Rhode Trip

This last weekend we headed to Rhode Island to visit our newest married friends, The Hawkers. They got married a little over a month ago and moved back here shortly after. I didn't want too much time to go by before we saw them, so Conference Weekend was the perfect time to head north and check out their new stomping grounds. It is really easy to get there from our house, we head north on I-95 for about 2 hours and boom, we're there!
Brian had to study most of the day Saturday because he takes his first of four CPA exams tomorrow (cross your fingers or say a little prayer for him), so we got there in the evening and headed to one of their favorite restaurants, Chelo's. It was really yummy and we had a blast catching up!
Sunday morning we took a nature walk near their apartment and Mike tried very hard to find a turtle for Thad, but was unsuccessful:(

Thad lagged behind a little bit, but we caught up!

They had the cutest little pond near their place and Thad LOVED throwing the rocks, of course!

Next, we headed to beautiful Narragansett Beach! It was very chilly, but it was so fun to be at a beach with real ocean waves! People were even surfing...cool, dude!

The adorable newlyweds!

Huddling together to try and stay warm!

Again, Thad LOVED the rocks and it was difficult for him to keep up with us because he had to switch every few strides for a bigger, cooler or prettier rock:)

Just carrying the biggest rock he could find.

Dad and Thad with the cool waves in the back!

The Fab 5;-)

We finished off the weekend with lots of yummy food: homemade cinnamon rolls, tortilla soup & homemade caramel popcorn to go along with the wonderful words shared in General Conference. I will admit that we had a poor showing the first hour of the second session, but other than that we were wide awake! We are truly blessed to hear from our leaders on a regular basis and we are so grateful we could spend such a wonderful weekend with such a wonderful couple. We plan on seeing lots of them over the next few months! 

Heidi-Ho and Sadie Mae

Last week, Heidi and Sadie came and stayed with us for 5 whole days that went by entirely TOO FAST! We have been looking forward to this trip for a while and I can't believe it is already over. It went by fast, but it was sure a good time! Thad I couldn't ask for anyone better as our best buds...We love you Madsen ladies!

Sadie and Heidi came last Thursday morning on a red-eye, so as you can imagine they were pretty exhausted when they first arrived, but it was so exciting to see them! We let them rest up a bit and then just headed around Norwalk to do some of the necessary errands when first arriving on vacation. Heidi and I rented a movie that night and actually crashed pretty early, but of course had some fabulous conversation and got sick from eating so many muddy buddies! Sadie and Thad couldn't get enough of each other and ran wild!

They really are besties and loved running around and copying each other!

We spent the next day hanging around Norwalk:

Stopped and the infamous Stew Leonard's and filled up on TONS of samples! 

(This is the cow that Thad is terrified of. He was in a bad mood the rest of the time we were there)

Went to the park near our house and had dinner at our favorite pizza place, Jordan's. Afterwards Heidi and I of course rented a chick flick and got some ice cream to finish off the night!

Saturday was our big day we ventured into the NYC! We love it there and love having an excuse to head into the city. Heidi and Sadie were the perfect people to go in with! Thad might disagree because he cried most of the ride in with Heidi sitting next to him, but I guess we'll never know;-)

We drove in and parked on the Upper West Side so we could take a stroll by the temple and just head to Central Park. It was a perfect, overcast day to walk around the city.

I was looking at this picture when I was editing all my pics and I couldn't figure out why we took it until I started thinking about our trip....the temple can get camouflaged in the background!

Central Park is ALWAYS a great stop and the kids got to spread their legs! As you can see in the bottom, left pictures, Sadie showed Thad her awesome climbing skills and he followed suit! I love that he learns something new when people visit: Leah taught him not be afraid of slides and Sadie taught him how to climb...Thanks girls!

After the park, we jumped on the subway to downtown and made a stop at Ground Zero. It was good to be there shortly after the 9th anniversary of the tragedy and it was neat for Heidi to see how different it was from 8 years ago when she saw it for the first time. The site was still a lot of rubble when she saw it, but it has progressed a lot and they are working on a memorial to be opened next year.

After that we took a rest at a little park and had some YUMMY New York Pizza..mmmmm!

We rode the Staten Island Ferry to get the fabulous view of the Statue of Liberty for FREE. It was a bit crowded, but we were able to get a few good glimpses of Lady Liberty. Thad and Sadie were somewhat intrigued by the water...

We then took a stroll through downtown Manhattan (where the kids finally zonked) and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. Brian and I have done this before, but it was a totally different experience at night...I mean, look at that skyline!!

We really had a fabulous day in the city and were genuinely pooped at the end of the day knowing that we had seen so much and had a great time!

Sunday we went to church and lounged around eating caramel popcorn while the kids slept:) That night we headed to the beach so the kids could get their wiggles out.

The beach is awesome no matter who or when you go...So fun!

