East Coast Part 1: New York

We recently returned from an East Coast trip It was kind of a just-for-fun trip! Charlie will be turning two in a couple weeks and we wanted to take a family trip before that happened and we had to buy him a ticket. We had also built up a bunch of flyer points over the last couple of years so our plane tickets were very cheap. I had never been to the east coast and Max had only been there briefly, we also knew a bunch of people there that we wanted to visit so we felt that it would be the perfect trip for us. 

A lot of planning went into this trip. I had never planned for something like this. We would be staying in many different places and exploring many different big cities...not to mention the planning it takes to travel with a toddler. All the planning paid off and we had an amazingly smooth and enjoyable trip. We flew into the Baltimore/DC airport on Tuesday evening after stopping to switch planes in Denver. Charlie only slept as the first flight landed which was somewhat lame. He had to sit on our lap (mostly Max's) during the second flight so that got a little crazy. He was constantly kicking the seat in front of him and playing with the tray. I had prepared to entertain him with my "bag of tricks" mostly dollar tree toys and snacks but he really just wanted to play with the window and tray most of the time. We finally arrived just after 10pm and went to pick up our rental car 

Playing in the Portland airport waiting to board.

My boys watching the planes.

After picking up our car we started the drive to Erin's house in Virginia. We met Erin through our friend Anna because they are sisters. We hung out with Erin a little bit in Utah and in Boise in the past. She was so kind and willing to let us crash at her house for a couple of hours before we woke up really early to leave for New York. She stayed up late to welcome us and showed us some great hospitality. We wish we could have visited with her longer but she had work in the morning and we had to wake up early as well. Thankfully Charlie slept well. After a couple hours of sleep we packed the car up again and headed to my cousin Kim's house in Maryland. We picked her and her 9 month old daughter, Chloe, up and drove up to New York. Well, actually to New Jersey where our hotel was. Thanks to Melissa and her amazingness, we were able to get some great deals on Marriott hotels throughout our trip. I tell you that girl spoils us time and time again. We had fun catching up with Kim! The drive was supposed to be just over three hours but everyone we spoke with said to expect at least 5 hours with traffic. We left a little later than we hoped. as we got within miles of our destination we hadn't seen any traffic so we stopped at Burger King...(bleh) to get some lunch.

Yes, I'm the mom that makes my child eat an apple at burger king...he loved it too!

 We then got to our hotel with absolutely no traffic. It was still early to check in but Max and I needed to get into New York to see Wicked and Kim was going to stay at the hotel and watch the kids. Bless her heart. Luckily she was able to stay in the lobby until a room was ready. Max and I hopped on some public transportation to get into the city. It took a little longer (and was more expensive) than we had hoped.

An unflattering picture of us on the NJ transit! Hooray...for a hot date!

It dropped us off about 20 blocks from the theater and we had to run through New York to try and get there on time. As we were running, we wanted to stop so bad and take in the whole scene but we just ran...right through Times Square. We must have looked crazy but oh well...we're never going to see any of them again. We got to the show nearly 10 minutes late and we were so happy they still let us in...all sweaty and everything. We caught on to what was happening pretty quick and enjoyed every little bit of it. We seriously can't wait until it comes to Portland. We really hope to go again! We also really appreciate Kim for watching our boy while we could see a show on Broadway!

After the show, we were able to walk back to the train stop much slower and take in the environment. We walked hand in hand through Times Square. We also inhaled way more second-hand smoke than we're used to. We picked up some New York pizza and headed back to the hotel. We joked that it took 6 hours to go see a 2.5 hour show. We are really used to driving to where we want to be and then hopping in the car and driving home. Totally different culture!

 When we got back to the hotel, Chloe and Charlie were both sleeping. Kim is a super babysitter! Kim and I ate pizza while Max felt super sick from the Burger King lunch and couldn't eat. 

Both Charlie and Chloe woke up a little later. Chloe had fun with the pipe cleaners we brought in the plane for Charlie. 

Charlie hadn't eaten dinner yet so I let him eat Pizza in the middle of the night...in the bed. Great parenting strikes again! He had no complaints!

