Trip to Connecticut and Kellie's Graduation

So we've been back from CT for about three weeks, I thought it was only fair that I finally blog about it. We went back there in anticipation of my big sister having her second little girl. We were very nervous about making it back there before she went into labor, but we made it. We ended up leaving Portland on Bella's second birthday. This meant two things: Dusty got to see her on her birthday and we had to pay for her to fly (kids under two fly free). Her having her own seat turned out to be there greatest thing for both of us. She got to sit in her car seat and I got to have a little (a very little) of my own space. It turns out that Bella really loves to fly. Though I think most of the excitement is consumed while waiting for the plane to arrive. She had been talking about "riding the plane" for a few weeks before we left and is still asking when we'll be "riding the plane" again. She really likes take-off when the plane goes really fast and then I don' think she could care less. Every flight that we were on, though, we were seated over the wing, so we couldn't really see out. On the way to CT we had to change planes in Chicago at Midway and we really had to hustle to make it to our next flight. We ended up getting there as soon as the Family Boarding started so that was nice (the plane already had people on it from it's connecting flight so we still had to ask someone to move so we could sit together by a window, a car seat has to be by the window). Once we made it to our second flight I felt much better about the day (I did not want to get stuck in Chicago and the have my sister go into labor).
Once we finally made it to CT, Bella and Lily (Jen's oldest daughter) were so excited to see each other. They were a little shy for about 2 minutes and then Lily shared her dinosaur toys with Bella and they were instant friends. They were laughing and playing ring-around-the-rosies and falling on the floor while we were waiting for our luggage. It was nice that we got there when we did because we had a few days (five of them) to hang out with Jen and Lily before the baby came. I think this was good for Lily so that when Mom and Dad left to go to the hospital she didn't freak out that she as left with some stranger.
While Jen and Scott were gone the girls just played and any time Lily asked where they were I just told her they'd be home in a little bit. Luckily they were only at the hospital for a few hours before Jen called to tell us that Abigail was finally here. Shortly after that Scott came home to get us and we went down to see Jen and Abby. It was fun to see Lily's response to seeing her sister for the first time.

While waiting for Baby Abby to come we went to a play date at the beach. Though it doesn't look like it, the weather was actually nice. This beach is on the Long Island Sound. You can see the barrier islands in the back ground of the pictures, but in real life you can just about see Long Island. We got lunch across the street and took it to the beach. Bella didn't like the fried clams, but she did like the lemon (she loves these things!).

Here's Lily over seeing her sand-toy empire.

Bella doesn't really like the sand (especially when it get's between her toes) so she chose to sit on the edge of the blanket to play with the sand.

We also spent one afternoon (Scott even got to come) walking around the Yale campus and having a picnic lunch on the Green. It was neat to see all those old buildings.
Here's the Bell Tower. While we were there they were playing a song for about 20 minutes.

The library.

Everywhere they had these architectural details that were so much like what we saw in Spain. One major difference: they all showed American History.

For those Gilmore Girls fans out there (I know I'm not the only one), here's Durfey Hall. This is where Rory "lived" while "attending Yale."

Here's the girls with Handsome Dan II. One of the former Yale Mascots (1933-1937). Every time one dog dies they stuff him and get a new one.

A week after Abby was born Bella and I headed off on our own to the Big Apple. We figured that if we were only two hours away we might as well take advantage of it, so we rode the train down for the day.
Here's Bella at Grand Central Station. She was mad that I made her get off the train. Also, because she was asleep when the train pulled in and I had to wake her up.

The first thing we did was take the subway (Bella was excited to get on another train, I was not excited to carry her and all our stuff down the stairs) to the Museum of Natural History (the one from the movie, Night at the Museum). It was fun to see what they had in their collecting. Bella really liked the dinosaurs, something she picked up from her cousin Lily. Here she is trying to scare one of them.

Dumb, Dumb.

You can't really see it, but there's a whale in this picture. It was so big. You can walk around under it and get a feel for how massive a blue whale is. I'm just glad it was no longer alive, it would have been a little frightening.

They had an exhibit on Planet Earth. It was so fun to see all this stuff about the subject I studied for three years. Plus, it was the kind of display that I would love to make someday (I studied Earth Science, Public Interpretation and how to make displays for people to look at). I forgot how much I love this kind of stuff. I felt like such a nerd walking through it.

