Advice from a child

Today I was told, "you have to accept that you're old and I'm young so I know more, stop questioning me" . Doesn't that just tell me what's what.
Later I saw a post on fb that said, I'm laughing so hard I feel a six pack coming on, we'll that's how hard I was laughing inside.

Goodbye lunches at American Girl

As we get ready for Grandma Susan to go to Japan for 18 months for her mission we've had some wonderful opportunities to make some memories and take some pictures. Somehow I have never taken Elle to the American Girl Cafe by us. When they first built the store Elle was young and very interested but it was a several month wait to get in and so I never called back. What a delightful time they had, I'm so grateful that Susan thought of it! The girls brought their dolls who were given special chairs and their own tea cups :) The food was adorable and the drinks cute. They even have a box on the table full of interesting conversation starters! We will treasure this fun time with Grandma!

Daddy Daughter Dance

We've had a fun journey through the years of father daughter dances at the elementary school. I think we missed the first 2 years because she was young and I didn't know it was important. Then in 2nd grade we finally bought the tickets, she wore a cute little plaid and denim skirt and Kirk was casual. Boy did I hear about it. As if I was supposed to know this was a fancy event! We've gotten much better. This year we even had coursages. Problem was, as usual I procrastinated and forgot until the last minute and then I found out it was going to cost $22!!! Thats stupid. So I made one... well 2. The first one I guess I got a little carried away, so it was big and beautiful. Elle loved it but demonstrated it was hard to dance with :) So I made a little one, and a matching boutonniere for Kirk. They looked so cute. The dance started at 6:30 and Elle was ready at 5:50 and ready to go. By 6:20 I was pushing him out the door. He wanted to show up at 7 and be cool, but Elle wasn't having it. I reminded him that this was her night and if she wanted to be there when the door opened he needed to do it. He's such a great guy! Elle says all of her friends are jealous how much he dances with her and slides her on the floor between her legs. And bonus Mike and Lily were there this year so both of them had another friend, who then got TCBY after with them!

New York the final day

The competition was fierce. there were 127 boys competing and Aj was grouped with 11-16 year olds. He was able to earn any medals but it was a close call in several events. Overall he actually had his personal best meet of the season. The had 2 cadets from the college sing the National Anthem which was so moving I wish I had taped it. The main coach for the Army team was there and we went and talked to the boys before they left the locker room and you heard 127 boys yell hoorah, I loved it. Because the meet was so big they ran over time by almost 2 hours and I was really worried that Aj and I would miss our train, shuttle, flight so we caught a ride to the airport with the 5 coaches, a little awkward but not too bad. Because of that we got there in 1.5 hours instead of the all day event when you take a cab to the train, a shuttle to the airport! But then we were there 5 hours early. I'm like, Dude we cannot spend our last 5 hours in the airport!!! So I admit I splurged and we took a taxi back to Soho on canal street where I bought me and Elle and knockoff designer purse for cheap! There we are in China town and Little Italy and all Aj wants to Burger King, so we did because overall he was such a good sport!! Then I thought I was so cool and got us on a subway I thought to GCS.... but it was actually Union Square. BUT then we got to see Madison Square Gardens and the Iron building. Super cool for me, amazing buildings on that block. I just love all the architecture there. We found the right subway and still were early for our shuttle so we ran/walked 6 blocks to take our pictures in the Empire State building and bonus I got a picture with a giant David Beckham.

New York Day Two

If we were there for longer AJ could have slept in and enjoyed his bed more, but we only had until 3:00 to explore before taking a train to West Point. Once he was up it was worth it! I hailed my first cab :) We meet some gym friends for breakfast at Max Brenners Chocolatier in Union Square and OH. MY. GOSH. For starters Aj ordered make it ourself hot chocolate. It was a cup of milk heating over a tee candle to keep it warm, a bowl of fabulous chocolate chunks, and a bowl of milk to refill. You use the spoon to put in as much chocolate chunks as you want then the spoon is actually the straw as well. Of course I got a side of marshmallows as well. He had so much fun, I really should have bought the set because he loved it so much. Then for breakfast Aj ordered Chocolate, Chocolate Chocolate pancakes. They were chocolate pancakes with chocolate chips, with chocolate sauce in a beaker to pour over the top and chocolate krispys to sprinkle, oh and sliced bananas in a carmel sauce. So beautiful to look at it, it would be a fun birthday breakfast idea. I got a omelet with spinach and goat cheese, with a biscuit sprinkles with cinnamon and sugar and a pot of chocolate to dip it in. And I did. Then we walked through Strand which I'm told is the largest book store in New York and I wanted everything.

Next we went to Rockerfeller Center. This was the toughest part of the trip for me, I really wanted to go to the top of the Empire State Building, but it was twice the cost as the Top of the Rock and said to take 2 or 3x as long to get to the top. So we decided to do the Rock. Totally cool. we could see everything up there. And there is a app that you download and when you open it you point your phone toward the skyline and it shows you through your view finder all the names of the buildings you are looking at. I loved it. Aj loved looking through the viewfinders and seeing the Statue of Liberty. And of course we got the picture of AJ and buddy doing handstands with the Empire State Building between them :)

Our friends left us at that point and we walked up 5th avenue to Central Park. I don't know if Aj enjoyed that as much as I did, but boy did I love it. He was more interested in watching the cab drivers and seeing the homeless people sitting in boxes. We went through St Patricks, I guess it's the largest cathedral in NY and he hadn't been in one before. It was beautiful and so different from what he is used to. People were kneeling on the benches in front of their chosen saint and praying with hands lifted. He lit a candle because of course, it meant he got to play with fire for even a minute. Central Park is so big and we did not have the time to see more then the pond and walk through the zoo really quick, we saw the gates that Poppers Penguins used and the clock and statue gate from Madagascar :) Then on our way back we stopped through Fao Swartz, can I say WOW?  We met our friends at GCS at took our first train ride up the Hudson river to West Point. Of course after we took the hand stand picture in GCS. West Point was so cool, but we got to see very little of it and mostly at night. I would have needed a whole other day there. We had to choose between spending our first day in Manhattan or West Point, it was tough but we had fun. We went and say the collegiate level gymnasts competing and wow is that a site to see. I've never seen such muscles in my life! The aerials and tricks they do defy gravity for sure!

