To Kiss a Frog

The last week and a half my mom and I went on a mother-daughter trip back east :) needless to say, it was a blast. Especially because we met up with the Rivets (my French family) in New York City :) We spent 3 1/2 days there before my mom and I continued on our own to Boston where we stayed with family and had another grand adventure! Flying home we had an eight hour layover in Philadelphia.. also an adventure in itself. We were a little worried before leaving for this trip, but we got home safe and sound! My mom and I took over 4,000 pictures in just 10 days.. so this really is just a tiny glimpse of all our adventures :)

All ready to leave on our little trip... a wee bit tired since we had to get up at like 5 :/

After a layover in DC we got to load our plane the old-fashioned way! I felt pretty fancy ;)

Right after first meeting up with the Rivet family.. it was my mom's first time actually being with them since three years ago in Yellowstone!

We took the Staten Island Ferry to go past the Statue of Liberty.. we went at the most perfect time! The sun was getting ready to set, and it was so beautiful! I love the pictures we got :)

Statue of Liberty at sunset! I thought it looked so cool with just the statue's silhouette.

It rained the second day in New York, but we didn't let that dampen our spirits! :)

tehe we had a mini photoshoot inside of the met ;)

We had to take quite a few empire state building pictures to get them right.. I was too short for the picture so I had to sit on Paul's shoulders ;)

Times Square! :)

One of my favorite pictures... especially because of the random guy that jumped in ;) (on the right)

L'arc de triomphe! The smaller American version... ;)

The Brooklyn Bridge with Martin and Natalie :)

9/11 Memorial

The M&M store... 3 floors of everything you could possibly imagine! It was ridiculous!!

Our little bag of M&Ms we bought... we got a little carried away and didn't realize we were buying $20 worth :/ eek!!

When I went to France, Nathalie told me she loved this dress.. so I brought Heidi's matching one for Nathalie to wear... it was so darling!

Saying goodbye on our final day in New York... it was so hard saying goodbye again, but SO wonderful to see the Rivets again :)

The cute restaurant we ate at in Little Italy.. tehehe the napkin looks like I'm sitting on the toilet ;)

riding the bus to Boston :)

We got to see Annie's new baby Miles! :)

My dream yard! Exactly how I've always dreamed.... a lake in the back yard, with their own dock, motor boat, kayak and paddle boat; a hammock, fire pit, and swing that goes right over the water. SO AMAZING! :)

Acorn Street... we spent forever on this street in Beacon Hill. Mom had read about it and couldn't wait to do a photo shoot there ;)

my silly mother... she dropped her glasses into the graveyard with a locked gate... so I was the lucky one who got to climb over the fence and fetch them.. In my dress.. while she sat and took pictures of me. Oh dear... :)

I honestly ran to get to the water's edge for sunset :)

reflections on the water... so cool!

I also took a liking to taking pictures in black and white.. it provided such an interesting perspective and makes you appreciate things you don't otherwise see :)

The Freedom Trail.. so lovely! :)

Sailboats! At a lovely place called the Esplanade

We took a ferry to Spectacle Island, about a 10 minute ride from Boston harbor :)

Swimming in the Atlantic! It was freezing.. but was special since the last time I touched that ocean it was in France :)

We had to wake up bright and early Wednesday morning to take the subway to the airport.. with our lovely broken suitcases :)

We had a layover in Philadelphia.. so went to the Brandy wine River Museum.... mom has dreamed of going since college, so it was pretty exciting for her ;)

diving into the river :)

So cute.. we had lunch at a place called Friendly's :)

Mom was so proud of herself for navigating around the area all by ourselves!

Our last moments at the airport before making the final flight home!

the airplane :)

We had such fun adventures in the week and a half that we were gone. And it was so fun to have so much mommy daughter time :) :) :)

And yet so much has happened! My summer has continued to be crazy and I've continued to have LOADS of fun and excitement :)

We went and got shaved ice.. it was just like they had in HAWAII! My mom said that we HAD to wear our matching tie dye shirts if we wanted to get one... so we looked so precious in our colorful attire :)

Hayden's attempt at a flirtatious smile ;)

mmmmm! :)

:) :) :) :)

Perhaps the coolest thing all week... WE GOT A POOL!! Well kind of.. if you can count 2 1/2 ft high and 10 ft in diameter a pool ;) But we were all excited nonetheless. We had a special ceremony for pouring the first water into it ;)

We all took our turn at pouring from the glass pitcher into the pool :)

Dad wasn't quite as excited as we were.. he preferred to just relax on the pool while we had our fun ;)

Later that night BCYC had an all-night party!!... kind of :) It was a bit of a joke because all but 4 of us went home before midnight.. and the rest of us stayed just long enough to clean up ;) but still, it was silly enough to give us an idea of what an all-night party should NOT be like ;)

We only took one picture right before we left... ;)

Another thing this week.... Mom and I went MATTRESS SURFING!! It was just a wee bit silly and so amusing to watch mom doing it... :)

We took a video... which isn't really working. So I guess all we get is an awkward picture of me pretending to slide down :) It was kind of ridiculous surfing in a skirt ;)