Random PA moments (which are often some of the best...)

Some of the best times of a vacation are the times when we're just hanging around the house, not rushing from one place to the next or trying to pull off some big dinner or event.  Times like this, where you just get to love and snuggle. :)   Grandpa's always good for lots of snuggles.  This was when Owen was still feeling a little bit sick to his stomach.  Thankfully it didn't last longer than a couple days...

We loved all the fun game nights we had!  And the best part about this trip was letting Bryan and Matt stay up to join us!  They officially made it to the adult table. :)  Bryan looked forward to games every night!

One night we pulled out our old school projects, like Youth Authors Faire books.  It was so fun to see everything!  Talk about a blast to the past!

The kids got to do fun art projects in the basement one day...

Uncle Nathan and Allison were always so great at playing games or coming up with activities for the kids.  I was so impressed, and the kids had a blast!  Seriously, Nathan has unending patience and creativity! 

Here's Dad laminating the NYC map in preparation for our trip, in typical Dad fashion.  I love him. :)

On our very last day, we got to go and visit Mom and her preschool class.  It was neat to get to meet all her kids and see her in action.  And the girls loved getting to try out some of the class activities!

This little girl loved touching Cami's long hair. :)

We had to say goodbye there in her classroom, which was probably good since we weren't able to get too emotional.  It's always so hard to leave!!  Here's Owen on our plane trip back home.  He was wishing we could go back for more time with Grandma and Grandpa, I'm sure.  We sure had a wonderful trip!

New York, New York! (Day 2)

Our second day in New York was freezing cold and wet!  But we saw as much as we could, despite the weather, before we had to leave that afternoon.  Here's everyone on the ferry ride heading into the city, excited and ready for more adventure!

Our first stop was Ground Zero to see the new memorials.  They have two beautiful large waterfall memorials, and then those are big angel wings in the background made of remnants from the Twin Towers.

I really shouldn't have been smiling so big in these pictures...  It is such a somber place.

This is the One World Trade Center building that they've built in place of the Twin Towers.  It's currently the tallest building in the western hemisphere.

This is memorial for the fire fighters who were killed on 9/11.  It's on the side of a nearby fire station.

This is the Trinity Church near Wall Street.  Beautiful!

The Charging Bull of Wall Street.

It started snowing as we got to Battery Park, so we decided not to take a boat to get any closer to the Statue of Liberty.  It was still cool to see it from afar!

I kept telling the boys how lucky they were to get to see Lady Liberty in real life!  Not many kids their age get the chance!

Even though we'd seen and done lots of cool things, I think the kids' favorite part of our NYC adventure was riding the subway!

 We had meant to get off at a certain stop for lunch but ended up on an express train that didn't stop until further north, so we just made the most of it and found a random nearby pizzeria.

 The one thing Dad had insisted on doing was getting NYC pizza!  It ended up being delicious!

 We also went to the Max Brenner Chocolate Bar, which, as luck would have it, happened to be around the corner!  And then it was time to head back home...  The majority of our group opted not to try the subway again, so we walked and walked and walked in the rain until we found a bus stop that would take us back to the ferry.  We were pretty soggy and exhausted by the time we finally made it, but it certainly made for a memorable NYC experience!

New York, New York! (Day 1)

New York!  What an amazing city to visit!  I don't think these kids realize how lucky they are to get to see so many cool places!  We went with Grandma and Grandpa and Heather and Jake and their girls.  Dad hooked us up with a great hotel across the river, so we got to take a ferry into the city.  

We'd driven up that morning so we just had the late afternoon and evening to see as much as we possibly could!  First stop - the beautiful Manhattan temple!

Then we headed into Central Park and walked through the south end to get to the FAO Schwartz store and the Plaza Hotel on the other side.

David took a cool panoramic pic.

A street musician in the park helped the kids play his violin. :)

The Plaza!  Or as the boys called it, the Home Alone hotel!

The toy story was crazy busy, but we couldn't pass it up!

Walking down Fifth Avenue.

We split up for a bit so I could take Ari to the American Girl store!  She got an outfit for her Bitty Baby, but just visiting the store was quite the experience!

Cute NYC girl. :)

The tree at the Rockefeller Center was beautiful, but it was so busy we couldn't get very close to it!

Radio City Music Hall.

Poor Owie was so cold. :(

We finally made it Times Square and it was as impressive as ever!

We loved seeing this amidst all the other advertisements!

The NYPD cops were cool enough to take a picture with the boys. :)

We ate at a really yummy burger place that Heather had found (gluten free), and then while the rest of us were hanging out in the huge Toys R Us, the boys got Yankee hats!  What studs.

We ended the night at Winter Village in Bryant Park, which has a beautiful view of the Empire State Building!

What a bunch of troopers!  We sure took a big chunk out of the Big Apple that night!