The gate into West Point

 

New York with Aj day One

Aj had I whirlwind trip to New York this weekend for a gymnastics meet. When I tried to pull our my favorite picture from each place we saw I ended up with 27 pictures.

First off the shuttle from LGA dropped us of at Grand Central Station which was celebrating it's 100 anniversary that day. They had Caroline Kennedy speaking, the Philharmonic Orchestra played some pieces, dancing, singing it was amazing. We were supposed to be meeting some friends at the 9/11 Memorial site at 4, and I couldn't check into our hotel until 3 so we walked around the station then went and explored the city around us. We found;

 New York City Library! We took a picture outside what we call the Ghostbuster door, since this is where they ran out of the library :) I tried to get AJ to sit on the Lion but he agreed to lean on the lion. In his defense there was a lot of ice. Did I mention it was 20 outside?
                                        

I had no maps yet I had no idea where I was going and so missed the Empire State building by 3 blocks, but don't worry I found it later. Instead after the library I made a turn and found the Chrysler Building. By then we were frozen and went back to GCS where we stood inline to get a free commemorative train whistle. Then we checked into our hotel. Some friends were staying there and said it was a "experience". It was like living in a IKEA bedroom. It had bunk beds with just enough room to stand beside them and a small bathroom with a partially frosted glass door. No I didn't shower there :) Aj LOVED it! And it was cheap, and we had our our tvs.

After playing in our room we took our first subway ride, it was packed and nerve wracking and no one really was helpful. Luckily I got on the right one and then managed to get off at the right station. It was cool to be to be at the site that I have seen so often on tv. I know I will never completely understand what it looked like when the towers fell. The 2 pools are a beautiful tribute. I think they are unique, the water continuous flowing down the water fall and then into the pool below that you cant see into, the names written in the bronze around the pool with lights underneath so they glow, was so beautiful. The museum isn't open yet but you could look into the windows and see the Tridents that were on the front of the towers displayed there. To see such massive metal twisted was amazing. Inside the small temporary museum store there is a short video and a picture timeline on the wall that I could barely look at it's still so poingant. Cool mementos that were typically expensive. Our friends hadn't arrived yet so I got Aj who is the best sport ever to run the 5 or so blocks to take pictures at the Raging Bull statue! I would have liked to go a little farther and see more financial district but it was so freezing cold.

The new Freedom Tower being built next door.

After playing in our room we took our first subway ride, it was packed and nerve wracking and no one really was helpful. Luckily I got on the right one and then managed to get off at the right station. It was cool to be to be at the site that I have seen so often on tv. I know I will never completely understand what it looked like when the towers fell. The 2 pools are a beautiful tribute. I think they are unique, the water continuous flowing down the water fall and then into the pool below that you cant see into, the names written in the bronze around the pool with lights underneath so they glow, was so beautiful. The museum isn't open yet but you could look into the windows and see the Tridents that were on the front of the towers displayed there. To see such massive metal twisted was amazing. Inside the small temporary museum store there is a short video and a picture timeline on the wall that I could barely look at it's still so poingant. Cool mementos that were typically expensive. Our friends hadn't arrived yet so I got Aj who is the best sport ever to run the 5 or so blocks to take pictures at the Raging Bull statue! I would have liked to go a little farther and see more financial district but it was so freezing cold.
After that our friends arrived and we rode our first taxi to Little Italy where we ate amazing food and paid too much. Our friends then went to see Spiderman in Broadway but Aj wasn't really interested and I didn't want to spend that much if he didn't care. We walked up and down Times Square, freezing our butts off but it's an amazing site. The Toys R Us store there is so incredible they had lego displays that had our 500,000 bricks. We liked the Empire State building in legos complete with gorilla the best!

Solid legos!! Aj wants to know how to get that job!

The 2013 crystal ball is till up there but it's glowing so you can't see it :)

And that was day One.

Knoxville Meet

Last weekend Aj had a competition in Knoxville Tennesee. Its a pretty big meet and there are kids competing from all over the country, which means really tough to earn anything.  Anyway, Aj did very well, he posted his usual type of scores for this season which is good. It got him a 7th place over all and a few 4th and 5th places. Unfortunately they only gave out medals to the 3rd place which is strange and unfortunate. ANyway once they were giving out the medals a boy on AJ's team who is in a different age group was accidentally put in his group and then won a medal AJ would have gotten if the boy wasn't there. It was I think the first time we left a meet with no medals and Aj who is always a good sport was pretty bummed. And bummed to know he should have gotten at least one. Well last night at practice the boy gave AJ the medal he should have earned, Aj tried really hard to not take it, saying of course it's ok and not to worry about it. But what a nice gesture by this little 9 year old boy!