Newport, Rhode Island

After we finished our time in Boston with my parents, they headed up to Maine to do a little exploring and we headed south to Newport, RI. We had never been there and we had so much fun. Apparently New Port used to be an old resort town where people with tons of money would build HUGE summer homes right along the water. In 1895 the Vanderbilt family built the "Breakers" for their summer retreat. It is 138,000 sq. ft. with 70 rooms and 20 bathrooms. It cost 11 million dollars to build in 1895 and in the 70's (I think) their descendants sold it to the Historical Society for preservation for $399,999. We were able to take a tour and it was just as amazing as I had anticipated. It looked like a palace inside. You can't take pictures inside which was a bummer. It took 40 servants to run the whole place. We would have liked to tour some of the other mansions but the boys only lasted for one.

This is the back of the mansion that faces the water.

After the tour, we drove a little ways down the road to the beach for a few hours and relaxed and built sandcastles. Jack was in heaven. He did not stop digging the whole time. The waves scared him so he wouldn't get in the water but the sand was entertaining enough. He loved it and I loved watching him have so much fun. He was so sweet the whole time we were there. The strip of land behind Jack is where most of the mansions are.

Our sweet sandcastle!! :)

The water was so pretty and really blue.

After a little nap in his car seat, Anderson was ready to play!! He LOVED moving his little feet through the sand. It was so cute to watch him move them back and forth, over and over again. Did I mention that he is really cute?

After the beach we went down the Cliff Walk which is a pathway built on the edge of the water right by all the huge mansions. So fun. It was a perfect day! The weather was gorgeous and we had so much fun with just our little family. We have never taken a little trip with just us. We are always with someone. Justin kept joking that he was nervous to book the hotel ourselves because we had never done it completely alone. We had such a great time with my parents and we topped it off with a perfect little weekend on our own.

Some more mansions along the Cliff Walk. Pretty small, huh? Ha!

What a great trip. We loved every minute of it. Justin had the whole month of May off and needed something to take his mind off of school. He is now officially in his fourth year and wishing we were still on vacation! :)

Boston, MA

After Palmyra we headed to Boston. We all LOVED it!! It was such a great city with so much history and so many beautiful things to see. I love history and always wish I could go back in time and see how it really was so long ago.

One of the days we drove over to Cape Cod and drove over the entire thing! It was such a long drive but fun to see all the beach style houses, and the pretty beaches.

Jack had so much fun with my parents. I love when he gets to see our families. He always has so much fun and it makes me want to live closer. Someday we will get to play with family more often!

We ate at a great restaurant on Cape Cod called Moby Dick's. It was decorated so cute and had excellent sea food. Justin ate a hamburger...of course! :)

We also took a tour of Harvard University which was very interesting. Their campus is so beautiful and all of the stories were so fun to hear! So many people went to Harvard!! This building above housed Samuel Adams, John Adams, and John Hancock while they were attending school here.

Poor Anderson being drug around day after day. He sure is cute though!

We took a tour of the USS Constitution, It is one of the oldest boats our country has and fought in a lot of famous battles.

Jack and I in the Captain's quarters.

We got to see the Old North Church where Paul Revere lit the lanterns to warn the people that the British were coming.

Paul Revere with the Old North Church in the back.

We had just walked by Paul Rever's house (pictured above) and I heard someone yell my name. I wasn't sure that I was hearing right and I looked to find Whitney Pope and her family!!! I could not believe it. We haven't seen each other in 3 years since her wedding. It was so great to talk for a few minutes and finally meet her little girl Rose.

Jack wanted to give Rose and hug but she wasn't really in the mood. He kept asking her, "Do you want me to give you a hug Rose?"

Boston has a great aquarium right on the water which was definitely Jack's favorite part. He was running around like a crazy person looking at all the fish. He had so much fun. It was good for him to be able to have fun after riding in the car and stroller for so long. It was a nice break for him.

Touching the star fish...I thought he was going to squish him to death. :)

Happy as a clam :)

This is a little splash park just outside the aquarium.

We also had a chance to meet up with Jonathan and Daija who we haven't seen since she was pregnant with Bridger. He was a doll and it was great to be able to see them . Daija's family was also in town so we didn't get to do a whole lot with them but we will take what we can get!! Thanks for coming to meet up with us guys!!

Jack spotted this carousel from a mile away and asked if he could go on it. Surprisingly, he was really good on this trip. I feel like the last few weeks, he has been a different boy. So sweet and a lot less attitude. No more yelling at anyone trying to take a picture of him. He actually looks over and smiles at the camera. It might be a fluke but if it is, we sure enjoyed it while it lasted!! :)

We walked through Boston Commons which is a park made in 1630. There was a cemetery next to it that had the graves of Paul Revere, John Hancock and Benjamin Franklin's parents. We all thought it was very interesting.

