Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

This title seemed appropriate since we traveled by all of the above and by: boat, a short bus ride at the airport, and countless subways. Oh, and don't forget walking. Lots and lots of walking. After 10 days, 3 airplane rides, 5 states, navigating the big city (of which I was absolutely no help), keeping track of one active baby, wrestling with a 50 lb suitcase, and recovering from major lack of sleep (Brooke slept from 4 p.m. to 7 a.m. last night) I am back in my small Utah town and the phrase "home sweet home" has never seemed truer. I have tried to condense all my pictures into collages, but there are still a lot! We crammed so much into 10 days and I had a blast! (Feel free to click on the collages to make them bigger and see all the things we did)
Of course the biggest part of this trip was spending time with my family. I got to visit with my dad and grandmother who I hadn't seen since 2006. Brooke also got to meet her great grandma. It was also a reunion for the 5 kids in my family. It's not very often we are all in the same state.

-We spent a whole day touring the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We were able to get tickets to climb up to the pedestal & enjoy amazing skyline views of NYC.
-We spent an afternoon in Philadelphia. We saw where Benjamin Franklin and Betsy Ross were buried. We toured Independence Hall and saw the Liberty Bell.
-Spent an afternoon at the Jersey Shore. It was pretty chilly & windy but that didn't stop us! Brooke loved the water, but hated getting sand on her hands.
-Went back to the hotel for a swim and got ready for the wedding rehearsal dinner. Dinner was at this Italian restaurant and by the end of the night we were stuffed!! Brooke was cranky, so I let her just dig into my plate of Chicken Parmesan & that made her happy.
-The next day was wedding day! Brooke discovered her love for bubbles and even added the word "bubbles" to her vocabulary!

I can't take credit for this collage. My dad put it together.

-Then it was off to NYC!!
We toured St. Patrick's Cathedral which was gorgeous! Then when we went to the top of the Rockefeller Center, we were able to see an ariel view. We had another gorgeous view of the Chrysler tower from our hotel room. We saw the Manhattan Temple and stopped at the American Girl Doll store too.

-We went to the Museum of Natural History (which looks nothing like it does in the movie, btw) and went to Times Square and spent most of our time in this amazing ToysRUS store.
In the store they had a ferris wheel, the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty built out of legos, a life-size T-Rex that moved and roared, and a huge Barbie house.-Went to the Museum of Modern Art and enjoyed paintings from Andy Warhol, Van Gogh, and Picasso. My nephew Carter was great with helping with Brooke. He was always able to make her laugh and smile. We spent a lot of time riding the subway and after a while, didn't mind so much sitting on the filthy floors if meant our feet got some rest :) We also spent a lot of time in our jackets. I guess it didn't matter that I stuffed my suitcase to the max since in all the pictures I am wearing my orange coat!

Needless to say, by the end of the trip, we were all exhausted!