Our Trip to New York

I know.  Two months.  There's no excuse.  And yet, I feel like there are many.

Moving on...

We went to NYC at the end of September.  It was a blast.  Here's the proof:

John and I discussed the two ways our flight to NYC could have gone:

1.  Really good.  2.  Really bad

Jack sat across the aisle from me by himself.  He had his Transformer backpack filled to the brim of his special things:  his Leapster, coloring books, lollipops, a book about airplanes and some matchbox cars.  He loved the flight and behaved like a champ.

Finley was the one we were worried about.  We broke the news to the boys about a month prior to the trip that we would be flying to NY.  Finley very quickly noted that he "belonged on the ground."  And then he asked what would happen if the plane didn't stay in the air.  Wow.  Tough questions at the age of 3, huh?  

Anyway, as soon as the plane took off, Finn shouted, "I'm SO EXCITED!"  He loved the plane ride.  Especially the ginger ale.

Taxi rides were, by far, Jack's favorite thing about NYC.  Everywhere we would go..."We should probably take a taxi there.  I'm tired." 

Family of 4 in the taxi cab.  

So, why did we go to NY?  

Poppy Johnny (John's Dad) had several doctors' visits at Sloan Kettering, and they asked us to come along.  The best news of the trip was that Johnny's CT scan was CLEAR!  No visible signs of cancer.  He is continuing his chemo treatments and will soon begin radiation to hopefully battle any remaining cancer cells that cannot be seen by CT.  We pray that there are none of these cells around, but if they are, that the chemo and radiation will blast them. 

Thank you for all of your continued prayers and support to Johnny.  We appreciate all of you, and we are so thankful to the Lord for Johnny's continued progress.  

We walked a lot....

We smiled a lot.  

We picked some of the best places to visit :)

And we spent a lot of time with Austin!!!

Love this picture.  They look like they're making devilish plans...

Jordan and Trevor are the perfect hosts.  They even withstood a stroll through Times Square.  I guess that's the equivalent of someone who lives here eating at Salty Dog.

Jack loved all of the lights and action.  He said it was "crazy."

We did a lot of kid friendly activities...like riding the ferris wheel inside of Toys R Us...

and pulling all the handles at the M&M store.

A playdate at a central park playground with cousin, Austin...

Many walks through the park

A talk with a silver person...

A trip to the Central Park Zoo

Ready for the show:

We went to The Lion King...

One of us slept through The Lion King:

We battled the rain with a smile.

And made some buildings of our own at Lego Land.

Surprisingly, the boys really enjoyed the Museum of Modern Art.  They had headsets available for the kids to listen to descriptions of the art.  The crowd favorite was "Starry Night".

The 4 of us at the MoMA.

On our last day we ventured south to the Village.  We went to the Scholastic store where Jack made friends with Clifford.

And after a very quick 5 days, we found ourselves back at the airport, exhausted from walking, thankful for such good news for Johnny, and blessed to have had such a fun trip with our family.  

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!

We Heart Generics

The Lake.  The Beach.  

Generic terms for very specific places. 

At least in our minds.

This summer we were blessed to take trips to both!

1st stop:  The Lake 

(Lake Tillery in NC for those of you who must know)

The Lake (also called "the river" by the locals) is outside the town of Mt. Gilead, NC.  The town where my in laws are from.  They were middle school sweet hearts, ya know.

The Lake has a hammock.  

I bet heaven will have hammock only seating....

because hammocks are so.....

heavenly.

Cousin Austin and Aunt Jordan came to the lake, which was so fun.

 This is how you would find the boys most mornings...having some cousin/PJ time.  

It's essential, really.

When we weren't lounging in our PJs or pretending to be sloths in hammocks, we were on the water.

And just so you know, this is how Genie's (my mother in law) hair looks all day on the boat.  

It's a Lake mystery.

Kind of like the Loch Ness Monster.  Except it's not a monster.  It's insanely good hair.

No words can describe the love between a Gigi and a Finney.

