.::We Made It::.

We survived the red-eye flight we had to take to get out here to Rhode Island. Max was incredibly good during the whole ordeal. Thank goodness.
We didn't bring the dog out yet though. He's staying with my parents for a few more weeks so that we can do a little more traveling. That way we don't have to worry about him being sad and lonely if we have to leave him with somebody he doesn't know.

It's nice here. The weather has been great and we do have our new fridge now so we're happy.
Tonight after we did a whole bunch of work and stuff we headed out to see how the beaches are out here. First we ate at a fish and chowder "shack" kind of place near the beach.
Have you ever heard of a "doughboy"? Yeah, neither had we. Turns out that they're kind of like a cross between doughnuts and scones, dusted with sugar. Yum. And chowder from the shack right next to the beach is delicious, just as could be expected.






















We weren't really using our brains when we left the house--we weren't sure whether we'd have time to go to the beach or not really. So not only did we not bring bathing suits or towels, but I forgot my camera! Ahhh! So these are all from Kris's phone. And of course, there were many lovely and silly photo ops that I missed.

















We didn't really think the water would be warm enough to swim in, since everybody keeps telling us how freezing the atlantic is, but really it was not that bad. No worse than the beaches in So. California that we've been to a lot.
Max was THRILLED to be at the beach and couldn't stay away from the water.







































And of course, he fell in. First he got really wet just by getting splashed, and then he fell right in.
We had to remove his pants completely. Well, actually they fell off because they were so wet and heavy.

We learned our lesson--we won't go to the beach again with Max without at least one towel!

We are about 40 minutes from this beach. You can bet we'll be back a LOT this summer. We are really excited about it.

















We're off to New York City tomorrow. Kris has training all week and Max and I are going to explore the city. We'll keep you posted.
Oh, and I still have several things I need to post concerning our Utah visit, so don't be confused when those posts still show up.

::Lava, we're gonna do it all day::

I'll explain the title of this post a little later.
While we were in St. George we decided to take a drive out to Flagstaff Arizona to see what it was like. We'd heard that it has four seasons, which we like and was high up in the mountains, and we like mountains. And since we're only a short two years away from actually deciding where we want to be, we are trying to check out some of the places in the west we might be interested in.

So anyway, we headed out for an overnight visit to Flagstaff. It was a very interesting drive. First we went through Zion's, which of course is incredible looking.

I love how even the road is red.

Then we drove out through the Navajo reservation and saw some more really amazing landscape. The desert red rocks and mesas and stuff are so striking. Its hard to take pictures of some of that stuff--it's almost too much for a camera to take in.

We got to our hotel in Flagstaff and then decided we'd like to go on a hike. There's a famous old volcano crater just outside the city, so we went over there.
I wore the wrong shoes.

But I was tough, so I survived. Don't look too close at my dorky toes please.
It wasn't a tough hike, but it was very cool looking out there.
There were piles of the old lava rock everywhere.

The crater itself was a very cool color--which is probably why they call it "sunset crater"

Max wore himself out running way ahead of us, and finally just had to be carried most of the way.

Little did we know that he had the stomach flu and would wake up the next morning and throw up all day. Good thing we didn't know.



We couldn't really figure out what his deal was. Oh well.

He made up a song while he was riding on Kris's shoulders that went "LaVA, we're gonna DO it ALL DAY" and sang it over and over and over, very loudly the whole way. It was funny.

After the hike. All that shoulder riding must've been very dehydrating.

After our hike we went and had dinner (good yummy mexican food) and went to bed, planning to take a good look at the city in the morning. Then as you already know, Max decided to throw up. All morning. When he finally stopped throwing up for more than about 15 minutes we quickly threw him in the car and hurried away. We drove through the city a little bit, but after he threw up in the car we decided it was time to head back. So I don't even have any good pictures of Flagstaff. We liked it though. It was small and kind of interesting with lots of pretty trees. I do have a tree picture.

Just imagine a city where most of the buildings are hidden behind trees like this. That's the jist of Flagstaff. Or at least that's our impression after spending about 12 hours there.

We had to skip the grand canyon on the way back, but we made it to St. George without any more big problems, luckily.

Doesn't it seem like little kids always get sick on trips? And always at such inconvenient times? Remember what happened to me at Disney World?!?......Blah

.::How often can we change our minds??::.

Kris drove our white land rover out to UT before the big move. He took Sultan and the car out there so they could wait for us while we got everything else to RI. The plan was for him to drive the car and the dog back for his training in New York (he has to be in Brooklyn for about three weeks) and I would hang out in UT so I wouldn't have to stay at home alone in a new place for an entire month with a four year old.

Then we found out that his first training day is just one day. Then there's close to a week of nothing between that day and the next week of training. So we changed our plans and decided to fly him out to NYC for that one day. Then the plan was for all of us to drive back east together. I realized that I could visit Kris in NYC and I have friends I'm excited to hang out with in Providence. We would've had about 5 days to do the drive. It wouldn't have been too fun and exciting, but it would've worked. THEN we found out he actually has to be in NYC 24 hrs earlier than we thought for some sort of appointment. Not cool. He was flying back to UT sunday night late, then we would only have from monday morning to friday morning to get all of us to Providence and then him back to NYC. By 9AM friday morning of course. Is this making you tired yet?

So we figured we could do that. Until we really thought about it. When we really thought about it we decided that the drive would be horrible, and there was no way we could make it there in time. We also thought about it and decided that we could live as a one car family in Providence. We live in such a walkable area of town that hopefully it will work.

So we made up our minds, left the white car out on Kris's Grandparents' farm in Delta UT under a tarp and bought ourselves one way tickets.

