First Day of School

First day of Preschool, take 2.  

This year it was much easier for Tate and I to get excited for preschool.  We were both much less anxious about it all.  We knew generally what his class routine was going to be like.  We'd met his teachers.  He has a couple of kids in his class this year who were in class with him last year.  And most importantly, for me, he was really excited to go.  

 Glenn stayed home that first morning because he wanted to come with us on his first day.  I hope this can be a tradition.  It was fun to be together to send him off.  Tate didn't hesitate even a bit at the classroom door.  He went across the room, found the cubby with his name on it, put his stuff away and started playing and meeting kids.  I'm so glad that he is a social little boy.  That he loves being around kids and is so sweet and friendly.  It makes the whole back-to-school process so much easier.

Tate has two new teachers this year, Ms. Tina and Ms. Katherine, and thus far I've been so impressed.  They seem wonderful and just right for Tate.  It's a pretty big class, but they seem to run it effortlessly.  I'm so impressed with preschool teachers.  It takes a degree of patience that I don't really understand.  I only have 2 little kiddos in my care every day and I am not perfectly patient with them.

 Little Finny sure misses Tate when he's at preschool.  The first day we dropped him off and all the way out to the car and all the way home he said, "Tate!  Oh Tate!" over and over in this mournful little voice.  He loves his big brother and even though we've dropped him off at preschool a few times now, he's still concerned for Tate every time we leave as if he's so worried he's gone for good.

 We are excited about this last year of preschool and although I'm dreading Kindergarten next year I know he will be so ready and excited about that next step too.  We love you little man.  Let's make this an amazing year!

The end of the Swimming Season

It was a great swimming season for our fam this year.  We live in a great area.  We are just around the corner from so many things.  The elementary school Tate will attend next year (YIKES), parks, a great outdoor mall, and most importantly for us this summer, our neighborhood pool.  The YMCA runs our pool during the summer so we were able to have swimming lessons there in the mornings too.  Tate took three sessions of lessons this summer and absolutely loved it.  By the end he was jumping off the wall and swimming a few feet by himself to his teacher.  We were all very proud, especially Tate.  

This year he discovered how awesome goggles are.  They were like instant courage for the kid.  If he was in the pool, he was under the water.  

Most of his time in the pool he looks like this:

He was thrilled with being able to see what was going on beneath the surface.  Like he was in on some incredible secret with his new eye-gear.  My favorite moment involving his goggles happened at the beginning of the summer.  He was so proud of his goggles and wanted to show them off to everyone he met.  He followed a little girl around the pool and said, "Hey!  These are my new goggles.  Watch what I can do!" He goes under the water and, after a few seconds, pops back up.  "Pretty cool huh?!"  Later, when we were eating lunch during a swim break, he watched a girl walk past.  He told me, "Mom, that girl is pretty.  Do you think she's nice?"  I told him I thought she probably was.  "That's good.  Do you think she will like my goggles?"  Oh what a sweet boy I have.

Finn LOVES the water too.  He is so excited when we go to the pool.  Our morning jog often brings us by or near the pool and when we turn toward home instead of going to the pool he always cries, "Wawa!  Wawa!"  so sad that we're not going swimming right now!

Finny went through phases this summer.The first half he couldn't get enough of the water.  We have a separate kiddie pool that starts really shallow and at the deepest is only 3.5 feet.  Tate can touch all the way across, which makes my life so much easier, but Finn just can't yet and that made him so frustrated.

For the first part of the summer he would walk to the deep end until the water was to his chin and he was on his toes and either I let him go under, or turned him around to walk back to the shallow, which caused him to make some very loud noises.  He would trip constantly and ended up lying on top of the water, spread eagle, holding really still.  It was a very scary position to see little Finn in.  Unfortunately, for the first half of the summer, it didn't seem to phase him much at all when he tripped or fell.  He just wanted to keep walking to the deep end.  He didn't want to hold your hand.  He didn't want to be held.  He wanted to go where Tate was BY HIMSELF!

In the last couple of weeks he's been a bit more timid and clingy.  It's kind of nice, actually.  To be in the pool with him and not worry about him trying to drown himself with his insistence that he can do anything.  Plus, he's not a very cuddly boy in general, so it's fine with me if he wants to be held in the pool.

We spent lots of mornings at the pool and several evenings after Glenn got home too.  It was the perfect way to be in the summer sunshine and we soaked it up as much as we could this summer.