After the Museum we took the subway down town and went to Ground Zero. They have fences around the block so you can't really see down into the pit, but they have started building the Freedom Tower so you can see that. It was neat to see the progress they've made. This was also when we got to see what the weather was doing. There were tornado warnings in Manhattan while we were there, but the worse we saw was a little rain (it was still too warm to wear our jackets) and some pretty strong winds. Luckily, it was was nothing we couldn't handle. We also got a little lost while we were walking around, but I figured it out fairly soon and we only had to walk two or three blocks extra.

We took the subway back up to Midtown and went to F.A.O. Schwartz. We got there about 5 minutes before they closed so Bella got to pick out a stuffed animal (a black lab that looks like my brother's dog, Kosmo) and then look at the "Harry Potter Store" before we had to leave. We didn't even get to see the Giant Piano that Tom Hanks plays in Big (we did see the smaller ones that they sell). I guess we'll just have to go back again. Across the street from F.A.O. is the Plaza Hotel. It will be very convenient to go back to F.A.O. because the next time we go to New York we are staying here. After all it is "New York's most exciting hotel experience" (Home Alone 2).

Down the street is the south east entrance to Central Park.

Bella really liked to horses. If we would have had more time we would have gone for a ride.

We rode the subway for our very last time and went to Times Square, Bella couldn't really care.

We walked from there up Broadway.

We kept getting glances of the Empire State Building. That was one of the things that I wanted to do, but with storm warning I didn't think the platform would be open, so we didn't go. Another thing we'll have to do the next time we go.

The Wall Street Journal

Radio City Music Hall.

NBC building.

Rockefeller Plaza. Since it was summer the ice skating rink was turned into a cafe so we didn't get to watch the skaters. Bummer.

From there we walked back to Grand Central Terminal to catch our train back to New Haven. Bella was very excited to ride on the train again. She likes to wave in photos now.

After a while she got a little bored, so she decided to watch a movie. At that point, she was quiet, so I didn't really care what she was doing. Plus, she got to figure out Blue's Clues... cause she's really smart...

Back at the house...
Bella was so excited about Baby Abby. She loved getting to hold her.

Jen and I took all the girls to the Yale Peabody Museum. I love how they're holding hands.

Which one is the Dodo?... oh, the bird...

Again, they loved the dinosaurs.

After two and a half weeks we finally had to leave. Bella was very excited to get back on a plane. She was not, however, excited to leave Lily behind. On our way home we had a three hour layover in Denver. I was very excited about going to Colorado, especially Denver since I love the Avalanche (NHL team). This is the train station that goes through the airport. It was crazy. It looked like Mayan Temple or something out of Indian Jones. While we were there we met a family that was flying back to Portland because they live in Corvallis. The little boy was talking and playing with Bella. She was in love with him. It was so cute. The boy's mom wasn't too thrilled that he was talking to us, some random people, but Bella was happy so I didn't care. The boy could not believe that we used to live in Corvallis (we even went to the same school! he goes to the kindergarten on OSU campus). It was pretty funny.

We finally made it home (after too many hours of traveling)! We got home on Saturday evening and went to the Temple with my little sister, Kellie, that night. It was her first time going through and it was really neat to share that experience with her. Then on Monday we went down to Eugene to watch Kellie walk across the stage and receive her diploma. There were two graduations (one for the whole school and one for her department). It made for a long day, but it was fun.

Then on Tuesday we took my parents to the airport in Portland so they could fly out to see my sister and the new baby. Bella was very mad that she didn't get to ride the plane. I told her that it was Grandma and Papa's turn to ride the plane. She repeated that and seemed to understand until we got to the car and she realized that she really wasn't going to get to ride the plane and she kept saying "no Papa's turn." It was sad and a little funny.
Then on Wednesday we went and got our moving truck and loaded it up and got everything prepared for our big move. On Thursday we left Portland for good and moved into our apartment in Medford. Once we get a little more of our stuff put away, I might take some pictures, but for now it's a huge mess. After all we were only there for three days before we had to be in Redding for Dusty to start work at CVS for the summer.