Thank goodness I have sisters! Oct 2013

Mark had a work trip FL, and since he was going to be flying in so close to his grandparents, we thought it would be fun for him to go a few days early and hang out with them.  But Mark was nervous to leave me alone with the kids on a weekend since that is my only break, so he talked Flossie into moving her already planned trip up a week.   The day after she got here was Carson's birthday, my kids were super ecstatic to celebrate with him.

Katie had a soccer game that morning that we all attended.  After Katie rocked her game, we got down to the business of celebrating Carson's birthday.  We ate some cupcakes for lunch and then headed down the street for a little fall fun.

They local nursery had animals, a maze, a haunted house, a pumpkin patch and even a wagon ride for the kids.  Flossie and I just stood back and let the kids enjoy.

waiting for the wagon ride

We rode the wagon a few short mins down a dirt road to the "pumpkin patch" and I had to laugh, it was really just cut pumpkins laid out in mulch, but we do live in the city after all, what should I expect. 

Luckily, they were doing horseback rides to make up for the lack of greenery.

Cooper and Marcus got a little creative as they waited for everyone else to have their turn.

After the horseback ride the kids ran wild through the maze.

Jaxon pinching Flossie, one of his favorite things to do

Before we left, Addy had broken into her piggy bank and brought $2 with her.  They were doing face-painting for $1.  She decided that she really wanted her face painted.  I tried to reason with her about spending a whole dollar on something she would have to wash off that night (yep, I am cheap).  I mentioned that Katie had just bought a face-painting kit at a yard sale and Katie would paint her face when we got home--for free.  But Addy stood her ground, and I backed off.  She waited in line for a good 5 mins (which is really long when everyone else is playing).

Katie supporting Addy's choice

It was worth the whole dollar!

When we got home, inspired by Addy, Katie took on the roll of birthday entertainer and painted everyone's face.  She even let the birthday boy do her face.

That night we hired a couple of babysitters and Flossie and I took off the to spend the night in NYC, we didn't have a plan or a time we had to be back.  We parked by Central Park and started our night there, then headed down to Chinatown for some wallet shopping and fantastic potstickers.  Who can beat 5 for $1.25. 

After we went to Times Square to hang out and get some cheesecake.  At that point we realized we were just really old and both had 1 yr olds to get up with in the morning, and decided it was probably time to call it a night (it was only 10pm).  We walked back to Central Park and sat down to eat our cheesecake before we left, but that was short lived because some drunk guy decided to act all crazy and we really are too old to deal with that. 

 

Monday, I kept the kids out of school, and we decided to take them into the city.  Flossie originally wanted to go to the Statue of Liberty, but I wasn't as excited about the idea as she was--I was thinking that was a trip Mark should be along on (I do have four kids and all).  But the government shut down and made our decision for us, no Liberty Island bc everything was closed.  Carson had still been promised he would see the Statue of Liberty so we headed into the city with either the Station Island Ferry or Brooklyn Bridge as our destination.  

First glimpses of the leading lady

When we got to Battery Park all the boat tour people attacked us.  With the government shutdown they had nothing but time on their hands, so we talked them into a fantastic deal on a Manhattan cruise.  They took us under the Brooklyn Bridge, past (and pretty up close to) the Statue of Liberty, up the Hudson River and back down again.  And when it started raining, we were really glad we were not walking across the Brooklyn Bridge.

After a fun and informational trip we walked back to our cars.  On the way we passed this mini Statue of Liberty and the kids thought they had hit the jackpot, since they did get their picture taken with her after all.