Central Park

I've been to New York City many times, but Jeff had only been once.  He went with me, before we were married.  It was the week before Christmas, and we met my family there.  I thought he would love all the decorations, but his take away was that it was bitterly cold, ridiculously crowded, and dirty.  After twelve years, I finally convinced him to give NYC another try.  I knew I had to plan a day that would appeal to him, or NYC would probably never get another chance, so I decided to focus our day on Central Park, always a crowd pleaser.  We got especially lucky with the weather.  It was a beautiful summer day, not too hot and with a lovely breeze.

We waited for the morning commuter rush to pass, and then got a direct train from New Jersey to Penn Station.  The girls thought it was a lot of fun.

Despite Jeff's grumbling about NYC, he got a great shot of the Empire State Building as we were exiting Penn Station.

Our first Central Park stop was the zoo.  I had debated just doing the subway, but since it was Viv's first time in NYC, I wanted her to be able to see the city.  I also didn't want to use up Jeff's patience right off the bat.  So, we got in a taxi and headed uptown.  

I had gotten our tickets online ahead of time, so we walked right in to visit with the beautiful sea lions.

The girls were really hungry though, so we decided to fuel up before exploring further.  It turned out to be a good choice, because the outdoor seating filled up quickly after we sat down.

The zoo is pretty small, but it was just about the right size for a couple hours of fun.  Some of the animals were tough to find, but we still had some amusing encounters.  One of our favorites was watching a group of turtles in the pond.  Most of them were trying to just chill out on a branch, but this one smaller one kept trying to push the others off.

It was pretty funny.  We were making dialogue up for him.  We also found the adorably fluffy red pandas.  One was running all over the place, which was cute, but made getting a picture tricky.

The penguins were also moving all over the place, and they were a great hit.  They seemed to be intentionally playing up for the kids at the windows.

On our way from the main zoo to the children's petting zoo, we stopped to watch the 4D Ice Age movie.  It was really cute, and we all enjoyed it.  I got a picture of Viv with the Delacorte Clock, even though she thought its bell rendition of "Three Blind Mice" was super creepy.

Over at the petting zoo, the girls had more fun with the photo ops than they did feeding the animals.

On the way out of the zoo into the main park, we encountered a very strategically placed ice cream cart.  The girls were being very good, so we told them they could pick something.  Elena was drawn to the Minion ice cream on a stick and Vivian wanted a multicolored popsicle.  I got one picture of Vivian with her treat before it all started melting.

I think Vivian at least ate more of her popsicle than she lost to melting, but Elena was not pleased with her sticky fingers and legs, so we put about half of hers in the trash and then wiped her down.  That left our hands free to appreciate the Bethesda Terrace.

They were filming something while we were there, and Jeff said he'd seen at least one episode of Law and Order that took place in the area.  The girls were very impressed by the row boats, but Jeff had hurt his wrist on one of the roller coasters the day before, and I didn't trust myself to get us out and back on my own, so we put it on the things to do next time list.  We walked across the Bow Bridge and went for a wander in the Ramble.

When we finally emerged, we cut through the grass towards the Conservatory Water with a stop to visit Alice and her friends.

We managed to snag a table at Le Pain Quotidien for some much needed refreshments.

We sat there for a while enjoying the breeze.  There weren't too many boats on the water, but enough to be interesting.  I had one last thing on the convince Jeff to like New York list, and it was dinner at a New York steak house.  I had found one called the Lexington Club that was just a short walk away, and so we wandered over.  It was still quite early for dinner, and we were the first people there.  They had several happy hour specials, which they were nice enough to let us take advantage of while sitting at a regular table.  We decided to start with the shrimp cocktail which was delicious.

I don't think we realized how tired and hungry we were until we sat down, but Jeff and I inhaled the first order of shrimp and asked for a second.  We ended up ordering two filet mignons, some sides, and two extra plates for the girls.  The steak was delicious, and the most popular side was the loaded mashed potatoes.

