The Big Apple Day 5- Sunday our last full day

Chocolate croissants and hot chocolate at The Met.

Chocolate croissants were one of Miriam's top memories of the trip.
(Notice the pashmina scarf)

Miriam and I did our sightseeing solo a this museum.  We are both fans of the book The Mixed-up Files of Basil E. Frankwieler so we were on a mission to see things mentioned in the book.  Mission accomplished, AND we saw all the suggested artwork from the artwork book Cristin and Rachel made. We took the above photo for the boys...thought they would like the armor room.

I loved the Met. I would go again and again and again....

Walked right through Central Park,

and then to Dylan's Candy Bar.

It was so fun picking out candy to fill buckets for Bub and Soren...the choices were unbelievable. We got them gummie everything...army men, taxis, bugs, you name it and it was probably made into gummie.  Fun sour candies, and licorice wheels it was such a fun treat to give because the boys were delighted. Who wouldn't be delighted with a bucket full of candy?
(We bought Darin chocolate at Chelsea Market...a bit more cultured)

Our group then broke off into smaller groups, some of the girls wanted to do more shopping, a few went to the Natural History Museum.  Miriam and I went back to Central Park for one more treat from the Waffles & Dinges cart.  The pedicab drives were parked right by the cart and they sweet talked us into a tour.  It was so fun...but a bit guilt inducing to be peddled around while eating a spekuloos covered waffle (Miriam had another ice cream cone, this time spekuloos flavored ice cream with nutella inside the cone). It was especially wince inducing when the guy had to shift down to an easier gear....yikes! He was hilarious, he pointed out all the sights, mansions, TV spots and offered to let us in and out to take pictures but I just wanted to enjoy the ride and people watch.
Such a relaxing way to experience New York.

This is the only picture I took...so although Miriam is doing something funny with her lips it had to go in.

We met up with our group back at the hotel and ran (literally) to make it to Mary Poppins on time. It was enchanting, Miriam especially loved it since she has been a Poppin's fan for so long.  After much anguished deliberation, Miriam bought a Marry Poppin's charm bracelete to remember the show.  

The Big Apple Day 4

I'm back!!

Right as we were in the process of setting up a new gmail account so I could load more pictures, blogger increased the picture allowance. 

Saturday we hit the MOMA...actually we ate breakfast at Pret A Manger first and then went to the MOMA.  "Pret" is a European natural fast food restaurant which is not pronounced the way it reads in English.  It's like "prey awe man-jaw" or something like that, I speak zero French so I sound like a hick when I try to pronounce it. 

Rachel and Cristin had put together this fantastic guide to some of the "must see" art in the MOMA and The Met which made this experience for me.  I enjoy dance, music, and literature but I have never been exposed to much visual, wall type art. I have never taken an art, or art history class.  I know what I like but I don't know why and don't always agree with what the masses like. I wasn't moved by the paintings as others at the museum were, but I appreciated it so much more with some background.  Knowing a the historical context, a bit about the painter's life, and the emotions around the painting helped me enjoy this experience much more that I would have.  That being said, I enjoyed The Met leaps and bounds more so I think I am more of a "functional" art appreciator (like furniture, clothing, jewelry...that kind of stuff). 

Some of the girls taking a break from the art.

Then on to lunch.
Chelsea Market is an enclosed urban food court, shopping mall, office building and television production facility located in the Chelsea neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan, in New York City. 
(I just copied that sentence from Wikipedia)
The television studio mentioned is the FOOD NETWORK! (how is that for shouty capitals). The food was divine, but we weren't allowed up to the network.

 We indulged in crepes, and some chocolates from Jacques Torres ("Mr. Chocolate").  

Half of our group went shopping, the other half went to the Tenement Museum.

This is one of my most cherished experiences of the whole trip. Miriam and I had done some reading about immigration into New York so seeing the actual apartments and hearing stories about real people who lived there was amazing. We are very blessed my friends...very blessed.
I thought a lot about A Tree Grows in Brooklyn durring this tour.  Our guide was wonderful.

