New York, New York!

Ok, so I have waaaaaay to many posts to start posting, because I know I have fallen way behind.

But in order to start it off right, I have to do a quick post about our fabulous trip to New York with our fabulous friends Brad & Megan! =)

It started a few months ago when we took a San Diego vacation with them and all our kids, and we all agreed that we needed an adults-only getaway together. Brad and Megan had already started planning a trip to New York for Brad's birthday (big 3-0!), and asked us to come along, so how could we say no??! Count us in!

{I will pause for a minute to give a HUGE thank-you to my sister and Arece for watching the kids for us and allowing us to enjoy ourselves while we were so far away! We love you guys!}

The place where we stayed was unbelievable. A 25th floor penthouse on the corner of 48th & Broadway, just blocks from Times Square. I have too many memories to post, so I will simply condense it all by listing a few fun highlights:

* exploring Central Park

* shopping

* lunch and coffee in Bryant Park, watching old men play bocci ball =)

*private walking tour of New York... walked for 7 hours with our tour guide and saw everything!! The blisters on my poor heels prove it.

* learning the Subway system =)

* Top of Rockafeller Center

* Wandering the east village one night in search of the perfect restaurant (maybe not such a highlight, right Megan?!) again, I have the blisters to prove it.

* Best pizza ever at John's Pizzaria

* ferry to statue of liberty

* sitting second row at Promises Promises. I felt like I was close enough to reach out and touch Kristin Chenoweth!

And this one is just for you Megan,

"You don't like creamed spinach?" ;-)

The time went by too quickly, and we had such a fun time. I thought I didn't take enough pictures, until I started to make a highlight video, and realized I couldn't fit everything in! So below, you will see a video of a few favorite memories of our fun {maybe too much fun in some of them! ;-) } Some were taken with a phone, so the quality may be poor- but the pictures still make me smile.

And Megan- you are going to LOVE me because I found a song from GLEE to go with the video! Do I know you, or what?

You're welcome :-)

*quick note* The file may be big, so press play then pause it and allow it to load before viewing. Enjoy!

Sunday Funday

We've seen every kids' movie out there, we've done all the splash pads and played in the pool all summer, and all of the usual indoor play areas didn't sound like too much fun... so we came up with a new idea that the kids had never tried before - bowling!

To my surprise, the bowling alley was actually pretty empty for a sunday afternoon, so we got a lane right away {with bumpers of course... which helped me just as much as the kids!} and Bella went on the hunt for a perfect ball. Of course, she was choosing by the color and the amount of sparkles the ball had, so we had t steer her in the direction of the lightest ones other wise she would have been bowling with a 15 pound ball :-)

And how cute are bowling shoes in toddler sizes?! So adorable!

First up was Ty.

John explained the instructions to him, and helped him with carrying the ball.

STRIKE!! =)

Bella insisted on doing it mostly on her own. She actually had a pretty cute walk and technique to it.

And check out this cool contraption! Its like a bowling ball slide for kids- I had never seen one before! Bella actually preferred throwing the ball herself; I think that was part of the joy in bowling :-)

It was a perfect way to get out of the heat and do something new and fun with our sweet little munchkins. And since its a three day weekend, we are off to do something new and fun with them today too! More pictures of today will come later =) Happy labor day!