A Day in Central Park: Pt 1

In celebration of Spring Break, we headed out to Central Park for some fun. The girls brought along their friend Laura, Owen brought along his friend Ella, and I brought along my friend Rachel (Ella's mom). The girls loved exploring Central Park. We stopped by the Zoo first.

Here you see Owen mesmerized by the Penguin exhibit. He loved that the penguins would come right up to the glass so you could see them up close.

The girls enjoyed watching the Sea Lion Show. I actually took this picture for the flowering tree in the background. There are flowering trees everywhere here in NYC, and they are so beautiful. We have a lot of these on Roosevelt Island right now too.

A Day in Central Park: Pt 2

Here are the girls and their friend Laura heading over to the Central Park Carousel. They are such good friends

Madeline and Laura getting ready for the Carousel ride. They were very big girls on their horses because mom spent the entirety of the ride trying to keep Owen happy. He, and his friend Ella were not too excited about Carousel riding. They were both terrified of the horses, so we ended up sitting inside a little booth on the carousel.

Here is Ella showing Owen some of her dance moves (to the music of the carousel) as we waited for our turn to ride. After the Carousel, we headed over to the Sandbox Park in CP, to get thoroughly dirty. The kids all loved playing in the sand, but I must say the bathwater was a dark shade of gray when we returned home :).

Trip to the NYC Aquarium

We headed down to Coney Island for the first time on Tuesday. It was a subway adventure. We rode the subway for about an hour to get down there. Our destination was the NYC aquarium, although it was fun to see the beach and the boardwalk when we arrived. Some day soon, I will be back with the girls to visit the beach. The kids really enjoyed the aquarium. We ended up meeting up with several other moms/kids from church so it was a party.
Madeline and Eva loved spending time with friends. Owen loved seeing the fishes. "Fish" was one of his first words (pronounced "ish"). He LOVES fishes so he really got a kick out of seeing so many all at once.
The picture below shows him captivated by the jelly fish tank. If you look in his lap, you will see his most prized treasure in the world- his blanket. He wants to carry it everywhere now, and has it in a death grip hold for most of the day. I have to laugh because if you have read the book "Owen" by Kevin Henkes- he is Owen. I imagine someday I will be sending him to kindergarten class with a small square of this beloved blanket in his pocket.

The picture below is of the girls and I in the courtyard of the Aquarium. It was a bright day, so everyone was having a hard time looking at the camera with happy faces :). I ended up getting a nice red stripe burn on my forearms. Being only April, I had not even given thought to sunscreen before we headed out.

Spring Break

The girls in front of the Blackwell house, a historical landmark here on RI. It serves as a much needed reminder to the girls of what suburban life is like.

Owen hanging out on that slide, he has now very successfully mastered.

I cannot tell you how much I am loving it that they can push each other in the swings now!!

One of these days Owen is going to catch one of the NYC pigeons. He hones his hunting skills daily.

Spring Recital

Madeline had another piano recital yesterday. She is improving every day, and it is fun to watch her develop this talent. Her songs are getting difficult for me to play (of course, I am not a great piano player:) so I am quickly becoming a lot less help in the practices.
Here is a picture of her at the "fancy piano," and a video clip of one of the four songs she played. The other pictures are of us in the subway afterward-waiting a gazillion years for the train to come.....

Baby No More

It really hit me today that my little Owen is not a baby anymore. We spent most of the day outdoors because the weather was so gorgeous. Owen and Eva were like unleashed animals at the park- it was kind of hilarious. We have not been out to the park in quite some time because of bad weather, and it definitely showed. Owen was up the stairs and down the slide, up the stairs and down the slide. Over and over again. Eva hung out on the swings and ate pizza with Mom. I could not stop taking pictures of Owen today. It was one of those days where you just realize that a time is passing....and you don't really want it to. Owen is our last (unless the forces of divinity strike again) and I am finding myself holding onto his every moment, knowing I might not get another quite like it. Today I watched him going up those playground stairs all by himself, and realized he is a little boy, and not my baby anymore.

Daddy Daughter (and Son) Date

Madeline attempting to show us a new way to go down playground slides
Eva and her favorite hair accessory!
Owen, having a great time with the crew!
This is the picture from our soggy outing earlier this week (that I mention below). Eva is holding the beeper that lets us know when our food is done. I found it very comical that they still gave us one of these, even though we were the only customer in sight. She is so happy.


So, Eva and Madeline have been working very hard to earn a weekend outing with Dad. Eva had to earn 20 days in a row of waking up to a dry bed (this is a long story that I will have to blog about later), and Madeline had to earn 20 days of playing the piano (without Mom nagging her:). Charts have been all filled up with stars for about 2 weeks now, but Marc had not (until this weekend) had the time to take them out. Originally, it was going to be a one-on-one date with Dad as the grand prize. We quickly realized that it was going to have to be a "double date" as available dad time was very limited this conference weekend, and we did not want to have to push it back another week, for fear old habits would be reverted to in protest :).
As the girls got ready this morning for their outing, I pointed out to Marc that Owen would feel quite left out if he did not get to come along as well. He has been sleeping through the night lately, and should be duly rewarded. Oh, to be alone for 2 hours all by myself!......an especially exciting thought after Dad's several consecutive late-nights at work this past week. I was giddy about the idea, but tried to appear forlorn as my 4 favorite-people-in-the-world piled out the door. Free at last.....ahhhhh.....free to......okay, all I did was go through that ever growing pile of papers in my bedroom. We need to hire a family secretary to file for me. I wish I could say I did something luxurious....like I went to the spa and got a facial, but no, I filed papers-- and thought about finishing those taxes of mine that I keep putting off.
Marc took some pictures of their outing, which consisted of a trip to Madison Square Park, and a refueling stop at the Shake Shack (unbelievable shakes, fries, hot dogs, hamburgers etc...that my arteries can only handle monthly). It looks like they had a great time. I take absolutely no credit for dressing them this morning. Madeline is wearing Santa socks, and Eva is wearing one "monkey" sock and a dark blue floral one. Gotta love daddy stylists. Oh, and how do you like that red headband? Red is the new black, I heard. Goodness, when will it end?!?
The last picture is of Eva at the Shake Shack with me earlier in the week. We were supposed to go with our ward to the park and the outdoor Shake Shack eatery as a little group birthday outing. Of course I showed up 30 minutes late, and by that time the group had disbanded and gone home because of the darn rain. But, we had taken that train all the way to 23rd street, and I was going to have me some frozen custard and a hamburger! So there we stood. In the rain. In the cold. Eating ice cream. That morning Eva said two things in a very confused 4-year-old voice, "Mom, where are our friends?" (I had promised her oodles of ward-friends to play with) and "why are we eating outside?" I don't know Eva, I don't know......