New York City

of course i downloaded the pics in order instead of backwards, so you will enjoy our visit to nyc backwards! this is kaila, she guided us around the city beautifully and then drove us home in the big van too!

Rockefeller Center

Mai and I in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral, it is under restoration at the moment

Emmi pointing out Hoboken, home of the Cake Boss, at the train station...next time for sure!

The Apple Store on Fifth Avenue covered with post it notes to the late Steve Jobs

surfing down the escalator at FAO Schwarz toy store

loved this fountain

emmi and her friend kayla

uwe and kaila at street vendor lunch time

andrew hoping the birds don't attack him and take his gyro!

brandon wanted me to take a shot of the "love" since he did an art project on it last year

chaotic Times Square

Toys R Us

not sure what these two are doing, but those pumpkins in the background were selling for $24.99 each!

andrew and the giant tennis racket outside macy's

good morning america studio, uwe designed the glass for this

biggest post office ever!

empire state building

mason and i goofing off on the train

patiently waiting on the train

mason would not leave the pigeons alone!!!

Columbus Day 2011

Bright and early, okay not so early but for a day off of school it was early, Brandon had an oral surgeon appointment to have 4 teeth pulled. He has had at least 8 teeth pulled due to big teeth, extra teeth and a small mouth, just in size not in volume. He is so brave about it. Dr. Koterwas is awesome!!! Brandon is giving laughing gas, then an i.v. and knows nothing for 10 minutes. He is so darn funny coming out of the meds. Last time he talked about cross country skiing, this time he talked about Rocky and Philadelphia. The nurses and I helped him to the car and off we went home for him to relax for a few hours.

After lunch, we hopped in the big van and picked up the Monheims, minus Chris. Rachel and I ventured with the crew to Mister Ed's Candy and Elephant museum out past Caledonia. The kids were in sugar nirvana! After some time of making big decisions of what to pick, a few fudge samples and browsing, we left with plenty of candy in tow.

Next, we stopped at Aldi's for some grocery shopping. Not sure why I thought this was a good idea after my children consumed a week's worth of sugar, but nonetheless, we made it through the store without any major mishaps. We did score some mongo pumpkins for $2.49 each! yippee! we grew a bunch of pumpkins in our garden this year, but no jack o lanterns.

We dropped Rachel off at home with her groceries and Nick and Elise came home with us for an hour so Rachel could get some things done. Elise and Brandon love to hang out on the computer together and Nick and Andrew went for a spin around the yard on the four wheeler (much to his momma's dismay! oops, sorry!)

Fun day off with the kiddos!

I'm back!

So...it has been a fun and fast summer to say the least! The boys attended many summer camps, we vacationed at Mimi and papa's for a week and Dutch wonderland, the beach for a day, visited family and of course went bowling and for ice cream at Mimi's fav spot. Brandon even went to an all day camp at mercersburg academy and stayed overnight the last night. Thinh bought a pool off of craigslist last fall and installed this summer. We entertained a ton and have been having a blast having our friends over to swim. We are prepping for our next adventure...a trip to Calgary to visit the quach's ! And, upon our return home...mason starts kindergarten, Andrew begins 2nd grade and Brandon enters his final year at Benjamin chambers in the 5th grade! As soon as I figure out how to load pics fom this iPad...I will add some! One step at a time...

THE GIGANTIC Winter of 2011 Post!