New York Week #2

 Marlee loves water and has decided our kitchen sink is a perfect play place. With not much to do in the apartment, I just go ahead and let her...

Didn't realize it would turn to this :) Stripped down and enjoying every second!
 

I love how proud Casen his when he finished a lego set all on his own :) So glad we have these to keep him busy!

In with the NEW and out with the OLD! 4 pieces of Casen's old dino blanket are draped over his left shoulder, with the new one in his arms. He was seriously so excited :)

And this is how they slept every night, so grateful this was temporary!

 Marlee buns sleeping in our closet. Man this transitional summer threw off her previously awesome sleeping habits!

                                                                 Breakfast in bed!





The kids always wanted to wake up and eat breakfast on Brinley or Casen's bed while watching cartoons.

Brinley organizing the legos for Casen, wish I would have had more for her to play with!

View from our window with the Freedom Tower in the rear center of the photo.

We generally try to stay away from "screen time" but with hardly anything to play with I sure was grateful for their ipads!

Taco salad and fruit salad, one of the kids favorite dinner combos while in NYC. I was fairly limited as to what I could (and was willing) to make in that little kitchen!

The gap between the couch and the window was a often used as a play area, shoving cushions back there, making little beds, etc.

One day we took a "uber" car down to where the Twin Towers fell. We were hoping to get into the museum but it closed earlier than expected. The new Freedom Tower is SO tall!

Marlee standing near this memorial honoring the firefighters who gave their lives trying to save the lives of those in the towers.

It was sad to see their names all listed below. Real people, real sacrifice.

Since we missed the museum we headed to a neat park nearby. Marlee striped down to her diaper so that she could play in the water and then ofcourse ended up on the playground. She loved this little baby that was running around and had fun playing with her.

The kids are talking to the little girl and her nanny (almost all the kids at the parks were there with nannies). This nanny was definitely the best I saw! She was so sweet to the girl, playing with her and singing to her the whole time. I had the thought that I hope the parents knew just how lucky they were to have this nanny, she LOVED their little girl. Didn't any other nannies like her during our whole stay.

Yay for big sisters with markers! Marlee looked like she had black eyes for at least a day. Silly girls!

We went to the park by Ryan's work quite a bit. The kids had fun getting the water dumped on them, and using plastic cups to dump the water on eachother.

Pouring the freezing water on my feet, I don't know how they played in that stuff!

                                      Loved seeing this happy girl having fun with the water!

For some reason this was one of my favorite buildings. So beautiful. We passed it everytime we went to Memorial Park by Ryan's work.

New York Public Library!

 

 

Inside the Library, would have been neat to see the whole thing but what we did see what great!

They had a neat children's display, these two had fun taking turns "driving" this little car.

                        Seriously love these faces, quite the adventure everywhere I take them :)

After the Library we headed over to Grand Central Station! It was neat to go since I had only seen it in movies!

They were celebrating the 100 year anniversary! The kids recognized the clock (you can see it in the background) and Casen said "I thought the giraffe on Madagascar broke that!"  :)

This sweet little girl sure loves to have her nails done!

One day when I wasn't feeling up to an adventure in the city I decide to have the kids climb the 10 flights of stairs to the top of the building to burn a little energy  :)  I told them we would have a cool view at the top... I was wrong, the door was locked and the little window was hard to see through!

The kids and I ventured to the far side of the city to go to the OBGYN. It was quite the adventure! The appointment was quick but getting my blood testing done took forever! The nice men at the front desk made these balloons for the kids, and just in the nick of time! They were so done with waiting and these made their day - grateful for nice people :)

Yummy soup at one of the nearby soup and sandwich shops. Several nights a week Ryan wasn't home for dinner, and we got bored with eating in the apartment, so it was fun to try new things. The hearty vegetable soup was sooo good!

We lived on the corner of Madison and 34th, just down from the Empire state building and tourist central! This street corner looked a little different than the one we lived on in Vegas :)

One afternoon we rode a carousel with the Hansens and then headed to a cute little book store.

