Christmas in New York!

This post is REALLY long. Sorry! It's mostly for me because I'm not real good at keeping a journal on paper, just here in my blog. So forgive me!

We were able to go to New York to spend Christmas with the Hess family! It was lots of fun! We did a LOT of driving, but we were able to see all the family back there, so it was worth it. Most of our driving was done either in the middle of the day or at night so the kids did really well. They slept most of the time in the car. We landed in Philadelphia on the 23 at 5pm. The kids did SUPER good on the flight, but didn't want to sleep and I did so that was no fun! Our luggage took FOREVER to come out and when we finally got our 3 suit cases, 2 carseats we were off to find the car rental place. Which is said that it is at the airport. Well it is, but you have to take a shuttle to get there. I was NOT expecting that. Chris had Jennilyn in the pack and I was pushing Jayden in the stroller with the 2 carseats, and Chris had the suitcases. (Seriously someone should have followed us around with a video camera. It would be hilarious to watch now) When Chris was lifting the suitcase up to get on the shuttle he smashed Jennilyn's legs and she started SCREAMING! so here we are with all our baggage and a screaming baby trying to get everything in with a line of people behind us. Well we did it with a little help from the bus driver and a few kind people who felt bad for us. We ended up being LAST in line to get our car, of course. We don't move very quickly! So Chris went in and waited in line with Jennilyn while Jayden and I waited outside with all our luggage since it was TOO crowded inside. It was freezing! So we got our car and took off. It was 7pm. We stopped to see Chris' grandma and grandpa Knickerbocker who live there. They took us out to dinner and then we headed home for our 3 hour drive, which took us a little longer. I stress out a lot when flying with kids, so on our way up realized that I was getting a cold sore and we needed formula for Jennilyn. So we tried to GPS a walmart and we weren't having much luck. They were all closed and we finally ended up just stopping at the one by Chris' house. We got in at like 2:30 I think. Mom & dad were still up waiting for us so it was a late night for all. I tried really hard to stay awake in the car, but I'm not very good at staying awake late at night and driving it worse. Chris was excellent. We only got the car under his name so he did all the driving. I would have got us lost, oh wait I did. Oops. We had some exciting times. Let me just say I need to work on my navigating skills! The kids of course woke up when we got in so it was a challenge getting them back to sleep and trying to get them the sleep the WHOLE week! We had a wonderful Christmas. Chris' parents gave all the kids tickets to see "Shrek the Musical" in the city. Jayden got lots of fun toys and clothes and a SCOOTER which is his favorite. Jennilyn didn't care much for the whole opening presents thing, but had fun getting into everyone's stuff. I got ambitious this year and made us all matching pj's. :) So fun! Maybe it'll become a tradition! We had family and friends over on Christmas eve and Christmas day. We were even able to spend some time with moms friend Vicky and her son Josiah. He & Jayden have a blast together! And they left their Wii when they left for their vacation! It was a lot of fun. We all had a blast playing Mario cart, Guitar Hero and of course the cow racing! We might just have to invest in one of those ourselves! Sunday after church we headed down to Harrisburg PA for a Christmas party with moms side of the family! (about 3 hours) We had some good food and we even celebrated Jennilyn & Derek (Chris' cousins boy who was born on December 31, 08) since they were both turning 1. Jennilyn loved the cupcake and made a HUGE mess of it! After lots of gifts and lots of food we headed for New York City (another 3 hours) We stayed on the queens side of the brooklyn bridge, I think! Some friends got us an EXCELLENT deal on a hotel so we could stay right in the city. It was very nice. We went looking at wedding dresses with Nicole, which is just like in the movies. Very fun! And walked around a lot. It was cold, but fun! The kids all went to "Shrek the Musical" while grandma and grandpa took the kids swimming. Jayden said he had a blast. He loves to swim! It was fun being in the city with no kids again! They don't have much fun at this age so I think they enjoyed it much more! After Shrek we walked around and looked at everything! We found the BIG Christmas tree at Rockefeller center and all the fun decorations! We decided to walk across the Brooklyn bridge, since we try to everytime we go to the city! It was like 1:30 and very windy and cold, but we did it. It is a really long bridge! We took a few reenactment photos of our engagement in the EXACT spot! It was fun! Nicole, Juston, Chris & I decided to get up early and go to the TODAY show! We didn't make it on TV, we stood in the wrong spot. But it was fun! I would so do it again, but make a BIG sign so they would come talk to me! Then we walked around Central Park a little. It was freezing again of course, but nice. Chris and I then headed back to pack up our room cause we had to checkout. We were just in time. We headed home that afternoon and had a day to rest and then we drove back down to Philadelphia to stay with Chris' Aunt Jan, & Uncle Luke since we flew out at 7 the next morning. It was fun to get to spend some time with them. Luke's got Jayden convinced to play football for PENN state! (Ok, it didn't take any convincing, he just said YES) The kids of course didn't sleep well, they had slept the 3 hours down there! But we got up at 4 to make it to the airport by 5 to return the car. Chris dropped me off at the curb to do the SKYCAP check-in because I didn't wanna pack all our stuff back on the shuttle. So there I was with 3 big suitcases, 2 carseats, a backpack, a gym bag, stroller and 2 kids! Thankfully the man was having a nice morning and was very helpful. He even checked Chris in so that we could check his bag so I wouldn't have to drag it around while I waited for Chris to get back! Then he took my carseats inside and checked them in for me for free and brought me back my tickets! It was so nice! So we waited for Chris! We were worried about security after the whole Christmas day bomb scare, but nothing changed from when we left Utah! I took formula on the plane and they didn't say a word! The flight back is a little longer because we are flying against the jet stream instead of with it, and the kids did good. They slept for the first 3 hours, but then were awake for the last 2! We were very glad to be home and trying to get things put away! We had a wonderful Christmas and a fun time! Thanks mom and dad for letting us come stay and for helping us out with all our stuff!Playing Guitar Hero

Giving Kisses! Jennilyn actually started giving kisses while we were there! Grandpa got a lot!

Christmas Morning

Matching PJ's

New York City is in the background, but my camera doesn't really work so this picture is us

And here's the city and the Brooklyn Bridge!

We had fun on the subway when it was nearly empty

Nicole & Juston. We are so excited for you guys!

Mindy
Andrea

On the Brooklyn Bridge!

The Reenactment!

The Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center

At the TODAY show. Matt Lauer!
The Brooklyn Bridge!