NYC - Matt & Lauren's Big Adventure!

Hey all! Lola here! I'm gonna tell you all about my dad and mine's trip to NYC! (And of course New Jersey!) We after reaching the airport, my cousins the Hydes came to pick me up. We went to a fun bakery called Brownie Points and got some yummy treats to share! From left to right that's my dad, my cousins Miriam, Rinda, Peter, and then me! The Hydes oldest boy wasn't with us, but his name is Cooper. My aunt and uncle we stayed with were Aunt Marie and Uncle McKay.  My sweet cousin Rinda gave me and my dad each a little "Basket of Love" with candy inside. She showed my this cupboard in her room full of candy! Way to go Rinda! I could never save candy like that! I'd eat it all!

In their backyard they have a swing that hangs down like fifty feet. And that's not an exaggeration! Even ask my dad! It was a blast! But you can't quite pump on it and need someone to push you. You wouldn't believe how high I went!

FULL DAY ONE

The next morning we started off to catch our train into the city. The station we started at was outdoors, but pretty cool. We came up in Penn Station, which was really pretty! Then we caught a taxi cab to Grand Central to take a look around and grab breakfast at a little bakery. My dad go a nut apple muffin or some ridiculous thing like that. I got a chocolate cupcake with a cute candy flower on top of the chocolate icing. Clever me. :D  From outside the Grand Central Station we could see the Empire State Building! The picture below is me outside Grand Central.

Guess where we went next? Madam Tussodes Wax Museum! I was expecting it to be kind of creepy and spooky and stuff. And it was a bit, but mostly it was super awesome! Dad and I got to take pictures with some celebrities. Dad took a picture with two people I don't know. I took a picture with Godzilla, as a news anchor, as president, with Lady Liberty, and Taylor Swift. Now I wonder who got the better part of the deal? Hmmm. Any way one part was done up like some spooky movie I've never heard of. Then suddenly the figure moved forward and said "boo!" Or something like that. Apparently one of the jobs of working there is pretending to be a wax figure then spooking people! Because it was indeed an employee. At least I'm extremely positive it was one. Also a quick fun fact, my dad may or may not have used the bathroom twice while we were there and I nearly didn't use it at all the whole day. Just sayin'. The man has weak bowels.

 Next we went to the Discovery Museum to see "The Art of the Brick" Exhibit. It's original and replicated art this guy made all out of legos. I was so cool and detailed! Will and Owen would have died to see it! At the end there was a place where you could write your name on a brick and add it to the sculpture. In case you didn't know, I'm pointing at me and my dad's brick in the bottom picture. 

 Below is a picture of me and my dad at "Top of the Rock," the observation point at the top of the Rockefeller Center. It was so cool begin up do high! We could see the Empire State building again. We could also see Central Park. The second to last day we saw a bit of that but there aren't any pictures of that. While we were there we mostly just laid around, walked, Dad did a bit of work, I played the video game I got for a souvenir. (Pokemon Gates to Infinity, if your wondering) Oh, and an Asian man gave dad a free massage without dad asking. I wasn't paying to much attention so ask Dad if you want to know more. Any way that was the second to last day so lets jump back to the first day. We saw little dots down in Central Park we figure out were people. Awesome right? Oh, and a word of advice. If you wear white to New York, cover it in saran wrap. Or you won't have any more white pants.

 Then we hurried over to the MoMA. Not the momma, the MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art. We saw lots of paintings (unfortunately many of them were of naked men and women,) like Van Gogh's Starry Night and Monet's Water Lilies. Though I liked both, neither was my favorite exhibit. My favorite exhibit? A electric fan is strung from the ceiling by a thin line and turned on. The blowing of the fan makes it constantly blowing and swinging around! It's awesome! (Oh, and my dad took another bathroom break here.) To get there we rode a pedicab.

 It was fun but suuuuuper expensive!After the two floor Nintendo store where I bought the afore mentioned Pokemon Gates to Infinity, (which reminds me, twenty days until Pokemon X and Y comes out! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!) we went to take a quick window shop through the American Girl Store. It was huge! Even bigger than the Nintendo Store! A couple floors tall believe it or not! My dad took yet ANOTHER bathroom break here.

