the Paladinos

It was such a beautiful day outside that Michael convinced us to go to a small local park to play and walk.  We had a great afternoon/evening in the perfect weather. 

Gabby playing in “Rapunzel’s hair”

We found lots of walnuts to play with.  I should have taken a picture of Peter’s gross brown hand that is permanently stained from the walnut. 


What a sweet smile from my sweet Pete.  He had this smile all day.     


Throwing a walnut and in the next picture catching it. 


Do you see the squirrel?  He was making some crazy little noises.


Dancing


And dancing.


And dancing. 


Indulging mom with a sweet picture. 

Yes, we are still alive and no, I haven’t forgotten we have a blog…we’ve just been a little busy with our Fall schedule kicking back in and ok, I’ll say it…I can be a little lazy sometimes. 

Gabby and Peter both started back to school in mid August and are now going to the same school on Monday’s and Wednesday’s.  Can you guess which days of the week are my favorite now?  Not to say I don’t enjoy my time with the kids too but it is nice to be able to get a few things done without them.  Gabby loves her class and has a new friend that she adores.  Peter still isn’t sold on his class and cries every morning but the teacher says that he has a good day and he’s always happy when I pick him up.  His comments are, “Mommy, eat all my runch (or lunch if you don’t speak Peter)” and “pay wif twucks.” 

Gabby has also started soccer which has been highly entertaining for all of us.  She loves her coaches and soccer friends and she plays really…umm, let’s just say she’s there and she’s happy.  Yesterday was our first game and she was very excited and a little nervous.  Michael and I were nervous too.  We couldn’t sit still and just kind of paced the field.  When she went in she started as a goalie and luckily the other girls on her team are animals and wouldn’t even let the ball near the other teams goal.  Seriously, they should start recruiting in the 4-5 year old teams for college.  These girls are good!  Then they let her run the field (don’t know if that’s the right terminology but you get the idea).  She walked after the ball and sometimes skipped, she waved hi to us, she tried to hug her other team mates and I think she even sat down at one point.  Keep in mind, this is while she was in the game and supposed to be playing.  So we had a little pep talk with her mid way through the game and boy did it work, I said “Take that great attitude and run after the ball as fast as you can.”  She said “ok” and that’s exactly what she did.  She ran as fast as we’ve ever seen her run straight for that ball but unfortunately it was in the middle of the game and she wasn’t playing.  There was no slowing her down and Michael had to run out and bring her back.  It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen but then she saw that other people were laughing and got really upset.  Poor Gabby!  She was just doing what I told her to do.  But after a little break and a lot of hugs she got back on that field and really tried to get the ball.  We’re so proud of our little Cyclone! 

Next time I’ll remember to take the camera to get some better pics.  She was so cute in her little jersey!



Yesterday was “cowgirl or cowboy” day at school.  Thank you Aubrie for letting us borrow your hat! 

And now just some random pictures from the last few well, I guess months since that’s how long it’s been since my last post.  :)

We got a small above ground pool for the backyard this summer.  This is Gabby getting ready to try it out for the first time. 


Love that physique. 


I saw this on a blog and decided to try it.  It’s a burger made with cookies and colored coconut and icing.  Fries from wafers and pretzel and white chocolate eggs with an m&m.


Getting ready for our first soccer practice. 

And my favorite picture.  This is a shark from Chuck E Cheese in a princess dress.  Gabby cut the fins off the shark to help him fit in the dress, then cried when she didn’t like it but it turned out okay because he does fit in the dress better now.  :)  Only from the mind of a 4 year old. 

Last weekend Michael and I took our first ever trip to New York.  From the moment we were surrounded by all those buildings we were in awe.  It’s incredible what they can fit on one tiny island.  We played the goofy tourists well and went to all the big stops.  We saw Times Square first since that’s where we were staying.  It was pretty overwhelming and ALWAYS filled with people.  Next we walked to the New York Public Library and Bryant Park.  The parks amazed me.  It’s this beautiful perfect stretch of grass with people napping or playing games completely surrounded by sky scrappers.  I was also surprised at how well the city takes care of most of the streets.  We walked through a lot of neighborhoods with trees lining the streets and beautiful lush flowers.  However, I will not describe the smells of these streets.  Not quite as impressed with that.       

