Girls Trip to NYC 2014

Suzy and I took a girls trip to NYC this summer with all the Swan Girls! We had the best time! We were able to do all the fun girly things we wanted! We went to lunch at the American Girl Store Cafe and then Grandma bought Suzy her first Bitty Baby Doll. We had tea time at Alice's Tea Cup, shopped, went on a carriage ride through Central Park, ate smores's at Cosi's, went to a Broadway show and had to hang out in the freezer section of the grocery store because it was sooooo hot! I love all these girls so much and am so happy they are my family!!

Jackson Hole 2014

We were able to go on a fun trip to Jackson Hole this summer with the whole Robinson Family! We had such a great time and Suzy loved being with her cousins! We went on a fun chuck wagon dinner ride, Suzy was in heaven with all the horses around! We also went fishing on Jackson Lake, took the tram to the top of Teton Village, went shopping in town, took a boat ride on Jenny Lake and saw moose in the backyard of our cabin. It was a great week spent with the people we love!

Chuck Wagon Dinner

Suzy and Grandma doing a little singing at the show

Family shot at the top of Teton Village

Fishing on Jackson Lake

Playing with Dad in the little stream in our backyard

Suzy Turns TWO!!

Our cute Suzy turned two on February 28th! We had a really fun Sofia the First/Bowling Party! Suzy loves Sofia the First and bowling, so we decided to combine the two and have all of her favorite people over to the Willow Creek bowling alley for a little bowling and Sofia party!! It turned out so fun! Since we had the place to ourselves the kids got to run around crazy and we all got to bowl as much as we wanted. We ordered a little lunch, ate cake and ice cream and opened presents! It was such a fun party, and great for me since we kept it pretty low key. Suzy loved it and had such a special day with all of her loved ones! We are so in love with this darling little girl! We thank our Heavenly Father every day for her and the chance we get to raise her! She is our greatest joy! Happy Birthday Sweet Suzy Girl!! 

China 2014

Cole and I had the amazing opportunity to go to China together this year. We wanted to take a trip together before baby #2 arrived. Cole has always wanted to visit China, so we jumped at the chance to go. Although, it was a hard trip for me being pregnant and being SO FAR away from Suzy, we had a great time. I will always remember this trip and the time we had together, 

We started out our trip in Beijing. We stayed at an amazing hotel, thanks to my travel agent perks. We were able to two sections of the Great Wall of China. The Baddling section, is absolutely breath-taking. It was a section of the wall that has been restored to how it would have looked when it was first built. The views were amazing and it was fun hiking around and seeing all the interesting details. It was a very surreal feeling knowing that we were on the Great Wall of China.

We also were able to visit an unrestored section of the wall called the Simatai section. This was my favorite day of the trip. At the bottom of the wall they have now built a replica of an ancient Chinese water town. It had just opened up after being built for years. They actually said we were the first Americans to see it. The little town was amazing and so beautiful. After walking through the town we took a gondola to the top of the mountain to the wall. After the gondola, we still had to hike quick a ways to get to the wall. It made us really think about the Chinese people who built this section of the wall. Hiking and carrying all the stones and brick up that steep mountain would have been so hard. It was really interesting to see this unrestored section of the wall. Parts of it were crumbling and falling apart, however it still had such great detail and architecture. We felt so lucky to be able to see this amazing part of the world. 

In Beijing we were also able to see the Ming Tomb, the Summer Palace, the Forbidden City, Tianamen Square, eat at an amazing Peking Duck restaurant and shop at lots of little local shops. Beijing is a crazy place but we had a great time exploring there.

After Beijing, we then took a quick flight to Xian to see the famous Terra Cotta Warriors. We were only in Xian for a few hours but we managed to tour the museum of the Terra Cotta Warriors and go to a little shop where they make replicas of the warriors. It was amazing to see in real life.

We quickly jetted off again to Guilin.  Guilin is such an amazingly beautiful place. Very green, huge rolling hills and full of rice fields. We took a boat ride down the river and were able to get great views of the beautiful green hills and landscapes. Our boat ride ended in a little town called Yang Shou. This is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We loved strolling through the local markets and doing a little shopping. They are famous for this special pepper mix that we saw many of the local women making on the sides of the road and selling. We had such a great time.

What an unbelievable trip of a lifetime. We are grateful we got this chance to travel the world together.

Baddling Section of the Great Wall of China

Ming Tomb

The Summer Palace

Ancient Water Town at the Simatai Section of the Great Wall of China

Simatai Section of the Great Wall

Each brick had the person who made its name stamped on. If a brick broke that person was then killed. Talk about pressure. 

17 weeks pregnant at the Great Wall of China

Peking Duck being carved for us

Tiananmen Sqaure

Entrance to the Forbidden City

Forbidden City

Local street food

Xian- The Terra Cotta Warriors

Guilin

Yang Shou

Amazing caves in Guilin