NYC with Grandpa

Mr. Brody has been asking to go to the Lego store for quite a while now. We had told him we were going to go for his birthday, but after we got home from Idaho and Newport we needed a little down time. We decided to wait until school started, the weather turned cooler, and Grandpa to visit to make the trip complete! We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. Partly cloudy and 55-65 degrees for most of the day. Brody was so funny showing/telling Grandpa all about New York City. We took the train in and went straight to the Lego store. Can you tell how happy they are?!

 Brody was so excited to see this lego set-up that he didn't notice the glass in front of it and ran his forehead right into it. After the shock wore off, we decided to put his hat on so he wouldn't hit his head again. This is Rockefeller Plaza in Legos:

 The wall with every color lego brick that you can buy individually...for a hefty price of course. 

 Parker liked building his own lego men.

 With Grandpa in Rockefeller plaza. Notice who's hugging his new legos :)

 Rockefeller Center before we went to the top!

 Waiting for our turn to go to "Top of the Rock". We found the Radio City Music Hall and I just like this picture because Mr. Brody would NOT part with his legos.

This was taken inside the elevator heading up to the 70th floor observation deck of Rockefeller Center. The ceiling was glass and they had the whole way lit up! Parker said that was his favorite part was the "cool elevator". 

 Once on "Top of the Rock". The views really were unbelievable. This is overlooking Central Park. Parker decided to see if his head would fit.

 Off the other side. Beautiful views of the Empire State building, the Hudson River, the Statue of Liberty, and the Freedom Tower (off in the distance just to the right of the Empire State building). We all loved it!

 This picture just makes me laugh. My Dad was trying to improve the picture. Cute of Brody, though!

 Cute boys.

 There's one that worked. :)

 SO many buildings. I really do think they're neat!

 I wish there was a way to crop the next two pictures together. Single pictures are awkward.

 Those cars are a LONG way down!

 After lunch we went on a journey on the subway. Usually when I go to NYC I just get off at Grand Central Station and walk everywhere I want to go. Well, the World Trade Center Memorial is a 4 mile each way walk from Rockefeller Plaza. I decided we probably shouldn't walk that and that we'd brave the subways. Once you're on it's really not too bad, but I learned a valuable lesson in stroller traveling in NYC. I'd seen that not all Subway stations had elevators, etc. I thought, "Oh, how hard can it be to take the kids out and carry the stroller?" Well, let me tell that will be the one and only time I will ever do that. First of all, the stroller didn't fit through the turnstiles and the one man working that station had a long line. He wasn't paying attention to buzz open the service door that I would usually go through so I had to push it through and then try to run my card through and get my kids through. They did okay, but then the escalator down wasn't a nice short one, but a super long one---that wasn't working. Therefore, my Dad tried to help both the boys walk down while I carried our bags and my huge double stroller. Thankfully about halfway down a very nice man took pity on me and offered to carry the stroller the rest of the way. The actual subway ride was painless, it was just getting in that was a huge pain. I used the subway later in the day from a wheelchair accessible station and it made all the difference in the world. I will walk the extra distance next time for sure!

The World Trade Center Memorial really was beautiful. It was a very peaceful place and I'm so glad we got to go. Neither my dad nor I had every been down to the World Trade Centers before 9/11 so I don't have much to compare it to, but I think they're doing a wonderful job creating a space to remember those who lost their lives there. It was definitely a moving place to be. I look forward to when it's all done and the museum is open as well. I was very careful not to traumatize my kids and just explained generally what we were doing. Thankfully Parker slept through the whole thing, and Brody was very respectful.

 One of the reflecting pools

 The Freedom Tower. 

 It was very touching to see all of these names around the reflective pools. Maybe because I'm a mom, but the ones that included unborn children really made me teary eyed. I just can't even imagine what those poor people went through and I'm grateful we got to go and remember them.

Since we were down in the South Side of Manhattan we decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn. It was another first for both of us and it didn't disappoint. The bridge was super cool and the views from the other side were beautiful!