This is also when I realized that Miriam needed a break.  The rest of the group went out to dinner and then to a show but we took a breather.  We grabbed sandwiches on our way back to the hotel and Miriam watched some episodes of cupcake wars.

By the evening we were rested and feeling brave so we walked all the way up 5th Avenue to FAO Swartz.  We searched for the perfect toys for the boys and of course played on the piano.  One couple did a perfect rendition of chopsticks, just like the movie Big.  We found a couple of squish penny machines...... score!
We stopped to buy a street vendor to buy $5 Pashminas, and went back to our hotel to share a slice of chocolate cake.

If anyone was under the impression that I achieve all the goals I set for myself, this blog publicly shot that down.  I did not finish the New York trip before Thanksgiving and then missed Thanksgiving, Miriam's Annie play, her class bachelor degree presentation, her dance, piano, and ukulele recitals as well as Bub's Little Ninja parent presentation.  Also missed all Christmas events and crafts.  The kids and I spent a fun and hilarious afternoon at a trampoline park...not documented.  

Queue overwhelmed sinking feeling.

It's not all due to my laziness.  Blogger says I am out of photo space, and since I like pictures more than I enjoy writing that takes out the fun for me.  Darin and I are working on how to get around this problem, but Christmas prep trumps blogging....although now I will have all of Christmas to catch up on as well.

Now hyperventilating.... 

You might say "let it go, don't worry about it" but Bub asked me just the other night if he had a memory book about being a baby and I LOVED that I could tell him yes.  The kids pour over pictures of themselves and this is the only organized documentation I have for the boys (Miriam of course has a cute scrapbook full of embellishments...oldest child perk).  Also, what if I forget that Soren yells "Hulk Smash!" and then jumps off the couch and punches the ground.  Or forget that Byron calls marbles "Dragon Lords" and if kept in your pocket, they can do all kinds of magical things. I don't want to forget that Miriam and her friend Mary spent hours sewing mini stockings to sell in their class store. 

During November we had everyone list something they were thankful for in a family journal before we had family prayer.  Every. Single. Night. Soren would say "States of America Flag!" we would say think of something new tonight and then he would say "Spiderman!" we would say think of something new Soren...so he eventually listed all the Hero Up Squadies.

Byron and I had a big discussion about marriage.  He said he thought he would like to marry his friend Olivia (since he can't marry his cousin Tatum) but he said he wasn't interested in kissing her on their wedding day (or on any day) and didn't know if you could be married without that kiss.  I suggested a hug instead, but he wasn't keen on that either.  We decided a big high five might do the trick. 

Miriam, after initially being terrified of her third grade teacher now adores the woman.  She is getting to do lots of fun extra things that make school fun for her...like the ukuleles  french lessons, and class presentations.  She did her Great Brain report on Cakes, and her Christmas Around the World report on the Philippines. I enjoy her descriptive writing.   I volunteer as a book discussion leader in her class.  I love getting to spend time with her among her peers.  She is a sweet, over-anxious kid.

So that's the story of my blog hiatus.
My first New Years resolution of 2013....get caught up on this blog.

The Big Apple Day 3

Must. Get. This. Trip. Posted. Before. Thanksgiving!!

Day 3

This was Miriam's big day.  The whole reason we started planning this trip 2 years prior was because Miriam asked for a trip to the American Doll store for Christmas.  We made it!!  Not by ourselves by any means, but we both put a lot of effort into saving $ for the trip.  It was one of those things where I sent my wish out to the universe and goodness came back to me in abundance.

Anyway.....we stopped at Financier Patisserie for a quick breakfast.  Miriam got a chocolate croissant, of course, and we picked up some macaroons for later.

We ooohed and ahhhed over the darling AG store.  Miriam poured over everything in that store trying to decided what to buy to document this monumental moment in her young life.

Then we went to lunch while we mulled over our options.

5 courses...while not necessarily gourmet it was very cute, and pretty good!

Just look at that cute dessert.

