New York with Reese

Neal goes to New York each fall and spring for market for a couple of weeks. I typically tag along every year to 18 months over one of the weekends. We have been talking about bringing the girls one day and recently decided to do it this spring with Reese and then bring Ella the fall of her 5th birthday. 

Reese is a complainer and isn't the most flexible so I have wondered how this trip would go. We have had so much fun together. She hasn't complained about anything (aside from one cab ride after a long subway adventure that included waiting on a train for over half an hour to find out it was down after already riding on 2 other trains, she was done with travel). We have walked all over this city in the cold and sometimes in the snow and not once has she said a negative word about it. She has just been soaking it all in and we both have had a great time together. 

This has been a very inexpensive trip as we had miles for the flight and we are staying in the hotel Neal is in for work. I am really thankful that we get to do this with her.

She was a very content little traveler, as long as she had a drawing pad, iPad or her baby dolls.

Having her 1st slice of NYC pizza.

Waiting on her 1st New York cab.

We went to Times Square and all of the creepy dressed up things would not leave us alone. I don't even know what the guy below is but he forced a picture, can you tell how thrilled she is about this photo?

I was just trying to get this shot with her and then...

she waived at Elmo and...

they came over and held her and told me to take a picture, gross. I then got more vocal in telling these gross characters NO. We also got inside of Toys R Us so they would quit bothering us. They would all beg for tips and I didn't want any of these pictures in the 1st place so I didn't want to tip. I made her sanitize well once in the store. Toys R Us on Times Square is pretty unbelievable and we hear that they are closing :(.

She loved the giant Sven in the Disney store.

We went to a fancy dinner her first night. We didn't eat until almost 9 every night, like true New Yorkers.

This is a café near the hotel that Neal and I always love to do breakfast at. They had vanilla greek yogurt and blueberries, 2 things she loves, so we ate breakfast here every morning. The ladies remembered her after the 1st day and talked to her each morning while we were there.

This is the cab ride I mentioned above. It smelled horrible in the cab and she wasn't quiet about it. She kept asking "what is that awful smell"? I would try not to laugh and rolled the window down some. She then asked if we could walk home. I told her we may take a cab or the subway because it was a long way. She said please not this cab because she thought he (the driver) had gas. It was funny and embarrassing...but she was right it smelled awful.

The American Museum of Natural History was absolutely amazing. This is a must for anyone that goes to the city, with or without kids. She loved the butterfly exhibit and the giant whale.

We spent some time in Central Park and she enjoyed painting with a stick and some mud, she's a true Arkansas girl.

Grand Central Station.

Rockefeller Center.

I knew there was a chance of snow and in this city she would need appropriate footwear for snow but her rain boots and snow boots are both way too small for her right now. I knew it would be a matter of minutes before her feet were soaked and it was so cold so we set out to buy some new rain boots. She decided on the "Elsa blue" and I think they are adorable.

I am not a fan of snow this time of year but I really did enjoy the experience of snow in the city and it will be one we remember. The snow didn't stop us from doing all sorts of things and she was such a trooper. 

 

I know salad doesn't sound good to most in the snow but that's what we had and it was delicious. We ate at a cool salad place called Chop't.

My best friend from high school lives up here. Reese and I met her for lunch one day and it was so much fun to catch up. This was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

On our last night we saw the Lion King. This was definitely the best Broadway show I've seen. Reese was completely fascinated every moment of the play. We all loved it!

I really love this man and  glad Reese snapped this shot.

Reese was such a delight to explore the city with. We really were able to spend some great time together and I'm so glad we did it. We are currently resting in the hotel because Reese isn't feeling great. She's gone so hard the past 5 days and is pretty congested. I really hope she isn't getting sick. She saw me drinking coffee out of a to go cup and decided to put some water in a to go cup and is calling it her coffee.

I'm so thankful that my mom was willing to come up and hang out with Ella. Ella had a hard time without her family but she had a lot of fun with her Emmie. 

Now, I am so ready to get home to my sweet Ella...I miss her a ton! 

Random updates on a Monday

1. Reese consistently tries to sneak into our bed. She has learned that her best bet is to go to her dad’s side because I always tell her to go back to her bed. For the past few weeks he has also been more consistent in just telling her to get back in her bed. When I woke up this morning I had a thought go through my head “wow, she didn’t try to get in bed with us last night”. After being in the bathroom for only a few moments and making my way to out of the bedroom to make some coffee I saw that she was in my spot sound asleep. Later in the morning when she woke up she revealed that she came down in the middle of the night and slept on the floor. When she heard me get out of the bed she snuck in. We will see if this continues…I dread the day that one of us steps on her or trips over her.
2. The weather has been teasing us lately. We have had 50 degree days and have been playing outside without coats. I long for winter to be over but I also know that I have a couple of months left and they will likely be some of the worst cold.

