Anniversary trip to NYC III

HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY!

We awoke to another gorgeous New York day! We started it out by hitting the subway and heading all the way down the island, hoping to ride the water taxi. But we decided we did not want to take the chance of not getting on the first trip out. Where the dock is located would put us back in an area of the city that is kinda far away and one that we had already seen. So, we decided to ride the Staten Island Ferry.

This ferry runs every 30 minutes, is free, and can carry a very large number of people at one time. And best yet, you get an amazing view of the Statue of Liberty! The ride was so nice...breezy, sunny, and relaxing.

We got on the subway and made our way back to Chinatown. I wanted to make sure I got a bag/purse! I mean, who comes to New York and does not get a fake bag?!? Most of you have heard of the illegal street peddlers of Chinatown. Well, they are everywhere and I had been avoiding them. I was pretty much sticking to the shops (even though most of them seem to have secret "back doors" that lead to another whole stash of goods) when this one mild-mannered lady walks up to me and flashes me a laminated card of sorts. On it are MANY pictures of bags. One actually appealed to me so I acted interested. Before I knew it she was on a walkie talkie and looking over her shoulder. She motioned for us to follow her. And we did. I kept looking at Kris and he kept assuring me it was OK. We kept walking and taking turns on this block and that, all the while she is continuing to "talk" and on the "watch". Before we know it we are off the beaten path and we walk straight up to a mini van parked on the side of the road. She opens the sliding door, crawls in, sits down on a stool surrounded by wall to wall purses, and tells me to hurry in so she can close the door. I look at Kris, then back at her and say "no thank-you, I don't feel comfortable". She looks disappointed and tries to reassure me, but we have already started walking off. I mean, HELLO! Of course it made me feel a little creepy and obviously she was selling illegally. I did not need or want a purse bad enough to get in that van nor to get her in trouble! Kris and I meandered our way back through the streets where I continued to shop. I eventually decided on two purses (that I absolutely adore!!!). The lady offered to add a Dolce & Gabbana decal to the front of them, but I declined :) I gave one of them to my sister since she was in the trenches keeping our kiddos (yes, she had our 3 and her 2...five under 5). After the stress of the illegal activity and the stress of deciding which purse to buy and the overwhelming feeling that I was in NYC and I needed to be spending my time more wisely, we headed out. We made our way back to Soho and found the Apple store (checked out some of their cool gadgets and checked our e-mail) and shopped in a Scholastic store (every Scholastic book and toy you can imagine). Then we made our way back up Manhattan, stopping to take in some of the sites in Times Square, walking through Toys R Us and seeing the life size Ferris Wheel inside the store, and walking through American Girl on 5th Avenue. All the stores were amazing!

It was time to call it an afternoon and head back to the hotel. After all our walking and the late nights we had been putting in, we wanted to get back and rest a little before celebrating ten wonderful years with some pretty awesome plans!

We had pre-theatre reservations for Tavern on the Green. This is a breath-taking place! Their website describes it best: "A grand café overlooking Central Park, Tavern on the Green is one of New York's most dazzling dining experiences - a real show- stopper overflowing with crystal chandeliers, hand-carved mirrors, and stained glass. Nestled in its own magical gardens, Tavern on the Green exists in a fantasy-like setting. It is no wonder the critics say, 'If Oz had a restaurant, this would be it!'"

After we were seated and given time to decide what we wanted, our waiter brought balloons to our table in honor of our anniversary! That made us smile. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal...

and dessert! (we did not think to take a picture of the dessert...we were so miserably stuffed)

We were only able to walk through one of the gardens because it started to drizzle. We tried to take a picture or two (you can only take so many pictures with one's arm extended HA!)


Kris and I walked three blocks to the Lincoln Center for the next event of our anniversary evening...South Pacific on Broadway!

We were very excited to get tickets to such a classic! Rodgers and Hammerstein Musicals are known for their musical scores and this one proved it! To hear Some Enchanted Evening sung by such professionals was amazing. And our favorite scene (if we had to name one) was to the song There Is Nothing Like A Dame. All the sailors singing such a fun tune was incredible. Again, we came away from our Broadway night nothing short of breathless!

Needless to say, we were very tired and called it a day. Based on our proven late night navigating abililties (from the night before), we opted to hail a cab to the hotel (less than a 10 minute trip this time)!

The final post to our NYC Anniversary Trip is coming...

