Mark and DeAnn came to visit!

2.26.2014

 Spencer's parents came to visit us this last weekend and we had so much fun with them! We were able to be tourists for a few days and check some things off our bucket list! We went to the top of the Empire State Building, strolled Central Park, ate yummy NY pizza, went to the Statue of Liberty, visited Farmer's Market at Union Square and saw Phantom of the Opera on Broadway in Times Square. Thank you for visiting us!! We loved it!
 at the top of the Empire State Building.. you get a pretty sweet view of the city and Central Park

 flat iron building
Central Park fun
Sunset on the Brooklyn Bridge. 
 Mark and me selfie with Lady Liberty
Phantom of the Opera is soooo good! I love that show! 
 We went inside the Time Square visitor's center and saw the ball they drop on New Years Eve! 
 tired girl.. she was a champ with all the walking around we did. 
 central park
 It was really fun going to the Statue of Liberty. There is a museum at the bottom that you learn all kinds of fun facts! Like the torch she is holding is the 5th or 6th one that they have made and put on her. Mr. Eiffel (yes the builder of the Eiffel Tower) constructed the State of Liberty also. There was more meaning behind the "gift" from France and the designer, Mr. Bartholdi, may have built it to say something to Napoleon. He constructed her face after his mother. The tablet she holds says July 4, 1776. She has seven rays on her crown that stand for our 7 continents. Pretty cool stuff! 
 This was the real torch that used to be on the Statue of Liberty, but it started to leak, so they made another one. 


Only in New York

2.21.2014

- do you see the guy that made your turkey sandwich across the street come out of his store, go pee in broad daylight on the sidewalk, and then walk back into his shop and probably make another turkey sandwich for the next customer waiting in line. gross.

- does everyone stop and "ohh" and "aww" at your baby. I love it! Babies are a rare breed here and everyone LOVES the little ones. Daily I get "God Bless Your Baby" or "LOOK at that baby!". Really it's daily.

- does it take 40 minutes to get to Target that is only 1 mile away

- does someone honk at you to go when the light is still RED, but they know that in .02 seconds it will turn green and you should have known that too and should have started accelerating by now!

- is your pediatrition gay, your landlord is jewish, your dentist is black..i love the cultural diversity!

- do you feel like you are in a foreign country every time you drive anywhere.. people honk ALL the time for no reason, drive in the turning lane, stop in the middle of the road and put on their flashers to go into the store "real quick", pass you in a one lane road, and ignore any and all traffic laws.

- can you get anything in the world in less than an hour (one day we had Thai food, Korean food, Jamaican food and Vietnamese food.. all in one day!)

- are people so mean, ruthless, impatient, and stubborn like yesterday when a man yelled at Spencer for trying to get onto the crowded subway and said if Spencer touched him one more time he would punch his f*&!% brains out.. yikes! that guy needs to start his day again on the other side of the bed.

- yet on the other hand there are the kindest and most thoughtful people like today when Charley and I were on our daily walk and more than 5 different people told me to "be careful" because of the slippery sidewalks. and a few days ago it was the same story but it was "stay warm".. it's like there is a quote of the day that I am unaware of that everyone says!

Gotta love New York!

Chinese New year, Superbowl and South Carolina!

2.20.2014

Okay lets talk about haircuts for a second. I swear every few months I say I am going to grow out my hair and then it gets to a weird length and all I want to do it cut it. I looked up a few salons here and its $90 for a haircut! Crazy expensive so I thought this would be my chance to grow it out! Well that lasted for about a week and then I saw this e-mail from a friend who said her neighbor was an apprentice right now for this celebrity hair stylist and needed hair models. I jumped on that and went for an a-symmetrical a-line! He did an awesome job and I also got to meet this celebrity hairstylist who has seriously done hair for Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Hilary Swank, David Bowie and Charlize Theron! I do love the cut, but I swear this is my last time... I really want to grow it out and have it be long enough to put in a pony-tail! So wish me luck...
I was doing laundry one day and holding Charley and needed a place to put her while I put the clothes on our bed to fold.. she fit just nicely in the basket! What a cutie!!
eating some apples, sweet potatoes and pear! She LOVES food and sat in her high chair for 50 minutes one day just gnawing on food! :) 
Her cousins sent her this cow toy and she loves it. It's soft, squishy and crinkly!
A few weeks ago we went to Chinatown for the Chinese New Year! It was crazy busy with people and there was a parade with a dragon going on and people shooting off firecrackers and these colorful pieces of paper everywhere! 
We also went to SuperBowl Blvd and Spencer got his fix of football in for the week. All of Times Square was shut down for the Superbowl and they had tons of activities, football players signing and the trophy on display. Charley fell asleep in the Bjornn and we walked around the city with all the crazy football fans. 

Morning run glory!
We also sent out our annual Valentines this year! Charley has lots of cousins, Aunts and Uncles and Grandma's and Grandpa's so it took forever, but it was fun to do! We counted and we made Valentines for 27.5 of her cousins, 32 Aunts and Uncles, 4 sets of Grandparents and 3 Great-Grandparents! 
Spencer was gone a few days last week, so while Charley was napping I had some quiet afternoons. I love our room with all our windows and the natural light. It gets pretty warm in there too from the sun coming through, so I usually go sit on my bed with my tea and a good book! 
We sent lots of pictures to daddy while he was away! 

Last weekend, we flew down to South Carolina to see my sister and her cute family. They just recently moved there from Seattle. I am so glad that I have at least one sister on the East Coast with me! I needed to run a 1/2 marathon in preparation for my Boston marathon in April, so I found a half in Myrtle Beach, SC and called up Rachelle and asked if she wanted to do it with me! She was up for it, so we registered, bought some tickets and went down there for a weekend get-away! It was so fun to be with her family, see cute Charleston and run with my sister. She did AWESOME and PR'd!! 
After the run, we walked along the beach for a while. It was pretty windy and cold, but fun anyway! 


Charley did pretty good on the plane and slept on the way there and on the way back on my legs. She is a trooper! 
In Charleston we went to Rainbow Row and to a Slavery Museum. They were both really cool and the Slavery Museum was so fascinating! Our country has really come a long way. 


We also went to these gardens that have alligators. It was closed, but we saw a worker at the gate and asked it we could come in and see the alligators. She was nice enough to let us in and have a peek. 
Thanks Shell for a great trip! We loved coming and seeing you and your crazy fun family!