Missing him

Man, I love him! And miss him. He is on a mission building houses in Peru. It seems like he's been gone forever. I'm counting the days until he's home.

Summertime

Ok, now I'm all caught up with my NY trip. Now it is back to California, our beautiful weather, and SUMMER!

This is what our Saturday's look like. Swim Team! The boys had their first meet and they did awesome! They all were heat winners. The thing I love the most about swim team is that the kids compete against themselves. Sure they compete against everyone and being a heat winner is cool but every week they try to get time improvements on their time from the previous week. I also love the supportive atmosphere. Everyone cheers for each other. Some days the kids complain about going to practice but as soon as we get there they run right in and are smiling the whole time.


















Today we played with old and new friends. We started out the day at Nat's house. It was so good to just hang out. The kids were all friends during their preschool days but then diffferent schools and different schedules got in the way. We finally figured out a playdate and it was so nice how everyone just jump back into playing like no time had gone by. Nat's house is just the most relaxing place to be. It's so gorgeous and so welcoming. Love it! I left wanting to redecorate!

After that we left to a new friend's house. Amy is a friend from church and from the minute I met her I knew we'd be friends. Her kids are younger than mine and they are just the cutest. Seriously cutest! It makes me miss those younger days.

Tonight I ordered pizza and we made rootbeer floats and watched a movie. We had some major drama though. Noah and Joey started fighting and they both got their feelings hurt. As I was trying to talk to them it really escalated and Joey started crying and telling me he is bullying his brother because he feels like he is bullied in school...then Zach started crying because he doesn't have a best friend and they were talking about school and then Noah (who was in the bathroom) heard them talking about someone who has not been nice and they were calling him a jerk. Noah thought they were talking about him and came out crying. Seriously...my neighbors were probably wondering what the heck was going on. 3 boys...totally sobbing. I felt so bad for everyone. It was good...we really talked about everything. They really had so much bottled up inside. It just made me so sad though. I wish I could just fix everything. Fix all their problems. Give them great friends in classes filled with nice kids who never pick on others or laugh at them....It's just a horrible part of life. I really tried to stress that that is why I want them to treat each other wit kindness because it is such a gift that they have each other. I think they finally got it. I hope so.

Rochester

NY was a long trip! We couldn't stop at Long Island and the city. We had to fly to Rochester too. Our very good friends moved back to Rochester from California a few months ago. We were so very sad...especially Zach. We told the boys that we would go visit and we were all counting the days. When our plane touched down it was raining (big surprise...New York was breaking all kinds of records with how much rain they were getting). Since we were wet anyway we headed strait to Niagra Falls. Wow! What energy! We got our blue raincoats and headed on the boat strait into the falls. It was pretty cool!

The boys had fun but they really just wanted to go and play at Bennett and Garretts house. The adults wanted to play too. We were so excited that Bennett and Garrett's grandma watched the boys so we could go out to Dinosaur BBQ with John and Donnell. John had raved about it and it didn't disappoint.


The rest of the trip consisted of me and Donnell be groupies to the rockstars,
eating lots of ice cream, making excuses to go to Wegman's (the worlds coolest grocery store), chatting, laughing, and really enjoying our friends. Tonight Zach started crying. My heart was breaking. He wanted to know why we just couldn't stay in NY. He misses his friends. Not just the kids but the whole family. I do too.

Family

Back to Long Island and our family. We started the trip with the my mom's side of the family and ended it with my dad's side of the family. We have all been waiting to meet Jeremy. My boys just love babies...although we missed the baby stage we got to see Jeremy for his toddler stage. They were just thrilled. To make it even better their other cousin, Hailey came too. They were thrilled to meet young cousins and old cousins. They are still asking when we are going to move to NY so we can be close to their family.

NYC favs!

We got up early and jumped on a subway and headed down to the docks to get a ferry to Liberty Island. It was a gorgeous day. I just love all the foliage in NY. They have had a ton of rain and everything was so green!


