New York

A few weeks ago, Kim, Elias, Kelsey, Mallory, Grandma, Annaliese and I took a quick little trip out to Long Island, NY to visit my grandpa. We had been planning on going in June, but he has been in and out of the hospital recently and we aren't really sure what things will look like in June so we thought we should go visit now. He has never met any of his great-grandkids so we each brought our oldest and gave him the opportunity to at least meet three of the 7!

We had a red-eye flight out of Seattle and we were hoping that the kids might sleep a little bit on the flight to JFK but that was wishful thinking and we arrived in New York all having had very minimal sleep! Once at the airport, we caught the air-train to Jamaica Station and then took the Long Island Railroad to Babylon, where we picked up our rental cars.

Annaliese and Mallory playing in the snow at Great-Grandpa's house

Sound asleep on the couch in the hotel!

We checked into our hotel and everyone took a nap! We got a suite, so we had a room with two queen beds and a bathroom and then a separate space that had a pull-out couch and kitchenette.We did a little grocery shopping and were able to eat the majority of our meals at our hotel. It had an indoor swimming pool so we also took advantage of that (although it was freezing!)

Annaliese got a new camera for Christmas that is waterproof...we tried to get a few pics in the water...ignore the datestamp- clearly I hadn't set it yet! 

The next day we headed over to the rehab facility where Grandpa was staying. He was pretty easily fatigued and dealing with quite a bit of pain so our visits with him were pretty short.  We tried to see him twice each day and it was really fun to see how Annaliese, Elias, and Mallory warmed up to him and wanted to tell him stories and draw him pictures!

Mallory showing Great-Grandpa her unicorn

Busy drawing pictures

We filled the rest of our time by hanging out at the hotel where the kids were quite content to play together, draw pictures and play with silly putty! We also ventured out to Heckscher State Park, but it was too cold and foggy to do much there! We tried to visit a fire station museum that was close to the hotel, but we showed up and the doors were locked and it was clearly not open that day! We also made it to Connetquot River Preserve State Park.

We stopped for a quick picture in front of the church where Grandma Tara and Grandpa Glen got married.

Playing cards in the hotel lobby

Walking back to the hotel...the museum was closed!

Visiting with Uncle Craig

Foggy day at Heckscher State Park

We were also able to fit in a quick visit with Uncle Bill and Aunt Grace.

They have this fun elevator/lift in their house!

Our flight left Sunday afternoon from JFK, so we repeated the whole process of returning rental cars, taking the train from Babylon to Jamaica Station, catching the Air Train to the airport and then getting through security and to our gate...everything went super smooth and the kids did great! On the flight home, Annaliese and Elias got to sit next to each other and Annaliese spent almost the entire flight playing little video games!

On the train!

San Diego

Last week Kyle had a conference in San Diego and I went along for a few days! My mom spent the night at our house with the girls and both of my sisters stepped in and helped out while Grandma had to work.

Kyle and I flew down on Wednesday afternoon and arrived with time to watch the sunset at the beach!

He spent all day Thursday and Friday at the conference and thoroughly enjoyed all of it! It was both inspirational and practical and he came away with lots of great ideas as he gets ready to launch his own leadership training/consulting business. (Check it out...Gillette Solutions)

The view from our room!

While he was at the conference, I took advantage of the sunshine and spent some time outside running. I had read online that Balboa Park was full of running trails and a must-do for anyone visiting San Diego so I figured I should check it out. I honestly wasn't that impressed with the trails I came across...one ended at a sign that said "Caution: Archery Ahead." Another had too many fallen trees/branches across it to navigate.  

I made sure to take a picture of the rental car so that I could find it back again!

Loving that sunshine!

"Palm Canyon"

"Desert Canyon"

 There was a nice trail along the water right by our hotel, so I took advantage of that on Friday and went on a nice run...it's amazing how nice it is to run by myself!

We found a pizza place where Kyle could order gluten free, dairy free pizza!

Knowing that I would have quite a bit of time to myself on this trip, I took along some of my scrapbooking stuff and was able to get Haleigh's scrapbook finished! I put together a book for each of the girls that just covers the first year of their life and I figured that since Haleigh is almost four, it's about time I get it finished!

On Saturday we planned on visiting the USS Midway Museum, but the road we needed was closed to cruise ship traffic only and the surrounding area was very busy due to a Women's March that was taking place. We decided to change our plans and went back to Balboa Park and visited the Air and Space Museum instead. We chatted with several of the people working and learned some fasciniating things about some of the planes as well as some WWII history.

Apollo 9

It's hard to tell in this picture, but the pilor of this little plane actually lays on top of the plane! 

These aircraft carriers are massive!

After visiting the museum, we roamed around the park a bit before going for a short run and out for dinner. 

We spent our last day in San Diego at the beach, soaking up the sunshine and staring at the ocean! We walked out on the pier, watched some guys surfing and ate a picnic lunch on the beach before we had to head back to the airport for our flight home.

So long San Diego...it was a fun little get-away but we were both ready to get home! 

16 Months

Lydia is 16 months old as of yesterday! She continues to be so much fun and for the most part is such an easy-going little lady! However, she will make it known when she doesn't like something or something she wants gets taken away from her! 

Sleeping: Lydia goes to bed around 7:00pm and sleeps all night, usually waking up somewhere between 7-7:30am. She sleeps with a little lovey and a blanket. When she wakes up in the morning, I usually find her sitting up with the lovey on the floor! She still naps twice/day most of the time. Each nap lasts between 1-2 hours, occasionally even longer! 

Eating: Lydia loves to eat! She will out-eat her sisters most days. Favorite foods include bananas, toast, apples, pears, blueberries, and crackers of all kinds. Meat is hit and miss, depending on how it's cooked. She likes to drink milk and water and uses a sippy cup. We have a drawer in the kitchen that has plastic cups and bowls in it; when she is hungry or thirsty, she will scoot up to the drawer, grab whatever it is she needs and then scoots over to us! It's pretty cute and nice that she can make some of her needs known!!

Activities: Lydia loves eating, stacking blocks, getting into her sister's coloring bin and opening markers, reading books, taking a bath and dumping things out of a bag/container and then putting them back into it. She's not a fan of having her diaper changed or having things taken away from her. 

Teeth: Lydia has 12 teeth and at least one that is trying to come in. It's hard to get a good look in her mouth these days! She doesn't like to have her teeth brushed but loves to chew on her toothbrush!

Clothes: Most of her clothes are still 12 months, but we are slowly moving in to 12-18 month things. She is still in sz 3 diapers. 

Lydia is still not showing any interest in walking. She can scoot very efficiently and seems to be quite content with that! As far as talking goes, she says 'uh-oh' and 'hot.' And that's about it! Hopefully soon we will see some advancement in both of these areas!!