East Coast Trip wrap-up

It's just really too bad, you know? I was doing so well blogging on the trip. And you'd think that once we got to the beach house and had time to sit and relax I'd at least be able to catch up then. Internet was slow and spotty, Scott was trying to build his website so that got priority use of the laptop, and mostly I was never interested in skipping out on the games, puzzles, or conversation happening at all hours of the night to write a blog. So here we are, home for 2 weeks and I still haven't finished blogging about the trip.

Well luckily, it's my week to post our sisters update, which will force me to move on, but not before the travelog is complete. So here you have it.







On Thursday May 25 my brother Zack graduated "WITH DISTINCTION" from Harvard Business School. I think I've mentioned before how proud I am of him, but it was really something else to be sitting there and watching him in his cap and gown cross the stage. Congratulations Zack! And Ana and Jack too. And best wishes on your future adventures, whatever they may be.

Huck didn't totally love the ceremony (nor did the people behind us totally love Huck's discontentment), so Scott took him out for a lot of it.





All my siblings were there to celebrate the occasion. Here is our obligatory jumping pick. So ridiculous.

Thursday evening we flew from Boston to Raleigh, NC where we rented a car and drove to Chapel Hill to see where my sister Annee and her family lives. We arrived to a beautiful and immaculate house that did feel just a little bit out in the middle of nowhere.







The kids immediately remembered their fun Earnest cousins and had a great time having sleepovers every night and playing together every day.










We went to a farmer's market in a nearby artsy community. It was hot and muggy and the kids just couldn't resist the giant slip 'n slide even though we didn't bring proper swimming attire. It was totally gross and apparently a really good time.








Annee and Darin were generous and gracious hosts. The great thing about sisters is that we can live across the country from each other and have different last names, but when I visit her in her home it feels quite a bit like my home too.
Annee & Darin are living a magical lifestyle right now - back to a student schedule but with the maturity and means of grown adults. They showed us one of their tricks one night when we put the little kids to bed early and left the big boys home to "babysit" and went out to a nice adult-only dinner. It went splendidly, and was a real treat and I hope to soon implement that trick back home.

On Sunday we packed up and headed onward on our journey and caravanned with the Earnests to Duck Beach to meet up with the rest of the JAZBAND.

We were awestruck when we pulled up to this beach-front rental house - complete with 9 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, a theater room, an elevator, a hot tub and pool, and a long strip of pristine private beach. It was amazing and perfect and unfortunately will probably make it difficult to accept the comparably-priced options on the west coast anymore.







My report of our daily play-by-play will look very much like this, so I'll leave it to Ie Li to tell it best. But overall highlights would definitely include the amazing soft sand and finding actual seashells and sand crabs; warm water with fun waves - Scott and I really love body surfing and all the kids got the chance to discover the ocean on this trip too; playing with cousins inside the house, out on the beach, and in the pool;


There was daily sandcastle building and paddle ball and sunning and reading and a beautiful sunset to watch every night (albeit on the wrong side of the beach, but that's ok).








I'm not sure Huck understood that he looked like he was sitting in a car (that fun Aunt Rachel and Uncle Ken built for him), but June and Stephen sure got into the spirit as they raced down the track.























Now, don't get me wrong. I love our life here in Provo. We've got it good and I know it. But beach life is better. That's just the simple truth of the matter.

Here are all the cousins (minus Mi Na and the one currently gestating inside of Ana) on our outing to Kitty Hawk - home of the Wright Brother's infamous first flight. These kids all did amazingly well getting along and making fun memories together.



Of course hanging out with my siblings was the highlight for me too. Most nights ultimately ended up around this table eating crabs, playing cards, working on puzzles or having some nerdy discussion over ice cream. We even had a book club one night which was awesome - first book I've read in probably 10 years - literally (lest you think it's because I don't like reading, it's actually quite the contrary - I love reading so much I neglect all my other responsibilities, so decided once I had kids I had to give it up for this phase of my life - moderation is not my forte). Sometimes I wonder whether having a big family is ever really "worth it" given the lopsided ratio between getting-along to annoying-your-little-sister-on-purpose, on top of how much hard work it is and how expensive it can be. But when we are all together as adults and get along well and share common experiences and values and interest and love and respect for one another, it becomes quite clear how "worth it" it was all along.

Thanks for making it all possible, Mom & Dad.

On the flight home...

East Coast Trip - days 3 & 4 (New York to Boston)

On Tuesday, we got up bright and early to fit in those last couple things before leaving New York City. In particular we were invited on a personal tour of NBC Studios by my old high school buddy Todd Whiting, so of course we jumped at that chance. We had breakfast at Rockefellar Center, walked around the streets to see the buildings and statues from the outside, then met up with Todd at 11am.

