NY/NJ August 2013

For our summer vacation we headed to NY and NJ to visit with Uncle Charlie, Aunt Janice, Cris, Sean, Sullivan, Braden, and Devin.  We had an amazing time.  We kept ourselves very busy and packed in as much as we could while we were there

Ashton and Cate loved the plane ride because they got to watch movies and eat snacks

The first night we went to Brooklyn and had a wonderful dinner prepared by Aunt Janice.  We rested up that night so we could hit the ground running the next day.

The kids loved riding on the Subway

Our first stop was an amazing Lego exhibit.  An artist recreated artwork, statues, and other objects completely out of Legos.  It was a great exhibit.

After the Lego exhibit we headed over to Time Square.  We took the kids into Toys R Us (which is 3 stories and has an indoor ferris wheel) and then headed over to FAO 

After the stores and lunch we headed over to Central Park.  We walked by the Central Park zoo and then found the park that we had taken the kids to 3 years ago when we were in NY.  They had a blast at the park!

After the park we took the Staten Island Ferry to see the NY skyline and the Statue of Liberty

That night we met Dave and Lindsey Lister and their son Sam in midtown at John's pizza on Bleaker Street.  It is supposed to be the best pizza in town and I think you can tell by our empty pizza trays that we really enjoyed it.  It was great to catch up with our old friends and to finally meet their son.

The next day we boarded the subway and headed to Coney Island to play at the beach and check out all the rides.

Heading down to the ocean

Then we had lunch at the original Nathan's.  Of course we all had hot dogs and they were great.

Walking on the boardwalk

Then we took the kids to the rides...

That night we went to china town to have some soup dumplings

The following day we rented a car and headed down to NJ to spend time with the Grace Family

Cate and Braden played dress up and showed us their many outfits

Ashton and Devin built towers out of cushions

Once Sullivan came home from camp all of the kids asked him to make them bracelets.  He has a kit that makes bracelets out of rubber bands and he made one for everyone

Next it was time to wrestle in the "wrestle room"

I played candyland with the kids

That night the kids had ice cream with all the fixings on it for dessert

On Saturday we took all of the kids to see the movie Planes

Devin and Ashton fell asleep toward the end of the movie

relaxing at home

In the afternoon we took all the kids to play at the park

That night we had Frosty Freeze, an ice cream place near the house.

Eric and Devin playing in the sunroom.  

I wasn't sure if I was still going to be taller than Sullivan, who is 11, but I still have him by a bit

The next day we headed out to the zoo

Our four little prairie dogs

Sean got surrounded by the kids as soon as he got out some food

"feeding frenzy"

There was an area where you could go in with a "feeding stick" and try to get birds to land on it.  All of the kids got a chance to hold a bird.

Next the kids were able to touch a manta ray and a little shark

After all of our zoo fun we stopped for one last treat before heading home

The kids fell asleep one by one on the car ride home

Relax time 

That evening we had a mexican fiesta complete with home made salsa and guacamole courtesy of Cris.  The kids ran and ran and played in the bouncy house that the Grace family has.  

And of course our evening wouldn't be complete without more ice cream.