Anniversary trip to NYC II

We started Thursday morning relatively early (considering we were one time zone ahead, on vacation, and kid-less). We walked to the end of our block and enjoyed coffee and a muffin from Starbucks for breakfast. Then we walked past our hotel to the other end of the block (yeah, our location was that great!) and boarded the subway. In planning our trip, we both wanted to see most of the city and actually know what we were seeing and decided the best way to accomplish this might be through the Grey Line Sightseeing Tour, aka the red double decker buses. This turned out to be a great investment. We were able to get on and off the bus at our leisure, stopping where it was important to us, all while hearing cool facts about NYC: where events take/took place, names of cool buildings, where people live, where shows are taped, etc. We saw the building used in Gotham City for the Batman movie, the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld, Carnegie Hall, NYU, and where Marilyn Monroe sang "Happy Birthday, Mr. Presdient" to name a few. If we had ridden the subway the entire time we would have missed experiencing so much of the city!

We decided to let our first stop off point be Soho. We did some walking and looking - mainly taking it all in and then walked our way to Chinatown. We were in search of a good Chinese restaurant and chose Ping's on Mott Street.

Kris and I are fans of Chinese food. (When we traveled to Taiwan and the Phillippines on a mission trip with the BSU in 1998, we were introduced to the delicious dim sum - Ping's made a name for itself with its dim sum.) We were not disappointed! Our favorites were the chicken and shrimp dim sum.


We then took to the streets. I, in search of a purse/bag or two and Kris, in search of a sweet pork roll (a Chinese bakery treat). While Kris found exactly what he was wanting, I got more and more confused! So, we decided to call it a day in the Chinatown area. When we bought our sight-seeing tickets, we received free tickets to ride the water taxi. We decided to get back on the bus and make our way to South Street Seaport. We hoped to ride the water taxi but they were sold out for the day and told us to return in the morning. We got some Haggendaz ice cream and enjoyed the sights of the port. There were lots of people browsing the shops and kiosks and being entertained by the street performers. We were pretty tired and a good distance from our hotel, so we decided to make our way back. Since we were not wanting to sight-see, we took the subway. After resting a little and getting ready we were on our way to see Jersey Boys on Broadway!


The show was phenomenal! We sat through the entire performance clapping, cheering, singing along, and even tearing up (Presley, that is). We left the theatre so excited. They sang many of the songs that The Four Seasons are famous for. A few of our favorites: Sherry, Walk Like A Man, Big Girls Don't Cry, Rag Doll, and Can't Take My Eyes Off of You. The talent can not be beat! In one of our favorite scenes they set up huge stage lights at the back of the stage and facing the audience. They had the actors with their backs to us and singing toward the back of the stage...making us (the audience) feel like we were backstage at one of their concerts! Incredible! Kris had never seen a Broadway show, nor is he a "theatre" person...but this one had him hooked! We highly recommend it (just know that the language is strong a times)!


Do we look like tourists? I think the backpack gives us a way :)

While walking to the subway after the show, we stopped at a local diner and enjoyed some pancakes. We were ready for bed and headed that way, but missed our stop on the subway and ended up delaying our getting home by an hour or two! Our NYC traveling skills were not up to par that night :)

Stay tuned for day three of our anniversary trip!

Anniversary trip to NYC

In August, Kris and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary. YAHOO!! What a great 10 years. When I look back over our time together, it makes me smile. God could not have made a better partner for me (and He knew that) and every minute has been worth it! So, with such a milestone anniversary ahead of us we started talking about doing something nice. We would go back and forth on whether or not to spend some money this way. We could easily talk our way out of it, but just as easily dream our way into it! The closer our anniversary got, we bit the bullet and bought our plane tickets...to NYC! We have both been to New York before but had never been together. We were so looking forward to visiting the big apple, just the two of us. So, I hope to take a post or two and write about our trip. (Considering I am so behind on my scrapbooks I fear I am going to lose my memory of these precious days if I don't get them documented). I hope you enjoy reading about what we did. But, I am pretty sure it was much more fun to live it! :)

Our good friend (and Kris' boss), Lloyd, took us to the airport early, early on a Wednesday morning.



We boarded the plane and soon found out their were some mechanical issues that delayed us just long enough that we missed our connecting flight. But, no worries, because the airline got us on the next flight without any problem and we safely landed at La Guardia just an hour later than we had planned. We caught a cab to the Excelsior Hotel and checked in. Once we were settled we walked to the subway, bought a 7 day pass, and headed south to Coney Island. Kris and I had done a little research in preparing for our trip and had made several plans. Going to Coney Island was something we had tossed around, not really knowing what we were getting into, but thinking it would be fun nonetheless. When we first got off the subway we came upon Nathan's. You may recognize this place as it holds the hot dog eating contest every summer.



