History!

We decided to go to the American Museum of Natural History today. This place was HUGE!!! It had four floors with a ton of exhibits on each floor. Needless to say, we only got through 1 1/2 floors before everyone was ready to go. It had been pouring rain and really cold and so when the rain finally let up it was good to get out.

Everyone was pretty excited to see the dinosaurs so we went and checked those out first.

Kaley absolutely loved the museum which surprised me a little considering most kids her age would probably be bored. There was a room that was showing a movie that had something to do with organisms and, seeing there was a movie, Kaley decided she wanted to sit and watch. Of course I thought that as soon as she figured out what she was watching she would not be interested anymore. Boy was I wrong! She stayed and watched it like it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. She kept leaning over to me and saying "Did you hear what she (the narrator) said!? She said......" and she would try to repeat what she had just heard. It was so funny! It took a little convincing to get her to go to the next exhibit. She might have stayed there all day. :) She loved it all. As we were walking out of dinner later that night she said "I love the museum! It was fun!" Who knew?!

Tyler liked seeing the dinosaurs. He did ok at the museum. He wanted to be running around, but that got tricky since there were a TON of people and he kept running off. He ended up being a trooper and staying in the stoller for a good part of the time though. This was when we first got there and he was still free and loving it. :)

Richard told Kaley to go up to the dinosaur and roar at it. She got pretty into it.

This was an amazingly gigantic jelly fish. The picture doesn't really do the size justice...

Huge tree trunk!

This is how much I would weigh on Halley's Comet. Not even a pound...loved that. :)

This is how much Richard would weigh on the sun... 3,738lbs! Wow!

This was dinner. New York style pizza!!! Yum!!! And of course we folded the slices as we ate them.

After the museum we walked around for a little bit. It was interesting to see all shops and restaraunts. The entrances are all so small, but once you walked in it was a different story. As we were walking we stopped a couple and asked where they would recommend we ate. This was where they suggested and that it would be a place that would be more kid friendly than some places. They were actually headed there themselves and we ended up being seated right next to them.

Ice Skating in Central Park

We went ice skating in Central Park!!! Just as a sidenote -- we skated on Wollman Rink which is the rink where they filmed Serendipity!!! Kaley has been wanting to go ice skating for a long time (especially after watching it during the Olympics and practicing in our living room). So we thought it would be a good birthday activity. It was so cute to see how excited she was! We were all pretty excited!

I had this idea in my head that I would get on the ice and glide along hand in hand helping Kaley learn to skate. We finally got to the rink, put on our ice skates and headed down to the ice. Kaley and I went first. We walked down and took one step onto the ice...stood there for a minute.....then stepped right back off. :) I quickly realized that there was no way that I would be able to skate very well (seeing as how I've only been once before in my life) and definitely not with Kaley. That would not have ended well for either of us. :) So we walked back up the ramp where Richard agreed to go with her and I would go by myself. I got on the ice and I froze (hee hee I couldn't resist). I realized that I was about to skate around a huge block of ice on a very thin blade and try not to run into anyone or fall and break something. But, I went anyway. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go ice skating in Central Park no matter how pitiful my skating might be. :) The first time around I was as stiff as a stick and had a death grip on the wall. It was sad really, but I was glad to see I wasn't the only one struggling. I actually ended up going again and the second time was SO much easier. I wasn't stuck to the wall and I went a lot faster. I was definitely getting the hang of it. It was a blast!

Richard took Kaley several times around the rink. I don't know where and when he learned to ice skate, but he was really good. Trying to find a way to get Kaley around the rink was really tricky. This was how it ended up. Kaley would move her feet a little but mostly she was just pulled along. It was pretty funny.

Kaley loved ice skating!

Having fun!

After ice skating we decided to walk around Fifth Avenue a little. This was a cool sculpture that we saw.

We also stopped at FAO Schwarz. That is a really fun store to walk around and of course we had to check out the famous "Big Piano." (This isn't the best picture, but it's the only photo we have of us actually on it. Our time was up and I was trying to round up the kids.) :)

Richard even took Tyler. He had so much fun! The smile on his face was huge! I'm not sure why the video turned out so blurry when it was downloaded so you can't really see his face, but toward the end you can see Tyler moving his feet really fast. It is so cute and pretty funny too.

Four Years Old!!!

I can't believe that Kaley is four years old! It's gone by so fast! We are so blessed to have her in our family and we love her so much! We had a family party for her a couple of weeks before her actual birthday since we were going to be in New Jersey. She had a blast being with everyone and we appreciate everyone who came to help us celebrate.

