New York Adventures

Oh my goodness, I'm tired.

But our little quick trip to New York City was just so wonderful that I have to blog it right now.

Also because I'm waiting up for my NINE YEAR OLD to come home from a birthday party. WHAT? He's a party animal.

Derek had a work meeting with the NY office of his company, so we tagged along.

First off, I absolutely MUST announce that NO ONE VOMITED.

I know.

I KNOW!

Anyway, the drive down was easy, we hit our hotel late afternoon in Brooklyn, bypassing a huge accident, and really no traffic. I mean, almost none, it's still New York.

From NYC August 2015

From NYC August 2015

Roof top of our hotel.

We got right n the subway to Times Square. Go big or go home right?

Can I sidenote here for a moment?

WTH NYC? Only a tiny fraction of subway stations have elevators. This is a huge pain the bum when you have a stroller. PAIN IN THE BUM.

Blah.

From NYC August 2015

Miriam colored herself with blue markers. Because she got bored. 

Anyway, it was SOOOO humid and hot. And the stores in Times Square need to learn how to appropriately air condition, because Toys R Us was RIDICULOUSLY hot. Like so hot that it was hard to enjoy their super cool store.

At one point, the Freddy-meister needed nursing. Bless the sweet Toys R Us employee who noticed me in desperate need of a quiet corner and showed me the mothers lounge. It was like this empty, quiet oasis in the CRAZY (oh it was SO crazy) heart of New York. We were able to just breathe. A lovely break.

From NYC August 2015

Hanging out in the mothers room at Toys R Us.

Oh did I mention that Wednesday was my birthday?

We finally decided that dinner was in order. Spencer was full-on melting down at this point. It was hot, crowded, and everyone was starving.

So, we stumbled upon (purposefully thanks to GPS) a fantastic pizza joint. It like amazing. They were super crowded, but the owner (I'm assuming) didn't even flinch at our large party. They welcomed us like family. And the lasagna pizza???? TO DIE FOR. We were all well fed and watered. It was wonderful.

From NYC August 2015

Birthday dinner!

We subwayed and hiked back to the hotel way too late,  but it was so good.

From NYC August 2015

From NYC August 2015

From NYC August 2015

From NYC August 2015

From NYC August 2015

From NYC August 2015

From NYC August 2015

Subway shenanagins!

Day two was just... fantastic. Poor Derek hurt his foot at one point and was limping badly, but that man was not going to let a silly thing like pain and anguish slow him down.

First, we are LDS afterall, so we went in search of the temple. The temple shares a building with the church building for several wards. Derek's work friend lives next door and took us on his roof, 37 floors up. We got to see the city from the most amazing angle.

From NYC August 2015

From NYC August 2015

After that we hit Central Park to have a picnic. Derek saw Hank Azaria!  ETA: Derek says Hank gave him a nod, thus acknowledging Derek's existence. This is a big deal

(I saw his back half after he walked by). We ate and played and had some ice cream.

From NYC August 2015

From NYC August 2015

Picnic! Derek has a love/hate relationship with the fact that people can get ahold of him all the time because of smart phones. 

From NYC August 2015

This baby is a dream. He was SO good the whole time. 

Then we hit the Met.

The Met!

The Met!

My kids were pretty toasted by this time. But dang it, they have an Arms and Armor wing. Worth.it.

From NYC August 2015

Exhausted but still kicking. 

From NYC August 2015

Guns! 

From NYC August 2015

Museum selfie

From NYC August 2015

Henry the VIII's custom armor. He was a large man. 

From NYC August 2015

These knights were SO cool. Spencer took this picture. 

We stayed until we absolutely had to leave. We headed to Derek's meeting, which involved more pizza, and eventually we fell into our beds in Brooklyn grateful for a fabulous day. The heat and humidity plus my poor husband's foot were cause for difficulties, but all in all, a great day.

Today, it was a long, long, long drive. Conneticut is the worst. What is up with Conneticut? It took forever to get through that silly tiny state! Now we're home. And why does the house that I cleaned before we left smell weird??? WHY????

VACATION POST

Long time no see. That might have been the longest blogging break I've ever taken. Phew.

Since the last post, I turned 30 (it's okay, I'm coming to grips with it), and we on went to Washington DC. Derek had a conference, and so we tagged along, and had an absolutely wonderful time.

Highlights:
No one puked. Ever.

If you have been a follower of this here blog for any length of time, you know that puking and travel go hand in hand around here. Henry even yakked up his pizza on a quick trip home from Boston once. So, the fact that at NO TIME did anyone vomit ANYTHING is a miracle.

That has NEVER EVER happened. Ever.

So, there was that.

Also, we generally got along well. We managed public transit, sightseeing, swimming, and general vacation-like activities without incident, two of the days Derek was working so I was on my own, and it was so much fun.

Day One: Natural History Museum



On the Red Line! We stayed near my parents' old house, so I would confidently be able to get around DC via my old routes. It worked perfectly.


Excuse the crap picture, this is Spencer and Oliver is there in the background, sitting on his feet, watching the tarantula feeding. YUCK, but the boys were in heaven.



Lunch on the Mall. We ate A LOT of peanut butter and jelly on this trip. so as to be frugal. Suffice it to say, I'm over it. BUT we did manage to save a good chunk of change only buying one meal a day. Go us.



So fun.

Then we headed back to the hotel because what's vacay without some swimming? I managed to keep everyone alive. Be impressed.





When the baby girl naps through the last hour of swimming, it does make it easier.

Day Two: National Zoo
We happened to be at the zoo on a cool, rainy day. The very day that the baby panda was born, but that didn't matter because it broke my boys' hearts not to get to see the pandas.