3. The girls went to the dentist last week. Poor Ella has 2 molars that are completely deteriorating along the back wall. She is going to have to be orally sedated in a couple of weeks and the teeth will have to be capped. I dread this but it seems inevitable with my little girls. They both did such an amazing job at their checkups.

4. I know I still work for Walmart and I should not love Target as much as I do but I just cannot help it, the love seems to be genetic- these girls beg to go.

5. For the 100^th day of school Reese’s class was supposed to dress up at 100 year olds. Is this not the cutest? 

6. Reese and Ella have been sleeping together some nights lately and it just melts my heart.

Christmas 2014

I love the Christmas season. I love the time with family, keeping up fun traditions for our girls, getting together with friends, all of the great food and if I am being completely honest I love gifts (both giving and receiving).

 

I am still working on what traditions I will keep going with the girls through the years but the ones that I have started so far are new Christmas Eve pajamas, a Christmas train where we fake them out to think it is bed time and then blow the train whistle and go look at the lights to music in Bella Vista on my train (Honda Pilot), our elf Nelson, a friends Christmas party at our house, memorizing a Christmas story related bible verse and singing Christmas carols to them while putting them to bed.

 

One evening we gave the girls baths and had them lay in our bed, noted that we would be going up to bed in 2 minutes and then blew a train whistle (on the phone) indicating that it was time to take a train ride. I made tickets for them and we piled in the car. We went to Bella Vista to a hill that has a manger scene with a lights show set to music. 

 

The second week of December we headed down to Little Rock to spend time with Neal’s family and to do Christmas with them. It was a quick trip but we all had a lot of fun. We did dinner at a stir fry place that does the whole cooking production for you and the girls always love this. We went to a fun kid’s activity center for some fun and had lunch at one of my favorite places, Tazikis. We did Neal’s birthday dinner at a pizza place that has an arcade and picked up Neal’s niece and nephew, Will and Caroline. The girls always have so much fun with them and I really wish I had gotten some pictures of all of the fun that they had with them that night. And most importantly we spent half a day with Neal’s grandparents. Mimi and Papa are the sweetest people and I am so glad we were able to spend some quality time with them and exchange gifts. I got very few photos of the whole weekend and will make sure to bring the big camera next trip so that I can make sure to get some quality photos.

Below is one of our favorite photos of Nelson’s shenanigans this year.

 On our way to Houston we spent the night at the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine Texas. We have wanted to try this place out for a while and decided that this was a great opportunity to try it out and break up the trip. We did have a lot of fun but it was so busy that I felt like we may lose a child at any point. It was fun to do some swimming in December though. They had a fun story time in the evening, some good food options and a snow shower in the lodge throughout the day. On our way out we were able to see my cousin and her daughter which was a great addition to our stay. 

Christmas with my family was ridden with sickness but we had a great time. Luckily the 4 of us avoided the flu like stuff and stomach bug that was going around. I really enjoyed the time that I was able to spend with my middle sister, nephew, parents and extended family. The highlight was Ella overcoming her fear of Santa (thanks to my Uncle who does such a great job every year as Santa at our Christmas Eve party). By the time Santa was ready to leave Ella was begging for him to stay and even gave him a hug.

 

On the way home we stayed the night at my Uncle Pat’s ranch. We all had a great time spending time with my family, Uncle Pat and Aunt Cheryl, riding on tractors, seeing cows and donkeys, riding around the ranch on the 4-wheelers and listening to music while sitting in the barn. It also made the trek back a bit shorter when we set out for home.

We left all of the Santa gifts back at our house as well as the gifts to each other. The girls got all of the gifts they asked for from Santa including an easy bake oven, a doll, Sofia the 1^st figurines and a princess house that spins the princess figurines around. When we pulled into the driveway the girls got into a fight on the way inside and Ella got in trouble. She had to hug Reese and apologize before she got to see or open her gifts. She snapped out of it quickly and we had a great evening. My absolute favorite gift is my new Hunter rain boots. Neal really surprised me with these…I didn’t even ask for them but he knows the things that I really do want but feel like they are too excessive to ask for. I can’t wait to wear the new boots in New York with we take Reese this Spring!!