New York Trip - Part 1

Another adventure is behind us - Jackson (and I) have now been to Ithaca, New York! Seriously, this kid gets around! I guess what is more accurate is that we're taking advantage of flying with him while he's under 2 ... and free! Flights 24 & 25 could not have gone better. I'm not going to lie I was really scared about flying alone with Jackson. But he did great. We had a 50 minute layover in Detroit that I was kind of panicking about, but luckily my flight was on time and we made it just fine. And they moved me so there was an empty seat next to me on both flights! Jackson ate dinner and watched Mickey Mouse on the first flight, and slept the 2nd flight.

We got into Ithaca, NY at about 11 pm and Paige and Ben drove the long 5 minutes from their house to come pick us up. I should have taken a picture of the airport it is so tiny but I loved it! Anyways, Jackson woke up but was groggy as we reunited with Paige and Ben that night. We went straight back to their place and straight to bed! We had a busy day ahead of us...

Friday morning we woke up and drove straight up north to see some LDS Church history sites. Our first site was the Martin Harris Farm - where the LDS Church was organized, among other things. It started out as a beautiful day - it was sunny and the leaves were at their peak of autumn colors!




Then we drove up to Palmyra where we met up with my mom and brother, Steven, who had flown into Syracuse the night before. The girls went to the temple while Ben and Steven took Jackson out for a Pizza Lunch. Jackson got along with the boys just great but I was told it might have worked out better if the restaurant had a high chair.




As evidenced from the sky behind us, the weather took a turn for the worse - it got really dark, windy and eventually the rain came pouring down!
We headed to the Joseph Smith Home & Sacred Grove, hoping to get the outdoor tour done before it started raining too hard, but sadly we get soaked!


It didn't start out too wet and we had a great tour of the Smith Family Properties. Jackson did so dang good during all of this!

Steven and my mom had walked around the grove before we met up with them so luckily they were able to spend some dry time together there.


Then we entered it was raining lightly but we were still ok, Jackson was laughing at Steven as usual here...


But then it really started to come down! I had no interest in taking pictures, even though I wanted Jackson to have something to remember his time there. Luckily my mom snapped this one, but we weren't doing too well at this point, ha.


This last picture makes me laugh bc it just captures what was going on at that moment. The floor is so covered with leaves that you can hardly see the path. I am in the lead, holding Jackson (he was scared and wouldn't let anyone else hold him), and walking super fast to get out of the rain. My mom is hunched over trying to get something out of her purse as I rudely took the whole umbrella - sorry mom, I thought I was sharing?? Steven is holding my diaper bag on his stomach (bc Paige pointed out it was getting absolutely drenched on my back) while trying to deal with the sketchy purple umbrella we got for free in Harrods in London 6 years ago. Paige and Ben are walking behind, taking pictures - probably laughing at us "tourists."



I might not have been smiling at the time, but its a fun memory looking back :-)

As soon as we left the grove we put Jackson in the car seat and he fell asleep. So we took turns sitting in the car with him as we went to the remaining (mostly indoor) sites.


The first copies of the Book of Mormon were printed here.


Hill Cumorah & Visitors Center.


Afterward, we drove up to Syracuse for a night there at a hotel. Jackson stayed asleep until we got there - putting his mega nap at over 3 hours! He did so well in the PaiJetta! We got dinner at Dinosaur BBQ and Jackson loved his pulled pork sandwich!


Jackson and Steven had lots of fun playing on the beds at the hotel :)


Then Saturday morning we did some shopping and other "activities" in Syracuse before we headed back to Ithaca! And yes, Jackson fell asleep on the drive - love that baby.

New York Trip - Part 2, Ithaca

Saturday afternoon we drove back to Ithaca and on our way we stopped off at the Hollenbeck's Cider Mill. You Northerner Folk probably think this is no big deal, but we don't see to many apple trees down here in Florida so it was fun to see!





We got some donuts, cider and lots of apples for a yummy apple pie my mom made the next day. (We took turns sitting with sleeping Jackson in the car)

We got back to Ithaca and ran over to the local Farmer's Market before it closed. You may remember me posting about being obsessed with greek food lately? Some of you even predicted I was pregnant because all my mentioning of "craving" in my birthday post. Well I guess it is truly a pregnancy thing bc when I saw they were selling Gyros at the market, I had to buy one! Here we are posed at the back of the market, such a pretty setting!


