Plymouth and Cape Cod

I love taking little road trips! It's so much fun to have some uninterrupted (well- sort of uninterrupted...with a 2 year old in the back seat) time in the car with Shannon. This past weekend we took a trip to Plymouth and Cape Cod. I was so glad that we went right before Thanksgiving - it was such a neat time to go. Now I have even more appreciation for these early settlers. What amazing people! I was worried about the weather and although it was cold - the days were clear and gorgeous! In true "Amanda fashion" there are 500 pictures... but don't worry Jensen's - I'm saving some for the Symposium - so this is just to spark your interest....

Plymouth Plantation: The English Village

The people in the village are role players - so they talk to you like it's 1620. This lady greeted us when we came in with "How fare thee?" and asked Shannon to help her carry fire wood to her house.

Daniel in the garden at one of the homes.

Plymouth Plantation: The Wampanoag Home site

Here they have recreations of the Indian village. The Wampanoag's were the Native people living here when the pilgrims arrived. The staff working here are really Native people - some are Wampanoag, some are from other Native Nations. Very cool.

Mommy and Daniel outside of the smoke house.

The Mayflower II - a recreation of the original.

It is an actual sea worthy vessel and this is it's 50th anniversary year. When it was built 50 years ago, they sailed it across the Atlantic just like the pilgrims.

We got to go on it and see what it was like. I can't imagine crossing the ocean in that ship!

Plymouth Rock

Daniel and Mommy with the Mayflower behind us.

John Alden's home site marker. My dad read me The Courtship of Myles Standish on our way back from Boston the last time he visited - and I didn't realize Myles and John Alden and Priscilla were real people until now... I know, I know...I have nothing to say for myself...it's embarrassing.

We drove out along the National Seashore. (Thanks for the tips Meredith!) In Provincetown there is a Pilgrim Monument which was really neat. It is 252 feet tall and is the tallest all granite structure in the US. We hiked up to the top and it had such a great view! Totally worth it - even if we had to walk very slowly half of the way because Daniel insisted on walking himself...

........one........ step..........at........a..........time.

This is looking up through the middle of the stair case...yikes! Now imagine again what I was saying about Daniel insisting on walking himself....

I have to mention that this is also where Daniel decided to have a really messy diaper. We were half way up when I caught a whiff and I wasn't about to go back down - so it was going to have to wait! I just think it's funny how really messy diapers lodge themselves in your memory. For instance - I will never forget that at Shannon's graduation I missed him walking in because Daniel had the worst diaper EVER and I was in the bathroom with him in the sink trying to clean him up with my mom! That's just how it goes - exceptionally bad diapers are things mothers remember.

View from the top!

Here's the little culprit - walking up the stairs in the tower.

Daniel looking up at the monument.

So tall.

Daniel eating some grass or something.

This is an 1124 lb. pumpkin! Supposedly the largest on Cape Cod.

One of the lighthouses we saw.

Beautiful beaches - I definitely need to come back in the summer.

Daniel and Shannon walking toward Cape Cod's Highland Lighthouse.

Family picture by the water.

Daniel and Daddy

As we were leaving to drive home - the sun just started to go down! I already want to go back. Maybe next time when it's warmer!

Books of Wonder

On Saturday, my friend Lillian - (knowing how much I love children's books) graciously invited me to go with some girls from her ward to a children's book store in NYC called Books of Wonder. Books of Wonder is supposedly New York City's oldest and largest independent children's bookstore. They had arranged to have someone that works there take us on a tour and give us some pointers on starting your own children's book collection. It was so much fun and I wanted to buy the entire store! Books of Wonder also has a rare and out of print section which included an autographed copy of The Lord of the Rings trilogy that was going for a mere $75,000! Afterward we went across the street for lunch at The City Bakery and had lunch and the BEST cup of hot chocolate I have ever had! It even came with a homemade marshmallow. I should have taken a picture of it. :)

Here we are with some books that we bought. The one I'm holding is called Kittens First Full Moon which I have fallen in love with! It is the cutest book. The copy I bought is even autographed. That's how I justify spending full price...

Books of Wonder

Me with all my books (Merry Christmas Daniel...) and the Empire State Building behind me.

Lillian and me.

My Boys

Here are some pictures from the past week or two. Daniel sure does love spending time with his daddy!

Reading books before bedtime. Nice glasses Shannon.

Playing in our backyard. We finally have a little grass!...Just in time for winter...oh well.

If it fits on my head...It must be a hat.

(hey - that sounds like a good Children's book title)

For Family Night we talked about Nephi in the Book of Mormon building the boat. So, we turned our sofa into a boat. Daniel got out all of his toy tools and we "built" the boat -then we couldn't get him out of it!

Halloween Fun

Last night on Halloween Daniel had a blast going trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with some friends. We had quite a few trick-or-treaters come by our house too. It's always so much fun to see the little kids dressed up! One kid that came to our door said "I'm a total zombie." Lindsey and I thought that was funny. After the kids filled their baskets with candy -we invited friends to stop in at our house so the kids could play while the adults got a chance to talk and eat. Halloween was so much more fun spending it with friends!

Daniel gearing up for a night of trick-or-treating!

Daniel, Abi, and Dane

Daniel and Abi

Daddy and Daniel

So much food...we had a BOO-tiful cake, Hot Artichoke Dip, Carmel Dip and Apples, Owl Cookies, Sugar Cookies, Sausage Balls, Pretzels, and Chips...

These are the owl cookies I made. Mom made these for us when we were little.

Ignore the water bottles under my table in this picture!

Friends - I'm so glad you all came!

Daniel and Jacob did the pin the face on the pumpkin activity I made...This is what Daniels ended up looking like. They are quite the little Picasso's if you ask me.

Jacob's creation: Like I said...total Picasso.

Kids having fun.

The Great Jack-O-Lantern Blaze

Friday night we went to The Great Jack-O-Lantern Blaze at the Van Cortland Manor. Allison in my ward told me about it. They display over three thousand hand-carved, illuminated jack o'lanterns complete with spooky music and sound effects. It was cold and rainy - but we went anyway and had a great time. Daniel was so excited to go see the "punkins." All the way there in the car Daniel kept saying "Where are you punkins?" It was past his bedtime but he was WIDE awake.

Van Cortland Manor

One of my favorite carved pumpkins

Daniel in his stroller sheltered from the rain.

This was Daniel's favorite.

Daniel and Daddy

Daniel and Mommy

Silliness

These are just some pictures from the past couple of weeks of silly things I found Daniel doing. He always makes me laugh!

Measuring something...

Daniel made a pile of all of the pillows he could find in the house and then had a blast jumping off of the couch into the pile. Finally he settled down and just lay there reading his books.

Daniel and his friend Jackson.

I don't know where he got this idea! But he was so proud of himself!

He snaged this loaf of bread off of the counter and picked the entire center out and ate it.

New Nephew

Jenny and her husband Ben welcomed the arrival of their fourth baby on Saturday. They named him Seth Eiji Mizukawa. Thank you Ben - for sending pictures so soon! He is so adorable. Seth was born at 11:18 pm on October 20, and measured 8 lbs 12 oz and 21 1/2inches long. I can't wait to see him in person!

Jenny and the new baby

Big boy: 8 lbs 12 oz!

Look at that face!