But what about the dog? Well he's flying too. I guess Continental has some sort of special pet travel program, so he should do great. He'd better, it's expensive enough! But really overall we're saving money flying rather than driving. With gas as expensive as it is and the white car getting such great (ie awful) mileage we're much better off without it for a while.
Sultan had to practice in the carrier the other day.

I think he's going to do ok. He's not scared of the carrier right now. He may be after a 7 hr flight with a connection in New Jersey, but hopefully he'll be ok. He's such a great traveler in the car, hopefully that'll carry over.

I'm just glad we get to bring him home with us. I would've been bummed to have to leave him. Although I know my parents wouldn't mind!

This plan will be much better for us overall I think. Kris and I ran an errand with Max yesterday. When we got home we looked at each other and said "boy aren't we glad we don't have to do that for four solid days next week!!!!"

::Fun in St. George Pt. 2::

Wow! This post has been a long time coming, hasn't it? Well hopefully it lives up to the suspense that I've created.
We had a great time in St. George as I said before, even though by now it was forever ago.
One morning Kris and Max went on a pretend bike ride and then read some stories. Here they are dressed in their biking finery. This picture is so cute!!

"Put me in the Zoo" is Max's current favorite book. We've all read it to him about a zillion times on this trip and he knows it absolutely by heart.
Later that morning they went and played some baseball. Max has a ways to go with both pitching and hitting.

He thinks he knows how to do it because of the Wii.



Maxes pitches are what you could call a "little" low.

Except for this one!

It's cute to see them play together. Kris is very patient.
The baseball game got interrupted when Max spotted a snail. He'd never seen a snail before so it was really exciting. They caught it and put it into a jar.

It made him a little nervous at first.

He was very interested in the snail's "backpack" and what it was for. It was fun to talk about snails a little bit. He's so interested in everything right now.



They found a few more and added them to the jar. Later that night the snails slimed out and went back to their snaily business.

Last but certainly not least Max got to go on a "slow" ride around the block with grandpa Ken on his motorcycle. This is a rare and exciting treat.
Here he is looking very concerned because the bike wouldn't start.

It needed a push. Lucky Kris got to push it.

They somehow avoided running over the little old lady that was walking down the street. It was a close one though.

It started up so Max got placed back into his seat.

He held on tight.

Grandpa did keep his eyes open for most of the ride.
This is my favorite picture. He looks worried, but I don't really think he was. He's a pretty trusting little guy. And he loves things that drive. I love the motion here.

Well, we will definitely be back to St. George, and nobody will have to twist our arms.

::Fun in St. George Pt.1::

We just got back from a week long visit to St. George. Kris's mom and dad have a condo down there where they like to spend a lot of time, especially in the winter. Actually, they're going to be moving down there more permanently after we leave UT, but that's a story for another day.
The week was great because as those of you that live in utah county know, the weather there during memorial day was cold and rainy. Which translated in St. George to cool and pleasant. Just the way I like it out there.
Today's post will concentrate on the funnest feature of the condo, which is the communal pool. Everyone loves it, especially Max. Max did a lot of swimming last summer because we belonged to a fitness club that had a couple of outdoor pools. It was just a short walk from our house so we went there all the time. As a result Max feels very confident in the pool, and is able to have tons of fun.
He was tall enough this time to actually walk in the shallow end which made him really proud of himself.

We had to force him to put on his waterwings--and he would only agree to do it in the deep end.


He made up all these great "dives"--you know, all the same jumps that we all made up at the swimming pool when we were little--jumping in all straight, backwards, spinning, etc. etc. He was so brave with jumping in. Nothing slowed him down. He actually made me nervous several times because he jumped in with such complete abandon.

Swimming is such a fun activity to do with Max because everybody has a good time. This is unlike a lot of small kid activities that sometimes have to be endured. We all like swimming. Grandparents included.
Here are some more fun shots for you.



I love this one, he just looks like such a cute little fish or a puppy or something!

Max and his Grandpa--Grandpa Ken was very helpful in making up crazy jumps with crazy names.

We're going to have to find a pool somewhere in Rhode Island!

.::Kris Graduated::.

I know youguys probably thought he didn't actually graduate because it's taken me so long to post about it, but the man did wear the gown and walk across the stage. And we were SO proud!
In fact, I really wish I had the cable to download video from my camera here in UT, because then I could show you how loudly Max was screaming for his daddy when his name was called. It was really cute.

Here he is just before graduation, in the room where they were all mingling and waiting. The light was obviously not so good, but oh well.

Does he look ready to graduate or what?

Here's Kris and one of his best friends from school, Jeff.

We had great seats during the ceremony and could see Kris right where he was sitting. They didn't start out with their extra robes on, they had to carry them up to the stage where one of the professors placed them over their heads. It was interesting. At mine we just wore ours. I guess these dentists think they're a little different or something... :)

Coming down the steps...a graduated man. Please note his shiny sneakers. We had to go buy new ones just before the ceremony because we had accidentally packed all his shoes except a pair of very casual sandals. At least he got some cool new shoes out of it!
At the end of the ceremony the audience was all supposed to wait for the graduates to leave the hall (oh, I mean the gym. We're pretending it's some sort of hall.) But Kris motioned to me that he wanted Max to come with him. So I sent him running over there. He was thrilled to parade out with his daddy. How special!
I don't know if you can see much of that in this picture, but at least now you know what it's supposed to be.

It was great. Actually graduating actually made the last four years almost worth it!! Just kidding, now that it's over I can say it was totally worth it. I'm just so proud of Kris for finishing it all, it was quite the big job and VERY stressful. Yay for being finished. It's an excellent feeling.