N.Y.C.

Yesterday we went to NYC. We had to wake up at 5am to catch the Greyhound into the city. Fortunately, we got on the bus without any hiccups.

Then we had to navigate the tricky subway system. For 2 girls who had never travelled on the subway on our own before, I'd have to say we did really well! This is me proudly standing by our destination after our successful trip.

Our main goal was to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We were so happy as we walked up and saw the beautiful building!

After which we were immediately disappointed by this sign:

Apparantly the Met is closed on Mondays. Who knew?? (Also, pardon the goofy red earmuff- there was a chilly wind and it was hurting my ears!)

This is another model-esque picture of Ayisha that I took in Central Park. Isn't she beautiful!

We could have easily spent all day in Central Park! There were so many little hidden treasures that we had a fun time discovering - like this beautiful fountain with lotus flowers and lilypads in it.

We even indulged a little and went to the Central Park Zoo.

My favorite part of zoos is always the sea lions. They're just so cute!

The sleeping polar bears were pretty adorable too. Who knew you could find a polar bear in the middle of Central Park?

Eventually we decided to leave Central Park in search of food. We went to Ellen's Stardust Diner, where I had been last time I went to NYC. All the waiters are out of work actors and they take turns singing and entertaining. Dinner AND a show! This was our waiter, Jonathon. Isn't he a hunk?? He also had the best singing voice by far.

Ayisha had the good fortune to have him cuddle up next to her during a song. I only wish I had snapped the picture with his eyes open. . .

Next we went further into Times Square to walk off our delicious meals, and walked into the Hershey store, where we found a little bit of heaven. . .

I couldn't resist a mouthful of this special mixture.

Doesn't this look like the best corner of Times Square??

Lady Liberty?? So that's why she's green. . .

The MnM shop is right across from the Hershey shop. Ayisha was a little freaked out by their "promotional character of the day" (Big Blue in the background). Apparantly so are a lot of kids - I saw a toddler cry when he tried to say hi to her.

The MnM shop had all kind of fun mixes!

We had a machine scan us to tell us what color MnM we are. Ayisha is Orange.

This is the results of mine. If it's true, then I do a LOT of good in this world. :)

In the Toys 'R' Us store they had an indoor ferris wheel! Ironically we ended up on the MnM car.

There were all kinds of fun things in the giant multi-level store - like this image of Superman saving the Daily Planet from a runaway semi.

Finally, after a long day of walking, we headed back to the Subway and home (to the hotel) to bed.

One of the reasons for our trip

How is it possible that this is like the only picture I took while visiting some of our favorite friends?? We went to church with Stef and Neal and then spent the day with them (thank you for feeding us!) We played a very long game of Ticket to Ride (I actually had to go look up what the game is actually called - we always just call it "Trains"!) before we decided to get back to our hotel before it got too dark. Ayisha thought Stef and her mom were just hilarious, which was good. Also, I can't believe how big little miss blue-eyes and her sister have gotten just in the last couple months!

Washington D.C. (and some other pictures too)

I love the view from airplane windows. I think the clouds look like waves!

This does NOT say that we have 53 minutes to get to our tram to catch our connection.
It says we have 53 SECONDS.

I get a little paranoid about germs and hotels. (I mean, have you read the stats???)
Here I am, starting at the front door within the first 10 seconds of entering our room. I wouldn't let Ayisha touch anything until I had disinfected the entire room.

After a VERY long day of waking up early to catch our plane, running to catch our connection, trying to navigate the streets of Philadelphia to get to our hotel in New Jersey (Eastern drivers are CRAZY!) and getting lost about 16 times in the process, we were FAMISHED from not eating all day. Fortunately our hotel gave us complimentary cookies!

The view on our drives have been BEAUTIFUL! I remember thinking in August that the greenery in New Jersey was "lush" - really thick, tall, and gorgeous. Now in November, all the leaves are changing and it is just as stunning!

REALLY foggy in Maryland! This is a view from the bridge we crossed - you can see the railing along the bottom of the pic.

Ayisha and I were able to successfully navigate the metro system!

The Smithsonian castle in Washington D.C.

We visited the Air and Space Museum. We could have EASILY spent all day there. It was fascinating! Plus there were all these interactive things to play with.

Here I am, standing in front of Washington monument. Don't you love my new, red, wool, side-button, J.Crew coat? I do! Unfortunately I didn't get to show it off much - but fortunately that was because it was so warm in D.C. that Ayisha and I both ended up taking our jackets off! It was a gorgeous day! I would have never guessed it was November.