The wines by the glass were also on happy hour special, so Jeff and I let the girls play on their iPads and took our time drinking to a well done New York City outing.  We even ordered a chocolate lava cake for dessert.

When we could eat no more, we went out onto Lexington and easily hailed a cab to take us back to Penn Station.  We were now in true city rush hour, so the trip back took a bit longer, but the really crazy part was the New Jersey Transit part of the station.  There are ten tracks that trains come in on, but the board doesn't announce what track the train will be on until a few minutes before it leaves, so there were 50-70 people standing around waiting, and then a number would pop up on the screen and there would be a mad dash for the stairs down to the track.  Jeff and I were a bit worried the girls would get trampled, but we managed to get on our train and get two seats fairly close to each other, with a girl on each of our laps.  

The girls stayed awake for the train and car ride back to our friends' house, but we all slept well that night.  Jeff still says he doesn't like New York City, but he admits to liking Central Park and being willing to go back, so I feel like the trip was a success.

Hershey Park

Vivian has been asking if we can go to an amusement park this summer, so I was trying to think of one that was fairly low maintenance and would be fun for Elena too.  Hershey had specials where you got extra time at the parks if you were staying in their hotels, and one of the hotels has a pretty elaborate indoor water complex, so I got the special and invited some friends along for even more fun.

It was actually raining when we arrived Tuesday afternoon, but that wasn't a big deal, because we could hang out in the indoor pool area.  We had missed lunch though, so we started with food.  Elena had her first hot dog in a bun.  She was very impressed by the combo.

Viv and the older kids went off to zip down the big water slide and play with some of the more adventurous features.  There was a perfect area for Elena to play in right near the table we had, so we ordered beer and sangria and let her play.

The water was pretty cold, so after playing for a couple hours, she asked to get cleaned up and changed back into her clothes.  Viv was still in her bathing suit though with her medal from safely crossing the peanut butter cup challenge when we ran into a "chocolate man" as Elena called him.  She was thrilled.

I was thrilled to discover that the Reese's martini was garnished with actual peanut butter cups, yum!

After a nice dinner with a large part of our group, we took the shuttle over to the park or "chocolate world" (Elena again), for our complimentary preview.  We checked the girls' measurements, and it turned out that Elena was a Hershey Kiss and Vivian was a Twizzler.

Jeff and Vivian wanted to take advantage of the shorter roller coaster lines, so they went off with the big kids while I hung out with Elena.  She might be small, but she has no fear.  Her first choice of ride was the little gondolas that go on wires way above the park.

She basically loved anything that spun her or went fast.  She loved the teacups and kiddie versions of swings and pirate ship.

It was around 10 by the time we got the girls back to the hotel and into bed.  Luckily, they were wiped out, so they had minimal energy for poking each other in their shared bed and fell asleep quickly.

The next morning we got up early and grabbed a quick breakfast before heading back to the park.  Elena promised to eat her banana if we bought her a chocolate muffin.  You can guess how that worked out.

We met up with the rest of our group, including another Hershey Kiss buddy for Elena.

They had fun going on some of the kiddie rides while the older kids went off to roller coaster.

When the big kids came back though, Elena went right along with them on the Tilt-a-Whirl.

She even got Daddy to do a round on the tea cups.

She's still a little short to go on the big drop rides, but she got one of the big kids to come with her on the kid leap frog version, which she loved.

She could smell popcorn everywhere and kept asking for some, so we bought her the smallest bag we could find.

Then our friends gave her the rest of their cotton candy, and the pop corn was promptly forgotten.

We finished off with a walk around the Zoo America area.  We were going to do the "factory tour" before we left, but we were all so wiped out, we opted to just go back to the hotel, pick up the car, and get on the road.  Within ten minutes of getting on the road, this was the back seat.

We felt like leaving when we did was the right call.  Plus, we still had more adventures ahead of us.  We were driving to family friends in New Jersey, and our plan for the next day was to take the train into New York City.  The week of summer adventure was only half done :-)

Super Happy Birthdays!

