Sunday, June 10, 2007

rock, time, play and bargain


my sister and niece met up with us after the american girl store. we went to rockefeller center and then over to times square as we waited for our play to start. we had fun with all the m&ms at the huge and overpriced (that bag was over $7) m&m store.



then it was off to the matinee performance of "hairspray." we bought discount tickets the day of and were lucky enough to get eight great seats. the girls were on one row and we were behind them. hairspray is packed with lots of show-stopping numbers; it was fun to see a play in which i wasn't familar with the story line. one scene was so uproarious, that even the two actors on the stage started to crack slightly.

after the play, we went to china town. i'm awful at bargaining, but was able to pick up some cheap souvenirs. the next day, i was completely exhausted. it was definitely worth it and i have a total bug to go to the city and see another discounted play!
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start spreading the news...

well, i wish that i was leaving today, but we actually left a week ago saturday. on june 2nd, some fellow moms and i took our daughters to new york city. we had a blast! we started with breakfast (breakfast not brunch - in other words bright and early) at the american girl store. top picture is of gracie with her two friends, colleen and kylie.

the next picture is of us being silly with the centerpieces. this started ages ago (i.e. i only had one child) when my best friend from high school and i attended a mutual friend's wedding. there was a camera on the table and my friend and i eventually ended up using the centerpieces as props in our attempt to use up the film. i've never seen those pictures, but i hope they brought a smile to the bride and groom. i remember adding the bride and groom's initials to the candles with the excess wax (what can i say, the dancing didn't start right away). since then, i've just taken occasional centerpiece shots (at both my brothers' weddings for example). it's loads of fun. so the next time you have a centerpiece and a camera - go wild!

the final shot is the girls with their dolls.
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Wednesday, June 6, 2007

last but not least

we can't forget jake! he had fun at the beach as well, but it was hard to keep him from getting sand in his mouth. i eventually ended up holding him in my lap. he loved being outside and feeling the cool sand on his feet.

after the beach, we drove home. i forgot to mention that we drove up sunday night and stayed at a hotel. of course, we had to go swimming monday morning. i'm amazed at how much excitement just a hotel room can offer children. this was a great trip. we didn't have it planned out well beforehand - just knew we wanted to see the grave site. so there was just a nice relaxed feeling and everything extra we did was a great bonus.

memorial day

Thomas Hinckley Grave Site
in honor of memorial day, we drove up to barnstable, mass (which is in cape cod) and located the grave site of patrick's 9th great-grandfather, thomas hinckley. thomas hinckley was a governor of the plymouth colony in the 1600s. gracie enjoyed finding all the other hinckleys that were also buried at the cemetary (she is pictured next to an elizabeth hinckley marker - her middle name is elizabeth). there was even a hinckley pond nearby. i told pat that deep down, he is a northeasterner!


After the cemetery, we drove to THE BEACH.
at first, evan didn't like the sand too much and got some good exercises in by holding his legs up in position pictured above. but after about 20 minutes or so, he warmed up to the sand and had lots of fun (as pictured below).




LOW TIDE
the tide was very low (that means the water was far away, right?). anyway, there was so much space for the girls to run around in the mud and splash in puddles. you didn't have to be by their side the whole time. it was great. they also met some other girls who showed them how to find crabs under the sand. i found two small crabs myself but forgot to take a picture of all the crabs they had gathered (i think my girls just helped look for them in the sand and then let their newly found friends pick them up.) it was a great afternoon.
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family day continued

THE WALL

here's the rest of the family on the rock wall (did i mention that i made it to the top?) lily really wanted to climb the wall and was actually the first of our group to go. she got as high as our approx. 6 ft 4 in friend could help lift her. she absolutely loved it. one colleage of pat's from work said that lily was her hero for climbing. little does she know, that most of my kids just lack a healthy sense of fear. the higher, the faster, the better seems to be the motto around here.


FAVES FROM THE DAY

jake loved the swing, evan loved the watermelon (and did quite well feeding himself) and the girls loved the pony rides.


FRIENDS

we went to family day with our good friends, the ackroyds. our kids match up nicely and get along well. their oldest picked out her outfit and insisted on her hairstyle. i thought it was photo-worthy. can you say "80s" anyone???!
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why husbands shouldn't take pictures (at least mine anyways)

a few weeks ago, we went to a family day for my husband's work. it was lots of fun with games, pony rides, cotton candy (and other free food) and this rock wall to climb. my husband took several pictures while i climbed the wall (most of which look like the picture on the left; believe it or not, this is the least incriminating photo - i do have some restraint!) i have since informed him that even though most of my weight seems to gravitate to one part of my body that was no excuse for him to use that to center the pictures!

interesting side note: i made it to the top and pat didn't!

on a somewhat related note, i recently joined weight watchers. it's a good program and i've done well on it in the past. i'll let you know when i lose weight equivalent to that of a small child (which is my goal)!
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quotables

"is that lily holding baby lily?" -lily's response when i showed her a picture of gracie holding her when lily was a baby.

"drama class is actually a lot of fun." -gracie (this is only humorous in that grace seemed surprised by how much she likes drama class. this from my child who we refer to as "a drama queen" when she is not around.)

"mom, you can go with my teacher and i'll stay home with japie and evan. daddy can go to work, and i'll be the mommy" -lily, in response to learning that she would be going to preschool next year instead of this year.

"mom, if you don't get rid of that smell soon, you're going to have to buy a new car." -gracie when it took me a couple of days to clean out my car after returning from a road trip.

"mommy, they have dress-ups for you!" -lily while walking by the prom dress section at macy's.

"i said the prayer "last"-erday." -lily's replacement word for "yesterday."