Family Pictures

So, when we were in North Carolina, my amazing sister-in-law took some great family pictures. The whole group picture even turned out well, which is a lot to say when you have so many kids and trying to get everyone to look towards the camera. Thank goodness for Photoshop!
And then our own family pictures (which she did for the other families too) turned out so well! Now, I just need to figure out which one I want to have printed for our wall...



I love that Harrison looks so happy and Jeff and I are looking at each other. I love my husband!

New York City and 9/11-10 years later

So, Jeff had the opportunity to spend some time working in New York. I have always wanted to go to New York and so we followed him along for part of the time. It was a long 2 weeks, and we did a lot (hence the something like 6 posts) and I took about 200 pictures during that time. It was such a great city and such a change from Houston (and even Chicago) in so many ways. But one of the coolest things was that when we happened to go was during the 9/11 Memorial for the 10 year mark. Although we avoided getting too close to the actual Memorial site and new One World Trade Center, we did get to see it. It is still under construction.
But then for 9/11 we decided to go to a baseball game. It was awesome because the Mets just happened to be playing my Cubbies! Too bad it was a late game and Harrison was done after about 5 innings, but besides the Cubs winning (yeah!) we did get to see and participate in some great things before the game.
A moment of silence with Candles lit
The flag displayed with several NYPD, NYFD and NY Sanitation workers as well as others who helped out on that sad day. And Marc Anthony performed the National Anthem.
Ready for the game!


I will always remember that day and exactly where I was and how it all played out. It was such an experience for me to be in NYC 10 years later and see how everyone found ways to celebrate and honor the lives lost and changed forever. It was amazing to see and I will always remember that...along with the million other things we did while we were there, so feel free to read on!

Staten Island, the Ferry and The World

I think the thing Harrison was looking forward to most on this trip (or at least the only thing he knew much about in NYC) was the Statue of Liberty. We felt that a day trip out there would get long and probably boring so we opted to ride the Staten Island Ferry. It took us right by Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty and gave us some great views of the city.


The Brooklyn Bridge. Unfortunately, this is as close as we got.

We did stay on the island for a little while and walked around. They have their own 9/11 memorial and although it is hard to see in the picture, looking straight through the statue is right where the new Memorial building is and also where the old twin towers stood. I can't imagine living there before and seeing such a change in the skyline. One the memorial are all the names of people who died on 9/11 who were living on Staten Island.
Then on another day we took a trip in another direction to see the giant globe, that Harrison was also very excited to see. He ended up walking/running across the whole outside. It was a very large and very cool thing. This is where the World Fair happened and it is now where the US Open happens every year. Just across the way, is the Mets Field.
(US Open Building)

Museums

In an ideal world (or one without having to entertain an almost 3 year old), I would have loved to have spent the day at the Met. But, this was the closest we got to the Met...throwing pennies in the fountains.
Instead, we went with a more kid friendly museum and spent a day at the American Museum of Natural History. This is where Night at the Museum is filmed and it was really great.
Harrison just ran from exhibit to exhibit, so excited about everything there was to see.
His crocodile snap, snapping.




I thought I got more pictures, but I guess we were just trying hard to keep up with him. He loved it so much that we left for lunch and then came back. We really had a lot to see and when I asked what his favorite thing of the day was, it was the giant whale. I didn't get a picture, but they had a whole ocean exhibit and a life-size blue whale. It was amazing and overwhelming, but great to see. Hopefully he learned something that day.

5th Ave. and Grand Central Station

We took several subways that transferred us through Grand Central Station, but only once did we actually leave the tunnels and come check out the main Station. It was pretty awesome and very big. Harrison recognized it from Madagascar, but kept asking where the Zebra was. Sorry buddy, I guess he wasn't there that day!

Then on 2 different days we spent some time on 5th Avenue. There is some great shopping although we avoided the really high end stores and stuck to a few stores we thought we wouldn't stick out too much in.
FAO Schwartz
These guys were performing on the big piano. It was pretty fun to watch.
Harrison finally got to touch the Statue of Liberty.
Throwing pennies in yet another fountain outside of the toy store.
Trump Tower
There are some pretty great cathedrals on 5th Ave.

I had to go to H&M. and then when we took our picture Harrison pointed to the sign and said H is for Harrison and M is for Mommy. Tender!
We found lots of fountains to throw in more pennies.

Just off 5th is Radio City
And Rockefeller Plaza.
And since I didn't buy anything on 5th Ave., we ended up down on Canal St. another day (no pictures) but that place is crazy! We went to Chinatown, Little Italy and Canal St all in one day and I was so busy trying to barter and not get run over by all the people or lose my child in the crowds that I didn't take any pictures. But I did walk away with this...Jeff helped me pick it out and also helped me barter it down and extra couple of bucks. That was another fun experience.

Central Park

We spent several different days in Central Park. It is truly an amazing place and there is so much to see. We literally spent a whole day and walked about 8 miles and still only saw about half the park. So we came back several other times to catch a few of the highlights of the park.
Climbing Rocks
Bethesda Fountain (again throwing in more change)

Belvedere Castle
Turtle Pond
Lunch at Shake Shack
The Gardens. They were quiet and beautiful.

Frisbee at one of the many playgrounds.
Feeding the ducks in the model boat lake.

Lunch at the park
His first on stage performance.
The Alice in Wonderland Statue.
This was one of the quotes we saw by the statue and couldn't pass up a chance to take a picture. It made us all laugh

Strawberry Fields

There was so much to see and do, we spent a lot of time there. Besides being totally exhausted when we were done, we had a great time.