Jennings Party in Utah

After a long drive, we were so excited to arrive at the Jennings' house in Daybreak! Jackson remembered Grandma and Grandpa's new house from Christmastime so he knew just where to look for the toys and his favorite dog in the world, Tony!

The first couple days we hung out in town, went swimming and played with cousins and family!

The big kids

Abbie and Norah had grown up a lot since they last saw each other!

One of the highlights of the trip was the elaborate scavenger hunt that Travis and Alise had arranged for the family to do at City Creek and Temple Square. It was a battle of the couples and Tyler and I finished in a close second behind Nick and Jamie. We all had so much fun and hope to make it a yearly tradition!

The group lined up before the "Glurr Run"

 It was pretty hot in Utah during the whole week so we luckily had a couple days in Park City to escape the heat! We stayed at a lodge at the Canyons and had a lot of fun exploring up there!

Jackson loved the ski lift!

Most of the family, just missing Grandpa, Scott and Ashley.

At the top of the mountain, before hiking down and Abbie falling asleep luckily :)

Watching a little tv after a long hike

 We got to spend the fourth of July with the Jennings down in Provo at a friend of a friends empty house! It was beautiful and we loved swimming, and playing in their sport court and play room in the basement.

His first time off a diving board, and of course had no fear

Our house for the day

Abbie was a stinker and preferred to stay on the side of the pool that day.

The whole week we were having fun with the Jennings, my family was in Utah as well. My Dad and Ben weren't able to come to Cali but they both flew out for the Fourth of July and so we spent the rest of evening and night with my family. We even got a picture taken with all of Papa and Nana's family together. First picture we've taken since Annika, William and Abbie joined for sure. I have a copy of it hanging on my fridge but i don't have a digital copy to share.

Loved playing this game with Drue over and over

She was such a ham that night!

I'm pretty sure we had the biggest table...

Daddy feeding his kids ice cream, Abbie loving it of course!

 The club lights off their own fireworks in the gully just behind the course so they are so close and huge in the sky but also very loud! I was nervous my kids might get scared, especially Abbie. But they did great!

She loved the fireworks and didn't scream at the loud noises like I expected!

He was a little concerned about how loud they were but still liked it!

The next morning we had to fly back to Connecticut! We had such a great 2 weeks out west and didn't want it to end! It was one of the best trips we've taken with kids! Both kids slept great at nights which is a huge improvement from Abbie at Christmastime geeze... And even though Jackson had some late nights and random late naps he was really well behaved over all. Now we're excited to see Grandma and Grandpa and Grammy come visit us in the fall!

Jackson got to sit in the pilot's seat on our flight back home!

Christensens Conqurer California

This was the first summer since Jackson was born that we didn't have an event out west that we needed to travel home for. We had Michael leaving on his mission 3 years ago, Troy and Tammy got married 2 years ago, Michael got home last summer and this year life calmed down. With all of Tyler's siblings married and now my family just has Steven to go on a mission and get married, which is quite a few years down the road luckily :) But this summer wouldn't have been complete without a trip out west to see our family! So we worked this year's travels around a trade show in San Diego that Tyler was going to for work. It was the last week of June and came at a perfect time for everyone to meet up! So the Christensen's (minus my dad and Ben) all met down in Dana Point in a condo right on the beach!

It was a fun week and our first real one with our new sister-in-law Annika! We had all been together in May for Ben's graduation but didn't get to see M&A much then since they didn't stay as long so it was great to get together with them all!

We had quite the adventure just making it to the airport in Connecticut but luckily we got there on time, barely and found out our flight was delayed anyways... Luckily we barely made our layover in Chicago and even more luckily both kids fell asleep very quickly after that flight took off and we had a very easy travel situation!

That night we stayed at a hotel right by the San Diego airport and the next morning got to spend some time with Tyler's Grandma Carol while we waited for the rest of my family to drive to Cali.

Kids playing at a park by Carol's house.

We spent most of our time at the beach or the pool and Tyler had to fit in a few work days but we were still able to have fun with him too!

Night in Laguna

The girls! (plus william)

Abbie loved taking it all in, William explored it all and Jackson wanted to do whatever the big boys did!