Miriam finally decided on a doll guitar and earrings, I picked up Caroline's nightgown for her.

We walked up 5th Avenue, right into The Plaza to peek in at Eloise and use the swanky bathroom.

And made it to the temple for the older girls to do baptisms.

Tami took us to tour a penthouse which was amazing!

 We were as high as the Empire State building but surrounded by lush furnishing and it was warm!

Then Tami (our New York guru) introduced us to the greatest stores.  Fishs Eddy and ABC Kitchen.

Best meal I have ever eaten.

Seriously. Ever.

Thank you Tami (she treated us!)

Then to Newsies!

Loved it, so much. I have loved it since Christian Bale, love it always, always will.

Miriam came right home and got the soundtrack.

The Big Apple Day 2

Thursday:

We were up bright and early to catch the subway to Battery Park.

Such a cheese ball picture of me, but our first NY subway experience must be documented.  We met THE NICEST people in New York and many times it was people on the subway. 

All the ladies (including Lady Liberty), this picture was taken by our tour guide.  

While in line for the boat over we met another mother/daughter New York group from Kentucky ..believe it or not they were even bigger than our group. We ran into them later on 5th avenue and I said "Hey Kentucky" and they yelled back "UTAH!" It was cute.  Also, notice how many blondes there are in our group.  More than one person commented on the "blond ambition tour" or the "Swedes".

Not pictured is Ellis Island.  I was too busy at the museum to take many pictures.

Looooved it.  So touched by the immigrants stories.

 Girls back row:  Rachel, Bella, Annie, Maddie (can't really see), Abby, Candice, Sophia

Middle row: Miriam, Anna, 

Kneeling: Berkley

Mom's: Me, Tami, Cristina, Rachel, Mindy, Michelle, and Cristin

911 Memorial

Survivor Tree 

St. Paul's Chapel

This is where I really felt the tragedy of 911.  It was such a reverent, sweet little church, I couldn't help but cry.  You weren't suppose to take photos in the church but I snapped a quick one of these papers folded into chains.  Each one had a note of sympathy and love from around the world. 

We had walked from Battery Park to the 911 Memorial and then to the Brooklyn Bridge, so we were in bad need of sustenance.  Luckily we found the yummiest waffle cart...nutella, speculoos, gingerbread ice cream...the stuff dreams are made of.

I thought walking the bridge was thrilling.
Sun was setting, it was windy, cars were zooming below....
I loved it!

Cute lovers tradition.  You write your name on a lock, lock it to the bridge and toss the key into the river. If I ever go back with Darin, this will be on my to do list.

I could have called it a day, but Cristina and Abby talked us into sightseeing and shopping around Times Square.  We saw everything, including 2 naked cowboys.

Miriam had her first taste of sushi.

She dove right in with the raw salmon.

That's my girl!

Halloween 2012

The Peacock Fairy (not the butterfly) scootering off to school.

Miriam's school costume parade.

Since Bub's costume came with ninja dagger things Soren decided Spiderman needed a weapon.

The web-slinger...pretty unmistakable.

The Ninja (not a marshmallow...I didn't know if he would put his costume back on after that comment)

I was impressed with the enthusiasm of Miriam's principal and office staff...the picture doesn't show their struts.

There she goes....paradein' it up!

Off to gather candy candy candy!

M's cute trick-or-treat buddies.

Witches Day Out

I have to interrupt the New York re-cap because Halloween happened!

I knew it was coming, but holy moly it felt like I was blindsided.

The week before the big day we met up with the Ray girls at Gardner Village for our annual witches day out. So fun to get together with the ladies to eat and chat.

The guys went to check out the new Scheels and then take my father-in-law out for a belated birthday lunch.  Bub was at a birthday party so I brought the S-man with me (thought he would have more fun with us than with the big boys).

He was good as gold!

Especially once I bought him a lick-a-cricket...not even kidding.  He didn't finished it but he got pretty far. I think he would have eaten the whole thing if others weren't freaking out about it.