The downpours meant I got to spend $25 to buy zoo-official ponchos and then we enjoyed a nearly empty zoo. We stayed all day. So long in fact that Derek met us AFTER his conference let out at the end of the day. That, my friends, is a successful day of vacation.


Ezra didn't want to pose for the camera and was highly offended to be made to look at me when he wanted to watch the baby elephant!!!



Flamingos!! And ponchos. Miriam was in the carrier the entirety of this day and therefore was not in any photo opportunities.

Day Three:
Derek's sister, Amber and her three kids drove up Friday night to meet us in DC, it was a nice mid-point for us both, and as we hadn't see each other since Henry was a baby, it seemed like it was time. We had a blast. We hit the Air and Space Museum which is always a blast but also incredibly crowded. We managed to unknowingly plan our vacation on the same weekend that the 50th Anniversary of MLK's freedom walk took place. There were a lot of people. Everywhere.


Stupid blurry picture of Henry reading about Amelia Earheart.


Stupid blurry picture of Derek and about seven kids. I only got asked once if all eight kids were mine. HAH! No. Just no.



No more pictures Mom.

Day Four:
We decided to hit the Temple and Visitors' Center before Amber had to hit the road. It was beautiful and not too hot. We even managed to walk the small nature trail behind the DC temple, that abruptly ends in either a chain link fence or a giant, muddy hill underneath the Visitor's Center. It was awesome.


Aunt Amber and Miriam. Cuties.



The sun was too bright for any really good pictures.



Love it.

We went back to the hotel then and swam, watched a movie, and just relaxed.

Day Five: Monday was drive-home day, and we took a tiny detour into Hoboken, NJ to see Carlo's Bakery which is the setting of the show Cake Boss, which we all know is dearly loved by my children. My good luck with health and travels was starting to abate though, and Miriam had a fever, and everyone else was snot-nosed and not feeling great. It was fun for the boys still, although waiting in line was misery. THAT is why we don't do theme parks. Anyway, it took too long, and traffic out of Manhattan and through the whole of Connecticut was rubbish, so whatever.





It's hard to wait.





We crawled home, much later than I wanted, and now we are spending the day NOT doing school, or anything else, because we all feel utterly crappy.

So, I'm thankful we're home. It was, by and far, the best family trip we've ever taken. VERY successful. But now, tomorrow, I suppose, it'll be back to the grind. It's been an absolutely fantastic summer.

All good things must come to an end.

Like this, the worlds longest blog post.

You've waited so patiently.

This morning was a vascilation between apathy and frustration.

Apathy- tired, don't want to clean or unpack or deal with babies who won't sleep, post-vacay blues.

Frustration- Water in the laundry room. Again. Stuff to clean, clothes to wash, you know the drill. I did yell. I yelled at EVERYONE. Just for a second, but still. I don't yell, typically. My own voice felt foreign in my throat. I don't yell because I despise the way I sound and the way my family looks at me when I do. YUCK. Shame on me.

So instead of wallowing in apathy and frustration, I opted for a good day.  I read an entire book and rocked babies and fed children various forms of crackers and fruit and kissed them when they came near enough to my spot on the couch.

Henry said to me today, "I am so glad to be home! But Las Vegas sure was fun!"

Amen, Kidlet. Amen.

From Vegas trip 2011

So without further ado (because I want to eat an ice cream bar, and who knows when Ez will start back up again...)

Highlights:

The FOOD. Oh restaurants in Las Vegas, how I miss you!

The PARTY. Seeing dear friends and former clients, so delightful.

From Vegas trip 2011

From Vegas trip 2011

The WEATHER. Seriously, in a month Vegas will be unbearable. But April in Vegas? Perfect.

The POOL. Henry (and my brother Josh, who came along) loved it. The first day, Spencer and Oliver both acted like I was trying to murder them when I pulled them in. We lasted ten minutes. But by the last day, the last 20 or so minutes, they decided the (not so) hot tub was the PLACE TO BE. Spencer had actually refused to even set foot in the pool area and went off with Derek elsewhere, but eventually both he and O-man ended up loving it. Spencer went skinny dipping because he refused to swim in his clothes. (Because he had ORIGINALLY refused to swim!)

From Vegas trip 2011

The VOMIT. Yes. Always. Someone (in this case mulitple someones) always vomits when we leave town. No idea why.

The LAUNDRY. Due to the aforementioned vomit, a trip to a Mexican laundromat was in order. Luckily, I know enough Spanish to know the difference between "caliente" and "frio" so the laundry was done without incident.

From Vegas trip 2011

The HOTEL room. Bathtub in the stairs. Seriously. Oliver was terrified of it, until our final night there.

From Vegas trip 2011

(See the chain in the background? It's blocking off the bathtub, WEIRD!)

The HILARIOUS moments.

Henry randomly remembering things from when we lived in Vegas and talking about them CONSTANTLY! His memory is shockingly good.

Spencer "talking" to the "police" on the unplugged hotel phone, long after he was supposed to be asleep. *My kids think hotel phones are toys, so we always have to unplug them the moment we check in.*

From Vegas trip 2011

Josh getting his foot stuck in the stroller. Me telling Josh to sleep in his SUITCASE when I meant his SLEEPING BAG and he attempting to oblige.

From Vegas trip 2011

From Vegas trip 2011

Derek trying SO hard to get the DVD player we brought from home to work with the hotel tv so we could watch the new Harry Potter. No, it never worked.

Ezra discovering his toes. Oh my baby!

From Vegas trip 2011

Packing up and laying Ezra down for TWO SECONDS on a pile of sheets, and turning around to find him asleep. DARLING!

From Vegas trip 2011

Good trip all in all. But tomorrow, I really must get my life back in order. REALLY MUST!

I'll let you know how it goes.