Our first night we had a wonderful seafood dinner with amazing desserts then watched the sun set over the city at Top of the Rock.  This might sound romantic but we were surrounded by about 50 sweaty people from all over the world so not so much.  The next day we hit the Financial District with Wall Street, New York Stock Exchange and of course the Bull.  Next we hit China town and had soup dumplings and noodles with the locals which was a pretty uncomfortable experience since we didn’t have forks and had no idea how to eat the dumplings.  Then on to Little Italy, Noho and Greenwich Village.  We worked our way back to The Met and had pizza after.  We rode the subway to Grand Central Station and as we were walking back to the hotel saw a movie being made.  They wouldn’t tell us what it was but after investigating some trailers and vans parked up the rode we found out its called “the Dictator” with Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat).  I don’t think we saw him but we saw part of the movie which was really interesting to see how they do it.     

Monday we had yummy bagels then hopped on board a cruise that takes you around the city and past Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.  We read that lines were horrible at Ellis Island and the statue so we decided seeing it from the water sounded better.  We then had lunch in Hells Kitchen at an amazing Thai place.  I don’t think I would ever want to cook if I lived there.  The food everywhere was SO good.  After that we went to the Museum of Modern Art which I have to say made me very, VERY angry.  I really dislike what they call “art” and can’t believe that people are actually making money doing that.  A canvas with stripes on it IS NOT ART!  But I’ll move on before I start beating the desk with my fist and yelling.  :)  We finished off this night with one of the mile high deli sandwiches and Magnolia Bakery cupcakes.  Yum!  

Our last day we woke up and stood outside Good Morning America to be one of those cheesy people yelling and waving at the camera.  And we succeeded!  We made it on camera a few times and got to see the whole GMA gang up close and personal.  Robin is beautiful and so nice and George is just as little as he can be.  This was definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip and was so much fun.  Breakfast was a slice of New York cheesecake (had to fit it in somewhere) and then on to the Museum of Natural History.  We had a great lunch at an Indian place and then walked through Central Park.  That night we met one of Michael’s friends from grade school/high school and his wife for dinner.  Also one of my favorite parts of the trip with good food and conversation and just seeing the city from a local point of view.  We left for the airport at 2:00 am exhausted and ready to be home.  It was such an amazing trip that we’ll never forget!  Thank you to Gramma and Grampa and Mimi and Papa Mike for keeping our babies.  I don’t think they missed us a bit and were well taken care of.

View from our hotel room.


Times Square.  At the top of the middle red sign you can see a glowing ball which is the New Years countdown ball.  Smaller than I expected.


Our hotel behind the dancing elf. 


Bryant Park behind the NY Public Library.


Rockefeller Center.


Top of the Rock is at the top of this building.


Views from Top of the Rock.  Central Park.


St. Paul’s Chapel.  Also one of my favorite things on the trip.  It was right beside Ground Zero and is one of the oldest landmarks in the city.  There was a pew that George Washington used to sit on when he went there.  But it was also used after 9/11 for the volunteers to rest in.  A lot of amazing 9/11 pictures and memorabilia.   


You can see Ground Zero construction through the trees.


Trinity Church


Wall Street area


NY Stock Exchange


Black and White cookie of course.


Washington Square in Greenwich Village.  This was taken from a park bench that I refused to get off of because I was so tired.


Central Park Turtle Pond


Central Park castle


Ellis Island


Brooklyn Bridge


Ground Zero from the water.

My good friends Robin and Lara.


Random lady with my good friend Robin.


Little George and guest chef Alex Guarnaschelli from Food Network Chopped.


View from Central Park bridge.