 We found this promenade in Brooklyn that was wonderful. We watched the sun go down and found a great playground for the boys to get some energy out before our train ride home. It was a welcome sight to see that 4 or 5 dads in suits had their kids at the park after coming home from work. We got to talking to one of them and he lived a block away from here. He said they loved it, but that they lived in 700 square feet--with an 18 month old. He was super nice, though, and had nothing but good things to say about this part of the city. I still don't think I could do it (maybe for a month or so, but I think when the novelty wore off I'd miss Target, open fields, driving, etc.) but I do see how some people could love it. 

 The best picture we got. Parker wasn't being very cooperative :)

 One of the coolest parts of coming to this side was a closer view of the Statue of Liberty. I went to Ellis Island when I was a teenager, but I've still never been out to her. Not quite sure we'll do that while we live here, but hopefully someday we'll get to. My boys loved watching all the ferries and the tall ships that went by. It made for one beautiful sunset!

 We took the subway back from Brooklyn to Grand Central Station and that was actually great. In fact, we met another good samaritan and may have restored my faith in the goodness of strangers again. I had gone through the turnstiles with my boys but my Dad ran out of fare on his card and there wasn't a machine nearby to add more money onto it. A college kid just so happened to be walking by, saw my Dad trying to figure out what to do, and without saying anything just swiped his card for my dad. He then carried on his merry way (he had just exited and was headed towards the street). It made all of our day to receive just the little kindness. My poor Brody was exhausted when we got on our train. He didn't take a nap like Parker had so he was out pretty much as soon as we got on the train--dreaming with about his legos. :) 

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before on my blog, but we have a term in our house called, "Parker after dark." This is pretty much any time we have an excursion like this one. You would think a tired 2 year old would go to sleep on the train like his brother, right? No, no. He woke up more and talked our ears off the whole way home. The people around us were cracking up at his random stories. Jared has said recently that one of his favorite parts of his day is when he comes home and hears all about the boys day from Brody--then hears equally as many fictional stories from Parker. I love how different their little personalities are and I love watching them experience new places. I hope they enjoy it as much as I do. Our next stop is New Hampshire this weekend to do some "leaf peeping". I can't wait!! 

September So Far...

 The last few weeks we've enjoyed a little more structure and relaxed activities. We got to see Jared's Beach Volleyball playoffs and the boys got to play at the beach one last time during the Summer. It was also the last night of the summer concert series, so the boys boogied to some tunes on the beach to! I love this picture of my little 5 year old. Seriously, how grown up does he look?

 Checking out the lifeguard stand...

We attended a super fun birthday party for our cute neighbors. The boys loved it because it was a little gymnastics place. After we move next, we really may have to get this little one in gymnastics. He loved it!

 Just thought this picture was funny because it pretty much described their experience. Brody did awesome following all the teachers with the activities and had a ton of fun with the other kids. Parker, on the other hand, played mostly by himself and we could barely get him in the group shot. For all of his craziness, he really is a shy kid. It always catches me off guard because I'm not used to seeing that side of him!

We started our new year of pre-school. I set everything up on a board this year instead of on the wall since we'll be moving again soon. The boys and I are both loving having this as part of our routine again. Brody's getting much better at reading and has decided he loves math. Have I mentioned how much he's his father's child yet? I put this on my Facebook, so I apologize for the repeat, but I wanted to add it here for my blog book. The other day I asked Brody what he wanted to be when he grew up. He said, "A dad, a missionary, and a lego builder." Then I turned and asked Parker what he wanted to be. He replied, "Hulk Smash." Does that ever seem fitting?!

 Hulk Smash still prefers sleeping on the floor. He kills me.

 Now I'm really not sure whether to be happy or sad about the fact that Brody seems to have moved on from cars. It makes me sad because that's all he's really played with since the time he could hold anything in his hand. It makes me happy because he's branching out and finding interest in new things and broadening his horizons. He has also found a new interest in the instruction manuals that come with each lego set. He's hilarious as it fits right up his attention to detail alley. He studies these pictures on the backs and then tells me all about every aspect of the pictures. He's sharing his knowledge with his brother...

