Our First New York Home

The boys are adjusting to our first New York home (as Hunter calls it) pretty well. They love the playground, the pool, and hitting golf balls outside. It was super hot our first week here, so the boys rediscovered the joy of popsicles- multiple times a day.
We had our first weekend of garage sales and the boys found these horrible lawn mowers ( so very old, a little broken, and the new love of their lives). "Want to drive my mower outside" comes out of Hunter's mouth a thousand times a day. But they were only $0.50 each, and they keep the boys happy for hours, so I can't complain.

New York is so very different from Seattle. Drivers here aren't nearly as accomodating, but the sunshine is nice. We spent an afternoon at Lechworth State Park (the Grand Canyon of the East). The boys loved the waterfalls. Henry wasn't so certain about his new backpack ( another garage sale find that will soon find its way to Craig's List- Henry is too heavy), but it was worth a try.

It didn't take us too long to finda Strawberry U-Pick farm. The boys were great for about ten minutes, but then the lure to throw rocks over took the thrill of eating strawberries. Jordan and I picked like crazy while the boys threw rocks; we got a little carried away and came home with just over ten pounds of berries. Sure would be nice to have our Sandhurst Family to share with. We made a ton of jam, froze a ton of berries, ate until we were stuffed, and finished them out with a Strawberry pie.

Not too bad for our first couple of weeks. We are very excited to get to our "New New York Home" and finally unpack our stuff.

Journey across the Nation

Our actual journey to NY was great. My parents took our boys to my brother's house in the Tri-Cities while we loaded our moving truck; It was much easier with out two little helpers. Thanks to all our friends who helped trek our stuff down the mountain to the trailer. After a night on the floor (literally- our air mattress popped as we were sleeping), we were off for Idaho. We picked up the boys in the Tri-Cities, stayed a night with our good friends the Kidmans in Boise, and then left our babies with Grandma and Grandpa Higham, and the rest of the family for a full week as Jordan and I drove to NY.

South Dakota was amazing. There were antelope everywhere, just hanging out along the roadside. The National Monuments were beautiful as well. We spent pretty much one whole day seeing Devil's Tower, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and the Badlands. I didn't know what the Badlands were, so my first view was shocking. Unbelievably beautiful and unlike anything I'd ever seen before.

There really wasn't too much to see from SD on out, but we were able to stay with two sets of our friends from UnderGrad; The Godfrey family in Rochester, MN and the Murdock family in Cleveland, OH. It was great to see friends and how their families have grown. It also helped that each family was somewhat near other fun stops we planned- the Mall of America in Minnesota and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Mostly, it was great to travel without two babies and spend time together as adults, not parents.

New York is good, we greatful to be here and we're excited to begin this new phase of our lives. We look forward to meeting new friends and having family visit us in this land so rich with Church History.