Our Vacation, part 1

I am finally getting around to going through our vacation pictures. Here is the first half of our trip in CT. It was a great trip visiting wonderful friends.

The plane ride out went surprisingly well. I think a bit of that had to do with excitement for the trip and the fact that my mom flew with us and occupied Pumpkin pretty much the whole day. (I know I thanked you mom, but again THANKS for flying out with us...it was a huge help!) Luckily we had a lay-over after the first flight and the kids just ran around. The airport was pretty empty so we were not bothering too many people. The second flight was short and on a tiny plane. I got to sit without either of the kids and actually read a magazine! It was nice. The hardest part of the trip was the 2 hour drive from the airport to my friends house. We had to stop more times than I can count for the potty. Pumpkin still struggles with the whole needing notice thing for finding a bathroom. We made it work though.

The kids at the airport. This was between flights and they were still happy! :)
We drove from my friends house about 45 minutes to Hubby's home town. We stopped by his house he grew up in and the people his parents sold the house to still lived there! They let Hubby and Pumpkin walk around the yard and take some pictures. She thought it was really fun to see where daddy lived when he was her age. Since Hubby and his brothers were such baseball kids, they had this pitching plate in the backyard. It was neat for Hubby to take a picture of Pumpkin standing next to it. Memories....

While in that town, we also stopped by the police station to get some pictures. Hubby went in to let them know what we were doing and the Sergeant who was working happened to know Hubby's dad. He has been retired now for 21 years, so there are not many still in the department who know him. This guy was really nice and saw the kids needed a little break. He asked if we wanted to come around back and he brought out a motorcycle for the kids to see and play with. It was so neat and the kids just had a blast!

My friend's Hubby took Friday off from work so we all headed out to an aquarium. It was really neat for our kids since they really don't see many ocean animals out in the desert! They could pet sting rays at one exhibit. Critter walked right up and stuck his hand in the water. He was quite surprised when he actually touched one though! It was a look of surprise and laughter, quite adorable

This again is Hubby's hometown. We went back after the aquarium to meet up with some other friends for a late lunch. After we went to a gorgeous park and I just could not resist taking some pictures of Pumpkin. I forgot how green the East Coast is, especially with all the rain they have gotten this summer.

I think this is one of the first pictures of me and the kids and it was 2 days into the vacation! I need to get better about having other people take pictures for me and of me, especially with the kids.

Isn't this pond and area beautiful.

Pumpkin was in seventh heaven having two kids who wanted to follow her and do whatever she wanted! My friend's son L is going to be 3 in November and just loved playing with Pumpkin and she loved playing with him too! It made the vacation that much more special.

Okay, this is at that grocery store I was talking about. There is a little farm in the parking lot. No kidding, an actual farm. It was so cool! :)

Pumpkin and I both loved this sunflower at the grocery store farm. I just LOVE sunflowers!

The last day we were in CT we went to this really cool park with all wood structures. There were forts and climbing places, all made of wood. It was really neat and very different than what we have here at home. The kids loved it.

What a great visit with my friend. It was so nice visiting and being able to hang out with our kids. We have known each other now for 29 years! Even though we can not see each other as often as we would like, the friendship will never fade. I miss her and her family terribly and can not wait until we get to see each other again.

Just a sweet one of my boy before we left CT.

I love the green! Plus, her hair got to be braided again by my friends mom and it just made her day. It was so much fun going back and see so many places with memories.

I will get through more pictures soon from the second half of the trip. But, so many memories and stories to come! :)