New York--Installment #2

Josh's main desire in going to New York was to see the Statue of Liberty and Times Square. So, even though it was raining, we headed out the next morning--well, technically it was afternoon--to see Lady Liberty. Since I do so much research on this stuff (ha!), I was a little bit surprised to find out that going inside the base of the statue can sell out! The tickets you have to buy are actually for the ferry but if you want to go inside, they must have "Monument Pass" printed on them. At a certain point they stop printing them for the day. Who knew? When we arrived at the statue, I asked a Park Ranger where exactly I could go. At that moment it started pouring rain, he looked at me and my two kids and said, "Oh, just hop in line and I'll let you in." Yea! We walked up the 192 steps from ground to the top of the base and the boys did great. (Amazing how that's not too hard but their legs are always too tired to climb up the stairs at home for something.) Inside the base is a museum and Josh's favorite part was seeing an ad for Levi's jeans. The picture cracks us up every time.

After the Statue of Liberty we hopped back on the Subway and went to F.A.O. Schwartz Toy Store. What a fun place! We tried on Harry Potter sunglasses, played on the famous giant piano, and spent quite a bit of time in the Lego section while Josh picked out his NY souvenir. (Jake had quickly found an awesome blue Batman that he talked about the rest of the trip.) David met us there and walked us through Rockefeller Center and down to Times Square. Josh said it was the best day of his life!

New York--Installment #1

Ahh, spring break! I took the boys to New York to visit David & Marne. What an adventure it turned out to be! Our day started out at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday. The day before it had snowed all day--not hard but it made everything icy. Driving from Canon to Springs was fine because I was alone on the road. Once I hit I25, the problems began. Since there was more traffic, mud and slush sprayed on my windshield. Since it was only 9 degrees out, my wiper fluid was frozen. Not a good combination. After trying to clear my windshield with water (which promptly froze--duh), I pulled over and bought a gallon of fluid with deicer. After a quick prayer and a few minutes to let it run through the tubes, we were on our way. I guess my prayers need some work because only the passenger side sprayer began to work. But it was enough to give me three inches of visibility to make it to Denver International Airport. We made it just in time to walk to the gate and start boarding immediately. We sat on the plane for an hour when they deboarded us due to mechanical problems. They had to wait for a part to come in on a flight from SLC, so everyone had to wait or reschedule flights. We chose to wait . . .

eight hours later we were on a plane to Cincinnati. Delta put us up in a hotel that night and we caught a flight to NYC in the morning. The boys loved it--free hotel, free t-shirts (XL adult size), and free junk food! 32 hours after we left home, we made it to David's apartment. David left church to let us in then went back to conduct a meeting. After church, we walked to Central Park and rode the rowboats. I couldn't figure out why David looked so funny rowing until I realized he was pushing the oars instead of pulling. He got his chance to laugh when I took my turn. It is much harder to navigate than it looks. It didn't help that the lake was packed. While David went to a stake choir practice, I let the boys play on one of the many playgrounds in the park. Of course, I picked the one that was nowhere near a bathroom. Which, of course, meant that Jake urgently needed to go. We ran around for a while when I finally decided a random corner near a building under renovation was going to have to do. (I'm so glad I have boys.) David laughed at me when I told him and said that I committed a misdemeanor. All I can say is that we were not the first to commit a crime in that particular corner. While we walked home, Jake fell asleep in the stroller and only woke up for a few fruit snacks before he continued sleeping all night. Later, Josh crashed on the couch while David and I struggled with inflating the air mattress. It was quite a long day but we were looking forward to more fun on Monday.

Changing Sheets

Today I took the sheets off my bed to put them in the wash. Jake came in, hopped up on my bed and started giggling. I looked at him and he said, "Mom, your bed is naked."

This might help your diet . . .

Tuesday Jake grabbed a bite-size Milky Way from my desk drawer. He unwrapped it, noticed some of the caramel had squished outside of the chocolate. He handed it back to me with a disgusted look and said, "I don't want it Mom. It has boogers."

Yesterday Josh and I were on the way home from school listening to the radio in the car. A Toyota commercial came on discussing the recent recalls and Josh looked really confused. When I asked what was wrong, he said "A toy Yoda? Why would people worry about that?"

Jake

Jake and I spent the day at home today. I could tell he was getting a cold yesterday, but when he woke up today and sounded like a chain-smoking seal I decided to keep him home from church. I just can't get over how darn cute he is!

SOS

I need help. Let me rephrase that. I need chocolate chip cookie help. I can't make them and I don't know why! I can make amazing Reese's Peanut Butter chocolate chip cookies, homemade Oreos (thank you Kim), giant ginger cookies, brownies, cakes, pies . . . but the perfect chocolate chip cookies still eludes me. I've tried recipe after recipe and made all kinds of adjustments for altitude. And I'm starting to get ticked off! My kids deserve a childhood full of perfect chocolate chip cookies, right? What kind of mother would I be without providing this? This picture is of the cookies Jake and I made last night for preschool snack. I was actually kind of embarrassed to take them to school. I have a reputation to uphold. Anyway, if you have the perfect, NO FAIL recipe for chocolate chip cookies, please send it to me. I'll make you some lemon bars, or pb fudge, or Texas sheet cake, or cinnamon rolls . . .

New Year's Eve

OK--a full moon and new year's eve. Not a good combination. It just solidifies my decision to avoid the ward family new year's party. Who wants to be around my kids at midnight? Certainly not me. I see enough of them at 2 a.m. We partied hard tonight--bacon-wrapped TaterTots for dinner and letting the kids create makeshift beds out of couch cushions. They're supposed to be falling asleep during "Flushed Away" but they'll probably outlast me. Happy New Year everyone!