Kaley is very into princesses right now. She wanted a Belle cake so this is what I made. Aside from Belle being a little lopsided I think it turned out alright. (My measurements were off so I had a hard time fitting her in, but I made her fit...luckily). :)
I saw this idea on a friend's blog and decided to give it a try. Super cute and easy to make! They were a big hit with everyone!

Ready to blow out the candles. Kaley's favorite thing to do! I love the look on her face! That's what it's all about!

Opening Presents! She got a lot of fun things this year! Thanks everyone!

This is Kaley on her birthday in New Jersey blowing out candles on her breakfast biscuit. :)

She is very into wanting to do everything Richard and I do and helping with whatever is going on. She insisted that she help make her own birthday cake!

Make a wish!!!

Another successful birthday!!!

New Jersey!

We made it to New Jersey! We are here for the next two months for work. Richard's company needed someone to come and work for Goldman Sachs during the tax busy season and we volunteered. It really is a once in a lifetime experience. I don't know when we would have another chance to have an all expense paid stay here in NJ/NY.

I was worried about how the kids would handle the 4 hour flight since this was their first time flying, but they did great! Kaley loved everything about it! The flight wasn't full so we ended up having 2 rows to ourselves which meant the kids had room to move around. There were little tv screens on the seats so that the kids could watch cartoons and they loved the snacks and drinks they gave us. I was grateful that everything went so smoothly.

We flew into JFK which is.....well....let's just say that most people try to avoid that airport. It was our only choice though because everything else was booked so there we were. We had 8 suitcases, 2 car seats, a double stroller and a couple of carry-on bags that we finally got into a van that was taking us to New Jersey (that was an adventure in itself). Getting from the airport to our apartment took two hours because it was rush hour (which is from 3-9pm we were told... long rush hour). Needless to say, we were very glad to finally get to our apartment.

We got lucky and got here just in time for the end of the worst snow storm that they have seen in about 60 years. :) The day after we got here it started snowing and it snowed for 31 hours straight. It didn't let up once during that time. I have never seen wind and snow like that, but I guess we can say we were a part of history. We are excited for all the things we will get to see and the experiences we will have.

This is the view from our living room window. Living in the city!

You can't really tell but the flakes that were falling were huge!

We decided to let the kids play in the snow by Richard's work. It is nice that he works so close. It's 6 minutes by Light Rail or about a 15 minute walk.

Waiting for the first ride on the Light Rail. They were both so excited to ride the "train."

Having fun in the snow!
This is the Goldman Sachs building. It has 42 floors!

Snow angel!

New York!!! Amazing!

This Statue of Liberty in the background!

This was the Korean War Memorial at the little park.

Jack-O-Lanterns!!

Tyler drew a few lines on his pumpkin but he liked watching everyone else more.

Kaley did a good job with her pumpkin. Richard carved the eyes and then Kaley poked holes with one of the little pumkin carving tools. She had fun.

Showing off their pumpkins...

Pumpkins!

(Top: Kaley's Left: Dad's Right: Mom's)

Hee Haws!

We had a good time at Hee Haws this year. It was very windy and cold but it was still a success.

Riding the little animal train...

This was a new little ride they had this year. You sit in the swing and someone pushes it around in a circle very slowly... Kaley got bored pretty quickly. :) This is her being a goof...

The big slide was definitely Kaley's favorite! The face is classic but she loved every minute of it!

Riding with dad and screaming all the way down!

Tyler, on the other hand, was not as excited about it... He went down a couple of times and this was the face he made every time they went. He doesn't like that "stomach drop" feeling. :)

The animals were Tyler's absolute favorite thing!

The big pig is always a hit. And it is BIG!!! :)

"Cheese!"

Another successful trip to the pumpkin patch!

A Night Out On The Town

Kaley had been asking if she could ride the train so we decided it would be fun to spend time downtown.

We met Richard at his office and walked to Temple Square (which is right across the street from his office building). It was a beautiful day and of course very beautiful surroundings. It is so amazing and peaceful.

I LOVE this picture!!!

After Temple Square we rode Trax ("the train") to The Gateway to walk around and play in the fountains. The kids had a blast!!! I was surprised that neither of them got very wet since you don't know where the water will come out next. Tyler had just learned to walk not too long before and was loving his new independence. It was so cute to see how excited he was and how much fun they were both having.

We rode Trax back to our car when we were done playing and as you can see Kaley loved every minute of it! It was a great night!

This is Tyler loving the fact that he can walk and loving the fountains.