Christmas Weekend

We were so lucky to have Sam's parents, Dean and Donna, come out to visit us for a few days after Christmas. We haven't had a lot of visitors since we've moved to CT, so we love having family come to stay for a few days!! They were good sports and wanted to go see a lot of things so we packed up in the car and set out to visit Newport, RI one day and NYC the next. It was pretty cold in Newport, too cold to do the cliff walk right along the ocean, but we toured three of the mansions. We had been to Newport in the summer time and seen the mansions from the outside, but never toured inside. Of course they didn't allow pictures, but I can say they were truly amazing! Plus they were decorated for Christmas, full of decorated trees and fresh flower arrangements brought in daily. After all the tours and a little more site seeing around the town we headed to the Chowder Pot to get our fill of seafood. Sam and Dean treated themselves to a 1.5 lb and 2 lb stuffed lobsters. I posted a pic of the lobsters of facebook!! : ) The meal was really good and we made it home with full stomachs, ready for bed.

Outside of the Breakers (Vanderbilt summer cottage, 1893)

The Marble House (another Vanderbilt summer cottage, 1890)

The following day we tackled NYC. First a walk by the Manhattan-NYC Temple and then onto the Statue of Liberty. FYI for anyone wanted to visit the statue, buy your tickets in advance at home...it will help you avoid a huge line to get on the ferry. We had some warmer weather while in NYC, so it made all the walking and sightseeing a little more enjoyable. We walked part of the Brooklyn Bridge and ate lunch at Bubba Gumps in Time Square. Aubrey was thrilled to get to meet and have a photo op with Elmo too!! Although she didn't want him to hold her! : ) We had planned on going to the top of the Rockefeller Center for a skyline view of the city, but the crowds were the worst I have ever seen in my life. Blocks and blocks full of people trying to see the big tree and all the decorations along 5th Ave!! So we decided to try and get out of the crowd and walked up to the edge of central park. All of the stores windows had elaborately decorated window displays for the holiday season. Finally we ended the day with a yummy cupcake and headed off back to CT.


Aubrey loved running all around in the grass surrounding the pedestal of the statue.

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree (this is as close as we could get)

Waiting for the subway to take us to our next stop. No one can tour NYC with out a subway ride! The Brooklyn Bridge
Meeting Elmo in Time Square, she was more excited about it after we walked away from him! : )

Yes, I had to post a picture of the cupcakes...they are so yummy!!