Last weekend we were super lucky and tried out Broomfield Bay with the Cluffs.  They had extra guest passes so we all got in for just 4 bucks!  We have GOT to do that again next summer.  It was so perfect for our little kiddos.  There were several slides that were just their speed, a water play ground, and tons of shallow places to walk and play.

 Tate loved the slides that he could go on by himself.  He quickly got bored with the plain "sitting while sliding" position

 And started making up new "poses".  It was fun to watch.

 Finn went down a few times with Glenn and wasn't really sure how he felt about it.

He kept going down with this trepidatious look on his face and then saying, "Again" when it was over.

After slide 5 or 6 he somehow got a huge burst of courage and started going by himself.  He would climb up the stairs, decide which slide he wanted to go on, usually changing his mind a couple of times, then one of us would help him sit down and the other would catch him at the bottom.  Then he'd start giggling and chanting, "A-gain! A-gain! A-gain!" over and over.  It was so cute and funny.  It's kind of nice to see a bit of a timid side of him once in a while because he usually has no fear from the get-go.

It was a great swimming season.  I'm glad our boys love to swim because it sure is a nice way to spend the summer!

Utah

So we were really busy in the month of July.  First I went to NYC with Mal, then 4 days later Glenn and I left for our Cruise.  We got home on Saturday and on Tuesday the boys and I flew to Utah for a week.  Glenn had to go to Montana for a work field trip so we figured it was the perfect time for the rest of us to visit Utah this summer.  We hadn't met my sweet new nephew Hayze yet and we just had to make that happen before he got any older!

The morning we arrived, Grandpa asked Tate if he would like to go to work with him.  Just for an hour or so.  It was every little boy's dream.  Grandpa works in one of these:

Tate spent about an hour driving the dump truck with grandpa, pushing the button to dump the dump truck, then driving back and riding in the tractor while they loaded the dump truck again.  He was so excited and it was so nice of Grandpa to share that with him.  What fun for a little boy...or a grown one!

Aub and her littles, Auntie Kenz, and the boys and I went up to the Children's museum at Discovery Gateway one morning.  It's a partner with our Science museum in Denver so we got a few tickets for free, but the nice man at the desk let us all get in for free.  It was awesome to be able to play as long as we wanted and then head home when kiddos were worn out because we didn't have to worry about getting our money's worth.  All the kids had a great time, including Kenzie.  Ha!
Kenzie was a huge help.  Aub and I have 5 kids between us now and they are all little and busy and hard to track down in a crowd.  It was nice to have another set of responsible hands to help us keep track of them.

Mya and Tate with their silly "smile for the camera" faces in the construction zone.

Tate and Finny in the water area with their water smocks.

It is impossible to get a picture in a crowded museum with just the people I want in the picture.  There's always someone's leg, bum, arm, or whole body in the background or sideground in this case.

The bottom floor of the museum was so cool.  It was like a huge play city with a construction zone, little play house (Finny's favorite was the vacuum), barn, and grocery store.  Little Sadie was right at home in the little dog house.  Sometimes Miss Sadie is a puppy.  A very sweet, petite little puppy.

This might be my favorite picture from the trip.  Tate was dying every day waiting for his cousins to come over and play.  He could not get enough of them and they all got along so well and even let Finny follow them around most of the time.  It makes my soul smile to see these little kiddos who I love so much all get along so well.  It bodes well for many fun family adventures in the future.

Little Finny has a soft spot for babies.

Or maybe just baby Hayze.  Seeing Baby Hayze could always cheer him up when he was grouchy.  We'd say, "Finny, do you wanna see the Baby?"  And he'd stop crying, grunt "uh-huh" and come running.  He loved to point out Hayze's nose, Finn's favorite body part right now, and just poke at him, smile at him, and try to hug him.  The hugs had to be closely monitored obviously.  Finn could crush Baby Hayze.  Little Hayze is such a doll.  I'm so glad we got home this summer to meet him.  He is so sweet and happy.  He smiles so easily and rarely cries at all and put up with all 4 bigger kids wanting to see him and snuggle him really well.  Oh I miss that little guy.

We went swimming 3 or 4 times.  Here are Mya and Tate all bundled up trying to get dry and warm after a swim.

Sometimes we let Finn wander around in his swim diaper because he's just so stinkin' cute wearing almost nothing.

And I think he's happier the less he's wearing too.

