Around Our House

Phew! What a week! This is a long post.

Sunday after church, we drove to Pennsylvania where Tommy's aunt and great aunt live. His extended Montoya side had a family reunion there and several family members were there visiting from New Mexico (including his grandparents and great grandma). Tommy's brother and his family who live in Delaware were also there. It was great to see everyone.

Monday the family rented a charter bus to take us into New York City. It was my first time going and it was neat to see the famous city. It was super nice to have the bus because all 25 of us could go together, we didn't have to worry about parking and traffic, and the bus took us from location to location with very minimal walking. It was a super rainy day, which made it difficult, but we had a great time. Bradley absolutely LOVED the bus!

Bradley started the day very tired. He only napped for 1 hour in the car the day before, got to bed 2 hours late, and then woke up at 4:30 because he was sleeping on the couch and wouldn't go back to sleep. We got him to fall asleep for about an hour on the bus which definitely helped, but he didn't nap at all while we were in NYC. He had a couple of melt downs (understandably) due to the wet and cold conditions and being so tired. But despite the circumstances, we were very pleased with how he did. For the most part he was really good and that was definitely a blessing!

The first thing we did was go see the Statue of Liberty. That was super cool! Bradley loved the boat. It took a lot longer than I expected, with having to wait for the boats and everything, so we weren't able to do Ellis Island (which was a little disappointing...I think I would love that). It was really cool to see the statue in person! But we also got soaked! At one point when we were waiting for the boat under a pavilion, the wind got so strong off the water that the rain was blowing sideways onto us. Poor Bradley was so wet, cold, and very tired. We bought hot chocolate on the boat and that cheered him right up.

By time we were done it was about 2pm. We got back on the bus and tried to dry off and warm up. We saw many famous sights from the bus (which because of the weather, we were grateful we could just stay on the bus and still see them). We then ate at Carnegie Deli (very good), walked to the Rockefeller Center to see the big Christmas tree and ice skating rink, and then to Times Square. It was all very neat. By this point the rain had stopped, but the temperature had dropped. We were just happy to not be wet though. Then we loaded back on the bus to go home around 7pm. It took us quite a while to get out with traffic, but we were glad to be on a dry, warm bus where Bradley could sleep. He crashed and slept the entire way.

When we asked Bradley about New York the next day, all he talked about was the bus and the boat. :) Those were his favorite things and he still gets so excited when we talk about the bus. We asked him what color the statue was and he said "green". So he did remember it, even though he was miserable. It was a great day. I would love to go back and do some more things when the weather is nicer, but I feel very content with my first NYC trip.

The next day we just hung out eating food with the family. :) On Wednesday (Christmas day) we left around 11 am to come back home. We decided to do our own Christmas Eve and Christmas when we got home so we didn't really celebrate on Wednesday at all.

Tommy's great grandma and grandparents

Thursday was our Christmas Eve and we had a great time. Bradley was so excited about Christmas and Santa coming. That night about an hour after he had gone to bed, we heard him moving around a bunch so Tommy went in to check on him. When Tommy opened the door, Bradley's head shot up and he said "Christmas!" haha! We had no idea he had much of a concept of what we were talking about, but he was definitely excited. He also loved putting out the cookie and milk for Santa. The next morning that was the first thing he wanted to see and he ran right past his new train, not even noticing it, to go look at the empty plate. I think he was a little confused (thinking he might get to eat the cookie) because when he saw it was gone he said, "oh no!"

Christmas was so much fun. Santa brought Bradley a fun train set and he LOVES it! We let him play for quite a while and when we were ready to open the presents under the tree, he didn't even want to. He kept saying, "no no! play trains!" But the first thing he opened were some new cars, so then he was into it and wanted to see what else he got. He thought everything he opened would be cars. It was such a fun, lazy day of playing! We really had a great time and it still felt like Christmas even though it was a few days later.

Bradley lined up all of his cars. He loves them.

Saturday we went to an Eagle Court of Honor for a few young men in our ward.  One was Ammon Guffey, a young man in our ward who Tommy is close to and who is in my seminary class. He is also Bradley's favorite youth in our ward. They have a very cute relationship. Every time Ammon was out of Bradley's sight he would say, "where Ammon go??"

We've had a great week! The first half was busy; the second half was super lazy. We've just been lounging around playing with new toys, watching too much tv, and enjoying our vacation. :)