We had a fun time going to HersheyPark on Saturday!
It is about 1 1/2 hours away from our house. They do a Christmas themed park during December so we grabbed some discounted tickets. They have reindeer (Ethan saw them and turned around saying "No!), Santa (Ethan wouldn't go near him so we skipped Santa), and lights and decorations everywhere.
The park itself is nicer than I was expecting. About half the park is closed during the winter months-- the bigger roller coasters and waterpark are all shut down due to the weather and cold. However, all of the kiddie rides were open and the kids had a blast. Of course, we also had to go on the train. It was about 40 degree outside so we were all bundled up. We knew it was time to go when both of the kids wanted to be carried rather than walk or sit in the stroller...
We did stop by the Hershey Chocolate World on the way out as well. They have a "factory tour"... but it doesn't take you to the factory! It is kind of like "It's a small world" where you sit in these moving vehicles and there are animatronic cows dancing and singing and telling you how chocolate is made...
Ethan and Adalyn had a blast on this ride. Love their facial expressions!
Kristen and Adalyn all bundled up for our fun
Ethan in a rocket ship
Ethan and I on the train
Ethan on the carousel ride
Oh, and by the way, we're expecting! Due June 29, 2017
It has been an adjustment, but we are settled in and have been enjoying living in Pennsylvania. Jeremy works A LOT as we expected, but we still find time for fun!
The kids love to run around and play in our big, fenced backyard. They also love to catch fireflies in the summer!
Ethan's jam came on while we were furniture shopping!
Jeremy and I took a trip to New York City while Robin watched the kids. It was just what we needed!
Wicked on Broadway!
Empire State Building
Statue of Liberty
The kids and I also went to Torch Lake with Jeremy's family. The kids loved the sand and Ethan had his first boat ride!
Adalyn turned one back in February. Time flies. She had fun opening her presents. She has such a sweet personality and is very fun to be around.
The same reaction in all three pictures!
That's a big cake for a little girl!
Ethan turned four. He is obsessed with Transformers: Rescue Bots, Octonauts, Paw Patrol, and all superheroes. He tells us that he wants to be a "superhero firefighter" when he grows up. He is a great big brother to Adalyn (although he doesn't like her going into his room!).
His birthday was on a Sunday this year so it was pretty low key. We did presents and cake. We wanted him to have a birthday party with his friends since we are moving in a couple of weeks, so we did that today.
We had a birthday party with some of his friends. He loved playing games, opening presents, and eating cupcakes
Ethan has been in preschool this year. His class did an end-of-year presentation. He was very shy throughout the whole thing and didn't sing in any of the group songs. However, he did a great job reciting his poem "Little Boy Blue"!
He is quiet but hopefully audible!
We also celebrated Kristen's birthday!
Easter picture of the kids on the grounds of the Lubbock temple
Bird picture for Uncle Neil. Cardinal, Palo Duro Canyon, March 2016
I took this picture of Ethan all dressed up for church. I convinced him to stand still and smile by bribing him with tootsie rolls! He insists on wearing the tie outside the sweater "so he can see it!"
My parents came out to visit last weekend. We had lots of fun with them!
Ethan was constantly asking to play with Mimi and Grandpa! If Grandpa said, "I need to go to the bathroom," Ethan would run out to find Mimi and say, "Mimi, do you want to play with me?!"
On Friday, we went to the county fair. We showed up at 12:50, 10 minutes before they started to charge admission. Unfortunately, we also had to wait until the rides opened at 3! So we wandered around looking at the livestock and various exhibits. We also had some excellent fair food! I had a yummy footlong corndog while the rest of the family turned their nose up at my purchase and decided on some BBQ pork sandwiches. They said that their sandwich was tasty but that's not an authentic fair food item! Ethan kept asking us if it was 3 o'clock yet so he could go on the rides. It finally opened and he had a blast. Later in the evening, we dropped Ethan off at the babysitting group and headed to Longhorn Steakhouse for an excellent dinner.
The rest of the weekend, we watched conference, went out to eat several times, enjoyed some delicious meals and treats from Kristen, and spent lots of time playing with Ethan and Adalyn.
Cuddles with Mimi
Ethan opened his Christmas presents several months early! We are putting his helicopter together in this picture.
Adalyn is now crawling! She mostly goes backwards but she has started going forward a little bit over the past several days
So we decided to go down to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico yesterday. It is a little drive-- over 3 hours each way. We left in the morning and made it to the town of Carlsbad for lunch. We then drove the rest of the way to the caverns. We stopped by the visitor's center first to buy our tickets and look at some of the exhibits. Ethan liked playing in the mock cave that they have!
Ethan in the mock cave in the visitor's center
Ethan looks like he's ready to go caving!
Adalyn too!
There are two different ways to get down to the cave. You can either go through the natural entrance
and walk in through cave passages for an hour until you get to the main cavern. The other option is to take an elevator ride straight from the visitor's center down to the main cavern! Since we had two little kids, we decided to take the easier way! The elevator takes you 750 feet down into a side cavern that has been converted to a below ground rest area, complete with gift shop, restrooms, and drinking fountains.
The main cavern is HUGE. They have built a paved walking path with hand railings so you can walk around it. The walk takes about 1 1/2 to 2 hours! We were probably about 2 hours since we were slow and took a few breaks. They have also put some lights throughout the caverns, but trust me, it is still mostly black and dark. The pictures I have are some of the most well lit parts and I tried to take lots more that were too dark to see. I can only imagine being an early cave explorer with only hand lanterns. It would be very difficult to figure out where you are and how massive it truly is.
It seemed like we were some of the only ones crazy enough to bring such young kids into the cave! It was a lot of work since you can't take strollers. Ethan insisted on being carried a good portion of the trip too... However, it was worth it to see this natural wonder.
These stalactites looked like crystals on the ceiling
