I love the spring and summer. Lucas and I pretty much spend our days outside soaking up the sun and playing. However, this past couple of weeks it has been too hot to go outside. I am sticky all of the time from the humidity. Poor Lucas, his head is soaking wet by the time we get home from picking Craig up at work. We went swimming yesterday and that was a nice break, but today it is hot and driving home from the grocery store I could see the humidity hanging in the air. There is a plus side, I will be leaving this all behind in a week, I know it will be hot in Utah, but I am sure looking forward to that dry heat, my hair not looking like a frizzy wavy mess and my clothes not clinging to me.
EDIT: In addition to all of the heat and humidity, our A/C died over the hottest weekend of the year. We set new records for temperature that broke previous ones from the 1930s. It was 102F outside and the heat index with the humidity was over 112F. It got up over 90F in our apartment. Unfortunately we were hosting some youth for a regional youth conference at our house on one of those nights. We felt bad for them. Thankfully we have some wonderful new ward members who loaned us a portable window A/C unit that we put in Lucas' bedroom. So while we had 93F+ in our bedroom during the night, Lucas slept in a comfortable 78F room. The A/C did get fixed on Monday morning, but by then the temperature had dropped to the mid-70s (of course).
Monday, July 25, 2011
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Family visit
We are so glad that my family came to visit. We had a ton of fun. Lucas loved it. He really enjoyed playing with Aunt Kenzie and Grandma and Grandpa. Though he calls grandma and grandpa by the same name (it is a variation of 'grandpa'), they both enjoyed seeing him. We went swimming up at Green Wood Furnace, watched the fire works, Lucas helped Aunt Kenzie and Grandma husk corn. It was fun, and came and went way too fast. No worries, we will be seeing them in about two weeks, actually less than that (I'm writing this weeks late). I keep telling Lucas were going to fly on an airplane to see them and he seems to think that will be fun, maybe not the plane ride, but the visit will be fun! We look forward to see everyone.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
New York City, Part 2
The next day was spent in Midtown Manhattan. Once again we hit all the touristy spots (of which I didn't take many pictures for some reason. Probably because I already took pictures of them all when we went to New York before). We walked from Juilliard down Broadway to Times Square. Then walked to the New York city Library, down to the Empire State building, back up to the Rockefeller Center, across the street to St. Patrick's Cathedral, picked up a hot dog from a street vendor, made our way to Grand Central Station, across Manhattan to the United Nations building, up to Dylan's Candy Bar on our way to Central Park, cut through Central Park on our way to Levain Bakery (the real reason for Katie going to New York), back down to Times Square where we ate dinner at Ben's Delicatessen (awesome pastrami!) and finally picked up cheesecake to go at Juniors before sprinting back to the car so we didn't get charged extra. Whew, what an exhausting day. Previously when Katie and I had gone to New York, we did a similar walking route and I think the tally was somewhere around 15 miles of walking.
The one thing that we did that Katie and I had never done before was go to the top of the Rockefeller Tower, where I took these panoramas:
The one thing that we did that Katie and I had never done before was go to the top of the Rockefeller Tower, where I took these panoramas:
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| Looking North from "Top of the Rock". Click HERE for high resolution. |
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| Looking South from "Top of the Rock". Click HERE for high resolution. |
New York City
After our adventures in Maine, we continued on to New York City. We spent two days in the city, one in the financial district and one in Midtown Manhattan, both times driving into the city, parking and then walking everywhere. It was a fun and exhausting two days in the city. Lucas, however, thought it was great.....especially the pigeons.
We saw all the standard tourist stuff in the financial district including Wall Street, Trinity Church, St. Paul's Chapel, and Ground Zero. Ground Zero is currently closed off entirely in preparation for the opening of the 9/11 memorial that will be opening on 9/11/11. We did see the progress being made on the new World Trade Center tower.
One cool thing that we saw, that I didn't even know existed, was the Federal Hall across the street from the New York Stock Exchange. New York City was the Capitol of the United States for ~1.5 years from mid-1788 to 1790, and is the site of George Washington's inauguration.
For lunch we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and ate at Grimaldi's Pizzeria. The walk across the bridge was long and hot, but the pizza was completely worth it. It probably has something to do with how hungry I was, but Grimaldi's is among some of the best pizza I've ever eaten. Even Lucas had a good time.
After more wandering around, we made our way up to Little Italy for dinner. We ending up picking Ristorante Da Gennaro and had a good time, although I don't think anything could top the pizza we'd already had for lunch.