Are you noticing that Abbie points a lot? She doesn't say much but she shows you what she wants!

Still in shock about this night, Jackson fell asleep driving to dinner and never woke up!

Of course the trip wouldn't have been complete without a trip to Fashion Island, I think we went twice. Jackson had fun arranging all the penguins in the penguin store to make a family. 

 

William's first time swimming!

Jackson's first time swimming since we moved from Florida!

He stole my glasses and struck a pose!

Jackson had a lot of fun digging in the sand and playing with his family and not as much time in the water since it's much colder than he was used to in Florida! By the last day he finally got in the water willingly!

We got lucky with this condo we rented here! Great location!

Our last beach day :(

We had a great trip and also took Jackson to the new Pixar movie, Monsters University! He liked it even though he was a little scared of the monsters at times. And luckily Abbie slept in her car seat during the whole thing! Tyler left a couple days before we did to do some work up in Utah. And then the rest of my family and I all drove up to Utah together! 

This drive was one for the record books... Jackson won the easiest kid award. Abbie the opposite...

June in Connecticut

I'm so far behind in blogging it's getting really lame, so here goes a quick summary of our life in Connecticut this June! We got home from NYC on June 1st and then had a little less than 3 weeks until we headed out to California. So during this time we were still getting used to our new life as just a family of 4 in our new house! I was mostly surprised at how cold it still was for what I had always known as summer. Seeing pictures of summer vacations and hot summer days at the pool in AZ were not fun for me to see on Facebook or instagram. We were still wearing sweaters most days! It had gotten warm while my family was in town but it really cooled down afterwards.

Since this covers such a large span of time here are a few highlights in pictures and short summaries :)

I was really excited to go to a strawberry festival on one of our first free saturdays! There were actually a few different ones all going on in different towns around where we lived, but we chose this one in Unionville and met our friends the Giffords. I must say I was expecting a lot more strawberries but it was basically a small carnival, barbeque and local craft sale with fresh strawberry shortcakes offered as a dessert. While it was pretty crowded and a good time, I was expecting more focus on the actual name of the event, ahem, strawberry festival?? BUT Jackson got to sit in a fire truck for the first time in his life so that made it all worth it. If you know Jackson you know how much he loves fire trucks, ambulances, cop cars, etc... This made his day!

 We also went to a small church run carnival in Simsbury one Thursday night. This motorcycle ride was his favorite for sure! They had a small roller coaster that he also rode but he actually got kind of sick on it! We could see in his face that he was not enjoying the kid only ride so we had the employee end the ride early. Jackson later told us that made him waaaaaay dizzy! But this was just a classic night becuase we were realizing that our days of Disney and other high class entertainment and theme parks were behind us and local fairs and carnivals are in our future. It was cute but Tyler was just initially so frustrated at how expensive it all was. I think each ride cost $3 at least. So we ended up buying Jackson a wristband so he could enjoy unlimited rides and we just watched him have fun on all the rides that didn't need an adult. Except you know Tyler snuck on a few with him :)

One night I had the idea to have a picnic at a lake. I had driven past a lake (almost hidden by the crazy amounts of trees here) just 15 minutes from our house and I looked on the map and realized it was a huge body of water, Nepaug Reservoir. So although I knew nothing about it we just drove there with our dinner in a cooler. It turned out to be an amazing lake with a great trail running along it, but there weren't many great places to sit and eat. We found a small patch of grass and had our picnic while getting some weird looks from the bikers runners and dog walkers along the path. We haven't been back but I hope to go again sometime! The picture above was taken from the dam, which is the only place we could actually see the water clearly and not just behind the trees.

 Abbie and Jackson have started playing together and it is pretty dang cute. Jackson tells Abbie that she is his best friend. While there are plenty of fights and sharing issues between the two there are lots of tender moments. In Florida I had a toddler and a baby and now I have two toddlers, crazy.

