Summer in Cali...

As much as we love NY we needed to escape the humidity. So the kids and I packed our bags, kissed Daddy good-bye (he was nose deep in Greek) and jumped on a plane to Grandma's house. She was very excited to see us although I think she forgot how loud and messy we are. Since we could waste no time we loaded our calendar with fun field trips.

Our first outing was to Wild Rivers. They have carload deals on Monday nights, so we put as many little ones as we could in a 12 passager van.

Jack and I went on an adventure and slid down the slide together. The face full of water was quite a surprise at the end.

Claire and I jumped around in the pool to keep warm as the sun went down.

Claire loved being the Princess and sitting on top of her tube

while she floated down the lazy river.


Lance loved the being in the tube, being out of the tube, being in the tube, being out of the tube. For him the lazy river was anything but lazy.



In the end we were all purple, sleepy and ready to go home to Grandma's.

Lance 5...

Lance never was a little baby. Weighing in at 10lb 4oz at birth and then improving that with thunder thighs that you just wanted to sink your teeth into...heaven. But 5?! How did that happen. He was just this sweet baby that looked at you with his deep blue eyes and he would get you do anything.

Now when I look into his eyes I still fall in love, but I also hear his mischievous giggle and wonder what he up to now!

Being here in NY we have let the kids choose several NY attractions to tour on their special day. Lance chose to go to the Fire Fighter Museum, FAO Schwartz and our favorite little book store Bank Street Bookstore.

Being August it was a typical hot and humid day in the Big Apple. We took the train to lower Manhattan and went into the Museum that was a former NY Fire station. The displays were amazing and very kid friendly. Lance fit the "Handsome" firefighter profile perfectly.

He had so much fun trying on all the different out fits and seeing how the trucks evolved from being pulled by a horse to what we have today. He pulled us around and had us read all the signs on the wall that explained about the equipment.


They had a simple but touching tribute to NY Firefighters from 911. This was a helmet that was found in the rubble as the clean up was occurring at ground zero. It was interesting to see the reverence that our kids gave the rooms dedicated to these heroes.

Lance enjoyed just hanging out on the fire engine.

Nana and Katie made a special visit for Lance's birthday and brought fancy cupcakes. Lance could hardly contain his excitement.

Is this a sign that his eyes are bigger then his stomach?!

What a wonderful day to celebrate the birth of our little Lance. We are so glad that he is in our family. His contagious laughter adds to our lives.

Claire's Day

Claire has been planning this day for months. Any time we talk about birthdays she would start her new idea with... "For my Birthday we are going to..." and it was usually followed by something spectacular like having a slumber party at the Plaza. With each of her new ideas I would follow up with, "That would be great!" But in the end we had to come up with something really special for our Princess. So weeks before I asked her where in NY she wanted to celebrate her birthday and she picked Central Park. That was the easy part so we fill the rest of the day in with New York's finest.

First of all Claire wanted to bring Molly, her American Girl Doll, so Molly was Claire constant companion. Not once did Molly need to take a ride in the stroller. Our first stop was to our little red lighthouse. I read that it was going to be open and visitors could climb to the top for a great view.

So up we all climbed. It was a little unnerving to see Lance and Jack lean a little too far over the rail. One by one they admitted to me that they were a little scared and liked the view from the ground better.

The spiral stair case and the great echo made the trip down a treat.

Jack was so excited to finally reach that door that earlier he had tried to squeeze through the gate to get to.

Lance was excited to find more nooks to climb in and to be able to run in circles around the light house.

After a picnic lunch the kids enjoyed climbing on the rocks and watching a few boats pass by.

From there we took the train downtown to 5th and 49th to where little girl's (and Mommy's) dream's come true... The American Girl Doll Store. Claire saved her birthday money and had in mind what she wanted before we entered the store. In the end Molly was dressed in a new birthday dress, and added a swim suite and PJ's to her wardrobe. Claire was so excited and had to change Molly right away!

From there we went to "Crumbs" and everyone chose their favorite sugar rush. Claire chose Cookies and Cream...

Lance Candy....

Jack Carrot....

And Daddy, Chocolate along with a bite of Lance's. Mommy enjoyed a Black and White. We all sat on the grass in Central Park, sang to Claire, and ate 1/4 of our treats to save the rest for breakfast in the morning.

With that much energy we ran off some steam at the playground and in the sprinklers.

Some of us had a sugar melt down and needed to go home.

To top off Claire's day we walked to Gray's Papaya and ate our hot dogs at the 69th Street station. What a great NY birthday. The weather was perfect and the kids enjoyed being in the city. I can't believe that my baby is 6, I am so proud of who she is turning out to be and look forward to exploring with her through many more birthdays.

Monticello

The day following our adventure to Mount Vernon we decided to try one more historical landmark. This time we travel 2 hours from our gracious host's home to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson our 3rd President.

Monticello was build on a hill and means beautiful hill. Touring Monticello had a very different feeling than Mount Vernon. While Mount Vernon was spread wide, Monticello climbs to the sky.

Beautiful trees surround the home, while along the outlining path is Mulberry Row, the slave's homes and shops.

There was a children's center that allowed the kids to explore what life was like in Thomas Jefferson's time. There was a slave home that the kids are able to prepare a meal over a fire.


Lance lounged in a replica of Jefferson's bed. In his home he built this bed in a alcove between his bedroom and his office. That way he was never too far from either.

They also had wooden blocks that we all enjoyed building our own Monticello.


We enjoyed the beautiful gardens. There was a wonderful breeze and we laid on the grass to take in the smell of nature that we don't get very often.

All of three of the kids took off in different directions and explored nature to the fullest.



After a tour of the home the kids enjoyed foot races in true Jefferson fashion. Jefferson would go on the front lawn with his grandchildren and drop a handkerchief to signal the start of the race. Matt used a tissue to start our race and the kids took to be the first to Daddy.

While in the children's center a woman that worked there gave each of our kids a nickle. She explained who was on the coin and that his home was on the back. Jack loves to look at his nickle and tell us all about going to Thomas Jefferson's home.

This was a small pond that Jefferson built in his garden. The reflection of Monticello was breath taking and the kids loved throwing rocks into the water and watching the water ripple.

An amazing part of history that we were able to share with our little family. Jack can still tell you who is on the nickle. The kids watch movies with historic places and figures and talk about being there, I would not miss this for the world. The other day the kids even talked about meeting George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and we teased that they were entertaining Grandpa...we all got a good giggle out of that.

Red, White and NY

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays. And like may holidays it means dressing in holiday colors. So bright and early Sunday morning we all dressed in red, white and blue.

After church the celebration started with bright red frosting and sprinkles. We made "funfetti" cupcakes with red and blue dots and went on a sugar rush. Then with hot dogs and fries to top it off, we were off into the city for fireworks.

We took the train to 59th and then walked to 57th all the way west. We found a spot in the middle of the street and spread out our Texas blanket. "Where was Jack?", you may ask...

Where most kids should be at 9:00 at night, asleep in their stroller.

We watched a beautiful sunset across the Hudson River while dripping sweat. It was in the mid 90 and the fireworks were about to start.

A few thousand or our little friends joined our street party. This was a view just to the north of of us. The crowds went from 59th Ave to 12th Ave.

Once the fireworks started Jack was up and the kids were climbing on the police barrier in front of us.

The show was amazing with new fireworks that I had never seen before.

When it was all over we went with ALL of our new friends to the the train... and then took a taxi home. It was a great night, and as Matt says something we never need to do again :)