We saw all the standard tourist stuff in the financial district including Wall Street, Trinity Church, St. Paul's Chapel, and Ground Zero. Ground Zero is currently closed off entirely in preparation for the opening of the 9/11 memorial that will be opening on 9/11/11. We did see the progress being made on the new World Trade Center tower.
One cool thing that we saw, that I didn't even know existed, was the Federal Hall across the street from the New York Stock Exchange. New York City was the Capitol of the United States for ~1.5 years from mid-1788 to 1790, and is the site of George Washington's inauguration.
For lunch we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and ate at Grimaldi's Pizzeria. The walk across the bridge was long and hot, but the pizza was completely worth it. It probably has something to do with how hungry I was, but Grimaldi's is among some of the best pizza I've ever eaten. Even Lucas had a good time.
After more wandering around, we made our way up to Little Italy for dinner. We ending up picking Ristorante Da Gennaro and had a good time, although I don't think anything could top the pizza we'd already had for lunch.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Leaving Maine....
After our second night in Bar Harbor, we headed south along the coast toward New York City. We found a little park in Camden, ME where we could eat lunch. The park sat on the city harbor, which made for another scenic panorama (I'm really getting into taking these panoramic shots, so hopefully you like them).
After our lunch trip, we continued on to Kennebunkport, ME to visit an Air Force site that Katie's dad comes to often in conjunction with his work. As we passed Kennebunkport pulled over on the side of the road to gawk at the city's most famous resident (or at least there home): George H. W. Bush. Notice the Texan flag flying next to the American flag. The house sits out on a peninsula with a series of other houses/building along the rest of the peninsula, culminating with the Secret Service house.
As we continued on south, we had to make one more stop and try some local clam chowder at Shea's Riverside Restaurant. They claim to have the best clam chowder in the area, which was backed up by Steve's personal recommendation. I have to say, it was pretty good.
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| Camden, ME harbor. Click HERE for high resolution. |
After our lunch trip, we continued on to Kennebunkport, ME to visit an Air Force site that Katie's dad comes to often in conjunction with his work. As we passed Kennebunkport pulled over on the side of the road to gawk at the city's most famous resident (or at least there home): George H. W. Bush. Notice the Texan flag flying next to the American flag. The house sits out on a peninsula with a series of other houses/building along the rest of the peninsula, culminating with the Secret Service house.
As we continued on south, we had to make one more stop and try some local clam chowder at Shea's Riverside Restaurant. They claim to have the best clam chowder in the area, which was backed up by Steve's personal recommendation. I have to say, it was pretty good.
Bar Harbor, ME
(Craig, again)
The furthest extent of our vacation took us to Bar Harbor, ME. The city name, using the local accent, is pronounced as "Bah Ha-bah". Every time I heard a local say the name of the city I was reminded of that scene from Jaws when Chief Brody jokingly practices his "islander" accent:
Bar Harbor is just outside the gates of Acadia National Park, which itself is entirely contained on an island, just off the coast of the mainland. It is a touristy city, but nice. During the evening we took a walk down into the town and down to the actual harbor. Lucas got to stand in the water while myself, McKenzie and Steve skipped stones.
Everywhere you look (including in the pictures, if you look carefully enough) the water is covered in multi-colored markers indicating crab and lobster traps. As such, the main menu item of every restaurant in town is crab or lobster. Not wanting to be left out, we made sure and stop at a local lobster pound a pick up a couple of the monsters. Lucas just liked the ketchup.
We spent most of the day driving around Acadia National Park. There is a single "sand" beach in the park that is popular for swimming for both tourists and locals. We didn't swim, but Lucas enjoyed chasing and being chased by the waves. The beach isn't actually made of sand, but rather various minerals and very finely crushed shells. The cove keeps away the Atlantic Ocean waves that would normally pull the sand back out to sea.
The best part of the park (in my opinion) was the drive to the top of Mount Cadillac. Sitting in the center of the park, it provides a great panorama view of the island. It also has the distinction of being the highest point in the U.S. along the eastern shore. This means that it is literally the first point in the US to see the light of the sun. Pretty neat.
The furthest extent of our vacation took us to Bar Harbor, ME. The city name, using the local accent, is pronounced as "Bah Ha-bah". Every time I heard a local say the name of the city I was reminded of that scene from Jaws when Chief Brody jokingly practices his "islander" accent:
Ellen Brody: You see the kids?