The only problem with said gyro was it was huge, it was 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and sometimes my mind thinks I'm more hungry than I really am. I ended up feeling sick that night so I stayed in bed while my family took care of Jackson for the rest of the evening and they all went out for the night.


The next day was Sunday and we checked out their Ithaca Student Branch. It was a cute little church and it was at 9 am - can I tell you how envious I am of 9 am church!! Even though I love sleeping in and being lazy on Sunday mornings, I would switch in a heartbeat! It's so much more worth it for Jackson to have a good afternoon nap and all the little ones (me being our ward nursery leader would know...) Jackson did great at church and had fun in the small nursery (they have 5 kids - we have 18 back home) and I went to classes without Jackson for the first time ... I think since he was born!

After his lovely nap (first and only nap in a crib during the trip) we drove around the beautiful Cornell campus.



The weather was chilly, but the leaves and views were amazing! We also stopped off at Ithaca Falls, just south of campus.




The next morning we were excited to wake up to sunny weather and headed up to Watkins Glen State Park.



This place was like nothing I'd ever seen. It was a really beautiful hike and I guess I'll let the pictures do the talking.







The other thing I've been craving during this pregnancy - cheese! Not to the extent I did with Jackson, but still cheddar cheese has been my best friend over the past couple months. Paige and Ben had heard about a small cheese factory not too far from Watkins Glen. I was all up for free cheese samples so we decided to go! I don't think any of us realized how small this place would be though haha. They let us sample their 3 types of Gouda and some Brie, sadly there were no other varieties (aka cheddar) but it was still great for a super cheesy photo op.


We went to lunch at this great place in Downtown Ithaca called College Town Bagel. They had so many amazing choices for sandwiches and wraps - at least 100. It was fun to just look at the menu at all the interesting combinations of toppings, cheeses, etc. I was tempted to get something greek (of course) but I was still a little shaken by my Saturday experience so I went for a turkey pesto wrap. I need to see if Paige or Mom took a picture of us there bc all of us got the most unique sandwiches it was fun to see.

We finished the afternoon at a fun center with a corn maze. Jackson enjoyed playing on the playground and in the arcade (aka skee ball) while the others explored the maze.




Who knew you could find corn on a corn maze! I guess you're allowed to eat it?


Monday night we hung out around their apartment in Ithaca, helped with some decorating and ordered some yummy calzones.

The next morning was our last, and Paige and Ben had to get back to real life. Ben got back to studying and Paige had to work at Panera Bread as the sandwich maker / caterer extraordinaire. We went to visit her for breakfast and she hooked us up with yummy assortments of foods :-)


Jackson and I flew out of Ithaca later that morning and once again, he did amazing on the flights (his #26 and 27). He stayed awake and happy on our first shorter flight to Detroit, and then slept most of the way back to Orlando. Even with people next to us on both flights, he stayed in my lap and didn't cry or fuss once.

It was such a fun trip and a great time of year to visit New York! It really helped me get in the mood for fall and Halloween and of course it was great to see my family after 4 long months :)

Discovery Cove

One of the highlights of my life thus far is my day at Discovery Cove. (Not sure what that is? - click here) I have been in love with dolphins for as long as I can remember. When I was younger I had a dolphin calendar, wall art, stuffed animals, telephone, and bed sheets. My mom took me to Sea World for my 12th birthday trip and it was my dream job to work at sea world. The dream kinda faded over time, especially when i realized marine biology was science, my worst subject in school.

Anyways, when I first heard about the concept of swimming with dolphins, I knew I'd have to do it one day. And finally that day came this month! If you didn't click "there": Discovery Cove is a theme park" done by the same people as Sea World. It's only 20 minutes from our house here in Orlando but they have big pools for swimming with dolphins and snorkeling with the most beautiful exotic fish, aviaries of exotic birds, and pools, rivers, and sand beaches for relaxing in the sun. Tyler and I had actually been thinking about going here for months now, but when my cousin and uncle came to town, we were finally able to go!

My cousin Drue turned 16 this summer and her birthday present was to come to Florida for a week of outdoor/animal fun. She LOVES animals and was in heaven searching for all the wildlife our backyard has to offer. We spent the week with them at Sea World, Epcot, Downtown Disney, Animal Kingdom, but the best day was our first one at DC!

Here are pictures of that amazing day!