February 2009 Update

The pressure of commitments, the pace of life, and just too little time has prevented recent updates to this blog. Sorry!

Critical events in the Barrington PG home since late November (our last posting):

December -- little Ian Wadley was born and joined the family.

Christmas: wonderful family experience with our annual Family Getaway -- we played Deal or No Deal complete with an electronic game board (thanks to Dustin) and prizes worth dollars (congrats to Tyson and Mckenna who won the biggest prizes); on Christmas eve we had a fantastic nativity re-enactment complete with our own little stable (see pics below).

January: Shanell & Ryan's baby, Bridger Byrd was born as our #5 child gave birth to our #5 grandchild. Yahoo!!

February 4th was a big day for the Barringtons -- Elder Riley J. Barrington entered the MTC as a full time missionary assigned to serve in the Florida Ft. Lauderdale Mission, Spanish speaking. He will be there until April when he goes to Florida to begin teaching and serving.

Mid-February: a remodeling project in the basement began, with the removal of the main wall between the family room and the game/sewing room. The end objective is to create a bigger room for family gatherings. When completed (later this week) it will include new lights, a new counter, new entertainment center, as well as newly painted and conditioned walls (even more electrical outlets have been added). It will be a welcomed change for the house (and mom is anxious to get all this mess cleaned up -- there is dust everywhere!).

Thanks especially to Shawn and David who helped remove a bedroom window, and then bring in some of the big furniture destined for the basement, but which temporarily is being stored in the mid-level bedroom. We could not have done it without their help.

We will post a few construction pictures when the project is finished later this week.

More on Trip to Europe

Amy has been posting about our current travels in South America (be sure to look there), so before I (Dad) share my own insights on Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, I want to respond to the request for more photos of the Germany trip we went on in October.

1st from Tyson's file of interesting vehicles which he collected -a covered motorcyle, then a picture of the boys after the girls hit us with a cucumber facial (thanks to Janice Riggs), and a pic of Moritz with his dog Nemo, and Tyson -- they had a lot of fun together, especially throwing sticks and having the dog race after them.

Next, we have pictures of our boat tour of Hamburg Harbor, sitting on the side of the Alster Lake near the middle of Hamburg, and a shot of the boat which took us across the harbor to the professional theatre to view The Lion King -- a fabulous production with amazing sets, costumes, and music (sung in German, but we knew the gist of the story so it was okay).

Next, a few shots of the small town of Blankenese, which we visited on a short trip away from Hamburg. On a longer trip, to the East Germany city of Saaleck, we saw some great sights, like the photo below of the city, taken from a castle on the hill above, and of the kids at a lion monument also above the town on that ridge.

As noted earlier, we visited Leipzig and Weimar, old Germany cities with tremendous histories. The pics below are from those cities. First us with our good friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who was an organist and composer in the church behind. Then a shot of the fascinating old style architecture in Leipzig; finally a shot of the famous German writer & politician's home, that of Johann Goethe.

Hope you all enjoy these sights of Germany.

Busy Fall Filled with Travel

To chronologically update our history we have two busy months to review -- October's exciting trip to Germany, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Ireland, and November's exploits to Argentina, Uruguay, and (in another week) Paraguay. Perhaps here we should review the first, and later (in a week or so) give a review of the latter.

EUROPE 2008

In October Mom, Dad, and Tyson (as a surprise no one over there knew about) flew from Salt Lake City to Paris, to Hamburg, Germany to spend 10 great days with Moritz and his family -- Maria, Julia, his father, Willi, and his mother, Doris. We also saw Hecki and met his mother. Among the many things we did, we: walked along the River Elbe, went to a German production of "The Lion King", rode bicycles around town, visited the river-side city of Blankenese, went to Mortiz' school, and learned a lot about German history.

We had an amazing experience for several days as we traveled to Saaleck, Germany, to the Muller-Preisser family's home there, in that once-Eastern Germany city. There along the Saale River we had a great time visiting castles, hiking mountains, visiting ancient Abbey's, and making side trips to Leipzig (home of Johann Sebastian Bach) and Weimar (important location for Johan Wolfgang Goethe). The spare time was taken playing card games, soccer (European football), and having long talks.