 We are enjoying the green before it turns into fall. I can't tell you how excited I am for the fall here. I figured I should take a couple pictures of the green, though, since we'll probably not see it again before we move (in Jan/Feb). This is the main freeway that goes between Jared's work and the zoo. It doesn't allow any commercial vehicles on it and is billboard free. It's beautiful and I love to drive it. I really do feel like every time I leave my house in Connecticut I'm on a "scenic drive". 

 Just a couple pictures from the zoo...

 Helping his brother up the hill :)

Yesterday Brody sat down on his own with paper and a pen and told me he was writing his letter to Santa. I told him Santa didn't take letters until after Thanksgiving so he put them on the fridge to save them. The left one says "Lego Jungle Station". He ran out of room for the "station" on that one so the 3rd piece of paper actually has the rest of the word. The middle one says "Police Lego Station" in somewhat of a random order at the end. He's hilarious and it's going to be a long 3 months.

Just a couple other stories from my boys from the past little bit. 

*Last week I went by Parker's room and noticed he was sleeping in his rocking chair surrounded by his animals. When I asked him later why he was sleeping in his rocking chair he said, "I was rocking my animals and making them happy!" Sweet boy rocked himself to sleep. 

*I created a chore chart for both of the boys to earn their trip to the lego store (they had been having some trouble getting along so I told them they had to earn it instead of just getting to go for Brody's birthday). I put a box for each chore on each day for them to check off. For the first few days Brody did awesome. One the 4th day he got smart and decided he was going to expedite this chart. He proceeded to make and unmake his bed over and over to fill out his boxes, brushed his teeth 8 times in one day, etc. I'm going to have to up my ante. 

Hope you're all enjoying your last few days of summer! Jared is heading to Boise tomorrow to make a presentation at Boise State and go the the Boise State vs. BYU football game. I really wish I knew how to fit myself into his suitcase!!

Newport, RI and Cape Cod, MA (briefly)

Since I visited Newport, RI as a teenager, I have said it is one of my favorite places I'd ever been. That still holds true, so I was so excited to take Jared and the boys. I LOVE this part of New England. As fall is approaching, I'm being reminded of all the things about this place that I really do love. I love exploring new places through other people's pictures, so I hope it's okay that I shared quite a few of ours. I hope you enjoy them and can see through them just what a beautiful place this is. I'm pretty sure I don't do it justice, but I hope you get a little feel for it. It really is no wonder that the Vanderbilts, Astors, etc. built their summer "cottages" in this beautiful place. 

Since we stayed halfway between Cape Cod and Newport we decided to take a quick drive over to Cape Cod Labor Day morning. I actually have never been there, and I'm not quite sure we can still say that we've been there. We drove over the bridge just into the first few miles of Cape Cod. The Labor Day traffic coming the other direction was so bad at 9 a.m. that we decided our desire not to sit in traffic all day outweighed our desire for a couple hours in Cape Cod. That trip is going to have to wait for another time. That being said, we did get to see the Cape Cod canal, which had quite a few boats going through at the time that the boys loved. 

Bridge going over the Cape Cod canal into Cape Cod. Brody's hand is in his pocket holding tight to a peppermint we told him he couldn't eat in the car. He wouldn't let it go and it made us laugh pretty hard! 

I told Jared that the next time we take a road trip like this where every sight around you is beautiful, I want one of those Google Maps cars with the camera on top. Don't you think we should all have access to one of those things so all your scenery pictures while driving aren't through the windshield? Anyway, these were taken going into Cape Cod on the bridge:

 Not the greatest pictures in the world, but hopefully you can see a little of how pretty it was!

 A very typical sighting as you drive around New England. Beautiful old churches.

We did get to Newport and we all had so much fun. This is what they call First Beach: 

A restaurant right on first beach:

Heading up to the cliff walk.

Starting the cliff walk. It is 3.5 miles long, so we split it up into two days for the little legs among us. 

Very narrow at parts, but right over that wall is a cliff down to the ocean!

My boys thought these signs were so funny. They kept making up stories as to why the man was falling off the mountain. Oh little boys and their imaginations!

The "forty steps" stairs down to the ocean

Our boys LOVED this

Dad teaching Brody about tide pools

Proof I was actually on this trip :) 

Really cool little waterfull under the forty steps (it was in that cave)

I'm so glad we went out there the first night so we could see the sunset.

