What we've been up to lately...

Sigh.... The last 4 weeks have been a crazy whirlwind of vacations! At the end of June we headed to Utah. Flying with a lap-seat 20 month old is just nuts! We will be paying for the extra seat next time. Our day of travel started with a 3.5 hour drive from our home in northern NH to Boston. It started out great for the first 1.5 hours, no traffic and we actually had time to stop at Einstein Bagels for breakfast. Then we hit the rush hour traffic of metro Boston. Luckily we knew about some back roads that got us to the airport in time for our flight. The only problem about getting stuck in traffic is that it caused us to check in late for the flight. This meant that none of our seats were together (and we were on a full flight), no one would trade seats with us because all of our seats were middle seats (and everyone wants an aisle or window seat). So from Boston to Phoenix I held on to Collin with minimal space, a 5 hour flight, so NOT FUN!!! We then got on to our next flight from Phoenix to Salt Lake City, 1.5 hour flight, not bad. Then we picked up our rental car, an Expedition, so awesome with lots of space, and headed to Cache Valley, another 1.5 hours of driving. Needless to say but we were EXHAUSTED!

While in Utah we had a great time! We were able to spend some time with the family and do some really fun things. We made a trip to the zoo in Salt Lake. We saw the baby elephant, camels, penguins, other animals, and we even ran into Aunt Anita and Karen. After the zoo we met up with Grandma Draper, Aunt Sandy, Uncle Russ, Uncle Karl, and Brandon and his family for dinner at Chuck-a-rama Buffet~ a family favorite. It was good to have everyone together even if it was for a short visit. During the week we took the kids bowling, laser-tagging, mini golfing, slip'n'sliding, to the movies, and to Lagoon. The boys really enjoyed spending some quality time with Jeremy and I at Lagoon since that hardly happens when we go on family vacations. And of course the countless sleep-overs at their Aunt Heather and Uncle Stephen's house. After 12 fun days in Utah we headed back home on a red-eye, another no-no with a lap child.

After three days of trying to get back to EST and cleaning up we were ready to receive our visitors from the north~ the Canada Cousins! We packed in an extra 6 people to our house, total chaotic fun! While they were here we waded and tubbed in the river in the backyard, we went to Hampton beach, Canobie Lake Amusement Park, stayed at the hotel in Salem, NH, Storyland Amusement Park, ate at Smitty's dinner/movie theater, bbq'd and made s'mores in the firepit, and SHOPPED! We had so much fun with the cousins. Collin was so sad that 'Sass' (Sydney) and 'Ade' (Aidan) had to leave.

Now the house is quiet, boo! Come August the boys and I will be making a trip to Toronto for some more chaotic fun! We're hoping Jeremy will be making the trip with us, but I have a feeling work may get in the way of the Toronto visit. So that's what we've been up to lately...