When we got back from Liberty and Ellis Island there were great streat dancers. These guys were amazing. They were so strong!

Then that night we got tickets to SHREK the MUSICAL. It was absolutely amazing. Joey and I even thought it was better than Wicked. The music is so great. We were hoping to get tickets so I had the boys listen to the music before we went to NY. They knew it all so they enjoyed it even that much more. They have listened to it every day since we've been back.

Lindy's was right accross from the theatre so we had to get some good NY cheesecake. Then, since everyone was full of energy we did a midnight run to EMPIRE STATE BUILDING. Midnight is the perfect time to go because no one was there. We had no lines and went right up. The view at night was amazing. JUST MAGICAL! It was my favorite night in NYC.

The next day was our day to leave NYC. We couldn't leave without a trip to Bobby Flay's restaurant, Mesa Grill. The kids love him on food network so they were thrilled when I got reservations. And if you ask they how their food was there reply is usually, "to die for"!

The day wasn't over yet!

After FAO we went to the Central Park Zoo and the Children's Zoo. Talk about beautiful. If I had babies in NY I would walk with that stroller every day. I would never get tired of it. We had to race back to the hotel to get ready for the big event.....Yankee Statium!!!!

Even Noah and Zach were counting the minutes. It was fun taking the subway because every stop Yankee fans would hop on. I wanted to get better seats so I sat with Zach and Noah and Dave and Joey sat up a row. Joey sat there and just stared and watched the game. Who knew that Noah would be the crazy fan. He sang, chanted, screamed.... And then Zach wanted to spend his birthday money on a big finger and stuffed animal. We got back to our seats and Zach and Noah were the life of the party!












Joey was in heaven with NY statium food! Talk about DELICIOUS sausages!























The whole statium stood for the National Anthem. It made you proud to be an American.

The Big Apple

We got up early and found this cool place called Pret A Manger. The food was so good! We ended up going there 4 times! First stop of the day was Top of the Rock! (Top of Rockafeller Center). The view was amazing!
All the details of the building were just beautiful. I loved learning about the history and how this center and building was build from one man's vision and really saved so many people by giving them jobs during the depression.








Next stop was St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was just breathtaking. When we were in Europe this year I really started to think the US didn't have any history and beauty like Europe does but NY really does. Such beauty!























A trip to NYC wouldn't be complete without visiting FAO!

More NY

I'm trying to document more of NY so there is going to be a lot more NYC posts :)

The day after the wedding we picked up the kids and hopped a train to the city. Our hotel was perfect. It was right in the middle of time square. We were on the 27th floor and it overlooked all of Broadway.
We got situated and headed to Hard Rock for dinner. I love this picture of Zach. He looks like a ghost. It captures all his movement! The boys are in front of a wall of guitars. Totally cool!








I love the city! We seriously wanted to move there. The boys were the best travelers and total city boys. We would leave the hotel at 9am and return at midnight. They just kept on going! NYC is so easy to navigate with the subways and the gridlike way the it's setup. I LOVE that! The boys could figure out how far away we were from things by counting blocks.

The first night there we hit Toys R Us. It is so big that there is a full size ferris wheel inside the building. Noah and Zach got to spend their birthday money so they were pretty darn excited. We also went to M and M World and then headed back to the hotel.















This might be my favorite picture ever. We're in our hotel room looking out the window at the Shrek sign. They were dying to go see the musical and we ended up getting tickets.

Wedding Day

Our main reason for going to NY was to go to my cousins wedding. She was the most beautiful bride I have ever seen. She just glowed! And the wedding was spectacular! It was so her. She is a fashion designer and she designed all the dresses...each one totally different and gorgeous. Her husband looked at her with such love in his eyes. I was so happy we could be there for it.









