Noe News is Good News

New Mexico- Day 1

I wish I hadn't put this off for so long. I promised myself not to- this is when details and memories get lost and it feels so sad. We had such a great time in New Mexico and I didn't really want to forget.

We decided to take it easy the first day since we knew the kids would be getting adjusted and possibly quite moody. So we took them to the botanical gardens and the aquarium. This may have been enough to convince me to move. I LOVED this garden. SO many things to do for little kids I could imagine going here all the time. There was a castle maze with all sorts of cool things like huge ants and food, a butterfly garden, and Landen's favorite- a model train set-up right in the middle of the park. Those are only a few of the things to do there. There is also a lake with lots of ducks to feed and a train you can ride to the zoo close by.

We packed a lunch and pretty much let the kids run around and have fun.The Aquarium is also right there next to the garden. It's small, but perfect for a little family who doesn't want to spend all day there. We LOVED the big tank with sharks!! The white turtle was also quite fascinating!

New Mexico!! (part 1)- The Plane Ride

Our long overdue first "just-us" family vacation! After many years of promising a visit, we finally headed to New Mexico to visit one of my oldest and best friends. All the other fun stuff we did in NM was just an added plus! It was truly a fun and relaxing vacation... I personally did not want to come back home to face reality once again- and all the things on my to-do list that had been ignored for a week. It's definitely a vacation that will live on in our memories!!

This was Landen's first plane ride and of COURSE he was excited! But safety first... he immediately grabbed the safety instructions and read up. The picture is SO NOT POSED! Love it.



Joselyn just was silly, really...


It was a good plane ride... but I've learned a few things about traveling with toddlers. I booked an evening flight when it was a choice because I knew the kids would sleep and not get bored. But the sleeping is actually what caused us most of the issues! Trying to carry all our carry-on lugguge and a sleeping baby boy was not the easiest thing in the world for Adam! Next time we will travel during the day.

Well, so many more pictures to come within the week! I have a lot to catch up on!

The Animal Farm

Still in Amish country, we came accross a little animal farm. The best petting zoo I have EVER been to. Joselyn and Landen got to hold baby bunnies and ducklings as long as they wanted! Oh, and me too! They were so cute. I didn't want to leave... errrr I mean the kids.

Oh and check out Llama Llama (as we called him- he looks exactly like him, don't you think?)








 


This little parrot was doing all sorts of talking!



To say that Joselyn loved this little duckling is an understatement. She didn't want to leave. We may just have to get a duck one day. If I have my dream, we will one day have a lot of land and have ducks AND chickens AND bunnies! The little duckling even went to sleep in Joselyn's hands. Can it get any sweeter than that?

Amish Country

On our way home, we decided to drive through Amish country. It's SOOOO beautiful. I can't help but admire their simplicity in life- I want to be more like them in a lot of ways. My favorite thing to see as we drove through the country side was all the clothes hanging out on the lines. The facbrics were basically patternless but bold in color and were hung so neatly across the line. It was beautiful.



My dad got this picture of some shirts... look at that perfection!



We also drove on a street with no name... funny.



Love the smiley face barn :)



An old covered bridge...





And the Longeburger headquarters... the kids thought this was so funny! A HUGE basket!

A 4th of July Party

It was so fun to finally get to meet all of my dad's family. I met so many new people and loved every single one! They were so kind and welcoming and treated me as if they'd known me their whole lives! Landen and Joselyn loved everyone too. I can't wait to get to known everyone better. Our time together was much too short, really!





Truth be told I really really do not like these pictures of myself at all. But I had to have pictures with my aunts and uncles. A lot of people have told me that I look more like this family than my mom's side of the family. I fit right in!





My uncle Joe's daughter and wife, and my other uncles wife.







Joselyn and Landen were in love with Nicole by the end of the afternoon.