Finny loves Grampa.  He had a bit of trouble warming up to Gramps at Christmas, but this time, he sure seemed to like being around him.  Grampa and Uncle Cody seem to brighten his life when they walk into the room.

It was a pretty relaxing week.  The kids played downstairs and on the tramp for hours and hours.  It was pretty funny watching Finny's little solid body try to get any air on the tramp.  Mom, Aub and I tackled an organization project.  Tate and I visited Kenzie at her work a couple of times.  She works at an ice cream place and always gave Tate tons of gummy bears so, naturally, he was in heaven.  Aub, Mom, and I got out for a girls night to dinner and a movie while Cody watched all 5 kiddos.  Thanks again for that Cody.  It was so delightful.  I really like living in Denver, but I do miss my Momma and Aubry and Kenzie.  They are awesome and I love being around them when I get to go home.  Wish we could have ladies nights once a month.
Thanks for a wonderful week, fam.  We miss ya so much already!

Cruisin'

Glenn and I wanted to get out of town alone and since Carnival has such cheap prices this year, due to several unfortunate incidents, we decided to try a cruise.  I'd only been on a 3-day cruise with my family once years ago and Glenn had never been.  He was a little skeptical but has some friends from church who love to cruise and talked him into trying it.  Seriously, there is no cheaper way to see so many different places in one short trip.  And so nice to be able to just get back on our hotel every night, to the room that we unpacked in just once, and wake up in a new place nearly every morning.  Very cool. 

My mom was able to come and watch the boys at our place while we were gone.  We were gone a very long time this time.  A whole week away and I was nervous, as always, leaving for such a long time.  I'm so lucky that my mom has been willing to watch them when we are able to get out of town.  It would be so much harder to leave them with anyone but my momma.  She is amazing and loves them like I do.  She took them to the pool almost every day and spoiled them rotten. They both cried when she left and didn't miss us much at all while we were away.  She's so wonderful!

We got very few pictures of our trip.  We were too busy relaxing to take pictures most of the time.  And do we really need pictures of us laying in chairs or on towels by pools or on beaches?  Not so much.  And that's how we spent a large majority of our time.

Here we are on the ship before we left Miami.

It was a massive ship.  There was tons to do and obviously a ridiculous amount of food available all the time.  Some was really good, some was less really good, but we did our best to make the most of the good food and hit up the gym at least once a day to compensate for all the eating and lying around time.   The shows were not great.  A little cheesy and boring so we only went to those once.  They did have movies on the deck at night and comedy shows and other things to do at night so we took advantage of the other fun stuff.  We really feel like we made the most and the best of every day on our trip.   

Our first stop was the cruise line's little private island, Half Moon Cay.  The sun was hot, the water was clear and cool, and the sand was soft and white.  It was the perfect day for just lying on the beach and we did just that.  Well, I did just that all day long.  Glenn got antsy at one point and went for a long hike past a few signs that said, "No trespassing" and such and found some cool old ruins.

The next day was a sea day as we traveled to our next island.  It was pretty windy and that made reading and getting sun on the deck a little more difficult, but we made the most of it and had a nice, relaxing day none-the-less.  During the day we found out that a tropical storm was in our path and we had to change our itinerary a bit.  We ended up going to San Juan, Puerto Rico the next day and they had to cancel the stop we planned to make at St. Thomas and told us we'd be going to Nassau the last day of our trip instead.  Bummer.  We really wanted to see St. Thomas.  Maybe next time.

San Juan was really cool.  Glenn had been there before on Ocean Classroom when he was in high school so he was excited to go again and to show me around the old city.  We got off the boat stinkin' early because Glenn didn't want to miss anything...unfortunately everything didn't open for a couple of hours so we took a little bus tour around the city, got our bearings, grabbed some pastries for breakfast and then set off to see some old forts.

That's El Morro.  The most famous of the two forts on the island.  It's in all the touristy pictures and such. 

An old graveyard beneath El Morro.  Amazing.

I think Glenn and I both liked the bigger of the two forts, San Cristobal, a little better.  There was a lot more to see and had a lot more information about how the soldiers lived in and defended the fort.  

That's our massive ship in the background.

I love old buildings.  There's something almost romantic about being in buildings that are hundreds of years old.

