The Granite State: Everything else

In between all of our big excursions we had a little down time here and there.

Grandma was able to sneak in a book or two with Jasmine and Spider Man

While Superman lounged around.

After church we took a drive to show the kids the house Ben grew up in (his parents moved right after he graduated high school).

I love that most of the addresses out there are only 2, maybe 3 digits long. Many are only 1!

Since he grew up in the middle of nowhere, it takes forever to drive to the house so the kids were getting a little restless. Ben really wanted to show Kiara the elementary school he went to so we decided to let them play on the awesome playground there. They were in heaven! There was this cool zipline-type thing that they each took turns on and every time insisted I take a picture of them. It was pretty cool!

This was Kiara's first time on it:

And this was Eve's:

It's amazing these girls get along so well since their personalities are so drastically different (ie: Eve chooses the Spiderman costume while Kiara chooses Princess Jasmine)!

Boston had to be sure to show us he was "so big!"

When Ben was 10 years old his little brother passed away from SIDS. We decided to stop at his grave on the way home so he could tell Kiara about her uncle and Eve about her brother. It was a really neat experience. 

It's tradition to go to Ben's favorite seafood restaurant, Newick's, every time we visit NH.

Ben ordered the 2lb. lobster and ate every bite of it!

Ben's mom is a concert musician and an incredible violin teacher. She used to teach at a private music conservatory in Cambridge and always has a waiting list of students wanting to be taught by her. She wanted to give Kiara her own violin and a couple of lessons while we were there. I was amazed at how focused Kiara was and how much she enjoyed the lesson. She's a natural!

She's also pretty stinkin' cute!

Finally the sad time came to say goodbye. We all stalled as long as we could and hated to leave.

We had an incredible 10 days in New Hampshire and can't wait to go back soon!

The Granite State: Boston Temple and Plymouth Rock

We took a day and drove up to Massachusetts to see the Boston Temple, Plymouth Rock and Cape Cod. Before Boston was built the closest temple to Ben and his family was Washington D.C. and that is at least a 10 hour drive, so his parents are so grateful to have this temple within an hour. The temple had years of opposition and delay but it was finally completed shortly before Ben was ready to leave on his mission to Paris so he was actually only the fourth person to go through it!

Ben's dad is a professor so he always had summers off. When Ben was growing up they would all load in their big van (he's the oldest of 10 so they always had a big van!) and go on weeks-long road trips all over the country. He said they rarely had much of an itinerary but they would stop at every ballpark along the way for his dad and every temple along the way for his mom. I think that's a tradition we will carry forward!

Driving in New England is something else. Being from UT I am very used to and comfortable with the grid system. New England is anything but a grid! Here is an intersection in Cambridge, Mass that is very typical in any NE state.

The picture really doesn't do it justice but you can kind of notice how there are cars going every direction. Ben's explanation is that since all of the towns are so old, they weren't designed for cars. I think he may be on to something!

After the temple we headed on to the Plymouth, MA and had lunch at this awesome little cafe on the water. The kids were so well behaved the whole day and at lunch, we convinced Eve (Ben's 6 year old sister who doesn't eat anything!) to eat fish and chips! I am a fairly stubborn and competitive person and I had made it my personal goal to make her eat real food while we were there so I considered this a personal victory! After lunch we walked on the beach and found the Mayflower {replica}. It was pretty cool!

Plymouth Rock on the other hand, was a little anti-climactic. It's so much smaller than I expected it to be, I'm surprised the pilgrims even saw it from their ship!

The rock held the kids' attention for about .8 seconds so we decided to power on to Cape Cod. On the way to the car though we passed this beautiful park trail with a stream full of ducks. Now that got the kids' attention quickly!

Boston kept waving and yelling "Byyyyeee duckies!" all the way back to the car!

I already posted most of our Cape Cod pictures in the last post but I love this one of my boys.

It was such a full day but all 3 kids were perfect from beginning to end. Even though they weren't really showing it, apparently they were all pretty wiped because this is what our backseat looked like soon after we started driving home!

The Granite State: Beach Bums

Since moving away from California we've really missed having the beach/ocean nearby so we really took advantage of it being so close on our trip to New Hampshire. Hampton beach is only 15 minutes from Ben's parents' house so we went there twice. The first trip we took Ben's little sisters Libby and Eve (Eve went with us everywhere that week--she and Kiara were joined at the hip!) and his brother E.J. with us. It was the most fun I'd had in a while and the kids both LOVED it there!

Oh I love my boys!

Boss loved the sand so much he didn't mind the cool water

My little heartbreaker!

We also spent a few hours at Cape Cod one day. It wasn't quite what I expected it to be but it was still beautiful!

If you've ever spent any time around Boston you've probably seen him do a random somersault or two. The beach was no exception,

only this is what he looked like when he came up for air!

He even tried doing one in the water!

Our favorite memories from this vacation are all at the ocean so we've made a new goal to be able to buy a beach house at Hampton Beach within the next 5 years. We will allow other investors in on the deal so let us know if you're interested!

The Granite State: Nubble Point Lighthouse

My mom has always loved and collected lighthouses and she passed that love on to me. I remember when we got married and went to NH on our honeymoon I found out that not only could you be at the beach within 10-15 minutes but you could easily go see a lighthouse in person and I was amazed (such a sheltered life I lived growing up in desert Utah)!

Every trip since then has included a visit to York, Maine (Ben's parents only live 10 minutes from the NH/ME border) to see Nubble Point Lighthouse. Nubble Point is a really famous lighthouse that is in a lot of paintings and lighthouse books. It has really become one of my favorite places in the world and Ben promised me that one day we'll have a summer home there. I could sit on those rocks staring at the water all day. It is the definition of peace and tranquility and I always have a hard time leaving.

I love that I didn't pose her for any of these shots. She is such a natural ham!

I hope my kids will always realize that they have the best dad in the world. We all hit the jackpot with him!

So if you're ever in New England you should definitely take a trip to Maine and see this awesome landmark. I mentioned in my last post that Fenway is Ben's version of paradise and Nubble Point is definitely mine!