After a great German time, we had to leave and do some work for BYU. We flew to Manchester, England, and visited 2 cities of Wales, 3 cities of England, flew to Belfast, and went to 5 more cities of Ireland. Driving on the left side of the road resulted in many varied and interesting experiences -- but thank goodness for a GPS machine that mostly get us where we needed to go. We visited the north coast of Ireland -- Giant's Causeway it is called, and there were practically blown away by a fierce wind (see photo below). We also visited Bunratty Castle near Limerick, Ireland. It was mostly work for me (BYU Singers Tour), and mom and Tyson patiently endured the meetings and work, mingled with a few fun stops. We flew home just in time for Halloween.

During our trip Riley's mission call came, to serve in the Fl. Ft. Lauderdale Spanish speaking mission. We were thrilled with his call to serve and know he'll have a great experience.

For now this is just to give a few ideas of our October -- in word and picture. More to come later on the South American advance with Amy and me.

Summer Ends; School Begins

As we come to the end of August we reflect on a very busy summer -- trips, visitors, saying goodbye to Moritz & his sisters who came to visit, service for our ward goal of 1,000 hours of service this summer, BYU Education Week classes, and harvesting a garden. Mom has been very pleased with her flowers and gardens -- as always she gives a little tender loving care to these plants almost every morning, and it shows!

Our garden has grown well -- in most areas -- and the result has been some delicious corn on the cob - but only in limited quantities. It seems we have learned a lesson: you can't plant corn too close together or the corn will only grow on one side, and not on the inside (only puny little ones on the inside). The only thing we really have to show on the other side of the corn patch is a pumpkin, which has crept in from that side to avoid being eaten by the birds. Pumpkins are another item we are in short supply of -- only two, it appears after last years gigantic pumpkins. What did we do wrong?

We have done very well with tomatoes, peppers, and onions, which have been combined together for several great batches of salsa for another year. It has been one party after another as neighbors and family members have taken their turn cutting, dicing, crying, cooking, and canning salsa for the coming year. Some of our onions are nothing short of huge. Later we will see if the carrots, and potatoes do as well, but we have high hopes. More to be said about the zuchinni below. Here's pictures of the garden:

The Great Zuchinni Race

On Saturday we realized that our out-of-control zuchinni plants had gotten out of hand, and the result was 5 very large, long, un-eatable zuchinni that just cried out to us that they needed some attention. So with Tyson leading the charge, first he and then later Shawn, David, Mckenna, Josh, and even Dad started slicing and creating the family zuchinni boats for a race in the canal later that day. Mom and Sally were busy with salsa, but the creative juices were flowing out in the garage (and even some scientific testing took place in the bathtub).

After the "water craft" were ready, complete with flags, decorations, and names (dad's was called the "albatross" and Shawn's was the "Flying Dutchman") it was time for racers to take your marks!

And then, on the Murdock Canal in Pleasant Grove, it was ready, set, go!!

Alissa assisted in the launching, and the rapidly moving water soon had the fleet on its way. Shawn's boat led at first, but then David's and Dad's slowly overtook it. Tyson's didn't fully get off as it should, but continued the race as well. Unfortunately we don't know whose boat actually won, since we only watched them float down around the first 2 bends and then let them go on without us. David would say his was ahead....Shawn's and Dad's were perhaps closing in, and Tyson's was further behind since it was removed from the water, re-fitted, and then placed in again. But in our book, everyone was a winner!

Thanks to Sally as photographer, mom for all the encouragement, Alissa for the launch, and YOU for reading this blog!!

High Speed Cross Country Transit

July 27, 2008 Kansas City, MO

In the past days we have turned the eastern corner of our trip and headed back into the Midwest. In one day we went from Washington DC to Dayton, Ohio. The next day we stopped in Indianapolis, Indiana, & then drove into Missouri, visiting St. Louis and spending the night in Hannibal, on the Mississippi River. Yesterday we were in Nauvoo (and dad in Iowa for a meeting), and spent last night in Keokuk, Iowa. Today we traveled across Missouri to Kansas City, MO, on the edge next to Kansas (it is less than 2 miles away).


