Sleep-over in NYC

Josh travels about every other week for work, which results in lots of hotel points. A few weeks ago we decided to use some of his points and spend a night at the Sheraton hotel in Time Square. We had such a great time...

 First of all, I survived my first time driving into the city with the kids and no Josh. I thought it would be nervewracking, but we didn't hit any traffic so it was only a 40 minute drive and the kids were great. 

Josh works right by the hotel, so he zipped down and helped us check in at the hotel and unload our bags. Then the kids and I walked to Central Park. We paused for a picture by this statue and in my mind I was thinking "I HOPE I don't lose any of my children these next few hours while Josh is still at work!" We actually had a fun time and no one was permanently lost.

My kids LOVE Central Park. The playground are fun, but the girls' favorite part is all the big rocks to climb on.

Buds

 I kept glancing over and seeing these two casually walking around the park arm in arm. The friendship these two have makes my heart melt.

Even cautious Mya was loving all the climbing and running around with random NYC kids. 

 I think this is the only moment that Tate stood still the entire afternoon. He was running around and having such a fun time.

After work, Josh met us at the park just in time to snap a quick pic of me and the kids. I was feeling rather triumphant at this moment because I had survived my first outing in NYC without Josh's help wrangling the kids.

We popped into the Columbus Circle shopping center, since I was still scrambling to put outfits together for family pictures the next morning. And then we had dinner at one of Josh's favorite pizza places "Uncle Mario's". Yum.

The next morning we woke up bright and early and had our pictures taken in Central Park. (I haven't gotten the pictures back or else I'd post them). Tate was a wild man. In hindsight, Central Park wasn't the ideal place for photos with Tate. There were way too many rocks to climb, dogs to chase, open fields to run around. I will be very impressed if our photographer managed to get a good shot of us!

Bryn and I loved this beautiful doorway at Petrossian. I'm not a huge fan of Petrossian's bakery items, but this gorgeous doorway almost convinced me to give it another shot!

We're very famliar with Penn Station, since that's where the New Jersey transit connects, but this was our first time taking the kids to Grand Central Station. It's a bit grander and cleaner than Penn Station! 

 We had Shake Shack at the food court of Grand Central Station. 

 Josh and I wanted to do the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in the afternoon, but the girls overruled us and convinced us to do the American Girl store instead. It is haven for them. 

 I'll end with these cute pictures of Mya with her favorite Bitty Baby. She is saving up her coins for a Bitty Baby, but it's going to take a while!

New York City Ballet

In May when I went into NYC for a temple session I decided to stay afterwards for the New York City Ballet. The temple + the ballet... what a wonderful evening! The LDS temple is just across the street from Lincoln Center Plaza, so it was also very convenient. Maybe I'll do this more often? ;)

The ballet was incredible. This was my first time at the New York City Ballet and I was so impressed. The show I went to was called 21st Century Choreographers and it had four performances: Belles-Lettres by Justin Peck, The Mothership by Nicolas Blanc, American Rhapsody by Christopher Wheeldon, and Concerto DSCH by Alexei Ratmansky. 

I have so much to say about these ballets, but I'll try to keep it brief. Justin Peck's ballet was so beautiful that it made me teary eyed... wasn't expecting that. The Mothership was funky and modern, but entertaining. Concerto DSCH was really beautiful and a great ballet to end on. My favorite was Wheeldon's American Rhapsody - a brand new ballet set to Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". It was such a beautiful and fun ballet. I loved every minute of it. Of course the highlight of the night was seeing my friend Robbie Fairchild and his wife Tiler Peck perform the leading roles in American Rhapsody. They are so talented. Watching Robbie dance was making me teary because he was my good friend and next-door neighbor growing up, and now he has reached his dreams and it such an incredible star on Broadway and in NYC Ballet. I could go on, but I'll stop there!

Lincoln Plaza selfie to document the fun night out in the city.

After the show I went backstage and talked with Robbie and some of the other principal dancers. It was such a wonderful night!

(I found a last-minute single ticket for just $30, but next time I need to plan ahead, find a babysitter, and enjoy the ballet with Josh!)

Dance Recital

Bryn and Mya had their dance recital in May and it was so fun to watch these two cuties on the stage. This was Bryn's second year of dance and Mya's first year. I was a bit nervous how Mya would do since she is so shy, but she did great! Both girls had such a good time and felt so fancy and special to be all dressed up and on stage in front of everyone.

 At the dress rehearsal

 Cuties!

At the end of her dance Mya had to go to the center of the stage on her own and wave and blow a little kiss. She was brave and it was so cute!

Bryn had a part of her dance where she and another girl went to the center of the stage and did a little dance on their own. She did great!

 Bowing in the finale

Flowers for the little dancers

 Days like this are so fun as a parent! 

May

Here are a few snapshots from our May...

Warm weather and lots of outside playtime for these two

 Sometimes Tate tries to follow along during our family scripture study :)

 Tate loves to wrestle and his biggest target is Mya. He attacks her all throughout the day. Luckily she thinks it's hilarious.

 Tate also loves to be cuddly and give hugs.

 Mother's Day with my little crew

 Bryn's Mother's Day card to me (pig nose!?) and the yummy salmon tacos Josh made for Mother's Day dinner

 Fun in the backyard

 Mya loves cheese. She was so happy when we were playing Headbanz and she got the cheese card! Speaking of cheese, Mya has a really weird favorite sandwich: swiss cheese and peanut butter!? Most days I don't let her have it, but occasionally she begs hard enough for me to give in. Such a strange combo!

 Bryn's choral concert

 Some paintings I worked on during May and a close-up of a cute little drawing that Mya did this month. 

 Best friends!

 Tate knows the computer is off-limits, so he feels extra sneaky when he climbs onto the computer chair. When I hear giggles from the front room it's often because he's spinning on the computer chair.

He is busy busy busy at this stage, so he keeps us on our toes!

 Park time

 Mya loves to pose and loves to accessorize

 Tate spends so much time perched in the window seal watching the neighbor boys play basketball. It's really cute. But it's also the cause of the constant handprints on our window :)

 My girls loves a good, silly "selfie" session.

 Homework is more fun when it's done outside.

 Josh is usually pounced on when he comes home from work, especially after a business trip! These three kids love their dad!

And I love Tate's sweet little face.

 Bryn's first grade class put on a little play last week. She was a narrator.

She has loved her class and her little friends this year.

  Josh was gone for the last week of May and we missed him! (Most work trips are only 2-4 days). The day he got home he took the girls to Target and they picked out a handful of water guns then came home and had a big water fight. 

Tate got sprayed a few times and got scared, so he and I just sat in the shade and watched Josh, Bryn, and Mya chase each other all over the yard.

Good times!