{The Greatest City in the World}

So I have said a million times that my Uncle Jerry thinks NYC is the greatest City in the world. He has never been here so my dad always teases him what does he know. It has been such a fun joke in our family that I live in the greatest city so my dad had to come and check it our for himself! 

So of course we had to start his trip with a banner. Notice King Kong is on the top of the Empire State Building. Uncle Jerry said that was one of the reasons why it's the greatest city.

The girls were so proud of their banner so was I. 

My dad took the red-eye so it was 6am when he arrived. I made him take a nap for a bit. We then took him somewhere relaxing one of my favorite spots. Fire Island.

This was the old light they had from the old lighthouse. It was really neat to see this up close and personal.

Here is where the old lighthouse stood.

Me and my dad climbed the Lighthouse. While my sweet Jon stayed down with the kids since not all of them were tall enough to go. It was fun to do something just me and him.

 My dad was cruising up those steps I seriously couldn't keep up I didn't know what was his hurry. He later told me he had to pace himself cause he thought it was going to be a harder and longer.  How fast he was going I would of thought it was the opposite. On the way down I made him slow down and take in the views from the windows.  On this trip he turned 72. He is in such great shape. I am so proud of him for staying healthy and in shape. He looks great doesn't he now I just need to get my pregnancy fat off me and I will be looking good with him.

I lost my phone here and the next day we came back to find it, but no luck; however we saw these deer and thought it was worth the drive back and of course this is my favorite walk. That's why is was so easy to say let's go back and look for it.

 Here is my dad racing the girls on the boardwalk. He is such a great grandpa.

{CONGO VIA NYC}

Another visit from the Dittbrenner's

Hey, we got another visit from Family. This time the Dittbrenners stayed for 2 days. They came from Seattle to NY to Paris to the Congo! They are such wonderful people. They brought suitcases 6 of them full of supplies, stuffed animals and blankets for the wonderful people in the Congo. What a great experience that was approaching them. But before they headed off they stopped my house!!!

YAY!

We decided to hang out in Coney Island

 Here we are at the Aquarium!

The Boardwalk

Come again!!!

{Lost Cell Phone Means Lost Photos}

I lost my cell phone and I am so so sad about it. This summer with the kids home we were on the go all the time and my iphone became my primary camera. Well I lost it on the boardwalk on Fire Island we went back the next day in hopes to find it and still we didn't find it at all. Now I'm sure it's all swept away and buried with Hurricane Irene.

All my pictures. I took so many videos too and I'm so so sad. Anyway I got my new iphone a better one I must ad and hope I am much better at downloading my pictures and videos off of it.

But there goes

Swim Lessons

Play Dates

Beach Days

Library Celebrations

Funny Happenings

Mason smiling pictures and first rollovers

All gone and washed away!

{Mason's Blessing}

We were so excited for Mason's Baby Blessing. My father was planning on coming out; however, sadly my wonderful Uncle Arnold Passed away and had a lot of stuff to take care of in Kansas. :( But we were so excited when Jon's Dad called up and said he wanted to come out! YAY

I first have to say Thank you to my wonderful wonderful sister who has made each of my children a beautiful white blessing blanket. Each one has been so unique. I love Mason. I hope one day they will be able to bless their babies in their blanket they got from their Aunt KiKi. What a wonderful keepsake that has been for us.

Me and my baby. I couldn't bring more joy into my life. He is such a happy baby. ALWAYS SMILING. WE LOVE HIM

My Two Boys

Mason was 3 months old when Jon blessed him. I joked with the boys saying they were going to get a biceps workout blessing this big boy : ). Mason never cried either (always a worry of mine). Nancy Jones wrote the whole blessing down for him and typed it up for me too. We wanted her husband in the circle but he was home that day feeling really sick from his radiation treatments. He is currently fighting cancer.

 3 Generations of Males

 After church we had a quiet dinner with a few friends & the missionaries. Well we thought it was quiet until they should up. There goes keeping the Sabbath Day Holy LOL

 Elder Cooley entertaining all the little ones

 He had a lot of awesome tricks

I got of there and showed off my tricks too. I still have it in me kids! Well I was a bit too nervous to try a full, but my back flip was looking good. 