And I must say, they serve a pretty good hot dog!



We took a little time to walk around and explore the sights. I am not sure I have words to describe the place. Maybe fair-ish, maybe freak show-ish, but yet beautiful boardwalks and nostalgia abounding? Hard to imagine...I am sure! Anyway, we did not see much that we wanted to participate in. So, after a short walk along the boardwalk and admiring a close-to-sunset view of the water we stopped at the infamous Cyclone of Astroland. We walked right up to the counter, bought our tickets, and boarded the roller coaster in less than 5 minutes. It was loud, it was rickety, it was old, it was fast, it was an experience of a lifetime!





With the sun going down and the "crowds" becoming more and more shady, we boarded the subway and headed back to the Upper West Side. A first day together, well spent, and looking ahead with excitement! (Stay tuned for more about our trip in a later post)

The Virtual Pumpkin

Last Fall, my mother-in-law e-mailed me a link to a really neat website. The site is for virtual pumpkin carving. Weird, I know (but, cool none the less)! The kids had such a good time carving pumpkin after pumpkin. I thought I would share the site for all those interested...sure beats cleaning up all those insides time after time! We will save that for once it gets closer to time :) Check it out if you are interested!

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/pumpkin_sim.html

The verdict is...

the Caramel Frappuccino recipe is a keeper! Oh, yes it is! I have made it everyday since first trying out the recipe and I am quite surprised how great of a substitute it is!

I have several things on my To Do List today. But two things I am especially looking forward to: 1) going to Mommy and Me with Bankston Hays and 2) Ann Elise's tea party at Preschool. I took both my older children to Mommy and Me (Wes more than Ann Elise, but, hey, he was the first right?!?) and enjoyed it thoroughly. We still sing songs that were our favorites from the class. Now that Ann Elise has started Preschool it has freed up some time to start taking the baby...and he is loving it! This will be our third week and I love the one on one time to focus on him. I love seeing his eyes light up and listening to his giggles. May I never forget the sweet, sweet smiles of these good times! And for the tea party, oh my is Ann Elise excited! They have been making things to prepare for this tea party and they have been talking about it. She has been excited for about a week. This morning it was so sweet. She was starting to put on her clothes and she said, "Mommy, is it tea party day?" "Is this what I am going to wear for the tea party?" "Is this tea party clothes?" To which I responded, "Yes, yes, sweet doll today is the day and I cannot wait to come!" She gave me the biggest hug. May I also never forget the joy that comes from being in "their" moment and sharing their excitement!

As Bankston Hays plays in the pack n play, let me get to picking up around here so that we can begin our fun day!

Starbucks Lovin'...

One of my all time favorite treats is a Caramel Frappuccino from Starbucks.



I love that it is coffe. I love that it is sweet with caramel. I love that it is cold and slushy. I do not love that it costs close to $5 to enjoy. So, I decided to Google for a recipe and came across several! I am looking forward to trying this soon...maybe this weekend!!!


STARBUCKS CARAMEL FRAPPUCCINO
(taken from http://www.legacyofhope.org/frappe.html)

3/4 cup double-strength coffee, cold
1 cup low-fat milk
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons caramel
2 cups ice

1. Make double-strength coffee by brewing with twice the coffee required by your coffee maker. That should be 2 tablespoons of ground coffee per each cup of coffee. Chill before using.
2. To make the drink, combine all ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed until ice is crushed and drink is smooth. Pour into two 16-ounce glasses, and top each glass with whipped cream and drizzle additional caramel over the whipped cream. Serve with a straw. Makes 2 "grande" drinks.

Sunday morning ponderings of a three year old

Conversation while having breakfast before getting ready for Sunday School....

Wes: "Daddy, David got baptized."

Kris: "Really?"

Wes: "Yes sir, Sunday."

Kris: "That is great, Wes!"

Wes: "Yep"

Ann Elise: "Daddy, what does that mean?"

Kris: "Well, it is a way to show everyone that you love the Lord, that you believe in Jesus."

Ann Elise: "Now that's a good idea!"

My 10 month old

The day has come. My 10 month old is no longer a baby...he is a toddler. Well, not quite, but almost! This week I found him in these two places:





Now when did this happen? With every child the time passes faster and faster. Some days it would be pure bliss for it all to run in slow motion. I love this little guy. From his grins, to his little games (playing noggin), to developing and nurturing his curious little spirit, he makes me smile. Somtimes we take for granted the sweet smell of their baby scent or the smooth and soft rub of their skin. But, every time I get a moment to soak it in and truly enjoy the moment...LOVE IT! There is nothing like a baby in the house.