My cousin, Kate was looking pretty hot. Oh, and the bridesmaid dresses were all black but like I said before each one totally unique. My favorite thing about them is they all had hot pink shoes on that matched the bouquets of hot pink peonies. I LOVE peonies!
























My mom, dad, hubby and my boys.
















My mom and I heading into the reception at the Bourne Mansion. What a BEAUTIFUL place. My two favorite things were:

1. The cocktail hour was in two beautiful rooms that had all pictures of the the bride and groom from the time they were babies up all over the mantles like it was their home.

2. They had a photo booth during the reception. You could pop in and do funny little pictures and they you got a copy and you left one for the bride and groom in an album with a note.

Zach and Noah turn 8!

The next day was Noah and Zach's birthday. My sweet Godmother threw them a birthday party and we got to see lots of relatives we haven't seen in a long time. She cooked unbelievable amounts of food- bbq chicken, Italian sausage, hot dogs, homemade mac and cheese, zucchini pie, rice, grilled veggies....and a Friendly's ice cream cake for dessert. YUM!

This picture of my mom and dad totally cracks me up!









The big bunch of us.
















Blowing out their candles (with their cousin who is turning 8 next week)
















My cousin's college friends came by and started this funny drinking game. Dave joined right in!

We're back!

We are back from a fantastic trip to NY! We're trying to get back in to the swimg of things (lots of laundry and cleaning and unpacking). It was such a good trip that when we were landing Zach started crying. I thought his ears were bothering him but he was just so sad that the vacation was over.

We flew in to NY and my aunt and Godmother, Joni picked up all up. She was so sweet to let us stay at her house for part of the trip. I was expecting hot weather but it was raining. While we were sleeping we woke up to the biggest electrical storm ever! Constant booming thunder and our whole room lighting up from the lightning. Wild!

The next day we woke up and hopped right on a train with my cousin, Lisa and hit the city. The boys were thrilled to get NY pizza (the first of about 8 meals of pizza). We then rode the subway like natives and went to the Natural History Museum, Hayden Planatarium, Shake Shack, Central Park. We walked all over the city and ended up taking bikes to the most amazing dinner. We didn't head back to Long Island until midnight. Thank goodness the boys are such good travelers and as it turns out total city boys.






We had the coolest conductor on the train. He used his punch to make things for my boys. Check out the cool frog!























With the elephants at the Natural History Museum























It is so fun to be ridden around the city on the bikes. We had to take two of them. Not the best picture because we were moving. So much fun though!!

A Star is Born

Joey had a show tonight for the end of 4th grade. Joey had a solo in the Jersey Boys medley. I was talking to my friend last night (the one who chorographs and directs all the shows) and she said she would never have imagined him singing like this when he was in kindergarden. I am pretty stunned too. His voice is really beautiful and he has such guts to get out there in front of everyone and sing his heart out. I'm so proud of him. There are so many reasons why....I just love him so much.

Crazy Days

Last Friday was Crazy Day. Is it wrong that I absolutely LOVE Zach with purple spiky hair? He would make a super cute Punk. I love the spikes on Noah too. I thought this was another example of just how different they are. Zach woke up so excited. He put his shirt on backwards, his pants on backwards, his socks upside down and wanted me to spike his hair and spray half black and half purple. Noah dressed nicely (Mr. Gap). He didn't want to dress crazy or put any color in his hair. "Spikey is crazy enough".








Joey was totally into to it. Can you tell?























This weekend was so nice. Saturday morning Noah and I hit the Farmer's Market to get fresh fruit and veggies. We had so much fun just being together. He was so cute. We stopped at my mom's and Goldie jumped in the van. I said, "Let's bring him home for awhile". Noah just sat there with the biggest grin on his face, petting him. Then he told me it was the best day ever!
On Sunday we went to a pool party for the end of Religious Education. I made this cute house and banner from Reflections for the boys teacher. It was so nice to spend the day with wonderful families.




















I'm so looking forward to summer. Only a few more days!!!