Up High in the Sky

Leah's BFF Mayah invited us to Adventureland to celebrate her birthday. Matt and Louis went off together to go on the rides. Louis had a blast.

Here they are on the helicopter ride.

"It is a happy talent to know how to play"~Emerson

We were looking for something to do today so we decided to visit Eisenhower Park again. Unfortunately the playground we wanted to visit was closed but it's a huge park with many choices so we found other things to do.

Louis and Leah looked for grubs in the trees. Found some good ones. 

Our Self-Proclaimed Jester

Louis has really been enjoying being responsible for his outfit choices. Today he pulled out his Jester hat and proclaimed himself the 'Family Jester'. He's such a hoot and a ton of fun.

On our afternoon walk to the koi pond he told me some very silly (corny) jokes. He told me the koi loved them too.

Maybe he's right :)

Our Lil Rock Star

Spaghetti Face

Tea, Dinosaurs and More

On Monday we went into Manhattan and visited the American Museum of Natural History, while there I purchased a family membership. Today we headed back to Manhattan, our first stop was Alice's Tea Cup.

Louis and Leah enjoyed some tea.

We ordered quite a bit of food for our breakfast tea. 

All of it was delicious and very little was left over (1 scone). 

 

After breakfast we went over to Central Park to play. 

We put the family membership into use and visited two of the exhibits we skipped on Monday. This 'Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration exhibit was perfect for the kids. Louis has been learning all about the solar system the past month and was excited to check everything out. He rode on my back for some of the exhibit. He was tired and it was very busy.

When we came to the section on Mars he was ready to get down. His current favorite planet is Mars. This interactive space exploration computer program was incredible.

They had a model of what working on Mars would be like. Louis loved the idea of being on Mars.

We went up to the fourth floor and checked out the dinosaurs. It was not as busy as it was on Monday which made it the perfect time to visit.

We grabbed some hot dogs after the museum and ate them in Central Park.

Louis wanted to climb the rocks by the Ladies' Pavilion. Off they went.

We stopped at one of the many playgrounds. I fed Gabriel while Louis and Leah played in the sandbox.

Alice in Wonderland statue...we had a mishap right after this photo was taken with both Leah and Louis missing their footing and falling. Fortunately they were both okay, so a little shaken up.

Traveling on my own with three kids may sound like a difficult thing to do but the three of them travel so well. They know safety comes first and rarely is there a problem. Louis loves taking the trains and heading into Manhattan has become one of his favorite things to do, especially the dinosaurs at the museum.

Here comes the Tickle Monster!

Gabriel loves to go into Louis' bed and play there. Today Louis decided it would be a good idea to tickle Gabriel. They were so cute together.

My beautiful boys. 

Mister! Throw me some beads!

We came back from our trip to New Orleans with a suitcase full of beads. A year later the kids still love playing with them. If you walk through our house among the random other things children are known to play with, wayward socks our cats steal from the laundry baskets? You will find beads.

Easter 2012

We started the day with the kids opening their Easter baskets. We (well I) may have gone a bit overboard with them. One individualized bucket for each child.

And one large basket with something for everyone, to share, mostly for Leah and Louis.

After opening up the baskets we had breakfast. Then it was egg dyeing time. Louis chose orange as his first dye choice. No surprise there. He was very careful about dunking his egg.

He took this all very seriously.

Leah and Louis made decorations to hang up.

Afterward we all got dressed up in our Sunday best and headed out to meet Grandma Ruth, Grandpa George and Aunt Lindsay for brunch.

After a delicious brunch we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for MORE baskets full of Easter goodies.

I've been trying to take photos of all the kids together as much as possible. Fortunately Grandma and Grandpa's house has a great yard which is perfect for photos.

Louis attempted to blow some bubbles. He had a bit of trouble but eventually got the hang of it.

Playing with sticks and dirt.

I set up a small Easter Egg Hunt for Louis and Leah outside our house. It was a nice way to wrap up a long, fun day.

Enjoying the fruits of their labor, Easter candy!