New York

We are back from our family vacation to New York and had a great time! A lot of Mikey's family lives there so we met up with his mom's side of the family on Lake Chataqua near Jamestown, NY. It was a great way to relax and get to spend some more time with family that we don't get to see often. This was Ava's 1st big plane trip and all in all she did well considering the circumstances. I'll explain. We had two flights to catch each way. The first flight there was approx. 2 1/2 hours and the second only 40 minutes or so. We came totally prepared to keep our miss busy body entertained and happy on the plane. Our bag was packed with lots of new toys, snacks, and our laptop so she could watch a new Praise Baby DVD we bought her. She was awake the first flight and then slept the second flight. She did AMAZING and couldn't have acted any better! The flight home was a different story but I can't blame her. Our flights were flip flopped, shorter being first and longer one being second. Did great the first flight! We had a two and half hour layover at the airport before our next flight and she was already getting very tired and therefore cranky and not wanting to do anything mommy or daddy suggested. I just told myself that maybe she would sleep on the next flight but I should have known better. No sleeping for her, too much excitement! We still had some more tricks up our sleeves, new toys that she hadnt seen before, so we just tried to keep her busy and slowly bring out new toys when we needed them. By the time I was thinking (and praying) that we were about to land in Dallas the pilot told us that we couldnt land in Dallas because of weather and too many planes so we had to go out of the way to Oklahoma City airport (another 40 minutes) and refuel and then get back in the air. WHAT???????!!!!!!! I about lost it inside! Ava was beyond tired and I didnt think she was going to make it a single minute more being still and cooped up in a small airplane. What was supposed to be a 2 1/2 hour flight turned into 5!!! She fell asleep for maybe 20 minutes when we took off back to Dallas from Ok city but suddenly woke up, was confused at where we were, and started crying loudly. I didnt blame her! I wanted to cry too. I didnt care at that point if she was bothering other people on the plane because it just showed how ridiculous something like this is for a toddler and her parents to have to go through. It was the longest 5 hours of my entire life! I was so happy to be home, in Dallas. I dont think I want to fly for a really long time after this. Looking back Mikey and I are proud of Ava of how she did on the plane. The way home was tough but for a busy 1 year old I'd say she did just fine. Whew, that is our flying story! Now on to the rest of the trip! We took a ton of pictures so I included a lot of them and have captions to explain some of the things we did.

We greeted lots of people in the airport waiting for our flight and made some new friends (this is on our way to NY)

Killed some time in our stroller and ate snacks

I bought Ava some bugs from Dollar Tree (and a random bat was in the package too) and these were by far the best things we brought.

Being silly and covering her face with her blankie on the way to the lakehouse.

View from the back porch of the lakehouse

We were the first ones up each morning so we spent some time outside to not wake anyone. She adjusted very quickly to the time change, unfortunately, and was up with the sun (5 o'clock central time).

Ava met another second cousin, Cami.

Gigi made everyone fun shirts for the lake. Here is Ava in hers.

A fun activity while we were there was to pick up these tiny rocks and hand them to people.

Pretty snazzy shirts huh?!

Mikey, Me, Aunt Karen, Uncle Robert, Bpop (Ben), Gigi (Kate), Cousins Stephanie and Ethan and Cami

On Lake Chataqua they have an amazing place called The Institution where they are tons of beautiful homes, some turned into hotels, Museums, and Apitheaters where tons of people from around the world travel to to enjoy the arts and beautiful scenery.

The Anthenium Hotel at The Institution where presidents stay when they come to visit.

Gorgeous homes that have been turned into hotels

Gigi and Ava

The boys did lots of fly fishing from the pier

and caught tiny fish

Just the three of us

Great Aunt Karen and Ava

Great Grandpa and Ava looking at the boats

Ava's Daddy and Mommy

We bought Ava a pool while we were there so she could play in the water.

We put a few pool toys in there for her, a shot glass and margarita glass

Love that belly

We made somores one night with giant marshmellows, yummy! I promise it was evening when we did this. The sun was starting to go down so we thought it was time!

Mikey's uncle Robert brought his kayacks with him so we went kayacking. So fun! We pretended we were on a fun date like on the Bachelorette. haha too much reality tv for me!

Aunt Karen is retiring this week from nursing so we had a little retirement party for her and always creative Gigi made nurse's hats out of paper plates. :)

What a nice week it was for us to get away and for me to get to know Mikey's family a little better. We had a great time, ate great food, and had lots of laughs. Thanks for a fun time Hull Family!