It was a nice morning.  Not too hot for the first couple hours but then it got muggy and gross.  We wandered around most of Old San Juan.  Saw a few churches, beautiful tiny streets and plazas.  It was a really lovely little place.  We had lunch at a place one of Glenn's friends recommended and ate a Mofongo.  It was basically mashed plantains stuffed in a big cup with yummy meat and peppers shoved in the middle.  It was delish but it didn't really look it.  Never would have ordered it without the recommendation.  So glad we did, though.  

El Morro as we drove away on the boat.  San Juan was a very cool stop.  Glad we got to see it and wouldn't mind seeing more of it again some time.

Our next day was spent in Grand Turk.  We didn't even bring the camera off the ship because we didn't want another thing to carry or to worry about it in the sand all day.  Carnival had this little section of the island all laid out with shops and manicured beaches and a pool.  We hopped on a taxi to explore a bit and find some place to shop or tour, or a less-crowded/touristy beach.  As soon as we left the little carnival compound the island got really sad really fast.  It was very poor and dirty.  We took a taxi to the center of "town" which was basically a run-down little strip mall and a couple of food shacks (where Glenn ate some fried conch...I passed on the conch and had some ice cream instead.)  We started walking down the street in search of a beach to park at for a while.  We met a lady who gave us a ride in her golf cart to a beach up the road a bit.  It was much less crowded and the water was gorgeous.  We relaxed, read books, soaked up sun and swam when it got too hot.  It was a very nice few hours, then we headed back to the cruise ship area until it was time to go.

The next day was another sea day.  The weather was MUCH better than the first sea day and we spent most of the day on the deck reading, swimming, and going down the water slide when we got too hot.  It was awesome.  So much relaxing.  Every night we had dinner in a big dining room with this newlywed couple.  The conversation was really forced and kind of like pulling teeth to get them to say anything, but the food was usually good so we kept showing up.  The chocolate melting cake was amazing.  I might have eaten it every single night.  I have no desire to know how many calories are in that little cup of chocolate goodness, but it probably wouldn't have stopped me if I did know.  It was SO good.

We spent our last day in Nassau.  We had booked a sail and snorkel tour on a catamaran for the morning.  We sailed out for an hour or so and then snorkeled for a bit and sailed back.  It was the perfect day to do an excursion like this.  It was kinda gloomy so we didn't feel like we were missing any sun by being out on an adventure.  There were tons of fish, a few really brightly colored ones.  Really glad we booked at least one little excursion and Glenn was happy to get out on a smaller boat for a bit.

He's a sailor at heart.  I think he'd live at sea if he could.  

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the Atlantis resort.  Turns out there are very few places you can see and play in at the resort unless you wanna pay a lot of money, or are staying there, of course.  But it looked pretty amazing.  Maybe some day.  

Then we went back to the center of town and did some shopping before heading back to the ship.

We had an absolute blast.  What a great first cruise.  I think next time we will go to some different islands, but this was a great first trip.  I'm so glad we made the plunge and spent the chunk of money to get away together.  It's only going to get harder to do as the kids grow up but I hope we can make it a priority because, man, was it nice to be alone for so long and realize that we still really like each other and that we're pretty dang fun together.  

NYC with my sister

Oh my word.  As I write this post title I still can't believe it happened. This is going to be an extra long post.  So many pictures.  What an absolutely amazing time.  It all began when Mal had plans to go to Uganda for the summer and they fell through at the last minute.  She was bummed and wanted something fun to look forward to instead.  She proposed a sister's trip to NYC.  We started dreaming and I talked to Glenn.  Even if we did things pretty cheaply, it's still a pretty expensive trip to get out there, but I woke up on Mother's day and Glenn handed me an itinerary and hotel reservation!  Oh dear me. 

Mal and I started planning.  Calling Jimmy Fallon every day trying to get tickets (turns out that he was not filming the week we were there.  Bummer.)  Researching restaurants, planning tourist attractions, which shows we couldn't miss.  We found out that Tom Hanks was in "Lucky Guy" and we just couldn't miss seeing him even though the reviews weren't spectacular.  And the other tickets we bought in advance were for Cinderella, because it's a musical that is dear to my heart.  I love the music and just had to see it.  It was a great couple of months of dreaming.  Finally we nailed down our must-do list including a bunch of restaurants in each area we'd be touring so we'd have some fun places to eat wherever we were at the time.  It was bliss.  

