New York, New York!

Nat surprised me with a trip to New York for my birthday!  We saw Wicked and Spider-man and did some sightseeing.  It was so much fun being by ourselves…minus the millions of people around us. :)  This was Nat’s fist time in New York and my second time.  I went with my Mom in the summer of 2003, just a few weeks before Nat and I met!

Our hotel was half a block away from Radio City Music Hall

As soon as we got to the hotel and dropped off our bags, we hit the town to find some good old New York City pizza.  Yum!  We first just ordered one slice each and a drink and wound up going back for seconds!

Our first day was filled with a Subway ride down to Battery Park and a ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Lower Manhattan.
The tallest building you see on the left is the Freedom Tower that is under construction.

This is my picture taken in July 2003 of the skyline.
The Freedom Tower is on the very right and the Empire State Building is on the very right.

She’s breathtaking

This is the original torch.  It started out as solid copper (well, not solid inside, but the outside was copper sheeting) and went through several designs when they decided they wanted to light it from within.  They decided in 1984 to re-do the torch and stop lighting it so the new torch is made of copper sheeting with a gold leaf coating which is why it’s gold colored and not green like the rest of the statue.
They only offer a few tickets to the crown every day so we were only able to get tickets to the top of the pedestal.  This is looking up into the statue from the pedestal level.

A view from the pedestal.  It was fun going up there because in 2003, they weren’t doing any tours of the crown or pedestal when I was there.

Ellis Island
Why did they have to build that ugly steel and glass contraption?  I suppose it would keep people dry during rain, but it seriously takes away from the awesome façade of the main building on Ellis Island.

The main hall where the immigrants sat in rows and rows of wooden benches.  Nat and I both love history so we got the audio tours for both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  Yes, we looked like total dorks.

Cool tile work all the way around the floor where doors used to be.

Just a few pictures of the exterior

From Battery Park we walked the 2 or so blocks up to Ground Zero.  It was a completely different experience than when I went in July of 2003.  It was very much a whole in the ground.

There was a walkway with walls filled with pictures and memorials of those who died.  And you could look down and see where the subway was beneath the complex.

Now, in July 2011, everything is closed off and there are construction workers and security people everywhere.  You aren’t allowed to go up to the fence and look in.
They are working on several buildings, including the Freedom Tower.

On the way back to our hotel, we encountered a fire in the Subway.  And were trapped first on the platform, then on a Subway car, then on the platform again, then back on a car, until finally leaving.  Why is it that they turn the A/C off in the cars when you are trapped inside of them?  And who’s bright idea was it to build a tunnel in the ground with the only air flow being small grates at street level?  Yuck.

That night we saw Wicked!  It was awesome and I teared-up at every song just because I couldn’t believe I was really there, seeing it on Broadway!

Our second day began with breakfast at Ellen’s Stardust Diner where the waiters take turns singing to you!  They are all aspiring Broadway actors and have a pretty good track record of servers making it on Broadway.

We decided to be geeky tourists (again) and do a bus tour of both Downtown and Uptown.  It was actually really fun and informative!  We got off in Greenwich Village and Chinatown to walk around and explore.  We should’ve gotten off in SoHo but I knew I’d just want to shop!

I took far too many pictures of buildings.  But they are cool!

Empire State Building

Nat watching a basketball game in Greenwich Village

We were stopped at light at one point and the tour guide was talking about some on the left side of the bus.  My gaze drifted to the right of the bus and this is what I saw out of the corner of me eye….(look up on the top of the building in the foreground.)

This was peeking from behind the building.

New York City LDS Temple
We had talked about finding it but didn’t really have time so I was so excited that we drove right past it!

Our second night we saw Spider-Man.  It was very different, but cool.
After the show, we hit Times Square!  We did some shopping and just had fun being out with millions of people.

Our hotel was right next to Rockefeller Center so on our way back from Times Square we walked around and checked out 30 Rock (the building, not the show)and the NBC studio.  They were prepping the plaza for the Journey concert that the Today Show was doing in the morning.  The next morning we got to listen to Journey warming up from outside our hotel window!

I had really wanted to go to the “Top of the Rock” because I hear it’s a better view and much less crowded than the Empire State Building, but we ran out of time.

There was SO much more we could’ve done and we definitely want to go back someday.  Thanks sweetie for a wonderful birthday present!

Startin’ ‘em Young

I love my iPad.  Nat bought it for me at the beginning of the year (along with a Motorola Xoom for himself) with the award money he got for being 7-Eleven’s 2010 National Real Estate Rep of the Year.  I don’t know how I ever lived without it!  Nor can my children.  Adam figured out how to work it immediately because he had been playing with my Dad’s iPhone for so long.

Well just recently, I downloaded some apps that I knew Abby would have fun with and she likes to play them as long as her brother isn’t dominating.  Which isn’t very often. 

The other day I had the iPad up on the back of the couch.  I was in the kitchen but I watched as Abby climbed onto the couch, grabbed the iPad, slid down onto her bum, flipped open the cover and pressed the on button!  The only thing she couldn’t do was slide the unlock icon to bring up the app page.  Give her a couple more days and I think she’ll have it figured out!

