Ringing in the New Years...

We were lucky enough to spend a few days in the city, between Christmas and New Years, with Mitch's sister Danielle and her family!  They drove up from Virginia to explore the city and we had a blast.  We went non-stop and the kids were great sports.  We hit Central Park, Rockefeller, Times Square, Bryant Park, Madison Square, and even made it down to Chelsea Market and the Highline.  We loved spending a bit of the holidays with family, and are so glad it worked out!

Remi all bundled up / Skating in Bryant Park with Jackson

Mitch's parents knew we were going to be in the city after the holidays, so they sent each grand-kid a Toys-R-Us gift card so they could pick something out at the big Times Square store.  It was fun to see what each kid chose, and how each picked something totally different!  

More skating at Bryant Park...and some falling.

You can't do New York City during the holidays without a carriage ride around Central Park! We were lucky enough to have Jayden ride with us.

We may have hit up Waffles & Dinges more than once!  It was just too good, and with their pop-up location just around the corner at Bryant Park, we decided to make it breakfast.  We may have indulged at Dylan's Candy Store and the Donut Plant too. Shhh!

Our weekend ended too soon, but we were happy to have at least a little Brown Family time!

Happy New Year!

Diane & Damon come East...

 

Mitch's mom was kind enough to come out to Long Island a few days early to help with our kids while I headed upstate for our stake youth conference in Palmyra.  Damon was on break from dental school, so he came too!  They partied all weekend long.  I'm pretty sure my kids didn't miss me one bit.  They hit the city and visited the World Trade Center memorial in NYC, and came home with almost-life-size stuffed animals from Target.  I'd say they were happy campers.  Thank you, thank you for watching our kids. You're the best!

 

 

 

I got home on Saturday, and Sunday after church we took a drive out to the Hamptons to let them see all the gorgeous homes and beautiful beaches.

 

 

We said goodbye to Uncle Damon on Tuesday, and hello to Grandpa Doug that very same night.  We all had a blast and hope it doesn't take them a year to come back and visit us again!

US Tennis Open...

This was our second year going to the US Tennis Open at Flushing Meadows in Queens.  We had such a blast last year that we made sure to come back.  We've now decided it might have to be an every-other-year kind of tradition once we leave the East Coast.  There had been rain throughout the day, which resulted in rain delays on all the courts.  We were worried we were going to miss Andy Murray, our scheduled match, but luckily they only postponed his match. 

For the first hour or so, we caught some matches on the smaller courts.  One that we just had to see was the Duckworth v. Smyczek match.  I mean, come on, how often do you see a professional athlete with your same last name? 

They let us into Arthur Ashe stadium while the day match was still going on, and we were able to watch an awesome finish by Del Potro, followed by Andy Murray taking the match in three straight sets.  It was a great night and we were so happy we were able to share it with Mitch's parents.

Central Park Zoo & the Highline...

 

 

We have had such a busy summer that we weren't able to get into the city much.  One day I decided we were going to hop on the train and head in to the Central Park Zoo.  We had a great time and did a ton in a short amount of time.  We started at the Zoo and Children's Zoo.  After, we spent some time exploring Central Park, had an ice cream and hopped on the subway over to Bryant Park.

 

 

 

Bryant Park had a lot of fun things for the kids.  They had a game center set up with Connect Four's, Domino's and tons of other fun games for you to play.  The carousel is always a hit.  Mitch was working up in Westchester, so he was able to come meet us after work.  He met up with us at Chelsea Market where we ate way too much and enjoyed playing on the Highline for a bit. 

 

We had such a fun day, and can't wait to get back there for another great day of exploring the city.

First Trip to the City...

My mom came out for ten days to help us move in, paint, set up house, clean, organize, garden, etc, etc.  She was a lifesaver (as were Mitch's parents who came out and did the same)!!  To reward ourselves for a job well done, we decided to spend her last day in the city.

We drove in, parked near Columbus Circle, and walked right into Central Park.  It was awesome, and made me so happy.  It was one of the hottest and most humid days of the summer, so we decided to do something indoors.  We headed to the Natural History Museum (along with everyone else) where it was nice and air conditioned.  Mitch's cousin Blake just happened to be in town catching a Met's game, so he met up with us as well.  Our kids love the movie "Night at the Museum" so the highlight for them was seeing "Dum, Dum", the big blue whale, the elephant stampede, and many others.

For lunch we hit up the Shake Shack and then decided to walk to Times Square.

Dieter fell asleep on the way to Times Square, so when he woke up he just looked around and pointed at everything.  It was pretty darn cute.  It really is a lot to take in the first time you see it.  We let our kids each pick out one toy at the giant Toys R Us store in Times Square....five hours later...whew!  Blake was a good sport, grabbed some Pellegrino, and sat outside.  Only a few more months Blaker, and its your turn.

My mom flew home the next day, which meant a lot of tears flowing down my cheeks.  I have been so blessed to have her as my mom and example.  Love you Janner!

As for us, we're looking forward to our next trip into the city really soon.