Glenn took off work for a couple of days and Mal and I were able to travel Thursday, spend the whole weekend in the city and leave Monday.  Do I have the most wonderful and supportive husband in the world?  Why yes, I do.  Not only did he take work off to watch the kids, but he played with them.  Really played with them every day.  He took them swimming, to parks and splash pads, and even to a little water park, twice.  Oh yeah, and he took them to a Rockies game.  By himself.  I would never do that.  Oh and one more thing, he had the entire house and garage cleaned when I got back.  I'm pretty sure he's a better stay-at-home mom than I am.  And because he's such a wonderful man and father, I really let go and didn't worry about them at all because I knew he completely had everything taken care of.  

Mal and I both arrived at the hotel on Thursday afternoon.  After unpacking and an appropriate amount of hugging and squealing, we hit the street.  We decided to hit up a couple of fun shops near our hotel first and then head to Times Square to see if there were any cheap tickets for that evening.  First we went to Serendipity to see if we could get a table.  The wait would be too long to down to Times Square in time for a show lottery so we bailed and found a yummy place to share a salad and quiche.  It was really yummy and really inexpensive.  Then we walked down the block to Dylan's Candy Bar.  Basically because we are children and love candy and toy stores...and also because we love the movie "Arthur" and had to see the store because it's in the movie.  

It was a pretty cool candy land.  One of our favorite parts was a wall where celebrities filled containers with their favorite candies.  It was interesting and funny.  Mallory said, "Oh look, there's Ashley Olson's and it's empty.  Sad."  It really wasn't, but that would have been much more funny.

Here is Richard Simmons container.  His was filled with jelly beans and said, "Eat Slowly, Love Richard Simmons".  So funny.

 And here's Hugh Jackmans' full of gummy teeth?  Bizarre.

 Mal and I on the candy staircase that Arthur falls down in the movie.

 After playing in the store for a while we ran down to Times Square to make it to a Lottery for Newsies tickets.  We arrived very sweaty and realized that they don't have a show on Thursday evening and therefore, there is no lottery that night.  Bummer.  Who's the dummy now?  That would be me.  So we went to the TKTS booth and found good tickets for Peter and the Starcatcher, which I saw with Glenn last year and loved it.  It moved Off Broadway so the tickets were a bit cheaper.

We spent the time before the show wandering through stores in Times Square.  In the M&M's store we found M&M's bathrobes.  Well of course we tried them on.

 Of course we did.

 Here we are waiting for Peter and the Starcatcher.

 It was a different cast from last year, but they were awesome and hilarious.  What a great, imaginative, fun show.  Mal and I spent the rest of the trip quoting it to each other.

After the show we decided to see if the line would be decent at the Empire State Building.  It was, but the visibility was zero so we decided we'd take the trip up another day.

 We hit up Serendipity on our way home for some delicious frozen hot chocolate.  Wow was it good.  Mal and I found it fascinating how this teensy, oddly decorated spot became such a big deal.  Probably because of tourists like us who just have to go because we've heard about it.

 Friday morning we woke up early and went for a jog in Central Park.  I would be so much more motivated to go running every day if I could do so in Central Park and with Mallory.  It was so great.

After that we walked literally across the street from our hotel (great location selection Glenn, dear) to wait in line at the Museum of Modern Art to get into the Rain Room.  It's a new exhibit that is only there for one more month.  It's a huge room that is raining and has sensors above so that it stops the rain wherever you are.  As you walk through the room, the rain stops around you and you don't get wet.  Pretty cool, we thought.  We got in line very close to the front, but the member's only line was huge and they get let in first.  We waited for two hours and moved very little.  We took turns running to the restroom and grabbing breakfast sandwiches for us to eat on the sidewalk.  Here we are in line, with the annoyed lady behind us.  Gotta love her face.

 After 2 hours we asked a worker about how much longer it would be.  She said it would be at least 5 hours but she would bet closer to 7.  Yikes.  We're out.

But since we had already bought tickets, hoping to save some time in line or something, we decided we should hit up the art museum.  So we did, and let me tell you, there is probably not a more fun person to wander through a Modern Art Museum with than my sister Mallory.  It was a blast.  We took turns guessing what each piece of art meant.  Got in trouble once for standing on a square of bricks on the ground that was art, and laughed an awful lot.  What does this mean, for instance?

 Or this?

 Here was a wall that said in big letters at the top, "A wall, dimpled by a single gunshot"...so of course we tried to find the one hole in the wall...we didn't.

