Pinewood Derby!

Landon's first Pinewood derby! He didn't win but he sure had fun!! 

Home again home again!

Overall our New York trip was amazing and I'm really glad that we were able to do it with our kids during our time here. Our trip back to the airport was in another limo or "Snake" as Lacey would say. 

There was a mirror that kept the kids entertained the whole ride to the airport. 

Our white "snake" 

We overestimated the amount of time we would need to get through security and had a little bit of downtime in the airport again. We did our best to keep the kids from annoying the crap out of everyone else. It was a fun trip, but Jer and I were ready to be home and sleep in our own bed!! 

Day 4 in the Big Apple!

Sometimes my ideas are not the best on trips. I thought it would be fun to talk the kids to chinatown to do some souvenir shopping. It was one of the few times on the trip I didn't feel very safe, but the kids had fun picking out trinkets! 

We had Lunch and headed over the the World one Observatory. Jer had some connections though work that allowed us to go to 83rd floor of the building. We also got to meet up with the Anderson's while they were vacationing in New York . 

Jer's connections also got us into the 9-11 memorial museum. I wish we could have spent more time there and without kids. They kept the original footing of the twin towers and the reflecting pools are directly over the memorial museum. I can see why it took so long to build, but it was well thought out and well executed! 

Ladder 3 from he rubble. 

By the time we got out of the museum the light were on in the reflecting pools! 

Had to ride the subway at least once while we were there. Glad it wasn't our main form of transportation while in the city. 

Day 3!

We took the Big Bus down to the Brooklyn Bridge. The structure was amazing and the walk across is suspended over the passing traffic. 

Dirty dog and pretzel for a mid-morning snack. 

Viewing the city from the top of the bus. 

Hanging out and having lunch in Rockefeller plaza. We also hit up the Lego store and M&M world while on our way. 

We spent the afternoon in Central Park letting the kids run and be free. 

The loved climbing rock to rock. 

The tunnels throughout the park.  It was the warmest day we had while we were there so it was ideal to be playing at the park. 

The park there was awesome and we played for a good 2 hours. We thought we owed it to the kids, since we had been dragging them all over the city, to let them be kids for the afternoon. 

We made the short walk over the the Temple. 

That night we took the night bus tour trough the city. 

Over the Manhattan bridge, which gave a good view of the Brooklyn bridge. 

It was cool to see the city all lit up! The kids were troopers and we covered a ton of ground everyday. Lacey was carried by Jer or I 90% of the time, but it still took a lot out of her. We had a thing going that as we crossed street and cars were in the cross walk we'd yell "hey I'm walking here" with a New York accent. Lacey was yelling at cars and a seconds later Jer asked is she was asleep, sure enough she was crashed on her daddy's head! 

Day 2!

We got up early to beat the crowds for the Empire State building. I was worried it would be cloudy and we wouldn't be able to see the city. It was a cold morning, but we were able to see everything and we didn't have to wait at all to get to the top.

Made good use of the observatory! 

We road the Big Bus for most of the trip to get to different locations. Our first stop was the Statue of Liberty. We took the Ferry out to the island. As we were talking about the ride to the kids Lacey asked if we were going to ride the Ferrys backs to the island. Pretty cute he thoughts of what a Ferry ride to the island was. 

The view of the city from the island. 

Always have to hav e a crazy face!! 

The base of the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. 

This is a trip the the kids were interested in seeing the sights and knew and understood most of the views. It was nice to not have to fight them or hear the whining of why do we have to be here and see this. 

Inside the museum they have life size replicas of some of the statue of Liberty. This is her face and first thing the kids did was stick their hands in her nose...gomers! 

Her foot. 

Statues all around and the kids hand a hayday climbing on all of them!

Feeding the squirrels. Jer tried to feed one a peanut granola bar and it took one bite and ripped the whole thing from his hand and ran off. 

The Wall Street Bull. Said that if you touch it, it will bring you good luck! Here's to hoping! 

They were just starting to have everything bloom and their tulips were gorgeous! 

We found a waterfall bridge that you could walk under. It was fun to stand under the glass.