New Jersey Vacation

We took a week long vacation to New Jersey. Some of the high lights of our trip include: We spent a couple of days at Ocean City, spending time on the beach and the board walk. We also ate dinner one night at the Rain Forest Cafe in Atlantic City. We visited with some of my friends. We got lost in downtown Philly (the scariest high light of our trip). And we spent lots of time with family; Tom, Rox, Jadyn, Kaya, and Uncle Bob. We had a wonderful time, but I do have to admit that it was very stressful. Aleigha is not at a good age to go on vacation. She was a great traveler in the car, but there was always too much going on that she never wanted to take a nap or go to bed. So a very sleep deprived child made for a very cranky child. We have decided that for our next trip, scheduled naps are a must (naps to and from in the car will not do)....I think we learned a lot on this vacation for things we will do different next time. After we left NJ we spent a couple of nights in Washington DC for our sealing (pictures on the next post). We relaxed by swimming in the pool and sitting in the hot tub of the hotel the first night in DC. The following day we were sealed in the Washington DC temple for all time and eterenity, it was an incredible experience. We then had a nice dinner at an elegant Chinese restaurant. Because it was so late when we were done eating, we decided to stay another night in DC and spend the following day in downtown Washington DC. We got out pretty late the following day, so we only had a couple of hours in DC, but we were able to visit the The Museum of Natural History, part of the Smithsonian. We then made our way home and were very happy to sleep in our own beds.
I have to add one thing about Aleigha that I am very proud of (and b/c it's funny). She is talking really good right now. On the car ride home she said her longest sentence to date. It was 7 words!! To set the stage first, we put her in a diaper on the car ride home because we figured she would sleep most of the trip home. If she is awake and wearing a diaper, she is still really good about telling us she has to go potty. About an hour or two into the trip, she was still awake and she started saying "poop, mommy, poop." I kept telling her to hold in...finally, after about 10-15 minutes of telling me she had to poop, she says, "I wanna poop in the bathroom (pronounced bassroom), mommy." And let me tell you....she was not lying. We were able to stop, and she was successfully able to hold it.
Enjoy all the pictures. The first few are from Katie and my mom's camera before the trip, but w/in the last few weeks.

Brenton and Aubrey sharing the stroller while we spent some time at the mall....everyone thought they were twins. (Everyone has thought they were twins for the past 3 weeks).

Aleigha and Katie on the motorcycle ride at the county fair.
Later that same night, Chris went to take Aleigha to ride this ride again...as he approached the the ride, one of the motorcycles fell of the track...thankfully no one was on that one...and needless to say, Aleigha did not get to ride that ride for the rest of the night. However she did go up to the man who was working that ride and told him, "Fix it, Guy."

Eli, giving the babies bunny ears

me, Katie, Molly, and Brenton at Mountwood during a family barbecue

Aleigha absolutely adored Aubrey

at the Smithsonian

Aleigha at one of the dinosaur exhibits

Kaya and Aleigha giving hugs...Aleigha loves her cousins Kaya and Jadyn to pieces. She had a great time visiting with them and was sad when we had to leave.

on the beach at Ocean City

the girls, very engrossed in, what looks like, a very scary story that Aunt Katie is telling

During this trip, I had to pump a little so Brenton would have a bottle in the temple. Aleigha thought it would be fun to feed him. It was really cute to watch her...she did a pretty good job. Just for reference, Aleigha does NOT use a pacifier; however, every once in a while, she feels the need to try it out...I guess this was on of those times.

Aleigha holding Aubrey

me, Uncle Bob, and Brenton

Group Picture

Hmmm....I wonder who is watching Aleigha???
(there in the corner, swimming in the water)

sun bathing

taking daddy for a trip around the beach

taking Pop for a trip around the beach

Aleigha getting her trip around the beach

she appeared to be the only one on the whole beach

taking a nap on the boogie board

one of her tantrums she threw on the beach

Wade catching a wave

Kaya learning to surg...Aleigha was very intrigued

I thought this was a really cute picture with my dad, Tom, and Chris, holding the girls who were all in pink

One evening, everyone else went to Ocean City again. While Chris, the kids, and I decided to stay back and relax. We decided to spent a few hours at the mall. These pictures were taken at the food court..Aleigha was getting very tired and kept propping her head up...it was too cute not to capture. The whole trip, Aleigha only had one accident. It happened to be while we were at the mall. The mall was huge!! I was in a fitting room trying clothes on when she first told me she had to go potty. By the time I changed clothes, and found the closest bathroom, she didn't make it...I give her credit it though for trying. Right before we left the mall, I took her to the bathroom again. In the family bathroom, they had a small toilet and a small sink. I decided to let her try it by herself. She did great getting on the toilet, but when she tried backing up, she feel right into it. At first, it freaked her out, but after I started laughing, she thought it was pretty funny as well.

A group picture taken outside the Rain Forest Cafe. Someone standing by was kind enough to take it...unfortunately we didn't realize till later that night that she cut off half of Aleigha and all of Katie :(