We loved waking up to this face every  morning:

But knew it wouldn't last, so we had SUPER fun our last 2 days:

BEACH, BABY! We headed to Wesport to this fabulous beach with a WAY FUN playground. It was a tad on the chilly side down by the water, but it was totally worth it. Heidi didn't listen to me or herself and she actually got FRIED. We're glad it was the last day, but we definitely slabbed the aloe vera on that night:( I hope it was worth the pain, Heid!? 

After the beach Brian was sweet enough to let us have a girls night out! We headed to the mall to find Heidi a late birthday present, then headed to the craft store so Heidi could help me with a Fall centerpiece for my table...

What do you think? Isn't it great?! I knew Heidi wouldn't fail me...have you seen her house?

We ended the night with TREATS, of course! We should have got pics cuz it was pretty disgusting, but we chowed down on M&Ms, Starbursts and soda while watching the worst movie ever made...Fame. If you see it in the Redbox, don't even think about it! Worst ever! I haven't had caffeine it quite some time, so was forced to watch it while Heidi snoozed. Awful.

On our last day we met Sophie and Hanna at Waveny Park in New Canaan and had lots of fun taking nature walks and goofing around. Heidi of course had to meet Hanna and Sophie so she would know who I was talking to her about ALL THE TIME:) 

We really had a blast and were so sad when it was time to head home and pack up. I mean, these two children should not be separated....their moms either!;-) 

Heidi and Sadie, we love you two SOOOO much and are so happy and grateful you were able to come visit us. Heidi, you were right when you told me when I moved that no matter how far apart we live, we will always be friends. I know that's the truth. Thanks for your friendship, we can't wait to see you in October!! 

Labor Day Lovin' and the Oyster Festival

When it came around to Labor Day weekend, we didn't plan anything too big because we heard traffic going in and out of here was pretty bad. We decided to stay close and on Saturday we went to Hoboken, New Jersey because we LOVE the show Cake Boss on TLC and I've told Brian since the day he got the job that it was one of the top places I wanted to go. The internet said it was about 1 hour 15 minute drive to avoid tolls, so we thought, what the heck? That's not too bad. Well it wasn't bad until we hit all the traffic in downtown Manhattan going into the free tunnel. It took 30 minutes to go 300 yards...I guess we weren't the only ones with that idea! Once we got there we thought, hey that wasn't too bad, we're here and it will be fun. Until we ran into this...

The line to get in!!! And that was only half of it, the other half was down the block across the street! We had no idea it would be that busy and at one point we heard it would be a 2.5 hour wait. We debated about getting out of line but decided to stay in line when we met some fun people that we talked to in line for the 1.5 hour wait. 

Finally made it to the front!

Just a pic of Buddy in the background when I was paying for our DELICIOUS cannolis!

T

This is Buddy's sister Madeline that is on the show a lot. You probably don't care if you don't watch the show, but it was pretty exciting. It was a ZOO when we got inside and this is the best pic I could get because there were people EVERYWHERE!

After the excited of the baker we headed over to a park and had lunch and our dessert right across from Manhattan.

Isn't that an awesome view! The cannolis were seriously amazing and we should have gotten a couple pounds of them. Next time, because I will go back. The wait was totally worth it!

This is the only thing in the park that Thad could play on. He loved it and was hilarious of course!

We just walked around the rest of Hoboken, not too exciting apart from Carlo's Bakery, but it was actually a very pretty city!

This is the view from Frank Sinatra Park. They have concerts here in the summer with this as the background...awesome!

We of course had to stop and swing at the park to finish off the evening:)

THE OYSTER FESTIVAL:

So we have heard about his celebration from the time we moved in because they block off several of the streets around our house for the event. We live very close to the park where the festival aka carnival is held and it was finally here. We attended with a lot of Brian's friends from work and we had a blast!

We hit the rides first thing and Thad LOVED the Super Slide. He has been in love with slides lately and especially daring since Leah came and showed him how to be brave no matter how tall the slide is!

None of us have had Funnel Cake before so we had to give it a try. Loved it!!! (Are you even surprised? If you know me you know I love treats;)

These are a lot of Brian's work friends. The girls are all so sweet and I am so glad that we get to hang out with them once in a while. They are all in love with Thad and so sweet with him.

We ended the night on the ferris wheel and thanks to the Farr's we were all able to ride together. They gave us some extra tickets to pay for Thad cuz we didn't think we were going to have to.

 The Farrs on the ferris wheel

 I really felt like a wannabe carni last night! I would have ridden all the rides if the didn't cost $2 a piece and bought a ton of stuff at the booths. Luckily we only took $18, and that doesn't go too far after funnel cake, Super Slide and 2/3 of a ferris wheel ride.

View from the top! 