He took us to see the MSNBC newsroom, the Nightly News desk & broadcast room, the behind-the-scenes control room, and most excitingly the Saturday Night Live set. When we were standing on the SNL set taking pictures and watching the crew work, we looked up to see the "official" tour members looking down at us from an upper window. It was awesome to see everything up close, and felt great to get the real personal treatment.
It was so great to see Todd again. It's been about 10 years but there's something so familiar about being with someone you knew well in high school - and when you're in a strange city far from home it is nice to have a little something to help it feel a little more personal and like home.

After we finished with our tour, we parted ways - Scott to pick up the rental car in midtown and somehow make his way driving across town, me to take the kids back to the hotel to pack up, check out, and meet Scott at the curb with our luggage. The plan mostly worked and eventually we were on our way out of town.

We drove from New York City to Boston without much incident. There was the usual amount of boredom and fighting, then everyone needs food and bathroom stops at different points. But eventually everyone fell asleep so we just drove on through and made pretty good time. Scott was a little disappointed at how much all the tall green trees obstructed his view. He had hoped to see more of America on this drive, but what he saw was mostly forest-lined highways.

We arrived at Zack & Ana's house and ordered authentic Boston pizza, let the cousins play together, and hung out with Mom & Dad & Christine & Zack & Ana for a bit. Brenden & Oliver slept over at Zack & Ana's and the rest of us headed to a hotel nearby. This time we were all in one room, which didn't really go over that well in terms of Huck ever falling asleep or June staying in her own bed. Oh - by the way - Happy 14th wedding anniversary to Scott and I. We totally ignored the event, but enjoyed spending the day, like every day, spending time and working together to lead our family.

This morning, we got up early to make it meet everyone for a tour of Harvard at 9am personally guided by Zack's HBS buddy Mike Christensen. It is such an amazing campus with all the beautiful architecture, history, and tradition. We promptly went to JP Licks for ice cream, then parted paths and the Wileys + Christine went to be tourists in Boston, and everyone else headed to HBS graduation activities.


Of course the highest priority was to take the crew on a Duck Boat Tour of Boston. It was really great. The driver was knowledgeable and interesting, you could hear and understand well, the weather was perfect, and the boys loved the chance to drive the boat.

After the duck boat tour, we walked over to Boston Commons, met up with Rachel, Steve, Annee, and Jack, and spent some time throwing rocks and sticks in the water and watching the swan boats go by. Huck spent a lot of energy yelling at the ducks to come over to us, but for some reason they didn't want to. I spent a lot of energy trying to make sure he didn't fall in the water, but quickly gave up the effort to keep him dry. (Note to self - next time include extra shoes with the backup outfit for Huck.)
























We let the kids do a ride on the carousel, then walked back to the car parked at the Prudential Center along Newbury Street - dying to stop in each store to shop. On one hand, having 4 kids might be cheaper for us, since without them we'd do way more shopping. On the other hand, if we didn't have them we could spend all the extra money we spent on their plane tickets on other stuff. Hmmmm... tradeoffs.

We met up with Mom & Dad and Zack & Ana & Jack at Legal Seafood for a family dinner honoring Zack's graduation. There we enjoyed great popcorn shrimp, clam chowder, almond-encrusted salmon, and watched Zack devour the innards of a lobster - Tahitian-style. It was all delicious. A quick walk along the wharf to see the jellyfish completed the evening. We sent Brenden back to Zack & Ana's, and the rest of us headed back to the hotel. We moved into a one-bedroom suite, so hopefully the sleeping will happen a little more smoothly tonight.

East Coast Trip - Day 2 (NYC)

Today's primary focus was getting to the Statue of Liberty. We had reserve tickets for 2pm and didn't plan anything before that, so we could take our time getting there. In fact, we slept in all the way to 10am and had bought some cereal and milk the night before to eat in our room. We rode the subway down to Ground Zero, walked around the giant construction site there a bit, then walked the rest of the way to Battery Park.

The kids were very excited to get to skip the longest line by having pre-paid tickets, but there was still lots of waiting and lines to go through. June was nervous about the ferry, which makes her grumpy and uncooperative (sound familiar, Oliver?). The weather was overcast and cool, so there weren't great views but at least it wasn't raining and it wasn't burning hot so it could have been worse. We thought we'd save time and money by eating lunch at a hot dog stand on the street. $55 later most people still didn't really like what they got so no winners there.

But they were quite impressed by Lady Liberty and had fun climbing all the stairs to get to the pedestal.

