Liam's 9th birthday

Liam's 9th birthday! Cake and ice cream with cousins and grandma & grandpa. We went to Great Wolf Lodge for Liam's birthday. It was probably the first...and last time we will go...for several years at least. Too many little ones running off in complete opposite directions! Chad and me were outnumbered and the kids won. Sigh.

Felicity's 2nd birthday!

Ya...not really sure where the whole cake pictures went. But here's a few of her on her birthday.

NYC, part 4

We went to church on sunday in the building where the temple is. Chad especially loved the services. For sacrament meeting, people could come up and request their favorite hymn and we'd sing one verse of it. The organ player was amazing! He not only could play every song, but he added key changes and special accompaniment and trills throughout. It was fun. Outside of the temple/church, were the giving machines. We donated a soccerball, since it's something that Chad is personally passionate about. It was cool because several things you could buy were through other churches. Catholic ministries was one of them I remember seeing. It's cool to see other faiths joining together for the common good of others. We got to see Frozen on Broadway. That one was fun. This is where the ball would drop. It looks much bigger on tv. I really wanted to make a stop into Adorama or B&H photo while we were in New York. We squeezed in B&H just before we left. I'm assuming that it is owned by Jewish owners because the majority of the employees were wearing skull caps. I got to try out several lenses that I've been drooling over, even if it was just taking shots in the interior of the store. I enjoyed it. :)

NYC, part 3

We rode a tourist hop on/hop off bus and it would've been pretty cool, but all the audio wasn't working so we couldn't hear what the tour guide was saying. We got off near Central Park and took a stroll. We made our way to the American Museum of Natural History. My kids were so excited to watch Night At the Museum after they found out that their mom and dad had gone there. Rockefeller Plaza One of the highlights of the trip for me- Top of the Rock.

The Christmas tree at Rockefeller Plaza We caught the tail end of a light show on Saks. And that night we saw the broadway show Waitress. Sara Baralies wrote the music and that was fun to hear, but the plot line was disturbing for me. I didn't know that it was essentially about an affair. In the end, they end things and go their separate ways, but it made me frustrated that they really minimized the consequences of the affair. They seemed to say, we had our fling and we stopped it so it's all okay & we can go back to normal life. I was left thinking about all the potential drama lying in the future and burden of secrets that would weigh on the characters' consciences. I believe in second chances and repentance, but I didn't see any sort of repenting, just the stopping of bad behavior. So I thought it an oversimplification to have a happy ending to the play. Needless to say, I wouldn't recommend this one.