We have seen amazing sights across the USA: thick forests, expansive bridges, city skylines in the distance, wide multi-laned freeways and dirt roads, fireflies in Washington DC, dead skunks in Illinois, bulging rivers running over their banks and forever rolling hills of the midwest. Perhaps the most significant was the tie-up-Tyson episode in tonight's hotel room. A sight to behold.


Comments along the way (can you guess who said these):

"This is going to get messy, really messy!!!"
"Are your seat belts on??"
"Come on you meow mix"
"Let's have fun!" "Play with me!"
"Does our hotel have a swimming pool?"
"Seat belt check!!"
"I'm hungry!"
"Seriously, guys, we need water" "I need water, or I'll die!"
"I missed the turn; we'll have to turn around"
"Never eat soggy waffles"
"Dad! Slow down!"
"Dad, how long will it take to get to our hotel?"
"I'm hungry (again)"
"I've got another text message!"
(in the middle of all this, we missed hearing, at least once: "Moritz!!! stop touching me!!")

In Washington DC we saw the White House and the Smithsonian Institute and the boys just had to get an FBI t-shirt (at the Pentagon we checked out the parking lot, but didn't go in; we drove past the CIA headquarters, too). Thursday we didn't get to our hotel until 10:30 pm (road problems 3 times along the almost 500 mile trip that afternoon). In St. Louis dad's meeting turned out to be right next to the St. Louis Temple -- beautiful building on a hill overlooking the freeway. In Hannibal, MO we saw Mark Twain's home, and Becky Thatcher's home. Tyson practically got run over by a loonngggg train coming through. Mom and Riley climbed to a lighthouse, while Dad and Tyson hucked rocks into the Mississippi River in memory of Huckelberry Finn.

Saturday we had a great time in Nauvoo -- pioneer games -- especially "graces" (Tyson's favorite), a walk down the "Trail of Hope" to the river, special stage show in the visitor's center, t-shirts and souvenirs, Nauvoo Temple, checkers (Riley blasted his dad twice), a puppet show, and the evening ended with the marvelous Nauvoo Pageant -- friendly, warm, colorful, informative, musical -- a great event to visit which made us proud of our pioneer heritage and the early days of the Restoration of the gospel.



Today we attended church with the Keokuk IA Branch, and then drove across Missouri. It has been a day for scriptures, general conference talks, naps (not for the driver, however), and even a Chinese buffet....and when we arrived -- 99 degree weather.

After we visit Kansas tomorrow, we will have been to 15 states, 1 province of Canada, and the District of Columbia, in 13 days and will have traveled more than 3,300 miles!

Founders in Philly; Drenched in DC

July 23, 2008

Trivia Q & A: (answers will be given in a day or two)

1. What city lies across the river from Philadelphia, on the New Jersey side, that makes you think of a small round fruit? (had a meeting there today).

2. What important early colonist was the mastermind behind Philadelphia's streets and organization? (you know his name well)

3. Name the famous bell in Philadelphia (we saw it, and took pics)

4. On July 4th each year we celebrate what about the Declaration of Independence? (be careful with this one).

5. How many years did the US government reside in Philadelphia while Washington DC was being built?

6. Which of the following wars have memorials in Washington DC: WWI, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War

7. Which boy in our family and which girl are alike, in that as children they never seemed to be able to keep very clean? (hint: as evidenced in our day today with certain chili dogs)

8. The Lincoln Memorial has inscribed on its walls two important talks by Abe Lincoln; name either one of these.

9. What important cemetary is across the river from DC, which we spent over 1 1/2 hours trying to find (but never did enter into)? (hint: we have a relative buried there)

10. What is the tallest structure in Washington DC?

We learned these things, and many others today, as we spent time in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC -- not bad for a day's work.

In Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, we toured Independence Hall (where the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution were created and signed), and also the nearby Congress Hall. Here it is important to note that we were able to fully complete the tour of the upstairs. Many years ago, when our children were young, we were forcibly evacuated from this area in the middle of our tour, because someone tripped a security alarm that caused the floor to be cleared immediately. We aren't mentioning names, but Dustin might be a good source to quiz regarding this story from the past.

