves to draw on the magna doodle. Here are a couple pictures of 'Mom and 'Dad.'

On the way to Johnstown we stopped at the Children's Museum in Pittsburg. (We got in free with a season pass we use to get into our zoo).


Chase and Me going down the slide.

Kailyn

Caden

Caden climbing around in the ant maze.

Kailyn

Jordan playing in the water

Ken and Kailyn building some waterlines.

Caden meeting Bob the Builder.

Jordan and Bob the Builder

Pictures of Johnstown,

Looking out over downtown.

The brand new High School. It was huge!

The playground shared by the Elementary and Middle School.

Playing on a crazy see-saw

As you can see the kids loved it.

Jordan

Kailyn was not in the best mood after getting only a little sleep the night before.
Luckily, Kailyn eventually cheered up and had some fun.

Chase tickling Caden.

I love this kid.

Chase practicing his sitting.Caden

We were able to go to this great community event.

They gave all of the kids free books.

Even Chase got a book.
They did some arts and crafts.

Kailyn and Jordan going down the inflatable slide.

Even Caden went down. He loved it.

On the way home we stopped at the Cleveland Zoo (got in free once again with our passes).

Jordan, Kailyn, and Caden climbing up a rope tower.

Chase fascinated by the top of the snake tunnel.

Caden, Kailyn holding Chase and Jordan checking out the camels.

Kailyn seeing how kangaroos hear.

Kangaroo Jordan.

Family picture: Jordan, Caden, Kailyn, Chase and Ken

Caden's favorite part was riding the tram back to the car. He spent the whole time at the zoo asking when we could ride it.