Stamford Parade

Last weekend (sun 22 nov) we decided to go to a large parade in Stamford. Parades seem to be well done out here and we hadn't yet been to one. I'd briefly considered the thanksgiving day parade in the city but quickly wrote that off. 

The parade was full of marching bands, dancers, police motorbikes and most impressively huge balloons. We watched for about 30 minutes before going to get lunch but it went on for another hour!

Here are some pics.

Ethan in awe!

Bear Mountain

We've started a bucket list of things we must do before we return. One of the places was Bear Mountain, about an hour drive away. It's a state park and has a reputation of being a good day out. So last Sunday we set off with Bruno in tow and packed lunches.

This was the mountain. 

We started off walking round the lake. I refused the first route as it looked far too steep with a child each on our back. So we picked an alternate and seemingly more popular route up the mountain. It was a tiring but great hike with worthwhile views. Here are some photos. 

The view from our lunch spot

Lunch... Eating outside with a 1yo is never easy!

Matt had the short straw on what/who to carry

View of the Hudson from (nearly at) the top

The boys enjoyed the playground afterwards. Ethan was too busy playing 'emergencies' for a photo. 

Autumn leaves

Still one of my favourite elements of autumn in the US, the leaf collection. Ethan will miss this!

Arizona - Bearizona

On the way from Williams to Scottsdale we stopped at a place called Bearizona. Yes such a place exists! A driving safari through some woodland with lots of animals including big brown bears! Ethan thought it was amazing. Well he thought it was fun sitting on my lap!

Arizona - Scottsdale

The last bit of our trip was to relax. So we spent 5 nights at a resort in Scottsdale. With a molar cutting Joshua it's fair to say it wasn't always that relaxing. But we had fun. Yummy restaurants, great kids pool and a huge sand pit with construction toys. What more could Ethan want!

Arizona: Grand Canyon

Our second stop was a place called Williams. It purely serves as a stop off for Grand Canyon visitors. We'd orginally been planning on driving all the way to the Canyon but then I discovered the train which I thought Ethan would like. It runs once a day, drops you at the Grand Canyon South rim village at 1145am and you depart again at 3.30pm. A perfect amount of time we thought with the boys in tow. 

It really was a spectacular place. Completely jaw dropping. The train was a fun way to travel too and eased the pain of more car seat time. And given Ethan had been up since 4.30am it helped keep  him interested in the day.

It definitely ranks as one of our favourite days in the US so far. 

Some photos below.

The train

The canyon

Us!

Joshuas first hair cut

Before

After

Ethan got his done too.