The Big Apple

At the end of July, Nathan and I had the amazing opportunity to take a trip to New York for his work.  The insurance company he works with set us up with flights, hotel and even some of our entertainment which was a huge blessing!  We dropped the boys off at Mim and Poppa's on Friday evening and returned home to finish packing for our early morning flight.  Luckily, we were on the same flight as some other people in Nathan's office, so we had some people to chat with!  Upon arrival, we were picked up and taken to our home for the next four nights- the Waldorf Astoria.  It was such a treat!  Unfortunately, New York was experiencing a heat wave while we were there and it was actually pretty miserable.  We thought that for sure we'd be able to handle it since we live in Texas, but it was a totally different kind of heat.  That, plus you walk everywhere in NYC and their air conditioning just didn't seem as powerful.  As soon as we checked into the hotel, we went for a little walk around the neighborhood.  Our luggage hadn't been delivered, so we were still in our travel clothes, which proved to be a bit too warm!

Of course we stopped here to buy the boys a gift!

Yum!

In Rockefeller Plaza

Taking a little break to cool off in St. Patrick's Cathedral

After walking around a bit and shopping, we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for the welcome reception being held in the hotel. 

Nathan had a morning meeting on Sunday, so I got to sleep in and relax.  When his meeting was over, we met up with a small group of people in the lobby and walked to The Smith for a delicious lunch.

Afterwards, it was back to our room to change yet again (did I mention it was hot???) and do a little more walking around before catching a cab to Brooklyn to meet up with Nathan's brothers.

We explored Grand Central Station...

and found the church that my grandparents were married in long ago.  Five years ago, my parents renewed their vows at this same church for their 35th wedding anniversary.  It is such a sweet little church and will always have a special meaning to me!

The Church of the Transfiguration 

aka The Little Church Around the Corner

Where my grandparents and parents both stood!

Dinner in Brooklyn

Looking into Manhattan from Nathan's brother's roof

Much deserved $25 chocolate cake from room service after a busy day!

After Nathan's meetings on Monday, we braved the heat (and on this day a rain storm as well!) to find my beloved Kate Spade.  We again did a lot of walking and ended up at Kate Spade's newly opened townhouse on Madison.  The sales associate their was phenomenal!  When I told him what I was looking for, he showed us to the fourth floor and ended up giving us a full guided tour of the entire store.  It was absolutely beautiful and such a wonderful experience!  A little more walking (okay, a LOT) and shopping later, we headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for dinner and Wicked.  It is my absolute favorite musical so much so that I listen to the soundtrack constantly and even Jacob has a favorite song (Popular)!  Dinner at Eddie Van's was amazing, our seats were perfection and afterwards we headed to dessert with Nathan's boss and his wife.  The perfect NYC evening!

Blissfully unaware of the rainstorm outside!

A lovely way to escape the rain!  No trip to NYC is complete without a stop into Dylan's Candy Bar!

A delicious steak dinner at Eddie Van's

Excited! (and ready to sit in those 5 inch heals)

Great seats!

Our final day in NYC was pretty low key.  We went to lunch with some coworkers (one last slice of New York style pizza!) and then walked around and shopped.  Because we didn't have a lot of the main attractions that we wanted to see on this trip we were able to take it easy and just enjoy the city.  We also stopped at the New York Public Library to see the Honus Wagner baseball card as well as an exhibit they had about children's literature.  Then, it was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for our dinner reception that evening.

At the end of the trip, we were certainly ready to come back home to our boys.  It was so great to get away for a few days and not have to worry about naps or potty breaks, but we definitely missed them!

Flashback Friday

November 2010

We're headed back to NYC!  Unfortunately, we won't be joined by the BEST travel buddies ever but we're looking forward to a little getaway! I can't believe it's been almost three years since we last visited with our friends Kelly and Louis, time has gone way too fast.  I'm looking forward to lazy mornings while Nathan is in meetings (hello, sleeping late!), yummy food and of course SHOPPING!  I will most certainly miss our boys, this will be our first trip away from both of them, but they will have so much fun with Mim and Poppa!  Jacob even told me that it was too bad I couldn't stay with Mim and Poppa because he was going to have more fun that me!  Ha!

Random iPhone Pictures

Destin

After many months of planning and dreaming, we headed to the beach on July 1.  We were beyond excited to go on our first vacation with two boys and couldn't wait to get our toes in the sand and soak up plenty of sun!
Well, the weather had different plans.  After two days of driving (actually not too bad, the boys were amazing) we reached our destination.  We were staying at a beautiful condo directly on the beach with amazing views.  The day was gorgeous, sunny and bright against the white sand beaches and crystal blue waters.  We dropped off our things and headed straight for the pool.  After about 45 minutes, the boys were getting tired and we were ready to eat so we decided to save the beach for the following days ahead when we would have more time.  Big mistake.  Huge.  Turns out, we wouldn't actually go to the beach for more than about 10 minutes for the remainder of our vacation.  Instead, the weather turned raining (think flash flood warnings) and incredibly windy (tornado warnings and swimming was prohibited).  Instead of looking out our condo onto the white sand and bright blue water, we looked onto the torrential downpour and gray, gray, gray.
When Saturday rolled around, we couldn't wait to pack up and get the heck out of Destin.  The drive back was looong (we decided to power through and get back home in one day) and it rained on us for much of the time. 
Needless to say, we will need to make sure our vacation next summer makes up for this disappointing experience!!!

Our first full day in Destin.  It was raining, but they had still put out the beach chairs in hopes that it would clear up!

Cuddles in the condo!  Nathan took Jacob to a movie our first afternoon and it was a complete zoo!

Waiting for our table at Cantina Laredo.  We decided it was no time to try local places- we needed dependable food and service!

Our fam!

After dinner, we found this great place to pick up a treat!  It wasn't our last visit...

Yum!

Arriving back at the condo after dinner, we still had hope that the weather would clear up for the remainder of our trip!

It wasn't raining, so Nathan took Jacob down to the beach.  So thankful he did!

His first time in the ocean!

Day 2...didn't even put out chairs and umbrellas!

Looking off to the side, some of those roads were flooded!

Braving the rain to eat at Cheeseburger in Paradise for lunch!

My boys!

PJ party and movie night at the condo

There was hope-they put out the chairs!  But, they were only up for about 45 minutes!

Check out the waves!  Swimming was prohibited!

Waiting for our table at dinner our last night. We bought a Christmas tree ornament from a glass store called Fusion.  We joked that we should get a gray class ornament to represent this trip. 

Dinner at PF Changs.  Again, we went with reliable food and service!

Certainly not the most exciting pictures of a beach vacation and we only took 53!  Most of those were the same pose over and over again to try to get Jonah looking at the camera!
Next year will be better, next year will be better, next year will be better...
Hopefully.