 Dust bunnies of the world unite?  To make an arm chair?

 Did one thousand people just empty their lint traps in the hallway?  Oh wait, no.  This is a work of art.

 We got to see the famous Warhol soup cans.  That was cool.

 Then we thought, "we're about done here.  Might as well wander into this one last room."  We turned the corner and ....  AAAAAAAHHHHHH

 Are you kidding me?  We just happened upon "Starry Night"?!  Yep.  We did.  And then we stared at it for a while.  Amazing.  So amazing in person.  In that room (which we obviously should have browsed first) were Picassos, Van Goghs, Klimts, it was amazing and really unexpected after the random stuff we pass on the first two floors.  So glad we didn't bail before we wandered through there!

On our way out we decided to go through the "viewing only" line of the rain room.  We walked through the room in a roped off area and got to see it but not play in it.  That was enough.  It was cool but not  worth 7 hours of my NYC vacation with my sister.

 Then we wandered down to Rockefeller Center.  The NBC store was the highlight.

 I guess I didn't realize how many of my favorite shows were all NBC.

Dinner was some crazy awesome food trucks on the street next to our hotel.  I had gourmet empenadas and Mal got a crepe.  So good, and once again, not over priced.  We were thrilled.

We went back to our hotel and got dressed up and took ourselves to the Manhattan Temple.  We did some sealings and met the most hilarious sealer who was just full of fun stories.  We chatted with him for a while, then went back to the hotel to change.

Then we decided to hit up FAO Schwartz.  Because we're children and thrilled with the idea of an enormous toy store.  I bought some things for my little boys and of course there was the obligatory trip up to the big piano where this strange and very friendly fellow jumped right into our pictures.

 Then we hustled down to our theatre for the night where we saw "Lucky Guy".  It was cool to see Tom Hanks.  He did a great job but the reviews about the show were right.  It was just okay.

Afterwards we joined most of the world outside the theatre to see if we could sneak a peak at Tom Hanks.  It was very crowded, and the policemen next to the barricade where we were squished kept talking on their walkies about a pick pocket in the crowd and staring at someone very near to us.  We held our purses tight and were childishly excited about being in the middle of something scandalous. We're such children.  Afterwards we watched them catch a guy who was right next to us and take him away in handcuffs in a black jeep that drove up really quickly.  It was pretty crazy.

 Saturday morning we woke up, got ready, and took off to the "Once" theatre to wait in line for rush tickets.  Some shows sell rush tickets for shows the same day at a huge discount but they don't have very many.  We were about 30 people back in line and we got there about 2 hours early.  Mal got a smoothie that we shared while we waited in line.  We got the very last two rush tickets for the matinee. The very last two that were sitting together.  They were partial view, which meant on the very end of the row, but they were 8th row orchestra for $50.  Um, yes please.  We were so lucky and so excited to see the show!

We had a few hours before the show so we took off to see the World Trade Center Memorial.  I saw it last year with Glenn, but it was cool to go with Mal.  It's overwhelming, and really powerful to see how enormous those building footprints are.  And to realize how huge the buildings were that fell.  And to see how many names, how many people fell with them.  Such a tragedy.

 We wandered down to Battery Park to get a glimpse at the liberty lady.

 And the picture next to the charging bull of wall street.  Another "Arthur" moment.

After that we ran to a gluten free bakery we'd heard about because we just had to try it and then caught a cab back to our theatre so we could make it in time for our show.  We really squeezed every last drop out of every single day of our trip.  We are so good at traveling!

"Once" was...oh man, I don't even have the right word.  Incredible comes close but is not quite enough.  It was moving and beautiful and the perfect show to see with my sister.  My mandolin-playing, music enthusiast sister.  About half of the cast was different from the original that I saw last year with Glenn and I was prepared to not like them as much, but oooo I really did.  They were great in really different ways.  What a cool show.  I may have cried a bit.  Nope, I'll admit it.  It did cry a bit.  It was one of those moments that was so perfect.  I felt so unbelievably lucky that I got to see that show two years in a row.  To go to NYC two years in a row, and that I got to be sitting there seeing this show with my sister with $50 tickets in the 8th row.  Seriously, incredible doesn't cut it.