 During these weeks we started putting Jackson to sleep in his big boy bed! We bought it in Albany and Steven slept in it while my family was in town. We left his crib in the room at first and gave him a little time to get used to it. He really loved this new bed but was so attached to his crib that he chose to sleep in it for a few days. Soon though he went to bed and did pretty well! There were nights where he fell out of it but we keep lots of pillows on the ground and have it at a low setting. In the morning he still calls for us out of habit I think :)

This boy loved exploring outside in our new yard and neighborhood but lots of rainy days deterred this from happening. Some days he would go in the garage just so we could play baseball and other days he put his new rain jacket and boots to use and jumped in the puddles.

 Tyler went on his first business trip, to Orlando of all places, and left me alone with the kids for the first time! The kids and I had really gotten used to the new lifestyle of him coming home for dinner every night but such is life... Jackson and I really bonded those few days I feel. He has always been a daddy's boy and clung to him in all the hard moments he'd had with being sick and moving. Jackson has his moments for sure but he is such a sweet boy and I am so lucky to be his mom.

 This was the only picture I got from fathers day and although no one's looking great, I had to document! Tyler got a golf gift certificate and a shutterfly photo book from the kids and I. We also had homemade Cafe Rio for dinner that night. Our ward spoils the dads and gave them a full spread of cookies, cakes, brownies,  and treats during priesthood, I had never seen anything like it!

Jackson and I had an interesting morning when we got locked out of the house with Abbie asleep inside! We had been in the backyard playing soccer and Jackson had been playing around with the back door as I'd been running in and out grabbing water or looking at the baby monitor or something. He shut the door and I didn't realize that he had locked it, it has a deadbolt that we normally use, but also one of those small locks on the handle that can lock it from the inside without a key. Anyways, since we're still kind of new living here I don't have a key hiding anywhere outside or with a neighbor. Our garage doesn't have a keypad entrance, so we were literally locked outside. And I didn't have my phone. And Abbie was inside, upstairs taking a nap (luckily). I had a baby monitor on but it was sitting on the kitchen table inside.

I ran over to my neighbors house, she had literally just introduced herself 15 minutes before this happened and told me to come over if I ever needed anything. She let me use her phone so I could call Tyler at work. And then even offered to meet Tyler halfway so he didn't have to drive all the way here and back. She then offered that we could stay in her house while she went to get the key and although I was tempted because it was a hot morning, I was too scared that Jackson was going to break something. She is an older lady and there house was not kid friendly and Jackson already was getting into things while I made the phone call. Anyways, all ended up being ok and she was able to meet Tyler to get the key and I was back in the house in less than 30 minutes. And Abbie was still sleeping. We took this picture after we got back inside.

Later that same day Jackson helped mow the lawn for the first time, it was a proud moment for Tyler and he will be ready to had over the task to him in a few years...

We really had a fun time exploring the parks, libraries, and shops near our house that month. I would have envisioned us doing a lot more swimming and splash pads but we had a lot of that coming up in our big trip out west!

NYC

We didn't waste any time on this trip. The morning after our Boston excursion we headed off to NYC. This was also the last time my family would be at our house as they would be flying out of New York and Paige and Ben drove back to Ithaca from there. So we packed up and headed in 3 cars down to NYC. We actually found a sweet spot to leave our cars in Queens for free. We parked in this neighborhood and then took the subway into the city. We were quite the sight with our stroller and suitcases and we probably should have taken a picture but maybe that would have just put us over the touristy limit.

Jackson once again putting our DVD player to use.

 We stopped for lunch at Chopt for salads and Tyler got a couple treats to share from Dean & Deluca. It's a good thing we live close to the city because there are so many good restaurants to try, there's no way we could do it in one trip, unless we wanted to weigh 300 pounds...

Sitting at a table outside Chopt

The pastry dessert spread at Dean & Deluca

 I think this is the only picture I took of our room or hotel! We actually stayed at the same Sheraton we had stayed back in 2004 when my family came with Papa and Nana after I graduated high school. That had been my first trip to New York ever and we had lots of fun. A little different with my husband and two kids this time around 9 years later! We were just in between Times Square and Central Park, we only stayed one night and our kids slept amazingly well... like the kind of well where they slept in until after 9 am!

Jackson slept in this bed, his first time at a hotel not being in the porta-crib.

