Hail Storm

A few weeks ago, on a Sunday afternoon the sun was shining brightly and I heard a strange noise from outside. We looked out the window and saw that it was hailing! Josh wanted to ride his bike in the hail and anything Josh wants to do, Jake is on board also. Of course, now you get to see what happens to Jake's clothes after church. First the shoes go, then the tie, then a few hours later the shirt disappears and eventually we are left with just underwear. I am going to have so much fun when he gets engaged and I can show someone all these wonderful pictures!

Family Portraits

Over Memorial Day, the boys' cousin Juli McKendrick came here from Texas to visit extended family. She is a professional photographer who offered her services which I shamelessly took advantage of. She does amazing work--I cannot tell you how much I love her for taking these pictures. These are a few of my favorites.

p.s. Her photography blog is julimckendrickphotography.blogspot.com

We're done!

It's summer vacation! All three of us are free from school for 80 days! (But who's counting . . .) I have actually started some online classes--language development and anatomy--so I'm not completely free, but I'll have a lot more time to study now. Both boys start tennis on Monday and ask me every day when we're going to go swimming.

Chicken Pox

Well, both the boys have caught the chicken pox. Not sure where it came from, but they seem to have mild cases and are (for the most part) enjoying the time off from school. These are pictures of the tunnel/slide that they created on the stairs this morning and then used to become monsters a little later.

New York--Installment #4

Our final day in New York! With Marne and Aubrey to show us around, we decided to hit the Central Park Zoo and playground. The zoo is small and just the right size for little legs. We got to see the sea lions do tricks during their feeding and got a close up view of a polar bear. After the zoo, we ate more hot dogs in the park--but I accidentally bought the bigger hot dogs. After I paid, the man told me they were spicy. Gee thanks. "But not too spicy, don't worry." They were too spicy.

Near the zoo is a playground with an awesome rock slide that the boys loved. We spent at least an hour just running up and down the slide. It was interesting as a mother to sit and watch all the nannies taking care of native NY children. Several children were bilingual which was pretty cool. Very different culture than Canon City.

Playing on the slide did a pretty good job of tiring the boys out, but we weren't done yet. I was determined to get to Chinatown. It was a good thing Marne came back because Josh refused to get on the subway with out David or Marne leading the way. After yesterday, I was simply not good enough. The boys had their caricatures done, we bought toy taxis and Spongebob Squarepants shirts, and we stopped at a Chinese bakery (the only place where we could use a bathroom if we bought something).

David met us after work and we headed back uptown for dinner at a small (teeny, tiny, miniscule) but popular and fun restaurant called Serendipity. Jake was so tired that he slept through the walk to the subway station, waiting on the platform while 3 trains went by, the subway ride, and the twenty minute wait outside the restaurant. Incredible. It was a fun place that had huge portions. Josh ordered a $8 hot dog (of course) and we had the peanut butter sundae for dessert. Josh was upset because it wasn't chocolate but somehow seemed to get over his disappointment enough to polish off the whole thing.

It was an amazing trip and a great way to spend spring break. Thanks to David and Marne for letting us invade their living room and dominate their lives for 4 days. We can't wait to come back!

New York--Installment #3

Day three in New York began with a tour of the Museum of Natural History. We went in the solar system door and immediately Josh saw all the planets and meteorites. Jake was in a seriously grumpy mood so I was very excited when he fell asleep in gems and precious stones (my favorite part of the museum). It didn't last long though because that museum is not stroller-friendly. Single steps all over the place! We stopped for a picture next to Josh's favorite animal--the buffalo--and made sure we saw the elephants and dinosaurs.

After the museum, we were going to meet David for a late lunch in Chinatown before our 4:00 appointment at Little Airplane Studios. He told me which subway to take and after some hot dogs for the boys, off we went! I swear we got on the B line which should have taken us directly to Chinatown, but some where I got mixed up. After a long subway ride, I decided to check the map. Sure enough, we were not near Chinatown. We got off, walked up enough stairs to get a signal without leaving the station (so I wouldn't have to pay the fare again) and called David. This is how the call went. "Are you in Brooklyn?" "How am I supposed to know that?! I'm underground!" "Did you have a really long ride between stops?" "Ummm . . . yeah." "You're in Brooklyn. Wrong side of the river." Oops. I asked the subway-man for help and he told me to get back on the Manhattan A train. So, we trudged down the stairs again (remember I'm carrying a double stroller and trying not to lose my children) and got on the A train. Of course, I wasn't bright enough to remember I have to cross the platform to go the other direction, so after a couple stops I realize we're going further into Brooklyn! We finally get turned around (whatever stop we were at has lovely picturesque neighborhoods by the way) and head back to where we need to be. We missed lunch with David and made it to the studio with two minutes to spare. Our twenty minute commute took 1 1/2 hours and ruined Josh's opinion of my navigation skills. But every vacation needs to have a little adventure, right?

Little Airplane Studios is in an amazing renovated building in the South Street seaport area. It's a studio that creates cartoons for Nick Jr. (& other networks)--most specifically the Wonder Pets which Jake loves. We were the only ones on the tour and they walked us through the entire process of how they create the cartoons. The boys got to draw a picture and get paid (in giant $100 bills) by the editor because they finished on time. They watched the animators work on the computers and were able to do a voiceover in the music studio. They LOVED hearing their voices sing while watching the cartoon. It was a really fun thing to do with them even if it was a little off the beaten track.

David was a fantastic sport about being the major evening entertainment. He goofed off with my boys and played Wii Resort with them until 10 p.m. (I love travelling the "right" direction for time changes. It was only 8 p.m. according to the boys' internal clocks.) I do think he was a bit relieved to have Aubrey and Marne come back from Utah though to share in the keeping-my-kids-occupied spotlight.

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!