New York Trip!

For Labor Day this year, we decided to take a trip to New York to visit my family. I was a little worried about how Lydia would do with the 14 hour car ride, but we drove overnight and then ended up being the best thing. The next best thing was the mirror I bought which attached to the back of the seat and played music when activated by a remote. It was so handy to have that mirror, I would highly recommend getting one to anyone travelling with a baby!

Lydia, as viewed from the mirror.

We stopped for a potty break and when I came back from the restroom, I saw daddy was letting Lydia pretend to drive ... She was loving it, as you can see.

The trip up took quite a bit longer than we had anticipated, but we still made pretty good time. We ended up leaving around 6:30pm, and then we had to turn around to grab Ben's suit, so we officially left at 7:30pm on Friday night. We arrived just before noon on Saturday. We spent the rest of Saturday hanging out, and watching my brother burn some chemical mixture he had made not in the laboratory at school, but in my parents' kitchen, on the stove! It was pretty cool because it burned blue-green.

Sunday we went to church, of course, and that was pretty fun. It's always neat to go back to the small branch where I grew up. There's just something about a small branch and the closeness between the members there that really makes you feel the spirit quite strongly. Ben said it was some of the best church meetings he'd been to since college. On Sunday evening we headed over to the nursing home where my grandmother had been rehabilitating from hip replacement surgery, and we had a get-together with her and a couple of my dad's siblings. It was the only chance I got to see my grandma while we were there. I wish I'd gotten a better picture with her, but at least I got one with Lydia and great-grandma (and my cousin Trevor in the background):

Then we had to have some fun with my mom, so while we were there we got some pictures of her with my uncle's car that he takes to car shows. I should remember what kind of car it is, but I don't. Doesn't my mom look bold and bad?

Monday, Labor Day was our temple trip!! Going to the temple was a big impetus in our decision to make this trip to New York. As opposed to spending 8 hours driving and buying a hotel room for a night in order to visit the Columbia, SC temple, we decided to go drive 28 hours and see family to boot. My parents took care of Lydia on Monday, while Ben and I drove up to Palmyra to attend a temple session. It was the first time we had been back to Palmyra since we were married there over 2 years ago, and the first time we'd been to the temple since December of last year! It was SO amazing to get to go. We had a great time. After we got back from the temple and after I had a nap (yay!) we went down to the Labor Day picnic in Greene ... but it wasn't as amazing as I remembered it being. I think I was just always fascinated by the carnival rides. We ended up at Mimi's Pizzeria in Greene for dinner and had some uber yummy pizza. Ahhh ... I love New York pizza!

Tuesday was the warmest day of our trip by far (80 degrees instead of 65), so we headed over to Frog Pond, my favorite farmer's market, and brought home some nectarines and a few Cortland apples. (Apple pie, yummy!) Lydia got to look at the goats and the chickens too.

After Frog Pond we stopped at an ice cream stand so I could get my soft-serve fix. (You just can't find soft-serve like that anywhere but New York ... and maybe Zesto.) After we got home, we loaded up the canoes and headed over to Dorchester Park to have a boat ride! It ended up being very windy, so my dad didn't accompany us very far, but Ben and I paddled all the way up to the dam and back. I hadn't been out canoeing in forever! I really enjoyed it.

My parents were both off work on Wednesday, so we headed up to Skaneateles for lunch at the Sherwood (always a favorite) and then to Auburn to hit the New Hope Mills outlet store for the quintessential pancake flour (among other things), and then to the Bass Pro Shop to check out a handgun. Well, only dad and Ben went in to check out the handgun but because of New York State's strict handgun laws, they couldn't even touch the gun because they didn't have pistol permits. Have I mentioned I'm SO glad we live in Georgia?

Thursday and Friday we just kind of bummed around, trying to catch up on our rest before we headed home on Friday. My dad ended up taking Friday off, so when my mom got home from work we played "Ticket to Ride". Lydia helped grandma and grandpa, but she must have helped grandpa more because he beat us all!

We left on Friday evening around 7:00pm and we got home on Saturday morning just before 10:00am. Lydia slept a little better on the way back so we didn't have to stop as much. I won't say it was good to get home because honestly I didn't feel like my vacation was quite long enough! But, life goes on, as it must. Another wonderful vacation and sweet time spent with family. Can't wait to get together with everyone again at Christmas!