The whole thing went smoothly and took less time than we'd expected, although I wouldn't say it was exactly easy. Trying to do anything with this crew is a challenge, especially when it includes subways, lots of walking, two strollers, staying together, finding our way, and so many different eating and bathroom schedules.










We played around the grounds for a bit afterwards. Then boarded the ferry and headed back to the city.

Out came the ipods.

Given that Oliver's favorite food (almost only food) these days is pizza, and given that we were in the land of pizza, we decide to stop in Little Italy on the way back and try out the world-famous Lombardi's. It did not disappoint, and getting there around 5pm before the main dinner rush was a good move (plus Huck slept through dinner in the stroller so that made it quite pleasant).



After dinner we headed to Soho for a little shopping - well at least that idea sounded fun before we got there. Then we remembered we had 4 kids and 2 strollers with us so it wasn't that easy to browse. But we did track down this sweatshirt Oliver's had his eye on for a whole year, so he'd call it a great success.

After dinner and "shopping" we stopped by Stand near Union Square for one of their famous roasted marshmallow shakes - another great recommendation by Paul & Holly. We thought it would be nice to go sit in the park at Union Square and eat them before getting back on the subway (it was about 9pm at this point), but when the "kind gentlemen" next to us took Scott aside to "recommend" to him we leave, we quickly gathered our things and moved along.


We were again quite relieved to get back to our hotel and crash. This place is so perfect and now that we've done the two-bedroom suite thing I'm sure we've been spoiled for life. (Although unfortunately bedtime with 4 kids in one room did not go quite so smoothly tonight.)

We head to Boston tomorrow. Many more adventures lay ahead.

East Coast Trip - Day 1+

We made it! There were of course those overwhelming thoughts, during the days leading up to our departure, of "what are we doing" and "is this really worth all this trouble", but at 8pm my dad came to pick us up and drove us to the airport. Our Jetblue redeye flight left at 11:30pm. We had plenty of cushion - a comfortable walk in,

some lounging and relaxing in the terminal,

watching our plane arrive. Taking 4 kids on a redeye is required some careful planning - new "toys" that would make sleeping seem exciting - we opted for new mini pillow-pets and character beach towel blankets. And in the end I must say it went about as well as it could have. June slept on the floor, Oli stretched out across her seat. Huck slept in my arms, Brenden leaned up against Scott. I slept a little.


We landed at 6:30am and headed to baggage claim, called a shuttle, and went to our hotel. That van ride was an awesome first introduction to New York City - crazy drivers, honking horns, and all. But we made it, dropped off our luggage, and headed out to bide our time until we could check in and sleep. We went next door for breakfast, then walked over to the Museum of Natural History, then to Central Park.



We found the turtle pond, the lake, the boathouse, the RC sailboat pond, the famous fountain and bridge, and climbed the lava rocks. Huck was delighted at all the dogs and birds. I love all the street musicians - so many of them really so talented. After lunch at the Farmer's Market, it was finally 3:00pm so we headed back to the hotel.

To our delight, the generous staff at Hotel Beacon upgraded us to a two-bedroom/two-bathroom suite (I had booked a one-bedroom suite). I had heard about this hotel from a couple "traveling to the city with kids" sites, and it is amazing - great location, beautiful rooms, quiet windows. So we checked in, showered, rested, brushed our teeth, put on clean clothes, and readied ourselves for more adventure.

Around 6pm we headed out and took the subway down to Times Square. June was super excited to go use yet another mode of transportation. The kids eyes were wide as they took it all in.

Our destination was the ferris wheel at the Toys 'R Us store. Once we were there the other kids chickened out and Brenden and I were the only ones to ride it. It satisfied my goal to ride every famous ferris wheel (already checked off Paris, Santa Monica Pier, highest-altitude ride at Christmas-town in Colorado (Annee - what was that place?). Anyway, add to the list Times Square.

So while Brenden and I waited in line and took our ride, Scott got to entertain 3 other kids in a toy store for an hour. Needless to say we did not leave the store empty handed. A last-minute plea for a restaurant recommendation brought us to Ollie's for some hit-the-spot Chinese (thanks Holly!). Then a stop at a market on the way and back to the hotel. I really wasn't sure how it would work having Huck sleep in the room with the other kids, but amazingly somehow it seems to have worked.

Thanks to everyone for your encouragement and advise. Thanks to Lisa for the recommendation to bring a 2nd stroller. A trip like this is going to be hard no matter what, with the ages of the kids, but to see their excitement and their apprehensions and to see them take in the sights and sounds and make discoveries of a new place, I think it becomes all worth it and makes me proud that we are willing to do hard things to give our kids these experiences.

I can't keep my eyes open any longer. Better sign off. Big day tomorrow.