 The rest of our evening was spent wandering in some down town areas.  Could Mallory and I go to New York City and not go to Little Italy? Well, of course we couldn't.  It was fun watching Mallory's face as she listened to the Italians, saw the flags, looked at the menus.  We wandered up and down the street talking and flirting (Mallory is a flirting master, I am married) with all of the guys trying to talk you into eating at their restaurant.  We finally settled on one (could it have been because the host was the handsomest?  Possibly.) and had the best pasta of my life.

 One of the many many benefits of traveling with Mallory is that we have very similar tastes in food.  We shared a meal almost every day and when we wanted to try more than one thing, we always wanted to try the same two things so we both ordered one and then shared.  We had an amazing house pasta with prosciutto, peas, and cheese, and a gnocchi with pesto.  It was ridiculously delicious.  At one point I said, "We are so good at ordering!"  And the waiter laughed at me, but seriously, we are.

 Little Italy was so picturesque.  I have a thing for fire escapes.  Especially when they are turquoise.

 We wandered around China Town for a bit, then SOHO, but most of the stores were closed so we headed to the Empire State Building again.  It was a gorgeous view of course.

 The next day was Sunday.  We slept in a bit then got in our Sunday clothes and went up to Lincoln Center to find some breakfast before church.  Sunday was basically a gastronomical masterpiece. Crepes for breakfast at Viva la Crepe.  Then we found a bomboloni place, which are apparently Italian donuts.  Really really yummy Italian donuts.  Mallory was super excited.  So we bought a couple and we decided we should probably sample their Italian ice while we were there.  I decided I would probably gain a thousand pounds if I ever lived in Italy.

 And since we were in the neighborhood we hunted down Levain Bakery, a recommendation from my cousin Lindsay.  We would never ever have found it or even looked for it without her recommendation.  It was a teensy hole in the wall basement bakery, but apparently it's a big deal because it was very busy and smelled like bakery heaven.  We got enormous cookies and a slice of banana bread to save for later.  And when we enjoyed them later we were not disappointed even a bit.  They made me forget every Mrs. Fields cookie I've ever eaten.

We went back to the hotel to change and went to our afternoon show, "Cinderella".  It was good, but not great.  Mallory and I both left feeling a bit let down.  The voices were spectacular and the music as delightful as always and the Cinderella's costume changes were pure magic.  They re-wrote a lot of the script.  The changes were not good, in our opinion.  They added a few small side stories about kindness versus ridicule, and a bit of politics but the dialogue and the changes seemed kind of childish and out of place.  I was bummed.  Mallory and I found it interesting that the two shows that we had to see and bought tickets ahead of time to make sure we didn't miss them were our two least favorites.  We'll have to remember that for next time and plan accordingly.  Oh I hope there's a next time.

The rest of our day was spent wandering a few more places we wanted to see.  We tried to find Mood fabrics.  I watch project runway and have a fabric addiction so I really wanted to see it but it was closed.  Then we wandered in a few stores on our way to Grand Central Station.  It was beautiful.  So glad we went.  We hit up the whispering hall which was really cool.

Next we wandered back to Times Square for one last wandering farewell.  We shared a shake from shake shack and were not disappointed in the least and headed back to our hotel.

Our last morning in the city we woke up and wandered through central park.

It was humid and muggy but that didn't stop us.  Then it started pouring rain.  That still didn't stop us.  We looked like drowned rats.  That didn't stop us.  We wandered through a few stores, found some lunch and went back to pack up.  Then we had to part ways again.  I miss Mal.  I wish she didn't live so far away.  We have way too much fun together.  It shouldn't be legal.

We talked all weekend about how perfect everything worked out.  The weather cooperated nicely.  Except for that last day it only rained a few times and always when we were in a show.  We travel so well together.  Everything that was on my list was on her list too so neither of us ever felt like we had to compromise at all.  We ate amazing food and didn't spend too much.  We shared food a lot because the portions were big, we weren't super hungry, and we really wanted to eat the same thing anyway¸.  It worked out perfectly.  We walked until we were exhausted and then we rode the subway.  We talked and talked without any interruptions for a whole weekend.  It was truly the perfect sister's trip.  It feels weird to be this grown up.  To be traveling to a big city alone with my sister.

We should probably write a book.  "How to travel with your sister" is what it would be called and everyone would buy it because everyone  should have a perfect trip like ours.  We travel well.  We travel very well.

Thanks honey for taking such great care of absolutely everything while I was away so I could relax and have a wonderful time with my sister.  Oh dear me.  Where should we go next year??