Quick Update

Ok, so I started a new blog post the day after my last post. I had finally received my little pink laptop back from Fry's and so I was blogging on that. I get about a quarter of the way into the blog and realize that my little pink laptop is not connected to our picture drive. So, I had to wait for Adam to reconnect me to the drive and by then life had moved on. I apologize. I know you have been checking daily, waiting for the new posts and have been profoundly disappointed. It's just been a really busy month (April that is). So without further ado, here is a quick update.

Andrew turned four on March 30th. Yea! We had a small party for him that involved a bounce house and a pinata. Whoever came up with the idea of giving small children a stick, blindfolding them and letting them swing wildly at a papier mache figure was not thinking clearly. There were several close calls but, fortunately, no trips to the hospital. There is nothing like giving kids a bucket full of candy and sending them home with their parents.
Of course, the next weekend was Easter. Which meant a visit from the Easter Bunny (more candy) and hunting for Easter eggs (even more candy). When your only cousins live in Michigan, you get to find all of the Easter eggs (woohoo!).




Then the next weekend (April 9-11) we went camping at Bastrop State Park. It was only our second camping trip with Andrew (and Adam and I had only been one other time), so it was a big undertaking. We took everything. We were prepared for every eventuality, except for the batteries on our camera's dying, which they did on Saturday. Not many places to recharge a camera battery in the great outdoors. But we had a wonderful time. We went hiking twice. Actually, we all went hiking once. Andrew spent all of the second hiking trip riding on his father's shoulders. On the first hiking trip, Andrew had a great time trying to spot the trail markers on the trees. We also went fishing. Unfortunately, it was a cool weekend and the fish just weren't biting. We roasted hot dogs for dinner and marshmallows for dessert. Bastrop State Park was great and we had a wonderful time. As we were packing up to leave, my lovely husband said he could do the whole camping thing again (which is good since we bought a new tent).






Then this past weekend, we had my family's annual family reunion down at the farm in Gonzales. Andrew loved climbing on the hay with all of the other kids and playing in the mud puddles left by the rain earlier in the week. He did not enjoy being sprayed down with the garden hose after playing in the mud. Fortunately, I had taken about 4 changes of clothes for him, so he did have warm, dry clothes for the drive home. And after all of that activity, he slept the whole way home (we left about 5 in the afternoon) and did not wake up for dinner.




It's been a busy month. We have a little break this weekend, Adam and I have individual things going on but that's it...other than packing for Disneyworld! Life is good.

In a New York Minute

I know. I know. I haven't blogged in ages. So sue me. I am now going to make up for lost time. I hope to do several posts over the next few days so stay tuned. But now, for the subject of this blog.


So, remember that post in February about Adam's big secret. And how it was just killing him to keep it. Well, we went to dinner with Adam's parents a few weeks ago (March 3 to be exact). When we finished dinner, Andrew looked at me and said "Mommy, you need to go home and pack." When I asked what he was talking about, Adam informed me that our plane for New York was leaving at 7 am the next morning and I better get packed. Wooooohoooooo! So, we left Austin at 7 a.m. on Thursday, March 4 and returned Saturday, March 6 at about midnight. All of the grandparents (and daycare) pitched into watch Andrew while we were gone.

What a trip. Adam had booked us into the Millenium Broadway which is just half a block off of Times Square and the perfect location for exploring Manhattan. And believe me, we saw the whole island (well almost) in 2 and 1/2 days.

Our flight landed at JFK a little after 11:00 a.m. After checking into the hotel and grabbing a bite to eat at Carnegie Deli ($60 for 2 sandwiches and a couple of sides -- now I know why New York women are so thin, they can't afford to eat!). But like I was saying, after eating lunch we walked up to Central Park. We rented a pedicab pedaled by the cutest little Irishman (shout out to Neil Ainsworth from County Mayo) and he took us on a tour of the park. It was a wonderful little tour and we didn't have to walk. Here we are with Neil:



When we left the park, we walked over to the Museum of Modern Art. We saw lots of art you would all recognize (Van Gogh, Seurrat, Warhol, etc) including Monet's "Waterlillies" which is absolutely huge and a Tim Burton exhibit. As we were walking through the museum, we walked into a room that had this large, white...tent in the middle of it and a guard standing next to it. No one else is in the room. So, Adam and I are walking around looking at this...tent, and the guard asks me if I would like to go inside it. So, I took my shoes off and went inside. It had these two weird structures which you were supposed to hug and rub and it smelled like lavender inside. It was very interesting. Anyway, by the time Adam and I were done walking through it, there was line of people waiting their turn. We started a trend!






After the MOMA, we went to the Top of the Rockefeller Center for a view of New York at night and then went down to Times Square. Even at night, Times Square is as bright as a sunny day. It was a very expensive day. Everything in New York seems to cost a minimum of $20 a person. Just to ride the elevator to the top of the Rockefeller cost us $20 each. Ouch!

On Friday, we got up and took the subway to the bottom of Manhattan. Then we took a ride on the Staten Island Ferry (which was free!) for a view of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. Afterwards, we walked up to Wall Street and then out onto the Brooklyn Bridge.





Then we had lunch in Chinatown and closed out the afternoon at the American Museum of Natural History:



Our last day, Saturday, we had until about 3:00 p.m to cram in as much as we could. So we went to the New York Public Library, Grand Central Station, The United Nations, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Rockefeller Plaza (where they have the ice skating rink) and Fifth Avenue.

We walked about 30 miles while we were in New York. We rode the subway 5 times and took 2 taxis. We had a great time. And it was my most awesomest birthday ever!