And of course, we had to go where everybody knows your name :)

Boston was great. It was clean, we felt safe, and there was tons to do.

Loved it!

Palmyra, NY

After being in Cleveland for a couple days we started our road trip to Boston and stopped in Palmyra, NY. We have all been there before but we thought it would be a nice place to break up our drive to Boston. It is so fun to see the Sacred Grove, Hill Cumorah, Grandin building and Smith home and to feel the spirit of what happened there. Every time we go, I realize something new and gain a greater appreciation for what the early saints did for the church. I have such a strong testimony of the gospel and being in such a spiritual place just reconfirms that for me each time.

Aside from all of the spiritual things there, we were still able to be silly and have some fun! I know....we're total geeks. :)

On top of the Hill Cumorah.

At the Hill Cumorah visitor's center. It rained one of the days but luckily there are things to do inside as well.

Part one of our trip complete!

Amish

My parents came out this past week and we were able to spend some time with them before they go on their mission. It was a blast!!! We have been so lucky to have so many family and friends come and visit us. We love it! My mom and dad had never been out to the Amish farm with us so that's one of the first things they wanted to do.

My mom has always wanted a baby goat :)

Riding on the wagon...

Anderson was so good while they were here, sacrificing naps and staying up way past his bedtime! He was great...luckily.

Mom feeding an elk. He tried to take the bucket away from her!

I am so excited to have my mom and dad closer to us for a while. I was SO HAPPY when I found out where their call was. Yay for me!!

Slacking :)

Justin has been busy with finals and hogging the computer (the nerve) and is now officially a fourth year!! Yay! We are super excited and cannot believe our final year is here. Justin has put in a LOT of hard work and is happy the end is finally in sight.

Anderson is growing like a weed! I keep telling him to stop but he won't listen to me. Probably something he learned from his older brother. :) He will no longer sit in his little chair in the bath and is constantly wanting to move and roll around, so now we have to let him be free to move and wiggle with just a tiny bit of water. He was pretty excited the first time I put him in there on on his belly. He loved it! (Excuse the nakey bum shot...I couldn't resist!)

He is now sitting up and eating LOTS of solid foods. Now that he decided something besides a bottle would be okay, he will eat anything I give him. He really likes the bitter biscuits and will sit in his chair chewing on it for a long time. It's so nice to give me some time to make dinner or other things I need to get done.

He is a great baby. Sleeps all night, eats great, hangs out, and is ALWAYS smiling! :) I could handle another one, as long as they are just like Anderson.

The other day we were driving back from Chagrin Falls and noticed this sign off the side of the road. We stopped and it was the birth place of Pres. Garfield. It said he was the last of the "log cabin Presidents". He was elected president and then died the following year.

I meet with a group of girls once a month to play bunko and chat and this was our last time before a bunch of them were graduating and moving to other parts of the country. We had so much fun! It's nice to have a little outlet every once in a while from the kiddos.

Jack is also getting as big as ever. He's sassy as ever too! Man, he has an attitude but he is pretty darn cute too. :) I think he was sent here to teach us patience.

Desperate to come up with some solutions to the sass, we made this little naughty/nice chart to help him keep track of how he is doing. 3 naughty stickers and he sits on his bed for 10 minutes. 3 nice stickers and he gets a little treat. It's working okay so far. Sometimes he is terrified to get a naughty sticker, and sometimes I think he could care less...go figure!

He also helped us come up with our house rules so he knows exactly what is okay and what is not. He was very quick to come up with most of these! He's probably regretting it now. We talked about how we need to choose the right and now he is always telling us if he is choosing the right or choosing the "bad". He will say, "Mom, I was being really rude. I was not choosing the right." I guess it's good that he at least knows what is right and what is wrong. It's a work in progress!!

He loves blankets and loves to cuddle up anywhere he can think of, including his basket. Although he is sassy and doesn't always make the best decisions, he sure is cute and we love his personality. He is so smart and is always surprising us with what he knows. He tells us that he loves us all the time and loves for us to hold him all wrapped up in his blankey. Despite the sass, I think we'll keep him. :)

And last but not least, my parents got their mission call....they will spending the next 2 years in the New York, New York South mission which covers Long Island and also Bermuda. They are so excited and we can't wait for them to be on our side of the country now!! They actually got here last night and will be visiting with us for the week so we have a lot of fun to be had!!