Brody: They must be in the back yard.
Ellen Brody: In Amity, you say "yahd".
Brody: They're in the "yahd", not too "fah" from the "cah".
Bar Harbor is just outside the gates of Acadia National Park, which itself is entirely contained on an island, just off the coast of the mainland. It is a touristy city, but nice. During the evening we took a walk down into the town and down to the actual harbor. Lucas got to stand in the water while myself, McKenzie and Steve skipped stones.
Everywhere you look (including in the pictures, if you look carefully enough) the water is covered in multi-colored markers indicating crab and lobster traps. As such, the main menu item of every restaurant in town is crab or lobster. Not wanting to be left out, we made sure and stop at a local lobster pound a pick up a couple of the monsters. Lucas just liked the ketchup.
We spent most of the day driving around Acadia National Park. There is a single "sand" beach in the park that is popular for swimming for both tourists and locals. We didn't swim, but Lucas enjoyed chasing and being chased by the waves. The beach isn't actually made of sand, but rather various minerals and very finely crushed shells. The cove keeps away the Atlantic Ocean waves that would normally pull the sand back out to sea.
The best part of the park (in my opinion) was the drive to the top of Mount Cadillac. Sitting in the center of the park, it provides a great panorama view of the island. It also has the distinction of being the highest point in the U.S. along the eastern shore. This means that it is literally the first point in the US to see the light of the sun. Pretty neat.
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| Looking Down on the town of Bar Harbor, ME. Click HERE for high resolution. |
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| Complete panorama from Mount Cadillac. Click HERE for high resolution. |
Thursday, July 14, 2011
On to Maine...Cape Neddick Lighthouse
(Craig stepping in again to help get caught up on the blog)
Katie's Mom had two things that she has wanted to do ever since we moved back East: 1) visit the New England states, particularly Maine, and 2) go to New York City. Despite the fact that we're still going to be here a couple more years, we decided to do both of them in one trip (crazy!). We drove all the way from Central PA to Bar Harbor, ME (with a night at a sketchy Super 8 Hotel in Waterbury, CT) which is a little over 700 miles. As we crossed into Maine we stopped at a lighthouse near Cape Neddick Harbor for lunch. Looking out at the open ocean coupled with the rocky shore and the lighthouse was a sight to behold (see the below panorama). In fact, it may have been the most picturesque place we saw the entire trip.
Lucas was so happy to get out of the car, and the ocean just made it that much better. He loved every minute of it. Fortunately the tide was out, so Lucas could splash in the tide pools and chase crustaceans with Grandma Les.
Katie's Mom had two things that she has wanted to do ever since we moved back East: 1) visit the New England states, particularly Maine, and 2) go to New York City. Despite the fact that we're still going to be here a couple more years, we decided to do both of them in one trip (crazy!). We drove all the way from Central PA to Bar Harbor, ME (with a night at a sketchy Super 8 Hotel in Waterbury, CT) which is a little over 700 miles. As we crossed into Maine we stopped at a lighthouse near Cape Neddick Harbor for lunch. Looking out at the open ocean coupled with the rocky shore and the lighthouse was a sight to behold (see the below panorama). In fact, it may have been the most picturesque place we saw the entire trip.
Lucas was so happy to get out of the car, and the ocean just made it that much better. He loved every minute of it. Fortunately the tide was out, so Lucas could splash in the tide pools and chase crustaceans with Grandma Les.
Busy Bees
We have been really busy this past month, which is why it has been awhile since our last blog. My parents came into town this past month for a couple of weeks. We spent the previous weeks preparing for there arrival. Attempting to finish some projects up and de-clutter the house. There was a lot to get down, but we were successful and ready for their arrival minutes before they pulled up! Now we have to get caught up with all the things we've done and the pictures we've taken the past few weeks.....
Stay tuned.
Stay tuned.
mmmmmm
The last couple of weeks, whenever Lucas eats something he thinks is yummy (which is pretty much anything he eats), he will look at me and say, "mmmm... mommie that is good". It is pretty adorable and I have pretty much let him eat just about anything so I can hear him say it. Lucky for us, Lucas is not big into sweets, which is pretty surprising since that is what I am known for. Making and eating sweets is essentially my hobby! We have taken him to the dairy a couple of times for ice-cream, he will eat a couple of bites and then he is done. Guess we can't complain about that.
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