Afterwards we got some Italian ice, Brinley didn't like hers so Casen said he would switch, He is always so good at stuff like that! Such a good brother :)

Marlee girl making more friends at the park! She always likes to make friends everywhere we go, and who wouldn't want to be friends with that sweet girl!

This was a pretty neat museum in our apartment, wish I could remember the name! Used to be a rish man's home.

The Library was incredible! Made me think of Beauty and the Beast :)

           These flags on the way home looked so beautiful. So grateful for the freedoms we enjoy!

New "home" in New York

The weekend after the Fourth of July we made the "4 hr" (turned into 8hrs!) drive from Boston to NYC, and to our new "home" on Madison and 34th St. in downtown Manhattan. A little 1 bedroom apartment on the 27th floor!

On day one we took it easy, did laundry and tried to settle in to our new space. Coloring on the mirrors with washable markers kept the kids.

350 sq ft of fun! Casen slept on the lounge part of the couch, the other two seats pulled out into a twin bed that Brinley slept on every night. By some miracle our bedroom closet was big enough to fit Marlee's pack n' play. Sleeping arrangements were not awesome, but we survived :)

With no play kitchen, or other toys for that matter, Marlee played kitchen in the real kitchen... highly supervised ofcourse :)

                                                                     LOVE this face

First day at the Madison Square park, right across from where Ryan was working.

The kids loved watching the squirrels and trying to feed them, wish they didn't have this fence up around the grass but I guess in a city with millions of people the grass would get ruined pretty quickly.

I found this park about 3/4 mile away, I liked it better than Madison Square. Way less crowded!

Love these crazy kids, especially when they are having fun together!

We met up with Hilary Hansen and her kids for our first outing together. Her husband Spencer was in school with Ryan at Wharton and now in training with him in NYC.

We went to this famous donut shop, it was pretty dang good! Case got this giant cinnamon roll.

 

                              So hard to make a donuts decision... too many yummy choices!

Naptime was usually kinda hard keeping the kids entertained, yet quiet while Marlee slept. They often played legos, one of the few "toys" we had over the summer.

After surviving the first work week we took a 2.5 hour bus ride to The Hamptons and stayed with our friends the Becks, Lindsey Beck was in Ryan's graduating class at Wharton. It was a little crazy trying to make the bus, but we did it! And so glad we made it :)

They have 3 kids - same ages and sexes as ours! They all had so much fun together!!

Movie night in the play room!

                                             These two girls were awfully cute together!

Saturday was Casen's birthday and they made it so fun for him! He was so excited about the Legos they got for him.

It was a little cloudy and overcast, but we headed to the beach anyway!

The kids had so much fun catching crabs!

Brinley was pretty proud of the crabs they caught!

Despite the cold Case just had to get to play in the water on his birthday!

After the cold beach we headed back to their house and they kids had fun swimming in the heated pool.

We ordered this famous whale ice-cream cake, it was SO yummy!

Jackie made Casen this new Dino blanket, to replace the one she made him 5 years earlier when he was born! His original one is now literally in shreds and he was so happy to get a new one! She is the best!

Heelys! Casen has wanted these ever since Brinley got hers! He was so excited but will need some practice!

I made crepes for dinner at the birthday boy's request! The kids all loved it!

That night Lindsey's nanny watched all the kiddos and we were able to sneak out for a nice dinner! It was fun to get to chat with these amazing ladies! Kaitlyn and Lindsey are both working on a social impact bond (incredible education project using investors from the US) in Rowanda.

We went to an awesome cycle class that morning, had a great time despite throwing up in the car on our way there!

Caught Brinley doing the hula in a towel... she was a little camera shy but let me grab a shot :)

 

Brinley slipped on the slide at the park and bit her tongue so bad. It's a good thing she was missing her two front teeth on top or we would have been in real trouble. It was bleeding like crazy, made me a little nervous cause it took us about 20 minutes to get home and get her cleaned up.  It's hard to see but the sides were the worst, so swollen and bruised, hard to see in the pic though.

After a couple trips to get groceries (in a store that is not made for a double stroller and 3 crazy kiddos) a lady recommended I order groceries online... SO worth it! It was awesome having the food show up on your door step!