curtain call .

 Miss A loves to hide in the curtains, whip the curtains around herself, and pretend they are a dramatic cape or dress. Here she is probably imitating Rapunzel talking back to the evil Mother Gothel saying, "I...am the lost...PRINCESS!" 

le petit prince .

  These are two of my favorite photos of little Teddy . . . does he not make a sweet little prince?!

teddy & megan .

I finally got to take pictures of little baby Teddy & his mommy, Megan!

I had been waiting for the right moment so I could catch these two . . . and after 3 or 4 times of rescheduling (how many was it Megan?!) with kids getting sick/life getting in the way, we actually met up and took a few photos! Here is the cutie-pie, himself . . .

and these two crack me up . smiling in his sleep!

sweet dreams, Teddy . . .

annabell

Recently, had my old roomie, Annabell, in town for a fun weekend! ate some good food,

played with the kids, and took a little tour of the new & improved msc. It was a blast from the past,

and we laughed our way through there as we reminisced and walked quite a ways down

memory lane (smile). 

Thanks for coming over, annabell!

PS: you totally won both j/a's hearts :) they talk about you all of the time!

bluebonnets, b & w

bluebonnets

Out-takes! This is what most of the pics consisted of before 

Mr. Ladybug made his appearance and had the kids mesmerized . . . HA.

 (this is actually a favorite of J . . . this is SO him!)

nyc -- "a three hour tour", part deux

So gorgeous at twilight . . . things change so quickly, it was so vibrant.  These are some of my favorite pics!

(already posted the b&w of Lady Liberty, but I love the color as well. each give a totally different vibe!)

nyc - "a three hour tour . . ."

FREE BOAT RIDE, ANYONE??!

after a long day in the city, lauryn and i hopped on the Long Island Rail Road (me, with a huge slice of pizza i bought at the station . . . nothing like THAT at midnight on the train with a soda!!  droooooool .) and were relaxing. the family across the isle from us caught our eye . . . there were probably 7-8 people total, teenagers to aunts, uncles, parents.  it was a family from Holland and they were having the BEST time. we were entertained and laughing just being near them! finally, we started talking to them and really enjoyed our conversation, ending with taking some pictures (with their camera, i believe . . . i think my phone was dead, i was so bummed).

all of this to say, they remembered they had some spare tickets they didn't use from their sightseeing package - - for a Midtown Harbor Cruise!  lauryn and i were pumped and most definitely took them up on their extras. here is what we got to do (for FREE, people!!!)

NY Harbor Midtown Cruise (through City Sights NY)

the cruise took us around with views of--

-Empire State Building

-Statue of Liberty

-Ellis Island

-Governors Island

-Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg Bridge

-great views of the NY skyline

-South Street Seaport

-etc . . .

We decided to do the evening cruise (started at twilight and was dark pretty soon into it).

The pros of that were that it was way less crowded (the boat the unloaded when we arrived in the afternoon was PACKED like sardines. i almost turned around and left, but lauryn convinced me otherwise!!), it was SO nice to see the city at night, with all the lights, and it was a super relaxing way to end the day.

The cons-- having to leave the piers when it was dark/late (post cruise....before was totally fine) didn't particularly feel like the safest thing we've done in the city. that area of town is just abandoned this time of night and you end up isolated. we hoofed it b/c it was so dark and not many people were around.  we felt much better the closer to the center of town we got-- it becomes almost like daytime because of the amount of people/community around, not to mention all of the lights.  So, i would either recommend a daytime cruise (for safety) or the evening one and just getting a cab 'inland' until you see loads of people again. Then you'll be good to go!

More pictures from the actual cruise to follow . . .

nyc - 2013 birthday trip . . .

here we go again . . . lauryn and i head out tomorrow! can't wait to see Lady Liberty and stroll around her city. kids - have fun with mom and granny! matt - enjoy a little break and i'll see you in a week!

 . . . shipping out . . .