The cliff walk goes on the ocean side of some beautiful "Gilded Age" mansions. They are some of the main attractions here in Newport. In fact, Newport has the most surviving colonial buildings of any city in the United States. If you ever get to do the tours of the mansions, they are unreal. I did that when I was a teenager and LOVED it. However, with two little boys in tow we decided we'd try some more age appropriate activities. This is one of the buildings that is now part of Salve Regina University. Just in case you're curious, I looked up tuition: $34,000/year in tuition, up to $10,000/year for housing, plus a bunch of fees, and then you know....food! So you don't have to do the math, for a 4 year degree that's $176,000 for just tuition and rent. Oh boy. Thank you, thank you BYU for being so affordable. 

We must've happened across freshman orientation or that's some party!

I can't even begin to describe how peaceful this is...

This mansion is called "The Breakers". It's the largest of the mansions in Newport and was built for the Vanderbilts between 1893 and 1896. It has 65,000 square feet and was $12 million dollars back then (roughly $335 million today after adjusting for inflation....or that's what wikipedia says anyway) :) If you want to learn more about it wikipedia actually has some pretty interesting info. My curious brain loves wikipedia. :) 

Sunset at Easton's (first) beach

The second day we headed out to Brenton Point State Park which is surrounded by ocean in Newport. Some of the houses on the way there were awesome. This was one of the easiest to see from the road:

One of the things Brenton Point State Park is known for is kite flying. The boys loved watching all the kites. One man was out there navigating these kites that were all tied to his waist. It was fascinating to watch!

Excited fists... I wish you could see the boats in the background. The other thing Newport is known as is the sailing capitol of the United States and we could definitely see why!

Happy boys...

The boys actually really enjoyed the Atlantic Ocean because there's so many rocks to be thrown!

Waiting for a wave...

Action shot

After spending some time at the ocean we headed back to walk the rest of the cliff walk. We passed some beautiful homes along the way. I love the character each one has...

One of the mansions known as "The Marble House" which was also built for the Vanderbilts.

Back side. I'm probably a little nerdy here, but I love picturing what little gatherings took place at these places in the 1800's. I may have been born in the wrong century. :)

The view of the ocean from the back of the Marble House

Mr. Brody got comfortable on the cliff walk and decided to run ahead

Going over the unpaved portion. Brody was such a champ. Must be that being 5 thing again. :)

Some of the houses in downtown Newport where we went to do a little shopping (well, walking around in our case as we actually only bought food, but Thames street is a great place to go shopping if you ever go!)

I daydream about living in a house like this.

We passed this little patio that was surrounded by high walls. I stuck my camera through the iron gate to get a picture because it reminded me so much of that Minnie Driver movie, "Return to Me." It was just so quaint and I really wish I could've had lunch in these people's backyard. 

The boys LOVED all the sailboats. Jared and I want to go back someday and take a trip on one of those as Jared says he's always wanted to go sailing. I didn't know that about him. It's a good thing we take these trips so we learn more about each other even after being married 8 1/2 years! 

I love everything about this. Even that the restaurant is called the "Cook House". 

Overkill with the boats, I know, but they're just so calming to look at. I think one of these may be blown up and make it in a frame in our next house.

One of my favorite parts of Newport are the cobblestone streets everywhere. So charming (look at that sweet Dad)

On the way home we stopped in Norwich, Connecticut for some dinner. We actually found a really cute little pizza place and had the outdoor area to ourselves. This was great for two little boys who'd been in a car all day! 

 They even got some dancing in for the cars passing by...

 Our little travelers :)

...and with that I think I just filled up my whole blog book with just August's pictures. If you made it through all 6 of my new posts, I'm so impressed!! I don't think I've ever blogged this much, this close together in my life. I guess we've been busy! I'm grateful we have the opportunity to do all of these fun things. I'm trying to take as much advantage of my last year of not revolving around a school schedule as I can. I think a trip to NYC to go to the Lego Store is next on our agenda (next week maybe...). We've been under tornado watches/warnings (in CT?!) all day so there's never a dull moment around here!! Hope you're all enjoying your September!