July is definitely birthday month in our family.  Jeff and Vivian usually get a couple celebrations, plus there's 4th of July and a bunch of our other friends' birthdays.  There's a lot to celebrate :-) 

The girls and I got to the States on July 3rd, so up first was the 4th of July.  The girls got into the spirit.

My dad grilled some hot dogs and hamburgers for lunch, and Elena discovered that she likes corn on the cob.

Some of our best friends from our posting in Thailand are now back in the States, and they have a big place with a lovely backyard within view of several fireworks displays, so in the afternoon we headed out to celebrate with them.  It was great to see them again.  They also set up a seasonal pool for the kids, so the girls spent most of the afternoon playing outside.  They managed to stay awake until the fireworks which were a lot of fun.  They then promptly fell asleep on the car ride home.

We had the rest of the week free to hang out with my parents and some of our other good friends from Thailand who live in Arlington now.  We were so busy having fun, that I didn't take many pictures, but I got a good one of Vivian and Grandpa heading out for a walk.

We also did practical things, like taking the girls to the mall to buy new sneakers.  Of course, they found the less than practical aspect to it.

Safta was also persuaded to make some Disney story purchases.

That Saturday was Vivian's official birthday party, even though it was a couple days early.  Our friends agreed to host it as a camp out, and we got our big group of Thailand friends together which was a ton of fun.  Not only did the kids have the pool, but they also got to have a water balloon fight.

Elena and her little buddy joined in too.  They had a great time, since none of the big kids were allowed to hit "the babies", so they could attack without consequences.  

Once the water balloons were out and the kids had recovered a bit, we sang happy birthday and had some cake for a snack.  Mom had pre-assembled as much of the cake as she could, and my friends and I worked on adding the finishing touches.  The whole thing was devoured in about 15 minutes, so I think it was a success.

We sent the kids back out to play, and our fabulous hosts put out an incredible dinner spread.  This is just a fraction of it.

We let the kids get some food and then sent them back out to eat.  When it got dark, we all gathered around the fire for s'mores dessert.

Luckily, I had put Elena into her PJs before the fireside festivities, because she crawled into my lap and fell asleep while we were all hanging out.

She barely stirred when I took her up to bed.  The big kids all slept outside in tents, and the littles slept with their parents.  Elena was in a great mood the next day.

We stayed for more food and outdoor fun, but eventually we had to head back to Arlington.  The girls both started camp the next day, and it was Vivian's for real birthday.  Unfortunately, Vivian woke up on her birthday morning with a fever, so I decided to keep her home to rest.  Elena went to her camp though which had a rainforest theme for the week, and came home thrilled with her day's work.

By the evening, Vivian was feeling better, but she still opted to open her presents on the sofa.  There were the usual toys, and then she got what she described as "just a card" from Judy.  Well, her reaction changed as she read what the card said.

It said, Happy Birthday! Do you want to go see Taylor Swift in concert with me tomorrow night?  Well, the answer was a resounding yes.  They put on Taylor Swift music to celebrate and Elena and my dad broke into a dance.

Luckily Viv was mostly recovered by the next day and able to go enjoy herself at her first live concert.

Elena got a present as well, some new play doh with fun equipment.

Jeff arrived on Thursday, and it was great to have everyone together.  Grandpa and Grandma Goerss also came to visit and we all got to go out to Jeff's favorite steak restaurant for his birthday.

I had finally lost patience with the girls' hair that morning and taken them both to get hair cuts, which ended up working out nicely for pictures, although Elena refused to be ponytailed.

Jeff was very magnanimous about sharing his birthday glory.

Vivi is just learning how to blow bubbles :-) 

We had one last birthday hoorah on Monday.  We went to IHOP for breakfast and then to Barnes and Noble for book shopping.

To make Jeff's day complete, we went to the Safeway that has a special escalator for shopping carts which brings him inexplicable joy. 

And to make the celebrations truly awesome, we went to Carlyle for dinner and got the girls frozen yogurt for dessert.

July birthdays are the best :-)