Another tooth post

What is it with my family?!? This year has proven to have tooth issues! Read this post and this post for what I mean! Last night Kris was getting the kids ready for bed with their nightly routine: baths, hair, pj's, teeth. When he noticed an addition to Wes' mouth. It seems as though his first permanent tooth is making its entrance! The only problem...it is coming in behind the baby teeth! We are excited for this new chapter;however, it does mean my baby is losing more and more of being my baby. Wes is excited! And he is looking forward to those baby teeth in front of his big tooth getting loose!

Can you see it?

All I want for Christmas...

is for my children (toddlers, albeit!!) to KEEP their two front teeth! Last night AE was going to help Kris feed the dogs (part of her chart). As they were entering the mudroom Kris stopped to turn the alarm off and AE tripped over his leg. She fell face forward and her front teeth hit the corner of the bench. Ouch! Of course, crying ensued and blood followed. For the first little bit we thought it was her bottom teeth. Well, as the blood subsided and we got to look around in her mouth, it was the TOP teeth. They did not get knocked out, but one of them was pushed back further than the rest of her teeth.


(this picture was taken 24 hours after the accident...much better than we thought!)


After she calmed down she was able to sleep peacefully through the night. Kris and I talked about it and decided since it was pushed back we should take her to the Dentist. Fortunately they were able to see her first thing this morning. Dr. Drew tried to push it back into place but it was just too painful. After x-raying it, the tooth looked fine...it was the one next to it that looked bad (About a year and a half ago she was...huhmmm...jumping on our bed and lost her balance crashing her front teeth into the corner of our bedside desk. It all got better but over the time the tooth has turned grey. We were told not to worry. They would not do anything for it since it is a baby tooth). So, as it seems, the grey tooth is the concern for now. As far as concern goes, Dr. Drew said it would be falling out sooner then it should. What is that supposed to mean? Next week? Next month? Or just when she is 5 instead of 6? This threw me into a tailspin of panic! FOUR YEAR OLD PORTRAITS!!! I have my children's portraits made at 4 years old. Do it real nice...buy a big one...have it framed to hang forever...you get the picture!


(Wes' four year old portrait)

But one of my whole points in doing it at 4 is to get a good picture before they lose that baby look AND their baby teeth!!! What if my baby loses her tooth before her baby tooth picture?!?! I still don't quite have that answer. I am thinking I might fudge the rule a little and have her portrait made this Fall instead of waiting until the Spring. She would only be 3 or 4 months shy of 4. Don't you think that is acceptable? I know I am making WAY more of a big deal out of this than I should be. But I am a mother and my babies will not look like this forever. And it is important to me!

A new week, a new outlook

I am really looking forward to starting this week off on the right foot. I know it is a little ambitious of me to think every week will be like this for our family of 5. However, we are finally to the point of getting into out "school" routine. And I. Am. Excited. Even though Wes has been in school since August 12th, Ann Elise just started. This will be her first full week (albeit 3 days) of Preschool. This makes me happy because we now will know what our weeks will look and feel like on a more consistent basis. And that makes me happy. I like structure. I like having a plan. I like control - oops! That was hard to admit!

I just finished cleaning the kitchen (minus mopping - that will have to wait until Tuesday), cleaning out the fridge, and unloading and realoading the dishwasher. This makes me happy because we will wake up to a shiny sink...any FLYers out there? I am a fan of FLYing but have never been able to keep the pace. But I do believe it sounds heavenly! Kudos to those of you who keep with it! I also got our kids new "Good Morning Charts" printed, laminated, and hung. We went over them tonight before our devotion so that they would wake up expecting what I expect :)

I wish I had the energy to stay up a little longer and knock out a few other household chores. But in my best interest, I am going to head to bed soon. I want to start back on my morning exercise routine and this is just the week to do it! I have not gotten back into exercising seriously since preparing for my brother's wedding.

I spent some time this afternoon doing a little "blog cleaning". I hope this will inspire me to be a better blogger. We really do have a great life and fun times around here. I know it is important for me to document them while they are fresh on my mind so that the memories will be preserved forever. So, my prayer is that with this new outlook (and new blog look) that I will get on with it! If you read back through earlier posts, you might find that I was referring to my children by other names. Back when I started to blog I was not sure that I wanted to use their names, I have since changed my mind and will no be referring to them for who they are.

So, as I head to bed I look forward to writing again soon. I'd like to leave you with these precious pictures

Wes' First Day of Kindergarten
August 12, 2008


Ann Elise's First Day of Preschool
September 4, 2008