That afternoon we played in central park and went shopping. I should mention it was dang hot this weekend, like 90 degrees. So we should have had a swimsuit for Jackson but we weren't thinking that he'd have an option to wear it. But at the park they had this great splash pad and play area that had water features. Jackson just took off his shoes and went for it. The rest of us hid in the shade. Abbie finally fell asleep in her stroller and then most of us went shopping while Tyler and Jackson played a bit longer and then went back to the hotel.

We wanted to check out the Museum of Modern Art, it is free Friday afternoons but little did we know there would to get in, people waited in a line that wrapped around for blocks. So we scratched that idea.

The fun event of the night was a baseball game at Yankees Stadium. It just so happened to be the Red Sox in town, so Tyler and Jackson wore their Red Sox hats with pride. It was a fun experinence being in their new stadium. My family agrees that D-Backs Chase Field is still better though.

The boys outside the gate

One of our favorite pictures of the summer

 We got their pretty early because we knew we'd have to leave early with the babies. Since we were in the outfield, Tyler and Jackson watched the pitchers warm up. They waited down close to the field in homes they would get a ball and what do you know, Jackson got one!

William and Abbie were troopers this trip, being lugged around everywhere, but it was hard to sit still at this game for them, especially Abbie. But they did get pretty close...

One of their many kisses, Abbie goes in open mouth - oops.

 It was a little crazy with 3 little kids but it was a fun night for my family who is so into baseball. I had been to a Rays/Yankees game and a Rays/Red Sox game but the Red Sox Yankees rivalry game is such a classic. It was fun to be there even though the Sox lost. (and they won the next night by a landslide!)

The only group shot of the NYC trip!

 After a few innings Abbie was falling apart and the other two weren't far behind, so we headed out. It was a long subway ride home with Abbie flailing and screaming but it was all worth it when we got to the hotel and she fell asleep right away and slept through the night! (we were worried with her just being weaned and sharing a room with Jackson)

So after the kids fell asleep Tyler stayed in the hotel with our babies (and listening for William on a monitor) and the rest of us headed down to Times Square. And dang it was crowded!

It just so happened that as we were standing there the Cornell Shuttle Bus happened to drive by. Paige and Ben hurried over for a quick pic.

The new Cornell PHD Graduate!

Sisters out in the city!

 Then Paige and Ben headed back to the hotel and Tyler got to come out for a little time in the city with no stroller / babies. We headed over to Magnolia Bakery and got a delicious slice of their hummingbird cake (banana pudding was sold out by that point) I think it was about 11 pm at this point, so we walked over to Rockefeller Square and ate our dessert over there. Then we walked around a little bit before heading back to the hotel totally exhausted.

The next morning we headed down to TKTS to try our luck at some Broadway tickets! Tyler and I got some matinee seats for Newsies! From there we headed over to the new 9/11 Memorial.

I normally love this stroller but loathed it in NYC.

 The Freedom tower is just about complete and the memorials they've made are pretty amazing. It still blows my mind to think about what really happened there. I was a sophomore in high school at the time and Tyler was on his mission. I'm so glad to see they've turned it into something so beautiful now.

 It was another hot day so Jackson and Abbie enjoyed splashing themselves with the water from the fountains.

 We ate a quick pizza lunch and got Abbie ready to take a nap while we went to the musical. Thanks to the Christensen boys for watching Jackson up on the club level while we were gone! We loved the musical so much, ahh seeing it reminded how much i love Broadway and how excited I am to live so close!

I loved the new lead and all the dancers and cast!

 My family went down to TKTS while we were at the show and got tickets for Newsies later that night! I texted them at intermission saying, you need to see this! We had a great Italian dinner (why can't I remember the name) and then went over to Serendipity for the famous frozen hot chocolate. I'm trying to remember the other dessert we got and it was amazing too!

Kids playing in the city

William is wondering if he gets some...

Our family of 4 had fit all our stuff in one little roller suitcase that we had taken with us to these last spots and so from here we said goodbye to the rest of the family and headed back to Queens to get our car and made the drive back home! It was a crazy 36 hours in the city but we fit a lot in! But it did teach us that taking 2 kids to NYC is a little trickier than we may have thought...