Jaxon forever

Jaxon's adoption was finalized the day we moved to CT, but we waited until my parents were back from Guatemala to go to the temple.  (For more info on Mormons and temples click here)

We started the celebration with Mark's parents flying out a couple days ahead of time.  We took them to the Bronx Zoo.   The zoo is so big we saw all sorts of things that we hadn't seen before.

Addy wearing her African Queen crown she had made--thanks Heather for teaching Addy her roots.

When we were at the Zoo with Jenn and kids, Addy disappeared for a few mins-- she had run ahead to see the next animal and then came back to get me.  She told me the next animal was an 'old puppy'.  I asked her how she knew and she told me that some lady had told her.  After the lecture about disappearing and talking to strangers, I went with Addy, I was listening to her rambling without really listening until she said; "See, there is the old puppy!".  It was an Okapi--get it old puppy, O-ka-pi.  Anyway, when we went with Grammy and Grandpa, Addy remembered and dragged us to see the 'old puppy' again.

Early Sat morning we headed to the temple.  Poor Katie sat in the back between Marcus and Addy's car seats.  We met my parents there.

The temple was amazing and beautiful.  All the kids dressed in white.  Jaxon and his cuteness was a huge hit with everyone who worked there.  After the temple ceremony we went to the local chapel and had Jaxon's name and blessing.

After the temple we grabbed lunch at a local French deli and headed to central park to have a picnic.  It was the first warm day of Spring and the park was crowded.  After lunch we walked around the park and enjoyed the festivities.  The kids were intrigued by the bubble blower and kept jumping in front of all the other kids to pop the bubbles.

We also ran into my favorite street performers.  Mark and I have run into these guys the last 3 or 4 times we have been to NYC.  Marcus has been working on his dance moves so we stopped so the kids could watch for a while, and Marcus could learn some new steps.  At one point they asked for a child volunteer and Katie raised her hand--and was called up.  Before they did their stunt they asked her if her mommy or daddy was a lawyer and she answered 'yes'; but, they let her do the stunt anyway.  They did a front flip over her.  If I had had my camera on the right setting I would have caught it, oh well.

right before the flip

Central Park fountain with Grammy and Grandpa

There were a couple brides taking pictures and Addy got as close as she could to watch them have their picture taken.

Grammy and Grandpa staying in NYC that night and my parents came back to my house with us.

Sunday we went to church, after church I walked outside to find all my kids and their friends in a flower shower.  They were pulling on the branches and all the flowers were falling around them like snow.

Grandma and Grandpa wanted to go to the beach while they were here so, even though it was a little dreary we headed down to the beach to take a walk.

If there are rocks my kids will be on them.

I'm not sure where my dad is in the picture but at least we got one with Grandma.  My parents left Tues and my poor kids had to go back to life without grandparents here to spoil them.

Spring Break

We had some visitors over Spring Break.  Jenn and her kids and Flossie and her kids decided to come visit--at the same time.  They all arrived Sunday evening.  The house instantly went from the normal loud to INSANE.   Monday we decided to stick around  the house since Jenn had driven 18 hours and Flossie had driven 10 (she has stopped to spend the night, but didn't sleep because Carson was up all night sick.).  We have a fantastic yard; 1.25 acres of grass with some super big trees.  We also have some junk (brush, old boards, etc) left over from the previous tenants.  This combined with their imaginations was all the kids needed to decide to build a tree house.  The girls could be seen trying to push an old piece of plywood, bigger then they were, up this old ladder they found, through the branches to rest in the tree.  After many tries they got it there only to realize, thankfully before they sat on it, that it was not strong enough to hold their weight.  They then dragged the ladder across the yard to another tree where the branches make their own platform and declared this their tree house.

Rufio was also a huge hit, Madeline and Ella were fond of putting him on a lease and running him around the yard.

In the afternoon we headed to the park at Katie's school.  It is just a short walk from my house.  We had the misfortune of running into one the boys from her class (in Katie's words; "one of the ones who is always being rude to Miss Pensiero").  I'm not sure how the drama started but it escalated till Ella gave him a much deserved trip and other people reported to us how our daughters were acting.  While we were secretly proud of them for standing up for themselves, we decided this might be a good time to leave.  Cooper getting hurt confirmed our decision and we headed home.

Addy, Ella, Carson, Sam, Maddie, Alisa, Marcus and Max



The next morning we loaded up all the kids and headed to the train station.  (We left Jax and Caden home with a babysitter.)  We took the train into Grand Central Station.





Scotia, Me, Marcus, Sam, Alisa, Addy, Madeline, Carson, Cooper, Ella, Katie, Max, Jenn

And then took the subway up to the Natural History Museum.



The kids were pretty impressed with the dinosaurs.

Addy posing with the stuffed bear in the background--she loves bears.



When the kids started to get too rowdy we headed over to Central Park to look for lunch.  I love that out of all the things to do in Central Park my kids just want to play on the rocks.







After a long walk we sat down and enjoyed some hot dogs and then continued on our way looking for the Carousel.





What is better than a carousel ride to end the perfect day.

The train ride home was a little less exciting, Marcus and Addy both fell asleep on me.



Wednesday we headed to the beach.  The weather was perfect Spring weather.





Of course my kids found the rocks again.

That night after we put the kids to bed we had a little girl time and made Vietnamese spring rolls-delicious.

Thursday Flossie and her crew had to leave.  Jenn and I decided to head to the Bronx Zoo.

It was fantastic. 





We found a nice little grassy spot for lunch and settled down to eat.  Partway through Jenn leaps to her feet with a look of horror on her face.  I follow her eyes to see Sam in the bushes with his pants down around his ankles.  He needed to use the bathroom and though he was hiding, he did not realize that his little bum was right up against a fence where EVERYONE was walking by. 

The kids were so excited that they got to ride on two carousels in one week. 

Another highlight was the butter house.  Katie was standing still and a butterfly landed on her arm.  All the other kids were so jealous and spent the next 20 mins trying to get a butterfly to land on them.

Marcus copying Katie hoping for the same results.

And, then with some help from us, finally...

Addy wouldn't let us put one on her, she wanted to get it on her own merits, so she left without holding one.

After the zoo everyone headed home tired and happy.  Jenn and the kids took off early Friday morning.  It was the perfect Spring break/vacation.  Where else can you do NYC, the beach and the Bronx zoo all in one trip!