Boston Trip

Here I am in all my pregnant glory. We decided to take a quick trip to Boston to visit a friend a few weeks before Fiona was born. We had fun walking some of the Freedom Trail and seeing the city sights. We also drove out to Concord and visited Walden Pond and went to Sleepy Hollow Cemetary. After hiking all over the really large (and hilly) cemetary--in the rain--we finally found what we were looking for. A special section called Authors Ridge that contained the graves of some very famous American writers.

Boston Children's Museum

The boys LOVED the Boston Children's Museum. There were all sorts of fun things to do from the bubble room where they could stand inside a bubble to the construction room (with all sorts of trucks and blocks to play with) to the tv room where they got to be part of an Arthur cartoon. Here they are on a climby thing (I don't know what else to call it) that was about 3 stories tall with ramps in it that the kids could crawl around in. Luke and Sam are also shown here dressed as jack hammer operators.

Sam's Graduation

Sam with a couple friends after his graduation. Now onto Kindergarten!

Sam's first catch!

Sam enjoyed learning how to fish with Matt this summer. Lake Candlewood is really close, so they liked to slip over there on summer evenings.

Bronx Zoo

Matt's work had a free day at the zoo, so we headed over there and enjoyed the warm spring weather. Luke made a peacock friend at lunch and the boys enjoyed looking at all the animals.

Grandma's coconut

Grandma and Grandpa Millard went to Hawaii and sent this painted coconut to Sam and Luke. I was sure surprised to open our mail box and find a coconut in it!

Christmas 2008

Here are the boys when they first woke up and saw what Santa brought them. They were excited to get more cars, books and geotrax. The top picture shows Sam with the first track they made using their new geotrax stuff.

Raking Leaves

I love our trees, but they do take up tons of our (but mostly my) time in the fall. Here my men are so nicely helping me out.

Westpoint

I am now going to catch up on the last year and a half of our lives. Starting in October 2008.)

One of Matt's coworkers recommended going to see Westpoint so we drove out there one Saturday. It was a beautiful hour drive from our house. The descent into the Hudson River Valley was really pretty as it was in the fall when all the trees were changing colors. The campus was very cool and the tour we went on very interesting. It is definitely on the top of our must-see list for sightseeing in this area. The first picture is of the point on the Hudson that gives Westpoint its name. The second picture shows the chapel on top of the hill and the barracks (where all the cadets live) below. The third picture is me in the gardens of the Thayer Hotel overlooking the river. If you ever go there, you must eat in the Thayer dining room--yummy, yummy food.

Apple Orchard

Our playgroup went to an apple orchard recently and the kids loved it. Though Luke and Sam didn't care all that much about picking the apples that had a blast running around with their friends and eating the homemade cider donuts (my favorite part =) ).

Narragansett, RI Camping Trip

We went camping with some friends to the beach in Rhode Island at the end of August. I didn't have much faith in a beach being very nice that far north, but it was actually even nicer than the beach I grew up with (though the water was definitely colder). The trip started out badly with us forgetting the bag with the kids clothes and diapers, along with some rain, but the next day the sky cleared up and we couldn't have asked for better weather. The kids loved the beach and Sam has been begging to go back ever since.

Summer Fun

Luke and Sam spent much of the summer in our backyard in their little pool.

Luke's Birthday

Luke turned two today! After days of coaching, he still holds up one finger and says "tree" when asked how old he is. He'll probably learn how to say "two" the week before he turns three--oh well! We were able to get lots of great pics b/c he is such a ham for the camera. He can spot a camera a mile away and loves to say "tzeese!"

Random Pictures

I'm just trying to catch up on what's happened this summer, so here goes. There is Luke helping me with laundry and Sam with his busted front teeth which resulted in an ER visit. There is also the picture of Luke with his cousin Logan (yea! Erica, or "America" as Sam called her for some reason, and Mark came to visit us for a week), as well as Sam and Luke in their Pepsi hats. (sorry for that crazy sentence.) Matt has taught Sam to be very loyal to Pepsi. Whenever he sees a Coke truck, or anything with Coke on it, he'll say "Coke is very bad" and he gets really excited when he sees anything Pepsi. The puddle pictures are in NYC at Battery Park. It was very hot that day and we stopped by to cool off after riding the Staten Island Ferry, where we took pics of the Statue of Liberty.

May Utah trip

We went to UT in May for my youngest sister's wedding and were able to see both our families. Sam and Luke always love playing at Grandma Barnes' house with her horses and four wheeler, but also loved seeing their cousins at the first Jensen Family reunion.