In Philly we sampled the local cuisine -- Philly cheesesteaks and chili dogs; Tyson did his best to wear his food as long as possible on his face. We also took a horse drawn buggy ride through the streets (the horse's name was "Spot" ??) learn all about the city as we clip-clopped along. For example, street names were of trees, so that even the illiterate could know that Walnut Street was Walnut Street, since it has that kind of trees planted down it. Chesnut Street had chesnut trees down it, and etc. for other streets. Benjamin Frankin was a Philly-ite and we also saw where Dolly Madison lived before she married the man who later became the 4 president of the United States (James Madison). We learned that many Revolutional War prisoners held by the British were buried in a mass grave here; we saw a memorial built for them.

At noon we sped down the road through 3 other states to visit Washington DC. for the afternoon, after checking into our Capitol Heights, Maryland hotel. A quick dip in the pool for the boys and we were off for a frustrating search in Virginia for a certain important and very large cemetary. We finally found it, only at the last minute to take a wrong turn that had us back over the Potomac River and into DC again. So we spent the next 30 minutes trying to find a place to park -- arrggghhhh! Then spent an hour walking around seeing the important memorials and sights of the USA's capitol. As it began to get dark we enjoyed seeing the lights come on the buildings. Then we noticed the sky was unusually dark. Then a drop of rain. Then another. Then it started to come down lightly -- we were in the most open part of the "mall" (grassy area near the Washington Monument) you could be in. Wisely, mom started to run!! And then it came - almost a cloudburst of rain, descending on us like the innocent targets we were. We had brought our umbrellas, but they were in the car! By the time we arrived at the car, some several blocks away, we were a very wet, bedraggled mess. Mother Nature got us again! But then, as we drove around DC for a final look at the important buildings (like the White House and the Capitol) the heavens opened up with a downpour that made it nigh unto impossible to see but 10 feet in front of us, notwithstanding the wipers were on full speed and we were driving 10 miles per hour. This kept up for almost 30 minutes before it slowed sufficiently for us to at least reach a restaurant for dinner and our hotel after that. The rain was also accompanied by lightning and thunder -- bright and flashy, but the thunder was not as crackling loud as we experienced Sunday in Boston. But it is clear -- this country can really get rain when it wants to. Riley has definitely determined he wants to live here in the East, just for the rain.

Blisters, sore legs, wet hair (mom hates that!!), and an always hungry Tyson have brought us to the close of another eventful day. Hope yours was a good one too!

Dripping in Boston; Lost in New York; in NJ somewhere

July 22, 2008

The past three days have been most adventurous for our roving band of family crossing the country. There is much to tell.

In the Boston MA area, we were up early and at church with the Belmont 1st Ward at 8:30 am on Sunday. Nice church services and we felt like we were where we were supposed to be. But the real surprise came as we drove out of the chapel 3 hrs later, made two turns and saw the welcome sign to the Boston LDS Temple, right there just a short distance away (couldn't be seen for all the trees). We pulled in to see this beautiful, majestic, sacred House of the Lord there on a hilltop in a suburb of Boston. It is quite an edifice, and made the Sabbath day simply perfect for us.

Things we did on Saturday, and later on Sunday at the Minuteman National Park in Lexington and Concord, MA, thrilled us to learn what really happened on that fateful day that began the American Revolutionary War. We learned things that were never taught in our high school history classes - but should have been. We walked along the path the British and American soldiers followed, shooting at each other with those old-time muskets, with gunsmoke surrounding them. We learned the British wore red so they could be more easily seen admist that smoke. We learned that while at first the British prevailed, at one point later the American minutemen, coming from miles around outnumbered the British and inflicted serious causalties. That first day was really a defeat of the British and the feeling spurred on the efforts that led to the full war and all its agony and challenge. But the outcome was God-inspired and we were proud to be Americans with all that we learned. This really was the beginning of the Revolution.

