Back to Sesame Place

We were lucky enough to get to spend one more summer enjoying Sesame Place. This year has been a lot more fun now that the kids are older, braver and completely potty trained. We were able to ride some of the "scarier" rides without any coaxing or tears. This year we also caught the parade, which was really cute.






We don't really watch Sesame Street, so when this guy rolled around, Skyler yelled "Trashy!" Yep, his name is Trashy. I don't think Glenn and I ever laughed so hard.

End of the Year Fair

Jayda's kindergarten year went so fast, and she had a great time. She's still not reading completely fluently, but she improved a ton and learned a lot. She also made some sweet friends, who have equally nice parents.

The end of her school year was celebrated with a fund raising fair. Skyler and I joined her in the festivities. We ate hotdogs, played games and enjoyed the bounce house. It was a good time.

For the Love

There is no gray area between my kids. Either they are the best of friends, or worst of enemies. Fortunately the first is truer, but when they do fight, it can get vicious. One day I'd had it, and this was the result. Hand-holding timeout, for five minutes, or until you love each other again. It seems to work too, by the end they were giggling and the previous troubles were forgotten.

End of the Year Picnic 2011

It's that time again! We said goodbye to our graduating friends for the third time, and it's never easy, but it is exciting. This year was a tough one, there were a lot of families leaving, and all of them are so great, they'll definitely be missed!

Easter

I really love Easter, I especially love it with kids. Just like Christmas, they make it so much fun.

For the third year in a row, we met a bunch of friends at Houston Park for an egg hunt. The clouds parted JUST long enough for the kids to gather eggs, which we were all grateful for. Glenn was out of town for the hunt, but made it back just in time to dye eggs and enjoy Easter morning with us.




As soon as Glenn got home we were quick to dye eggs for Sunday morning, where the Easter bunny comes to hide them, and bring the kids their baskets. They found their eggs, liked the baskets and we had a great day. Easter dinner was enjoyed with friends later that evening.

A Spring Photo Shoot

I've been thinking a lot about the things I'm going to miss when we move. As hard as it can be to live in a big city like Philly, there are also some really wonderful things too. Like the cherry blossoms every spring. Oh, how I will MISS those! Every year I've tried to get pics of the family by the cherry blossoms, and luckily got them just in time this year, these are just down by our apartment building. They're so pretty!

A Day in New York

It's embarrassing to admit, but after three years of living here, this is the first time we'd visited NYC. I have a serious aversion to crowd, a phobia if you will. Add my two small kids to the mix and I may as well be rocking myself in a corner. But Teresa put on her brave face and snagged this opportunity to see the Big Apple. After all, we won't be this close for a whole lot longer.

My rockstar friend Aubrey was running a half marathon in NYC so we went out to support her. Unfortunately we didn't make it in time to see her finish, but it was still fun to hear about it and meet up for lunch. We rode the ferry over, catching a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty on our way. After that we relied on the subways to get us around. Once we figured those out, we were golden.

We had lunch at the Rockefeller Center, and got to see the sites there. We checked out the Big Lego Store, 5th Avenue, FAO Scharz, and a lot of Central Park. We kept it as kid friendly as we could to keep them interested. It was a lot of fun. We didn't see quite as much as we wanted, but for a first day we counted it as a success. New York is amazing. I don't think I've ever seen so many people in such a small town. But I can also see why people want to live there. It's got an incredible vibe, richer in culture then any other place I've ever been. I really hope we go back, not just now, but when the kids are older so we can really explore.

Climbing rocks at Central Park. You'd be surprised how much time we spent doing this. The kids LOVED it. Rocks. Go figure.


Street performers. They were cool.

FAO Schwarz had some pretty fun and huge candy choices.



You don't even know how exhausting it is to be pushed around the city in a stroller. Jack and Sky could tell you all about how tough it is. Not right now though, they need to sleep it off.



I got to give Jayda credit too. This chick walked around the city the entire time and took it like a champ. She got tired, but had a good attitude. She loved NY. She must have felt the vibe too because she mentioned that when she got older she'd like to live there and be an artist.



Riding the ferry. The weather was gorgeous that day. We had a great time.