31 and still going strong!

Did I mention it was still Sunday "D'oh"

The missionaries started it all.

  

Here are some of the Hoffs plus Mason. They are some of our greatest friends. They are so fun to hang out with. They have 4 kids like us.

Jon and His Wonderful Dad

The Star of the Day!

No crying. In our wonderful branch that we are so close with we could either have a very tiny circle or a really large one. So to keep it personal and close we had

Jonanthan

Anthony Dell aka "Oupa"

President Scala

Nate Hoff {our closest friends here}

Here are so more pics of the missionaries. 

I love talking about the missionaries because they are such a great part of our families lives and when I look back after leaving Long Island I want to always remember our relationship with all the missionaries. My children love them and they are such wonderful examples for them. 

Jon was jealous cause Elder Cooley climbed the tree before him and now that Hurricane Irene broke this branch he probably never will.

Our last farewells to Elder Hall & Cooley

top left to right-Elder Hall, me, Jon, Mason, Elder Cooley, Elder Holbrook,

bottom- Elder Carter, Addison, Alix and MB 

Emberlynn had such a strong love for Elder Carter. I have never seen her so sweet to someone and get so calm and loving around him. First time I saw Elder Carter I thought he was 12 years old : ) WE all tease him. We normally always get one last visit the night before the Elders transfers out to say our last goodbyes. We were gone and the new Elders told us how sad he was not to be able to say goodbye to Emberlynn. I get so sad to see them go. Elder Hall served in our branch for 6 months and has a wonderful voice and such a wonderful personality. He is the Elder on the top left in the blue tie.  We have got to know a lot of fun missionaries. A lot! Elder Hall would defiantly be in my top 5 favorites. Well that's if I'm allowed favorites.

I just asked Emberlynn if she wanted to see a picture of Elder Carter. She said yes, I kissed him"

 Not sure that's legit Emberlynn.

They come and go

 and we wish them all the blessings in the world!

{We Heart Coney Island}

I love heading down to Coney Island. It is such a great place for me. We brought Oupa along this time.

We enjoyed the boardwalk

Coney Islands Aquarium

The rides at Coney Island

 On our way back Oupa bought all of us some Coney Cones!

YUM YUM!

{Manhattan's High Line}

Jon's dad came and visited us again here in NY. We were so excited to get 2 visits within 6 months from each other. Anyway one of his National Geographic did a story on the NY High Line so that was one of the things he wanted to do while he was here. Basically it is an old highway for trains above ground that wasn't being used. They decided the trains had too heavy of cargo and it was unsafe for it to be so high, so they stopped using it. Well someone took over and decided to make it into a luxurious, relaxing spot for locals and tourists to escape. It was beautiful and really neat to see the view above as well as below. Here are some pictures we took.

I thought it was very neat to design the garden with the train tracks there. It really is a piece of art.

I can't remember how long the Highline. I like it's something like a mile long. We walked the whole thing and back some. I loved how they had so many different seating areas. If I were to go back I would love to take pictures of all the different types of seating they had. The Highline is such a creative piece of work.

These lounge chairs was one of my favorite. Talk about creativity. Using the old train tracks they made moving lounge chairs. You can put them all next together or have a single one by itself. I loved it.

 I loved this guy and watch him for a time while I feed Mason. Notice his big block of ice to make shaved ice. I thought that was neat.

I loved watching the people. I loved seeing the locals there too and seeing them in their element. I didn't enjoy the couple sun tanning in their thongs though. Luckily I was the only one who saw since I was the one the back and watch them turn over.

So many beautiful buildings. I love the architect of this one below.

I never knew a picture like this would exist in the City well it does on the Highline. This picture looks like a big field with a few buildings in the background. I think the architects of the Highline really accomplished  what they set out to do and created a great meditation for residents and visitors to enjoy.

Here are the girls next to he water feature. Again how creative. With the limited amount of space and how narrow the High Line is  they still managed to succesfully create this enjoyable water feature. The girls loved it. Not only did kids enjoy this many adults including myself took off their shoes and walk on this moving water. 

Here is Addison playing on it.