Happy 10 Years to US!!!!

WE WENT TO NEW YORK CITY!!!

Whew, I just had to get that out of my system...sorry.

I was going to start this post by saying how sorry I am to have taken so long to blog about our trip to New York...I was going to start that way, but now, I'm not so sorry. It's been about 3 weeks since our trip, and it is nice to look back and remember all the fun we had! So, I'm not sorry because it is fun for me to look back and remember...ahhhhh, great times.

Mike and I have been married for 10 years this year, and I have been telling him since last anniversary, that I wanted to do something BIG to celebrate it. I knew it probably wouldn't happen, since he's so sensible, and has NEVER had any desire to go to NYC, but I thought if I started early enough, and asked often enough, it just might happen. Never underestimate the persuasive power of a desperate woman!! November came, and it all came together.  My Aunt Gwen and Uncle Howard live in Queens, NY, and they are famously gracious tour guides and hosts, my parents flew up from AZ to watch the kids, and Mike and I would get to go to New York!!..until of course, it all fell apart: enter Super-Storm Sandy devastating Manhattan one week before we are scheduled to arrive, and then the great NorEastern snowstorm 1 day before we were scheduled to arrive. Did I mention that I'm stubborn too? Mike was so sweet to never say, "why don't we just reschedule", but I could see him biting his tongue about a million times in the days before we left. Thursday morning, we woke up and headed to the airport, not knowing if our connecting flight would be cancelled due to weather, and our journey began.

A 3 hour layover in Denver didn't dampen our spirits! We were ready to go!

 

We made it to Laguardia with no cancellations or complications!!! My Uncle Howard met us at the airport, and we set off on our adventure. This is us on our first encounter with NYC public transit: the bus.

 Because of Storm Sandy, there was a fuel shortage, so no driving for us...walking all the way! We walked to their church first, to drop off some humanitarian aid supplies for the hurricane victims, then walked to our first experience with Indian Food--LOVED IT, especially the Naan and Frakie Wrap!!!

It was about 9PM, but those Haglunds are CRAZY, so we were off to see the city! 

                             First Subway ride!!                                      First time in Times Square!!

They also took us to the Stardust Cafe on Broadway; a place where dream-to-be Broadway stars can serve milkshakes while dancing on tables and belting out show-tunes. It was such a great night because we had The City to ourselves!! Because of the FREEZING temps and flight cancellations, it was a ghost town. We didn't mind at all.

The next day, we were up bright and early and off on the subway again. It was still frigid cold, but we were warmed with enthusiasm--ours and our hosts'. Before heading back to The City, we walked around their beautiful Queens neighborhood and picked up some Chinese baked goods and some Turkish bread for breakfast!! It's like a little trip around the world wandering their streets...I was in heaven.

This is a tree that feel on two cars during Sandy in Queens.

Off to Bryant Park  (this is Mike's favorite building).

Then to Grand Central Station, we gave it a thumbs up...ok, just I did, but Mike really loved the backward constellations on the ceiling.

  

 St Bartholomew's and St Patrick's Cathedrals, just beautiful.

Saw the super-cool Apple Store with it's crazy glass-box entryway, and FAO Schwartz toy store.

THE Saks on The 5th avenue!! This is my Aunt Gwen in a million dollar chair there.

STREET FOOD!! I wanted to try every kind I could! Here I am enjoying my first falafel ever, and Mike's long-awaited Gyro (pronounced "year-o" in Idaho, but "jy-ro" in NYC, who knew?!?!?) You can't see it in this picture, but our feet are frantically fighting off the boldest pigeons I have ever seen.

CENTRAL PARK

We were both blown away by the real art we saw in the Moma!! we were inches away from Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, and so many others!! Things we've only seen in books. 

Late that night, we caught the bus to Lower Manhattan to the Staten Island Ferry. We couldn't take the subway directly there becuase the nearest terminal was still closed from the storm. That was the only inconvenience (if you could even call it that) the storm caused us...it was such a great trip.

Here we are freezing on the ferry in front of Lady Liberty (I ran inside after these pictures were taken--it was so cold!)

That wraps up day one in the city!! While we were away, Pappa went with Lucy to her Daddy Daughter Activity for Church. It was a pinewood derby race, and her car won the "most blinged out" award. So proud.

We would not have been able to enjoy the trip at all if we hadn't known our kids were being so well cared for at home. Thank you Papa and Gramma.

Happy Hallow-scream!

When I was little, my parents had a Halloween decoration that said "happy Hallow-scream" every time you walked by, so the title of this post was in honor of that memory! 

Before Halloween, we have Elliott's birthday! Elliott turned 7 this year!! He wanted a green ninja birthday cake and a Skylanders video game. He got both. He was a happy boy.

Here is our Halloween fun for this year! 

Carving pumpkins with the other Hynes Family, we cooked the seeds too...YUMMM!

We used cookie cutters and a rubber  mallet to make fun designs.

We had to coral Archie to keep him busy while we worked!

Then ghost-sucker making and caramel apple yummies with they Hynes family again.

Lucy was a Carnival Queen, Elliott was Mario from the video games, and Archie was a sock monkey.  I love the face paint.

We got to go to a Halloween party and my sister's house, and Elliott enjoyed raking the leaves most of all!

Here is Archie doing what he likes most...BOOKS!

Here is the kids before "crazy hat day" at school. We have Indiana Jones and the chef!

And for an Archie update...he is no longer allergic to gluten, soy or peanuts!! What a relief! We are happy about the gluten because it opens so many food doors, and we are happy about the peanuts because that can be such a scary one! Here he is eating gluten for the first time!!

Some September Moments

Elliott finished up his football season. He got a trophy and everything...throw it on the pile!

Swinging smiles.

I rounded the corner from the kitchen and saw Archie lying like this on the couch! Totally zoned out, lounging, holding the remote. It made me laugh. I think of it as a little peek into his future.

Lucy finished up her volleyball clinic (that's her in the turquoise pants!)

We were able to do some service for an older couple in our ward. We scraped and painted, and the kids loved it.

Mike reading to Archie. There is nothing Archie enjoys more than reading time. Even more than our other kids were, he is CRAZY about books!

Those of you reading this from your warm, cactus-covered seats in Arizona, these are pictures of "AUTUMN", it's a crazy season we have here that consists of colorful leaves, crisp mornings, bright afternoons, and lots of leaf-kickcing fun times!

And finally, Elliott's morning art work: GO BRONCOS!