It was really a fantabulous night and I'm glad we could go with such great company! We are having tons of fun back here and it is going to continue with our next visitors...Heidi and Sadie Mae! We are so excited to have them and can't wait to see them bright and early on Thursday morning:)

A Sister is a Girl's Best Friend

My sister Brigitte came to visit and we had a FABULOUS time! It came and went too fast, but when she was leaving today I didn't feel too sad because we just has so much fun. Brigitte is so easy going and we had a few kinks, but she just went with the flow and was great about changing our plans.

Brig flew in on a red-eye with Leah, and needless to say she was grateful when the plane landed. They  made it though so we headed back to my place and they were able to rest. It was a rainy day and it was the only bad weather day, which is fabulous because Brig came here to go to the beach. The day she got here she was a good sport and did my hair and Hanna's hair. We put her straight to work!

The next day we slept in and had errands to run, but don't worry we made it to the beach!

Thad and Leah were so excited to see each other the first morning Leah was here. Look how cute they are together! They are pretty much BCF (Best Cousins Forever) and we just couldn't get enough of them playing together. There was no fighting or yelling or anything. They loved doing the same things and played together so well. Thad is sure going to miss that little girl:(

On Friday we headed to The Big Apple.

First stop: Times Square

We rode the train in to the city and just stayed up in Mid-town Manhattan. Without a 3rd person the subways would have been difficult to navigate with the strollers and Brigitte wasn't too picky about what we saw in NYC, just as long as we were there and had a good time. Seriously, easiest visitor ever to entertain.

The main attraction was Central Park! We played for a few hours and my friend Lizzie gave us some excellent suggestions about fun things to do in the park:

Leah and Thad were seriously in Heaven! They loved playing in the water and they were sad when we left, but...

They were POOPED after having such a good time, and they both got decent naps in for the day...happy babies = happy mommies! We walked down the pathway called The Mall. It was very pretty and relaxing. We got soft serve ice cream at the boathouse, looked at the fountain and checked out the remote control sail boats. We mostly loved it because there was a lot of space...Brig hates big crowds of people so she loved the openness of the park!

After the park we headed down 5th Ave to F.A.O Schwartz

 This was a lot of fun and Thad and Leah loved looking at all the toys and Brig and I loved the $3.99/.25lbs candy. It was delicious, cherry balls are my new favorite candy!

To finish off the night we

Luckily ran into a delicious sandwich joint called Tasty's and had an yummy dinner,

Made a pit stop at St. Patrick's Cathedral,

 Hung out at Grand Central Terminal, 

 And had a much better ride home. What angels!

We had a blast in the city, but once we got that out of the way Brig had a one track mind...THE BEACH! On Saturday we wanted to go yard sale shopping, hang out at the beach and go to the Greek Festival in Norwalk, but we were only able to do one of the above (the beach, of course) because our car was having difficulties:( Brian and I felt so bad, but Brig just went with it. We were able to get to and home from the beach, but that was pushing it for the car. On Sunday we weren't able to go to church, but Brig and I walked the 1.5 miles down to the beach and of course had fun. We planned on going to the Hamptons overnight from Monday to Tuesday, but it just didn't work out with having to rent a car and pay for the hotel and everything. So Monday we went to Sherwood Island State Park, which is only a few miles from my house and was a great find for my future visitors!

Hanna and Sophie were also able to meet up with us, and it was loads of fun! Thad is showing Brig a rock...he LOVES standing right at the shore line and just throwing the rocks in and watching them splash:)

Monday night we headed to Stew Leonard's and it kinda back-fired on us. We showed up too late to eat dinner there, Thad HATED the mechanical cow, and the car broke down on us once again. Tracy came and picked Brig and I up and Brian got towed. Again, Brig just went with the flow and we ended up having cereal and brownies for dinner. 

Because we couldn't go to the Hampton's we rented a car and drove to Ocean Beach Park in New London. Brian and I went there a few weeks ago with Tracy and Hanna, but it had the white sand and bigger waves we were looking for. We had a BLAST!

The kids were such great travelers and just played together so good. It was a perfect week to spend at all the different beaches we went to!

I am sure going to miss this doll face sucking her thumb, sticking her blanket in her ear, bouncing her curl on the top of her head, and being Thad's BCF. She is such a gem...I mean, look at her!

We headed off to the airport around 10:30 this morning for Brig's 3:00pm flight, because you just never know about the traffic out here. We planned on stopping for lunch and this is where we ended up:

Dunkin' Donuts! They are everywhere back here and it was just off the side of the freeway, so we figured we'd try it and it was decent:) We still had some time to kill and I didn't want to just drop them off 3 hours early, so luckily we ran into this park! There were birds EVERYWHERE and a lady gave us a bag of bagels to feed them, and Thad loves throwing things, so he ate it up! We just walked around and as we were driving out we saw the playground....that would have been helpful beforehand;-) Anyways, they got off ok and are in the air as I write.

I am so grateful for a wonderful sister and the wonderful relationship we have. Brigitte is all fun and is just awesome to be around. I love her so much and wish she could live in CT with me! Love you, Brig!