New England

So I flew to California, dropped of rhys with my mom and headed right back to the airport for a red eye flight to Boston with my dad. Yes the whole purpose of this trip was to catch yet another Rush concert. But we spent exactly 60 hours touring around NE, it was a whirlwind but so much fun! Ill start at the beginning. We landed at 6am and got our car. We headed straight to Plymouth to see this rock everyone keeps talking about. (jk) We stopped long enough to grab a few pics of the Cape Cod and some breakfast. Then we headed out to the other side of the Cape to see the Atlantic. It was gorgeous!
On our way back to Boston, we took a quick detour to Providence, RI because we figured it would be a while before we ever had the chance to go back and cross RI off the 50 states to see. We literally just drove right through. We spent the rest of the day in Boston walking around the squares, eating canolis, checking out the Boston Legal building (my family is a huge fan of the show), eating some great homemade raviolis in Little Italy, and just taking in the sights and sounds of downtown. We went to the concert that night and it was by far the best of the season. So good with the best seats!

The next day we headed to Dartmouth in NH to meet up with some friends who were dropping off their daughter at school. What a neat campus, I love the old buildings. But it was and will be VERY cold! Not my kind of school! We left them and went on to more important things... Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream factory in VT! So delicious! We had more than our share of fresh ice cream.

We stopped by these covered bridges on our way back to NH where we would be staying the night. We stayed at this cool old resort at the base of Mt Washington (the tallest mountain in NH).

We got up early to go to the Franconia NP and hike through the gorge. So cool!! It is these 90ft granite cliffs with about 3-5 feet between them.

Then we headed over to Portland, Maine to get a lobster. Yummy!!

We missed the peak fall foliage in NE by about 2 weeks. It was a bit of a bummer, I would have loved to see that. But some of the trees had been nice enough to give us a preview of what the main attraction is. I can see what everyone was talking about.










5 states in 2.5 days..... busy busy. It was a great trip though, Thanks dad!

rhys- 16 mo.

Rhys had his 15 month appointment today.... and hes 16.5 mo now. Oops! Heres the stats:

Head: 19 in. 75.03%

Weight: 26.9 lb 71.73%

Height: 33.5 94.35%

He's a big kid, but some how I just cant get enough of him. He makes me laugh daily.

• He still loves to snuggle after ever nap and when he gets up in the morning.... for like 20 minutes. I love it. I hope this never changes!
• He loves to run, throw anything, push around his fire truck or wagon, be outside, climb, open cupboards, kick his soccer ball, swimming, his baths, the beach, trucks, cars and anything with wheels (still) and so much more.

• He trys to talk, mostly just trying to copy what I was saying, but its cute what he comes up with. What he actually says is mama, daddy, doda (for koda), doggy, hi, bye, yeah, oh no, moo, baa, woof, hiss, duck, nack (snack) and trys to say breakfast but it comes out like blkfst. He also signs and says more (moe), food (foo), all done, and drink, and blows kisses like an italian eating good food.
• He has started doing this new thing where he croutches down and takes steps backwards so he can run forward to throw or kick.
• If you tell him "I'm gonna get you" he turns around and runs right back at you. It is so cute and he really doesnt get the idea of the game. But its great if he is running away from you, he will just come right back.
• He goes down for naps and bed time like a champ. I just put him down and he rolls over and goes to sleep. Rarely does he cry or fuss, more just looks at you Thank You! And he sleeps about 11-12 hours a night. Bless his heart.
• He eats a ton! The only things he wont eat is lettuce, broccoli, and the skin of tomatoes. Anything else is pretty much fair game. His favorite is sweet potatoes, strawberries, blueberries, any fruit really, milk and rice.
• He finally just cut his botto K9's so we are all done with teething till he's 2! Yeah!

Basically he is beyond cute and we adore him! Cant get enough of this face.

Labor day weekend

I would love to have a 3 day weekend every week. I think its the perfect balance. We have Saturday to clean/ fix the house, run errands, and even squeeze in a little football (did you watch the U of O game?? 72-0, poor New Mexico!) Then Sunday full of chasing rhys around the church and primary. But monday was reserved for fun and adventure. Last weekend our friends showed us this little slice of paradise in Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast, and justin has been drooling about going back since. It turned out to be a gorgeous day. Warm, sunny and no wind!! This is almost unheard of! What a way to spend the last weekend of summer. You have to park on this side with the rocks, and then paddle over to the sandy side. We only had our paddle board, so Justin actually pushed Rhys, Koda and I over on it. Luckily it was low tide and he could walk acrosss most of it.
We took our crab pot and put them out. We didnt catch any thing, but you could see them walking in the water about 2 feet from the surface, we should have just brought gloves and plucked them out.
You could walk over a dune to the other side and be at the ocean so Justin could surf too.

This kid was soo happy. I think this is one of our new favorite places.

And one final update...




can you find it?

Boating in Brigham

On the way home, we stopped to see my BF's parents who live in BC and happen to have a boat they love taking out to Wilard. We lucked out with getting to see them and go on the boat for an afternoon. We love the Rollins!

Rhys tried his first wake surf. I liked it except when the water would splash him in the face. And it looked like Justin was choking him with his life jacket, which probably made it even harder to enjoy. But he was smiling after, that was a good sign.

We finished off our trip with driving back to Portland, with an overnight in Boise. It was great, Rhys slept the entire time driving except the last hour and a half! I was amazed and soo greatful!

RUSH at Red Rocks

We did take off for our first overnight adventure without Rhys. We left him with Grandma and flew to Denver for a day to see (yes, another) Rush concert. It was alot of fun to have a whole day without our boy, but weird at the same time to not have to worry about him. Anyways, my dad and I have been trying to get to see Rush in this venue for years, its supposed to be the best. And it did not disappoint! What a cool venue!!

groupies in our rush shirts