 Then we met back up with the girl Hydes and went out dinner! You can see Aunt Marie and Rinda and Miriam again here. Miriam has a fun app on her phone where you take wacky pictures and share them with people. She gave Rinda and I a turn. For the picture we kissed! Miriam's friend didn't reply so she probably was really weirded out. :D 

 Before we went to watch the Broadway musical "Cinderella" (brilliant show by the way) we waited in a plaza across the street from the theater in Times Square. Rinda and I did a little bit of silent improve together. At one point I was throwing books at her, but somehow it turned into a snow ball fight, then a baseball game. It was loads of fun! We drove home with them. They have a contest for who can hold the breath the longest when they go underground to get back to New Jersey. They also guess what color the Empire State Building will be lit up as. It was multicolored so we all won! Except the breath holding part. I won that! We also got a really pretty view of the skyline and I did my animal impressions on the way.

FULL DAY TWO

The next day my Aunt Marie came with use to New York. Below is photos of us at the Nine/Eleven Memorial. They have these two huge inverted fountains built where the foundations of the Twin Towers were. There are names carved in the stone and on the birthday of a person the staff puts a rose on that person's name. Pics three and four are the inverted fountains. We also saw a tree called the Survivor Tree. It barely survived the destruction of the Twin Towers. Shockingly it was somehow nurser back to health from a branchless stump. Later it was torn up by a tornado yet true to it's name it still survived and was replanted. That's the fifth picture. When your there you can really feel the overwhelming sadness.

 This is when we went on a boat ride. It was really windy and wet. Most of it didn't interest me. For a good part I was on the inside playing DS. But while I was outside there were some pretty cool things! A car driving on water, the Statue of Liberty, and some really pretty skyline views. 

Then we came home for a big yummy hamburger dinner! The Hydes were really nice about my Pessitarian-ness, and bought me some meatless black bean burgers that were fantastique! 

DAY THREE & SECOND TO LAST DAY

For breakfast/lunch/brunch (we missed our first train from over sleeping. At least I overslept.) we went to Alice's Teacup. It was dad's favorite part of the whole trip! We each got a little pot of herbal tee to drink. We also got three tea sandwiches each, three delicious scones to share, (they change the available scones everyday, we order triple chocolate, buttermilk, and pumpkin) chocolate mousse and a cookie array! It way lots of fun! 

 We also went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or, the Met. We spent most our time in the Egyptian Wing. In the whole museum there was, yet again, lots of art of naked or mostly naked people. Mostly women.

The most AMAZING playground I know! There's even a place you can get wet! This picture just shows the tip of the iceberg!! Just outside the museum.

Here's a cute dog store we took a look in! Tiny dogs everywhere, barking, jumping, and even sleeping like that little golden one! Awwww!

Here is me outside the Guggenheim, by the Obelisk in Central Park, and other pics around the park.

 Then we went to a yummy vegetarian restaurant I forgot the name of. I ordered Spaghetti and "Wheat" Balls. It was so darn delish! YUMYUMYUM!!!!

THE FINAL DAY/DAY WE WENT HOME

We went to an awesome spa where I got my nails done for like, five dollars. Awesome, right!? We also went to a delish nearby bagel place. 

We went to get some sushi for earlish lunch. We got three orders of sushi which was WAAAAAY to much, so Marie took some home for her family. Two of the rolls were pretty spicy but it was all delish. And they did an amazing job of making it look pretty!

Then we went home! That just about wraps it all up! See you peeps again some other time!

~ Lola!

Back into the Swing of Things

It's officially the end of the second week of school and I'm starting to feel like the family is settled into our routine again.  As much as I like the fun days of summer, I'm exhausted by the end and it's nice to get onto a schedule again and have the household (somewhat) under control.  Speaking of handling household items, I've started the most amazing way to store clothes for kids #2 and #3.  These cubbies are genius for busy minds that don't want to think about how to put outfits together and/or tackle the task of putting clothes on hangers.  It's amazing how such a small change can make our mornings run more smoothly.

Here is Lauren with her YW candied apple which she insisted on me taking a pic for the blog.  I'd say the apple tasted as good as it looked but unfortunately only the cook got to sample the deliciousness. ;)

 And speaking of apples, our family conducted a taste test to find out which variety of apple we liked the best.  The kids tasted each apple and scored it, then I tallied the points.

