Ground Zero

Our family visited the 9/11 Memorial
at the World Trade Center on Saturday. 

So pretty how the clouds reflect in the buildings.

Two gigantic square fountains in the footprints of the original Twin Towers.

 Looking up at the Freedom Tower.  It will be 104 stories, 

the original Twin Towers were 110 stories.

I asked Porter what he would most remember about the 9/11 Memorial and he said when we sat and talked and I told them the story of that day.  (All of a sudden Malia took off her shirt, her first time ever to do that.)

After we walked to the Nelson A. Rockefeller Playgound in Battery Park City.
It is an awesome playgound. 

The kids had a ton of fun playing,
especially on this round bike, 

pedaling as fast as they could around and around. 

It was so funny!

Malia loved playing in these dog fountains.  

Water and puppies, her two favorites.  She got soaked!

Our climbing monkey.

We ended the night at Shake Shack.  If you are ever in NYC you have to try their chocolate custard concrete shakes with chocolate truffle mix-ins.  Oh my goodness!  The best thing ever.  We got 2 and shared them with our family of 7.  They're super rich!  One bite was enough for me, but oh what a bite it was.  :)

I am so thankful for our country.
God bless America, my home sweet home.

walking the brooklyn bridge

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge is one of our favorite New York things-to-do.  We had a great day yesterday with some of Brenner's friends while the older kids were in school.  We walked, got pizza at Grimaldi's, played at a huge playground, and took a water ferry back to Manhattan.  Although we missed our ferry because we were getting ice cream and had to wait for the next one, because they only dock for like 30 seconds and then they are off again!  I shouldn't mention how we took the downtown subway instead of the uptown on our way home.  I won't mention how hard it is lugging double strollers up and down a bazillion stairs to change trains.  Or how we then got on the M train uptown instead of the F and had to backtrack again.  Again lugging those darn strollers.  Ughh!  And how glad we were to finally make it home an hour AFTER the older kids were out of school!  Haha!  Luckily my friend's husband got off early and took all the older kids to the park until we made it back.  What a wild crazy and super funny day!

This cute little guy.  His name is James.  I called him Andrew all day and wondered why he wouldn't look at me when I was calling him.  :)

I am so thankful to have these new friends.  I can't even tell you.  These wonderful families moved in over the summer while we were in Idaho.  What a great surprise!  It has made a HUGE difference to have them here.  Instead of all my solitary outings to see the city I now have friends who have double strollers too, and friends who have to race back to be home when the older kids are out of school.  Friends from Idaho and Utah.  It makes me so happy!  I am so grateful they are here.  It makes the rest of our time living in NY much more fun to think about!

Rosh Hashanah at the Ocean

 On Monday the kids were out of school
for the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah. 

So we headed to the beach. 

It was so darn fun!

The kids had a blast playing in the ocean, riding the waves, and digging in the sand.  

Especially Malia!  Oh she loved it.

We got hot dogs at the famous Nathan's Hotdogs on Coney Island.

My friend had 2 for 1 coupons.  Yay!  

They're pretty good as far as hot dogs are concerned.

There was a fisherman standing out in the ocean that caught a baby shark!

These two funny old ladies brought it over and let the kids hold it!

It was a strong little bugger and was trying to wriggle out of their hands.

These ladies cracked me up.  They were so funny.

They said they were going to take it home and make it into shark soup for dinner.

SUCH a fun day!  5 families, 19 kids and lots of sunshine.  

It couldn't have been a better day.

first day of school

First Day of School!  

New York, NY

September 6, 2012

Kyler - 5th Grade - Ms. Mosher

Lexi - 4th Grade - Ms. Ciravolo

Porter - 3rd Grade - Mr. Zappala 

The kids have great teachers and the school year is going pretty well so far!  All the kids love school and we're looking forward to a great year.

Brenner, on the other hand, was super excited for the first day but that's where the excitement ended.  He was enrolled in afternoon Pre-K and so we had the morning together after the older kids were at school.  We made a school bus cake in celebration, then ate lunch together, and he got all ready with his cool new backpack.

He was all geared up and excited and I thought he was good to go!

I'm so glad I had my camera as Malia gave him a kiss goodbye.  

So we walked him down to the school and he would not even go in to his classroom.  The teacher and I tried to get him to go in but he was scared to death.  After a half hour of coaxing and him hiding in the hall we decided to try it again the next day.  

So we went to the park across the street to wait for the other kids to get out of school.

 He felt much better at the park and his smile came back.  We talked about courage and trying new things.  The next day before school we read Green Eggs and Ham and talked about how the guy didn't like green eggs and ham before he tried them but then after he tried them he really liked them.    

But the next day, and the next and the next and the next, were the same.  Tears and hiding and trauma.  So I released his spot to those on the waiting list and we're going to start a little preschool at home with some friends. Brenner feels much better about that option.  I guess he is just not ready this year.  He told me he's not going to Kindergarten next year either.  Hopefully he'll be ready when that time comes.