Lake Eerie

When we approached Lake Eerie, Joselyn thought it was the ocean. It's that big. Good for us, it actually had a beach so we got to introduce the kids to waves. It wasn't the prettiest beach ever- in fact there were signs that suggested you didn't submerge your whole body. But that didn't stop a lot of people, and we let the kids put their feet in the water. This was a fun stop and we spend a few hours here. Landen was given a small plastic shovel by someone so he dug in the dirt most of the time, while Joselyn made some new friends and played with them most of the time (a mother and her cute little boy).

Before heading to the beach we checked out the pier and watched all the sailboats pass by.










When we got to the beach, the kids were afraid of the waves at first. But they soon were used to them and playing in the water with ease.

After playing in the water, we treated outselves to some yummy yummy ice cream. I mean it was really really good. Watching the kids all sand covered and sunkissed getting ice cream all over their faces and fingers has to be one of my favorite things about this trip! I mean it too!

Little Italy

Little Italy was just as charming as I imagined it would be. Little alleys with strings of lights, brick paved streets and sweet little shops lining the streets. Here is the church where my father was baptized as a baby.



We stopped by a little bakery called Presti's for breakfast and I wish I could have tried one of everything!!! Instead, we shared a little bit of a few things so we could all have a taste. The canolis were delicious and my favorite was the fruit tart. I was too busy eating and making sure the kids didn't run away to take pictures of the beautiful baked goods.



After breakfast we walked the streets and I got a little history lesson. This is the street that my father was born on. A cute little brick road.



Down this street there is a little Deli, and that used to belong to my great grandfather. That is where my grandfather was raised and where my father was born. The rest of his siblings from another marriage (my aunts and uncles) grew up here. Isn't it cute?















This picture makes me laugh so hard.

A different kind of corny.

My dad insisted we stop by this field in Columbus that had corn cobs sticking out of the ground. Sure, why not? The kids found it hilarious and Landen even tried to take a bite!

Jungle Jims

Of course if you know my dad, you know that any trip to one place can't just be straight there and back. Anything interesting or note worthy along the way will be fit into the schedule for a visit. On our way to Cleveland we stopped by to see my brother Seth and his family's new little place and down to the road to visit the great Jungle Jims. Adam and I have decided that we will be making trips down that way quite often so that we can see family, visit IKEA and go to Jungle Jims for there incredible variety of food! I must say that Seth and Holly picked a great place to live! A grocery store that has a giant animated can of soup swinging from the ceiling is high up there in the coolness factor.



The kids of course loved the candy. We saw some HUGE suckers... which we did not get but that warranted a picture.



I think these were about the weirdest things I saw there... green bean, durian (or otherwise known as the stinky fruit and trust me it really does stink), and taro bean popsicles. Anyone?

A trip to Columbus OH

The last overnight trip Adam and I had together was when I was shooting a wedding in North Carolina. Although we had some nice conversation, we didn't get to spend much time together having fun. So when a client wanted me to take engagement pictures in Columbus OH, I thought I'd make a fun trip out of it with Adam! And we really did have a lot of fun. I got a nice hotel through priceline at a good price and we headed out last Friday afternoon. On our way to OH, we stopped at Newport on the Levee for some dinner and a walk across the purple people bridge. OK. We actually did not walk across it... only half way. Or a quarter.











Newport on the Levee is quite happenin'!! There were all sorts of fun things going on... live music, vendors and this crazy but AMAZING magician!!






This trick was so amazing it was scary. He had given this girl a kiwi to hold on to and then a few minutes later had a guy write his name on a $20 bill. About 10 minutes later he got that kiwi and pulled the $20 bill out of the center- wet sticky and all. AMAZING! How did he DO that??

We stayed at the Hilton in Columbus- a nice modern hotel which was pretty new. Since this was also kind of a birthday getaway for Adam, I wanted to be sure it was a place he'd enjoy and this definitely was. If you're ever in the area I highly recommend it! Not to mention it is close to some REALLY good shopping!

After I finished my photo shoot in the morning, we started driving back. We did some window shopping at Easton Shopping Plaza- a place so cool it makes me want to live in Columbus just so I can shop there all the time! We also stopped by IKEA. SO MUCH FUN! I didn't take many pictures after our day in Newport, but it was a nice memorable getaway!