 The official results of the Green family apple tasting:

1 - Pink Lady (with a perfect score!)

2 - Gala (with a near perfect score)

3 - Jazz

4 - Braeburn

5 - Golden Delicious

6 - Fuji

7 - Red Delicious

8 - Ginger Gold

9 - Granny Smith  (no surprise here - my least fave too)

 What is your favorite apple?

This year Lauren had the opportunity to join a homeschool co-op called Vanguard Academy.  I am going to have to write a huge detailed post about this co-op in the future because I am thrilled with this group.  All of the people we've met are so kind and we are both excited about the year ahead, in fact, Lauren's extra excited because she was just voted into the presidency as the game chief!  They started off the year with a "Vision Hike" on Friday morning in which they hiked as a group to a beautiful overlook and had a devotional about their theme for the year.

 

Friday night I had the super fun opportunity to go to dinner with my mom, Amy & Jackie.  We giggled nonstop and the giggles turned into huge laughs when they brought out my mom's ginormous ice cream sundae.  We missed having my sister Kim and our sisters-in-law there and we also got reprimanded by the brothers for being sexist and only inviting the girls.  Sorry!!  Next time it'll be a huge par-tay!

 On Saturday, we went to Tyson's baptism and then Jackie's house for food, fun, games, and more food.  I didn't take any pictures but we had SO MUCH fun with everyone that was there and stayed till it was time for dinner.  Thanks Jack!

Tuesday and Wednesday nights of this week I had the opportunity to go to the Utah Realtor's Convention in Deer Valley with Matt.  Nana and Papa stayed with the kids - I love the picture of the boys cuddling with Nana in the morning.  The pictures of Matt and me are before the awards dinner and I'm laughing at my outfit and hair - I look like a politicians wife.

 

 Well, that's it... see you next week!

First Day of School

The first day of school was August 26th.  Everyone was (mostly) excited to start the new year... it's gonna be a great one!  :)

Owen has actually had 3 "first days" this year.  His 1st first day was an orientation of the school, his 2nd first day was pre-kindergarten testing, and his 3rd (and real) first day was on Thursday.  I got to ride the bus with him (and the other 5 year olds in the neighborhood) to the school and after his fabulous day another mom rode the bus home with the kids.  He is SO excited to finally be in school with everyone else - wahoo!!

Happy "Back to School" everyone!!

Last Week of Summer!!

Last week of summer break - can you believe it?!  We celebrated by going to YogoTogo for "Weightless Wednesday" which is $5 for however much frozen yogurt and toppings you can fit in your cup.   Mmmm, gluttony at it's finest.  :)  We go there for treats every once in a while, but the kids loved going there without me hovering over their every (overpriced) addition and topping.  You'll notice we have one of Lauren's friends (Hannah), but not Lauren - she was diagnosed with strep throat that morning and stayed home to rest and recover. 

 We took the kids to Boondocks for one last hurrah this week.  Lauren was not contagious anymore, but still feeling under the weather and she opted to stay home.  The kids spent most of their time in the laser tag arena which worked out great for me because I spent that time listening to podcasts on my headphones.  If you don't listen to podcasts yet, you should!!  I've been told about them before but was never in the state of mind to really delve into listening regularly until this summer.  They've changed my life; vacuuming, running on the treadmill, and pulling weeds will never be the same.  The friend in the pictures is Cole from across the street.  He just moved to Texas and Will was/is having a hard time losing his great buddy. 

My 38th birthday was Saturday.  We spent the day boating and got home just as the huge hail storm hit.  Was it just Davis County or did any of you experience it too?  It was ca-razy!!  I made a cake for my b-day but it was Will's choice and I let him blow out the candles.  He's been super bummed out (and has told me so multiple times) ever since his 8th birthday because I misunderstood him and made the wrong kind of cake.  I made pineapple upside down cake and he wanted pineapple pina colada cake.  Problem solved today - happy unbirthday buddy!!  That evening we went out to eat at Cafe Molise in SLC with Biffy and Greg.  Good food, great night, fabulous friends.  :)