Sunday afternoon we thought we would visit the "freedom trail" in downtown Boston. But we forgot to check the skies and left our umbrellas behind. After parking the car and walking for 30 minutes or so, it began to sprinkle. We were out in the open and tried to get under cover, but it was too late. We got wet, then wetter and then wettest...Riley really liked that part!! We had to hold Riley back from running out into the rain, kicking his heels up, and ?maybe breaking out in a strain of "Singing in the Rain". His black Sunday shoes were now blue from the rain. Mom's Sunday denim skirt was getting heavier from the moisture and a challenge to run in. We ducked in under an awning, and it really started to rain in torrents -- raining cats and dogs and critters. Finally it slowed down, and we started to walk further up the trail, to Paul Revere's home. But then it started to rain again. Then there was a crack of thunder louder than any of us have ever heard -- it caused us (and others around us) to literally jump from surprise. So over to another awning for protection. Then it came in torrents and torrents -raining cows, horses, and with the lighting the rare white elephant. More crackling thunder & lighting, with car alarms going off and other people laughing from relief they didn't get hit! - a real show from Mother Nature. And we got even more wet. And mom was still trying to keep her hair protected with a soggy map of the Freedom Trail. So much for enjoying historic downtown Boston.

Our time gone, we had to be on our way to southern Connecticut. We spent that night in New Haven, Connecticut in a Motel 8 -- and we vowed never again to stay in another Motel 8 (even changed a future reservation later next week to another hotel). A word to the wise. Cleanliness, size of rooms, sparce breakfast, and the overall "feel" were the reasons.

On Monday morning we were off for the Big city: the Big Apple, New York City. Thank goodness for Tomtom, our GPS helper, because there were so many roads, so many turns, so many options that we certainly could have gotten lost without that help (how did we ever do without it in the past?). We drove up to our hotel in Flushing, NY -- and immediately decided that would NOT be the place we would be staying in that night. No parking. No room on the road even to unload. Chinese characters on signs (and Chinese people on the streets) everywhere. One way street in front, tight, cramped, and a total foreign feeling. Flushing was a clogged toilet at its best. It might have been okay if we were in a foreign country, but not here in the USA; it was a ghetto! -- let's get out of here! So we decided we would find a different hotel for the night. Red Roof Inn in a city 20 miles away --here we come! Parking, clean, nice -- but no internet nor breakfast. Sorry, that is the reason we did not post on schedule last night.

But we were here to experience NYC, not Long Island, so we took the afternoon train into downtown Manhatten to see the sights: Empire State Building, Broadway, 5th Avenue, Times Square, Central Park, pretzels on the streets, and people, people, people!!! You can't walk a decent speed down those streets! You feel like a pin ball bouncing from one bumper to another.

Purchases were made for memories and practicality- T-shirts for the boys, a watch, sun glasses, and a cold drink or two to deal with the heat. It was a great experience: Riley's reaction: "This is amazing!!". Mom's reaction: "Central Park is humongous!", and Tyson said: "New York is awesome". Dad's comment: "It's just like it looks in the movies!" Riley noted a number of men wearing capris -- thought they were just for women; maybe there is a change coming. And we noted that, like we have seen throughout the East, there is on every corner, on every street, a Dunkin' Donut shop. They must like donuts in the East like Utah likes ice cream and jello in the West. Or is it that donuts go well with that coffee stuff they all drink? What is that all about?

Tuesday morning we returned by car (don't do that -- pretty expensive parking in lower Manhatten) through the maze of roads to get where we could see Lady Liberty. We saw Battery Park, Ground Zero, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island (these two from a distance) and Wall Street. And yes, more people, people, people. We found they have some very beautiful areas in this hustle, bustle area -- we walked through a gorgeous park, and along a nice, peacful esplanade. And as we left we traversed the Lincoln Tunnel -- underground and underwater and into New Jersey. We looked in vain to see Godzilla atop any building, but imagined the many things that have and do happen in this unique part of the USA. And everywhere we saw those great men in blue -- the New York Police Department (they are everywhere). Riley learned that this is now the safest city in the USA because of NYPD.

Tuesday afternoon was a drive through the Garden State - New Jersey. While dad was at a meeting, the two boys enjoyed a hotel pillow fight -- six pillows flying back and forth from one end of the room to the other, leaps from the beds, and war hoops (sorry, hotel neighbors, but boys will be boys!!). For dinner we almost went to "Chickie's and Pete's" just down the road -- but when the people inside looked at us as we walked in (two parents and two children) the looks could have shouted - 'you're going to bring kids in here?' Guess a diner with neon lights, and beer on the shelves at the bar isn't a good idea. We decided instead to go for a family diner further down the street. There Riley experienced a crab cake sandwich for the first time, and the rest of us ate superbly too. A good ending to a busy day.

We now head further south before returing west. More to come!