Trip to New Jersey

  Our little family FINALLY made the trip to New Jersey! Joe's mom and two sisters live there and we were blessed this year with (barely) enough funds to make the trip out to see them. It was so great to see them especially since we hadn't seen Ashley or Jennifer since our wedding three years ago! (Crazy but true!!) They were excited to finally meet their little niece and Grandma had a blast spoiling Claire! :)

 We hadn't been on a real vacation since our honeymoon so needless to say Joe and I were SO ready for this trip. I spent the week before helping my mom move and was a little frazzled when it finally came down to the night before we were supposed to leave and I hadn't packed anything. But we got the house clean, bags packed with everything except the kitchen sink (haha that was our little joke, we seriously felt like we had packed up the whole house!), and were on the road headed to Salt Lake by 12 on May 1. We stayed with Kayleen and Rex that night and were up bright and early the next morning for our 8 am flight.

 Getting through security was a NIGHTMARE but once we got to the gate I finally felt like we could breathe a little. We were on a super full flight though so I was nervous we wouldn't get to sit together (we were flying Southwest and they don't do assigned seating). But we were one of the first to board and were lucky enough to get an empty seat next to us! Claire did so amazingly well on the plane! I was one proud mama! She didn't cry once. We brought new toys, her favorite movie Tangled, and she pretty much just chilled until she passed out an hour before landing.

We landed in Chicago, had a three hour lay over, and then flew for an hour and a half to the Philadelphia airport where we meet up with Joe's mom! Once we got our luggage and packed the car we made the 45 minute drive to their house. We were beyond exhausted by that point. We ate a quick dinner and passed out in Ashley's room where everything was set up and ready for us! 

 We were so busy the whole week! We went grocery shopping, visited Meloney's work, barbecued and made bonfire's in the backyard. We visited Ashley's work, went to the local farmer's market, (which was awesome! Everything was fresh and cheap!) and went shopping at the mall for swimsuits. We went swimming at the gym that Jenn works at, went out to eat A LOT, and in between all of that we would play with Claire and her new toys.

She loves her new pink car that Grandma got her.

She LOVED feeding the dog!

Grandma pushing her around with her polar bear Aunt Jenn bought her. She loves that bear!

   I was really looking forward to Saturday though. We had been planning for months to go to Ocean City, New Jersey and it was by far my FAVORITE day! We spent the entire day hanging out at the shore. Claire and I had never been to the beach before so it was really exciting! We were told that it was supposed to be warm and sunny at the shore but it was windy and cloudy the whole time. We were all dressed in our swim wear and non of us brought extra clothes so we all got matching sweatshirts! Haha Joe was so proud of his sweatshirt, it says, "DADD. Dads Against Daughters Dating." 

I loved visiting all the little shops along the board walk and seeing the ocean for the first time. The water was way too cold to go swimming but we walked down to put our feet in a little. 

Love the look on Claire's face!

We enjoyed eating our fill of junk food with funnel cakes, super yummy french fries, frozen yogurt, New Jersey style pizza, and salt water taffy. Claire loved munching on the french fries and cried when there was none left. We were all so hungry that she only got a chance to eat two before they were all gone! Poor baby! Joe had to run and get some more for our little munchkin and with a new fist full of french fries she was happy as a clam! My head was killing me after eating all those carbs but it was so worth it! Sad thing is though that I made sure to bring my camera because I knew that we would have the time of our lives BUT my battery died the minute we got there! :( So I have a few pics from Ashley's phone and a few from my camera before it died.

Aunt Ashley and Claire all ready to go to the shore!

Eating breakfast at the diner on our way to the shore!

 Later that day we went shopping at Kohl's for clothes for Claire. She now has enough clothes to go two weeks without me ever doing laundry! Thanks Grandma! As usual she looks adorable in all of them!

 On Sunday Joe, Claire, and I went to Joe's old ward that he attended before his mission. It was so fun to meet all of his friends! We had a good laugh at their reactions when they realized that he was married and had a baby. Most of them he hadn't seen since BEFORE his mission which was almost five years ago and they still thought of him as the pre-mission-nineteen-year-old. Guess they didn't realize it had been so long. :) And I forgot how far away church can be on the east coast. We drove 45 minutes to get to the church building! It was crazy to us since it doesn't even take 5 minutes to get to church here in Rexburg. Haha we kind of missed our little "bubble" during our vacation.

 We also made time for one final adventure before we were supposed to fly out again. We traveled the two hours to New York on Monday! I visited New York my senior year of high school and I really enjoyed seeing it again! We rode on the Circle Line Tour. It's a three hour tour that takes you all the way around the island. It was pretty cool to see the entire city and view all the different buildings.

Waiting for the tour to start.

Hanging out on the deck!

Claire loved climbing on the hand rail and looking out the window.

Me and my grumpy baby.

Jenn, enjoying the view.

 It was fun for about the first hour but after that Claire had had it! She was so grumpy from lack of sleep and food.  We bought her a hot dog from the cafe, fed her a bottle, and she eventually passed out in her stroller.

She was so hungry. 

Thanks Aunt Jenn for keeping her happy! 

FINALLY passed out!

So glad to be off the boat!

Once we got off the boat we walked a few blocks to Time Square where we visited Toys R Us and the m&m Factory. Claire LOVED Toys R Us! There were so many toys and we bought tickets to ride on the ferris wheel that they have inside. 

They had the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building made out of legos!

It took over 12,200 bricks to make the Statue of Liberty.

Riding the ferris wheel! Claire LOVED it!! She was laughing and squealing the whole time!

Time Square!

We al got hungry, so we stopped and got hot dogs and pretzels.

We visited the m&m factory after we were done with Toys R Us. Claire was fascinated with this giant m&m.

Haha silly baby!

We enjoyed our trip in New Jersey but eventually the time came for us to go home. It had been a fun but very long week and I think we were all exhausted.

Sleepy husband and baby on the plane.

Didn't take long for her to pass out.

We were excited to be going home. Vacation is fun but we were ready to finally be back home! We landed in Salt Lake at 5 pm, ate dinner at Kay's house, and drove home that night. We were so happy when we finally arrived at home at 12 am! 

Thanks Mom, Jenn, and Ash for a fun week! We love you guys!