We stayed up talking and watching house hunting shows on HGTV. haha. Charlie, Max, and I all slept in the same bed, I surprisingly slept fine while Charlie continued to slap Max in the face all night. When I woke up, this is what my handsome boys looked like. I sure appreciate all the room they gave me...I guess that's why I slept so much better than them :)

 The next morning we ate breakfast and packed up all our stuff. We drove to the PATH (light rail) station and found some close and cheap parking. This was a much more efficient way of getting into New York.

The kids started the day off super happy!

 Our first stop was the 9/11 memorial at ground zero. We had to go through quite a bit of security to get in but it was such a peaceful place. The foundations of both of the towers had been turned into waterfalls. Around the edge of the waterfalls were plaques with all the names of the people that had died in the attack. There was a neat feeling on ground zero. It was a solemn place in the middle of a very busy city. There was construction in every direction yet the grounds were clean and peaceful.

We didn't realize we were all wearing stripes until this moment. Matchy family!

These are our modeling faces. 

 I was amazed at how huge the foundations were. I guess it makes sense seeing as they were huge sky scrapers but I was still impressed.

 Charlie enjoyed a little freedom out of his stroller. We couldn't really let him do this out on the streets of New York but here he was safe.

Charlie was scoping out the pigeons. He got really exciting and called out "bir bir"

 Then Chloe and Charlie were just being so adorable. They are so cute together. They make each other laugh and it makes me more excited for Charlie's future as a big brother.

We then walked down to look at the statue of liberty which had just opened even though the government was still shut down. We decided not to take the Ferry out to it because it was kind of expensive and Ellis island was still closed. We admired it and I got to try out my zooming camera lens.

The striped family strikes again. 

We then got to have our first New York Subway experience. I felt that we definitely needed this experience while in New York so I studied the maps quite a bit. We took the subway up close to Times square and then walked to FAO Schwartz to have the fancy toy store experience...not to mention, dance on the giant piano!

 Charlie studied the map...and looked like a real New Yorker

Max was incredibly tired, probably from being hit in the face all night. He and Charlie had some cuddle time on the subway. 

We had to take a picture at the Love sign. 

Charlie got pretty exhausted and this is how he initially fell asleep. I was worried he was choking himself.

 We tried multiple time to get him to sit back but he kept fussing and falling back asleep on his throat. Eventually he woke up enough to adjust himself into this position. I guess that is comfortable for him...funny kid...all surrounded by millions of toys.

Let it be known that this is not the first time Charlie has slept his way trough a candy store! He was the talk of the store.

 More giant candy pictures!

We then went downstairs and Charlie woke up. There was more room down there for him to play anyway. 

He then get that magic "kid in a toy store" look in his eye.

We found the crazy hat wall and had to take crazy hat family picture! It definitely wasn't our first time!

 We then came to the giant piano. I was pretty excited about this...I also was not so excited about all the wild kids interrupting what should have been MY concert.

That little girl kept posing with our family...haha! I didn't even realize it until I looked back at these pictures. 

 We then got to the Lego area. It was pretty impressive with all the life size statues.

Charlie and Chloe love each other. Max put Chloe on the stroller and Charlie loved it so much that he got mad when we took her away, even though she was mauling his face. 

 It was getting dark but we were so close to Central Park that we knew we had to at least take a brief walk into it. And that is just what we did.

 Then we went back to the Subway to start our trek back to our car, then back to Maryland for our next hotel.

Modeling in the subway!

 Ladies and Gentleman...this is what a real man looks like. Max offered us the seats while he maneuvered 2 strollers in a busy subway. Good man!

Cousins! and a creepy half-faced guy!

 Max was eventually able to sit down and he and Charlie were apparently having an very thoughtful conversation.

 As we got out of the subway and headed to the light rail that would take us to our car, we loved seeing the fog come in.

We ended up getting McDonalds at the light rail station. Again, not my favorite but we were having so much fun exploring that we didn't want to take the time to eat out. 

Charlie sure knew the best way to eat the milkshake though...that's 3 straws!