This backdrop of the WWII memorial is completely filled with golden stars. I figured they represented those who gave their lives but I wanted to know more about it, so I looked it up when we got back to the hotel. Here's what I found out:

"The Memorial's Freedom Wall includes 4,000 gold stars. Each star represents over 1,000 Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve worldwide freedom - over 400,000 Americans in all."

I really like this view of Washington Monument from Memorial Plaza.

This kid was like, the Duck Whisperer or something. They kept following him around! This is the pool between Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial - the one that Steve Carrell walked into in Get Smart.

I thought this was pretty cool. The sign says "Congratulations President Obama." There was a big board set up so that people could write support messages.

Standing in front of Lincoln Memorial.

Ayisha and I - wasn't it a beautiful day???

This guy was making a rubbing of one of his relative's names that was on the Vietnam Memorial Wall. For some reason I was really touched by this.

Ayisha took this photo - I just love the way it came out! I love how the branches really pop out in the foreground.

Ayisha also took this picture, which I think turned out really pretty. The security around the White House was thick!

I love this picture I took of Ayisha in DC. I think she looks like a model!

And. . .We're Off!

(bleary eyed and sleepy at our early morning flight)

Catch us if you can. . .

If only I wouldn't get arrested for hurting you

Please check out yesterday's great post on my friend Kika's blog: http://kikaandtrevor.blogspot.com/

I'd be lying if I said that as a fellow brown girl, this kind of stuff never happens to me.

Some people are completely and utterly stupid and make me want to break their pretty little noses. Or punch them out. I have a mean roundhouse.

I'm Kinda New at This

Today I took 4 xrays. 3 of them were perfect. 1 of them was horrible.

I 75% rock.

I miss the heat

This morning I had to use the windshield defroster on my car.

I cried a little bit.

Insert Blog Title Here

Also, does anyone else completely and utterly freak out occasionally by this thing called life?

Natasha vs the Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes: 8
Natasha: 0

They attack me when I sleep. Cheaters.

Hiatus

I tried a new hairstyle the other day.

I apologize for being a blog slacker the past month. I've been really busy with Maddy and the new baby. Unfortunately, the blog slacking is only going to get worse. Tonight I'm leaving on a plane with Stef and the babies for Jersey, and I probably won't blog until I get back in a couple weeks.

A red-eye with a toddler and a newborn. Wish me and Stef luck. :)

Picture Post

This has been a very busy and fun-filled week! In lieu of lots of boring text, I've decided to show you my week in a picture post:

Tuesday we got to meet The Littler One who is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Then I got to spend most of the day with the original Little One which is always awesome because she's such a good toddler. Plus I really like the Little One's grandma, so bonus!

Wednesday we got some yummy Pier 49 to share with our friends, and then I went black-light mini-golfing with my best friend Liz at Trafalga. It was really cool! I was wearing all dark colors so the only thing that glowed on me was my teeth, which was pretty funny. Lizzie was nice and gave me her arcade points so that I could get a parachute Batman that I thought was great.

I don't know why, but for the life of me I cannot remember what I did on Thursday. I had work off though, so I hope it was something fun.

Friday I got up super early to watch the hot air balloons from our parking lot. While I was waiting for them to appear, I took advantage of the fact that I am rarely up at 6am and watched the sun rise.

I also watched the early morning snails making their way across the lawn.

Finally the balloons appeared! This isn't a great picture, but my digital camera only cost $60, so I really can't complain. They had a pig balloon and a Smoky the Bear balloon this year. I sat on the comfy chair that somebody left in our parking lot and watched them.

Then I went back to bed. When I woke up, we went with Mrs S and the Little One to the Freedom Festival, which was more fun than I remembered it being last year. It was really hot though!

For dinner we went to a BBQ at my parent's house and made Cordon Bleu sandwiches. It was my sister's birthday and that is what she requested. (For those of you who don't know, 3 of the 4 girls in our family are born on holidays) Big 19! I remember 19. . .sometimes I'm really surprised when I realize I'm not still 19.

That night we went with the Hansons to watch fireworks by the MTC. Thanks for saving us a space! Evie was remarkably good-natured for being up so late.

All of Saturday was spent in Logan at a big car show. We went with our friends Pete and Rachel. You can't see it very well, but this is a casket in a glass box being pulled by a motorbike. (Don't worry, it was just for show, or I wouldn't have gone anywhere near it)

There were really big cars. . .

. . .and really little ones.

Overall, it was pretty boring and roasting hot, so I can't really recommend it.

Hope everyone had a good holiday!