She was so cute to watch because after she would touch a hidden animal, she’d stick her finger in her mouth until she found another one and then stick it right back in.  It takes a lot of concentration to find those animals! :)

In this video she is touching the small animals on the bottom bar of the screen to make the big animal jiggle up top so that she can find it (they are hidden behind things).  She must have learned that from Adam!  I also didn’t know she knew how to get back to the app page, slide her finger to make the page move, and then select the next game she wanted to play.  The one she picked is actually one of her favorites so she obviously knew which one she was looking for when she selected it.

p.s.  That annoying ‘clunk, clunk, bang’ noise you hear in the background is Adam throwing cars down the stairs.  Lovely.

Tot School–4th of July Theme

- Adam is 43 months old -
- Abigail is 17 months old -

For the past 2 weeks we had a 4th of July theme for our sporadic Tot School.  The biggest hit was the sensory bin!  After reading a great Montessori Minute post all about sensory activities on 1+1+1=1, I was inspired to create our first sensory bin.  The kids absolutely loved it!

Bin #1
Colored rice, glittery pom-poms, necklaces, star confetti, 2 light-up balls, and 2 pinwheels.
I got these items from the craft store or dollar store and dyed the rice with food coloring and rubbing alcohol.

Adam collected all the star confetti he could find and both kids were yell out “star!” when they found one.  Abby especially loves stars.  It is the first official shape she recognizes.  In fact, we went to TGIFridays a couple weeks ago and she yelled out “stah!” and pointed to them throughout dinner because there were so many star decoration around the restaurant!

When she isn’t making car noises and driving monster trucks around, Abby loves to put on bracelets, shoes, and necklaces.  I knew she’d love these USA necklaces I found.

Another day with this bin.  I brought it out 3 times during the week before the 4th of July.

Bin #2
I pulled every red and blue thing I could find in our toys.  I came up with Magneatos, foam dice, counting bears, counting bugs, wooden nuts and bolts, large plastic buttons, and little measuring cups.  I also added in some glittery garland and a container full of the glittery pom-poms.



Finally, I added in little star beads which they thought were fun.  This is a rare moment of teamwork caught on camera! :)

I’m excited to create for sensory bins for them.  I already have a Pirate theme in mind as well as holiday/season themes for our Preschool year.

I got the following firework activities from the 4th of July pack from 2 Teaching Mommies.

Firework Clip Cards

Which is Different?
Adam struggled with the concept of same vs. different.  We had to talk about each picture and I had to help him a lot.  I have a preschool workbook all about this so he will have lots of practice in the future!  I was encouraged that he was able to circle the items though!

He did a few of these capital letter-to-lowercase letter sheets.  He thought the dry erase markers were awesome!  Again, I was happy to see that he was able to draw the lines.  I haven’t worked much on writing/drawing with him because he simply isn’t interested in drawing or coloring.  I think our Handwriting Without Tears curriculum will be really good for him when we start next month.

Firework Patterns
He looked at the pattern strip and copied it with the cards.

My United States Flag
This was color coded so Adam drew red lines, colored in the blue square, and then glued white stars on.

Finger Paint Flag

This may only be the 2nd or 3rd time Abby has finger painted and after getting over the initial ick factor, she had a great time.  I showed her how to make handprints and from there she just smashed her hands all over her paper.

Adam was itching to be “free” so after I had him finish the painstaking task of making flag lines, he had fun smooshing on another paper.

Play-Doh

Abby’s first time with Play-Doh!  What is wrong with me?  I forgot how much fun little one have putting balls in and taking balls out of cups.  Adam used to love doing this as a toddler.

So that was our 2 weeks worth of laid-back 4th of July fun.  I’m kind of dreading having a structured preschool year next year so I may revamp what I’ve already planned and do less.  Adam will have another full year of preschool or K4 before official Kindergarten so I’m feeling the need to simplify.  It’s a constant battle with me to figure out what, when, and how to structure our days and our learning and playtimes.  These feelings always lead me to the realization that I need to rely on the Lord more.  Note taken. :)

Lagoon Day 2011

Nat took the day off so we could go to Lagoon yesterday.  It was so fun!  We went last year and I thought I’d pull up some pictures to compare.

Abby at 5 months hanging out in the stroller the whole time.

Abby at almost 17 months riding the carousel (and signing ‘horse’)!

Adam at 2 1/2 riding in an airplane

Adam at 3 1/2 riding in an airplane
Yes, ironically, he is wearing the exact same shirt.  In fact, you can’t see it, but he’s wearing the exact same shorts as well….just a size bigger.  I got a good deal at the end of last summer on these clothes so I bought the next size up!)

Bulgy the Whale at 2 1/2

Bulgy the Whale at 3 1/2

Abby’s major meltdown on the train.  They took FOREVER to get it going so I got off with her and walked around until she fell asleep in the stroller.

Checking out the wheels on the side of the boat.  He was very interesting in them!

He loves the rollercoaster!

Along with the carousel and would-be train ride, this was the only other ride Abby could go on.  I can’t tell if she enjoyed it or not!

Seeing the pictures from last year has made me realize just how bad our camera has gotten.  I dropped it….slightly…..a couple of weeks ago and now it won’t auto-focus unless you press a certain button each time you turn it on.  Nat didn’t quite realize this so half of our pictures are blurry.  Time for a new one!  Any suggestions on good point-and-shoots?  I’m not sure I’m ready to dive into hard-core cameras where you have to look through the actual lens and mess with all those dials and settings.  Nor do I want to spend that much.