We eventually made it back to the car then drove for about 3 hours to drop Kim off and go to our hotel. We were pretty tired and Charlie was pretty cranky but fell asleep quickly. 

This has been just part one of our trip, stay tuned for our outings in Washington DC, Pennsylvania, and Gettysburg.  

Tonight I am a hunter

Hi there, this is Rebecca, and I'm going to attempt to write about an event that I was not present for. I do this because that is the only way that it will appear on our blog. After I make the first draft, Max will revise and correct as needed and then this will be posted. Max did explain in quite a bit of detail all about his hunting trip so here we go. 

Max had been planning on going hunting with his uncle for nearly a year. The date and times still sprung up on us.It ended up being conference weekend plus a couple more days. Luckily as the time got closer it got shortened a couple days which I was pretty excited about. Hehe, I don't like being apart from him. He's just that desirable to me! Anyway...I mentioned in a previous post though that I was really excited he got to take a break from all the busy-ness that he has on his plate and spend some quiet time out in nature. We were also very excited for all the potential lean meat we could get. 

Anyway, On Saturday night he met at his uncle's house and they drove out to central Oregon to his 800 acre property.  I wasn't expecting to hear from Max at all as he would be in the middle of nowhere most likely with no cell phone service. He told me to expect him home Wednesday night but not to start worrying until Thursday night if I don't see him. Comforting right?   

Anyway...I was thrilled Monday evening to receive this picture text...It really made me feel like the hunting trip was worth it. I knew there was a chance he would be gone all that time and not catch anything so I was pretty excited. Seeing that Max would be able to feed his family if grocery stores were obsolete made me swoon a bit!

I don't think I could ever be a hunter. I definitely love my meat but killing an animal and then doing all the gruesome prep work really makes me pretty sick...I don't really like to know how my food is prepared. Gutting a fish as a twelve year old left me nauseated and I had to quit before I got too deep into the fish...Anyway, that being said, You are being warned that some of the following pictures are somewhat graphic...I mean, none of them are worse than what you see on people's property for New Years in Armenia but just be forewarned...

 Max got to stay in this luxurious cabin...not really roughing it!

So, as you already know, Max caught a buck! Not just any buck, a big one! I guess you can tell the age by how many prongs they have on their antlers and this one had 4 and 3. That's pretty good. Now, let me brag for a minute...because we all know Max is totally brag worthy...He shot it from 276 yards which apparently is a big deal. That's nearly 3 football fields folks! He missed the first shot but luckily the buck didn't run. Max froze while the buck looked around and then he prepared for a second shot while the deer was turned away. In Max's training he was told that sometimes an injured dear will run for miles before dying and you have to hunt them down. Max said he didn't feel like running after him so he aimed well the second time and made a kill shot right through the lung. The deer didn't run and shortly after fell to its knees. (I feel a little weird writing these gory details but it is what it is.) 

Most of the gross details come next which I will probably make Max write because...I'm having a hard time here. 

 At this point both Jay and I had successful hunts, and we were hoping that Brent would also be successful before the end of the season.

 We decided to save the pelt and have it tanned so we could have a neat throw blanket. This picture is of the "not so pretty" side of course.

 We had to cut out the meat that was damaged by the bullet.

 Getting up before the sun to get in position for the hunt had its advantages including spectacular sunrises.

 Brent finally had a successful hunt on the very last day of the season, and since I watched Jay gut and dress my buck, I felt ready to give it a try, thankfully Brent was happy to oblige. It was a neat experience really and it was interesting to see how a little anatomy knowledge helped with the process.

 This is Brent's buck, I named him Bullwinkle, but Brent preferred Marvin... or Melvin... or some other name. This time prepping the meat we were much more involved since we had seen it done on my buck.

 What a great trip! It felt really neat that we all were successful, and had a great time strengthening our familial relations in the process!

  

 Below is just a random picture of the largest tires I have ever seen! It just seemed appropriate to take a picture of them! I can only imagine the machine that would use such tires... Holy Cow!!

And It's me, Rebecca, again. Let's thank Max for his very first debut on our family blog. Woohoo!

The deer was named Rocko. Charlie loves Rocko. 

Like...Really loves Rocko