Dance party!

A trip to the Intrepid

Parked in the Hudson River on Manhattan's westside is the WWII battleship USS Intrepid, which has been converted into a sea, air and space museum.

It is also home to the Enterprise, the mock space shuttle recently flown up to New York from its former home near Washington, DC. (The space shuttle Discovery is now there.)

Aunt Sue, Aunt Anne and Uncle David graciously renewed our Globetrotter membership to the Brooklyn Children's Museum for 2013. This membership not only allows us free entrance to the children's museum in Brooklyn, but also to a host of other museums across the country. The Intrepid museum is one of them, which is amazing -- admission is otherwise $25 for each adult and $12 for Sam. (Henry is free.)

So, we played hooky from church yesterday, trekking our way into the city. Sam and Henry enjoyed "the big boat" and all of the planes and helicopters that are also there. Unfortunately, we were not able to get a good look at the space shuttle. That portion of the Intrepid has been closed since Hurricane Sandy.

Here are some photos from our adventure: Intrepid Museum

Christmas 2012

MORE PHOTOS: Christmas 2012

Grandma J

Near the beginning of November, my Grandma J, 88, was put under hospice care at the nursing home she had been at since she suffered a fall about a year earlier. I decided to fly home to see her and to tell her the sex of Baby Paulsen #3. Grandma J wanted to know the sex in case she wasn't here in February. (So, yes, we found out the sex, and if we haven't shared that with you, you have to wait!)

The trip to see her was the best thing I did because she passed away on Tuesday, Dec. 4.

After some rearranging of schedules, all four of us traveled in our new minivan to Illinois. We managed to drive 11 hours the first day and the remaining 4 or so hours the second, arriving in Oregon, Illinois on Friday the 7th.

Nathan flew in on Friday. My Grandma J's sister, Sabra, and Sabra's daughter, Leeanne, arrived from southern California. And Chuck Diven, one of Grandma J's and Grandpa Jack's nephews, also joined the Putnam clan - Aunt Sue, Aunt Anne, Uncle David, Neal, my dad and my mom - to remember Grandma J.

The funeral service was held Saturday, Dec. 8. Before hand, we were allowed to bury her ashes at the cemetery ourselves.

This was especially hard, as Grandma J was my last living grandparent.

Here are some photos from the weekend from my dad: Grandma J

Here is a link to the obit: Grandma J's obituary

Henry's 2nd Birthday

We traveled into the city on Henry's birthday to check out the model train show at Grand Central Station.

Waiting patiently for lunch....

The day before H's birthday, we celebrated with his buddies with a playdate at church.

New backpack from Uncle Nathan and new Elmo sweatshirt from Papa and Debbie

Newest addition to the family.....

We bought a Honda Odyssey minivan and are selling our Honda Accord. There was no way around it with three kids.....