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!

Sister's in the City...

The beginning of December, my sisters flew out to New York to hang with me for a few days.  Bonus!  They brought their girls along to play with Finners.  Finnley was thrilled and they had the best time.  We spent a day out in our area and then two days in the city.  We all bunked up into one hotel room (Thanks Ty!) and hit the town doing and seeing all that we could.  Here are a bunch of pictures from our weekend, in no particular order:

These girls were the biggest troopers, and were rewarded with daily diet cokes and a little shopping at American Girl Doll store.  

Sisters meet Shake Shack, Shack Shack meet my sisters.

Rockefeller Square.

We rang in the Christmas season with the Rockettes!  

The girls loved it, and I loved that they did a live nativity at the end.

Santa at the ABC Home Store - Best Santa in NYC!

Late night dinner at Juniors and Finnley getting her second wind after crashing at dinner.

It was fun having my sisters out in our town as well.  They were able to come to one of my spin classes, and snuggle my other kiddos as well.  Its never fun to say goodbye to family, especially knowing we weren't headed home for Christmas, but we had such a great time and I loved having them here!

Thanks girls!  Love your guts.

'Twas the Day before Thanksgiving...

MItch was on call this Thanksgiving, lame, so instead of going into the city for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, we decided to go in the night before for the balloon inflation.  It was cooooold and rainy which was a bummer, but also awesome because not very many people came for the inflation!  Way to look on the bright side, right!?  We walked around the shops for a bit, hit up FAO Schwartz, and grabbed some hot chocolate, then headed over to the Natural HIstory Museum where they blow up the balloons. 

It was coooold, and poor Remi didn't have enough layers on.  She was pretty miserable and her poor face was frozen.  We walked the three blocks of balloons kind of quickly, but stopped for pictures in front of our favorites (Sonic, Toothless, Papa Smurf, Spiderman, just to name a few!).  Get ready for a bunch of pictures of us standing in front of blown up balloons!

We finished off the night with some 'Brother Jimmy's BBQ' and let me tell you, we scarfed it down.  We were all so hungry and cornbread has never tasted better!  We loved our pre-thanksgiving night in the city, and hope to someday see the parade as well.

Newport...

We love spending time in California's Newport, so we figured, why not check out Rhode Island's Newport!  It was so fun and so charming; we wish we had more days to explore.  We drove to the tip of Long Island to Orient Point and took a auto ferry over to New London.  We pulled out just as the sun was setting, and it made for a gorgeous departure.  

We pulled into Newport and drove straight to the Red Parrot where we had some of the best clam chowder I've ever tasted…for real.  It was official, we were in New England!  The next morning we woke up, had a delicious breakfast at the Hungry Monkey Cafe, and headed toward the Cliff Walk.  Some of it was closed due to damages caused by Hurricane Sandy, but it was still fun to see. We saw the "40 Steps", a place the servants from the nearby mansions used to gather on their time off, and made the walk down to the bottom to get a closer look at the ocean.  

We knew our kids wouldn't be too thrilled about touring more than one mansion, so we chose "The Breakers" because it was the most kid friendly, and famous, of the Newport Mansions.  It was amazing, complete with a 'playhouse' about the size of our actual house.  I enjoyed seeing all of it, but when I asked Finnley what her favorite part of the house was, she said "none of it, it was all boring!" So, if you're traveling with kids, maybe skip the mansions?

Day two started out with another breakfast at the Hungry Monkey (it was yummy)!  Then we were off to explore downtown Newport.  We checked out the Lobster Factory, ate at the Black Pearl, spied the sailboats and did a little shopping.  

Our favorite part of Newport was most definitely the 10-mile drive!  I only wish it was biking weather because it would have been so fun to bike the 10 miles along the coast, amazing mansions, and gorgeous scenery.  Its a must see, whether you see it in the car, trolly, or on a bike!

On my parents last day in New York we headed into the city to show them the World Trade Center memorial.  It always overwhelms me when I think about what actually happened, and how it must have felt to be living in New York City at the time.  After, we hopped on the subway to Times Square to eat potato pancakes and goulash at Junior's - the only reason my dad likes to come into the city!  

As always, we hated saying goodbye. We always have such a great time when my parents come to visit, and we are looking forward to their next visit soon!

Lake George Olympic Triathlon...

Over Labor Day, we headed up to Lake George, NY to participate in the Triathlon Festival they have each year.  Mitch and I had both completed a couple sprint distance triathlons in the past, and decided we were going to try an Olympic distance this go-round.  It ended up being really fun, and we're excited about doing another.  I was nervous for the almost-mile-swim, but since I survived it, a half-ironman seems very do-able.  Did I just say that?!  We're both hoping to make that our next big race together! 

 

Lake George just happens to be one of the most pristine bodies of water in the WORLD!  It is fed by natural springs below the surface, so the water is super clean.  It was the perfect temperature for swimming, and super clear.  I kept thinking I was going to see a big huge pike swim underneath me.  I would have freaked out!

We both finished at or below goal time, so we can't complain about that.  We weren't quite sure what to expect, and will definitely push ourselves a bit more next time.  We were so grateful for Mitch's parents and that they were able to join us on our road trip and watch our kids that morning. 

 

These kids stole our swim caps and goggles and used them in the hotel pool.  They were hilarious, and kept us laughing.  The next day we took a tour of the lake and headed home.  It was such a fun, short trip, and we hope we have time to check out more of Lake George in the future!