It was a drafty day so we held the tube down on the dock with Austin.  He was so upset as you can see..:)

Next Up:  The Beach

My family has vacayed at the same beach since my parents were youths.  

Even though we live at a different beach, it's a given that we'll make the trek to go to this beach with my family until the end of time.

It's important.

There's lots of cousin bonding to be had.

And fake smiling (jack) even though you're deliriously happy...

And evenings spent on the dock...

And at least one goofy family photo.

Jack would invite Owen to live with us and he would wholeheartedly mean it.

Anna would ask Finn to live with her, and she would mean it, too.

And Jack would let Adam throw him over the dock if he had wanted to and would have lied and said it was awesome.  Just because it was Adam.

(But Adam did not do that.)

The Beach was f.u.n.  9ish more months til next year's trip!

Round 3:  The Lake (again!)

The first trip to the lake was just a practice run. 

The second trip was the family vacation.  

With everyone!

Uncle Trev, Aunt Jackie and Uncle Jeff were able to make it this go around and Trev brought these super cool headbands and wrist bands for his nephews.  That's what uncles are for.  

And that's what Walmart is for.

Best photo of the summer.

Jack could not be happier than he was in this moment. 

Nor could John.

Have you ever had smile fatigue?  Like at the prom or your wedding (not saying they're comparable) or when your baby was born?  You know..a time when you're smiled so much and for so long that your face goes numb and you're not really sure what it's doing anymore?

Jack experiences smile fatigue at The Lake.  

Proof:

Skirfing...Skurfing...not sure how it's spelled.  Either way, it's the Ussery water sport of 2010.  

Here, John and Jeff have a typical 'should we fist bump or high five' situation.  

Awkward.  Even with the coolness points of skurfing calculated into the equation.

(But this is just a jealous Skurfing School drop out talking.)

Uncle Bob took us on a cruise one evening aboard his Hinckley Picnic Boat.  

It was super cool.

I felt like a James Bond girl cruising around Lake Como.  

But then snapped back to reality when I heard someone mention The Burger Shack as a possible dinner option.  

But the reality I snapped back into was pretty cool.

The boys made sure Uncle Bob stayed on course and they made sure to ask no less than 204 questions.

They also made sure they were cute.

Tah-Dah!

As the saying goes..."Save the hunkiest for last..."

Summary:

We like The Lake and The Beach.

We will go back.

Lunch Box

The boys started school on Thursday.  I was so excited for them.  Partly in a selfish way.  The kind of mom selfishness that creates daydreams about grocery shopping alone.  But mostly excited for the boys.  Jack was so jealous last year of all the Pre K kids who got to stay an extra hour and go in a different entrance to the building (hey...it's the little things, right?).  And Finn spent every Tuesday and Thursday last school year crying "Why can't I go to school!??!?!?!?!!"  

So, I was excited about school.  

Until I had to do this....

I had to pack a lunch.  For my child.  My little, tiny son who just learned to walk yesterday.  Who drank his breakfast from a bottle just last week.  Right?  Surely he's not old enough that I could entrust some teacher stranger to supervise the 2nd meal of the day twice a week.  I mean, he could choke.  He could request something different that only I can make for him.  Or maybe, just maybe, the ultimate worst could happen and he would eat all of his food and enjoy his stranger teacher.  

Packing that darn Transformer lunch box made me cry.  I'll admit it here on blogosphere, but for whatever reason, that night I tried to hide my silent tears as they dropped on a soggy bologna sandwich.  It was the first of countless packed lunches I'm sure.  The first of many other moments where my supervision isn't needed.  Because, as much as I don't enjoy it, my boy is growing up.  

Both of them are.  So weird how that happens.

Here's Jack proudly displaying the satanic lunch box that made me cry.

And since everyone loves pictures of kids from behind....

They went to school.  Together.  I did do pirouettes down the aisles of Kroger because I was alone....but only after I cruised on autopilot to the bakery for a free cookie, and realized that I had no one to give it to.  

So I ate it.  (And bought more bologna.)