NYC - the Greatest City in the World!

It's just a week past our annual NYC trip and I'm missing the city already. It warms my heart and makes me so proud that Emer loves this city almost as much as I do. This blog post will be filled w/ pix from our trip along with a few highlights that show just how much we have grown to love the melting pot of America :)
In recent years we have found hotels in offbeat, less tourist areas of Manhattan b/c we, well at least I, prefer pretending we live in NYC when we are there. This time Steve went w/ us again and he wanted to stay in the heart of things - Times Square and the theatre district! So we stayed at the Novotel which is a French-owned hotel. I don't know if it was our location or the fact that this is a European hotel, but I only heard one other family w/ an American accent in our hotel. And I have to admit, it was quite refreshing to be surrounded by so many different types of people. Saturday night the balcony bar was turned into a Latin nightclub that pumped music clear into the night. We could hear it from our room, but I was the only one awake wishing I was downstairs dancing! Sunday night some African American group had rented the balcony bar and we were regaled w/ everything from hip hop to traditional African music. It was truly a melting pot of a hotel!

The hotel bar  > 

And views from the balcony bar  > 

When we arrived in the city I had one agenda and that was to get to the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. The artist Dale Chihuly had a large exhibit of blown-glass sculptures throughout the gardens and I love his work so I wanted to see it. So, Fri., we hopped on the Metro North train and headed to the gardens. Here are a few of our favorite scenes:

 

 

Saturday was truly a "we live here" kind of day. We hopped on the Subway and took it to Washington Square Park.

This is a new park for us and one where Emer made a new friend (of course!) Our main mission was to eat John's of Bleecker St. pizza and the park was pretty close to the pizza place so we stayed to let Emer play until it was time to head to lunch. Let me just say this - Never doubt Steve's pizza-picking ability! This was by far the best, most delicious pizza we've ever had!!! John's may become a regular spot for us. On another note, it was fun eating there b/c when we walked in there was a little league team celebrating their end-of season awards. A bunch of 4-and 5-year-olds were eating pizza and being given awards for MVP, Best Attitude, etc. Too cute!

Saturday afternoon I decided to walk next door to the theatre where Cats was playing and see how much tickets might be. I scored affordable tickets! Emer and I enjoyed the show and she's still singing the songs :) I love, love, love that I have a Broadway fan for a daughter!

Emer's favorite day came on Sunday when we took the D train an hour south to Coney Island. Oh yes, we spend over 3 hours playing at the beach! Imagine this - 93 degrees F, a slight breeze, the smell of sand, salt and sunscreen, people packing the beach as far as the eye can see, but plenty of open sand to create sand castles, families, young adults, teenagers, and chilly ocean water! Life was perfect. And I've decided I'll be moving Brooklyn some day, heehee!

 After the beach we had Nathan's for lunch (I definitely recommend the clam po' boy!), Emer rode a couple of big rides, and we headed back on the F train. What a perfect day!

Our trip sadly came to an end on Monday. We slept in, hung out a bit, and enjoyed Katz's deli for lunch. You didn't think Steve would go to NYC without getting his pastrami fix, did you??
Our flight wasn't until 8:05pm so Emer and I just wandered the city a bit more, ending up in Rockefeller and checking out some fun Lego creations at the Lego store. There is really no way to be bored in New York City...

 

Major Updates!

Apparently this blog will be updated every 6 or so months now...so here's a quick recap of Emer's life since beginning 3rd grade...
She did join the swim club! She's been in swimming since October and is loving it. And so am I! She's pretty good - especially at breast stroke. She's gotten 2nd place in every meet for breast stroke. She's done very well with backstroke and freestyle as well. Butterfly is a work in progress. She does a pretty good job but hasn't gotten fast enough yet to be competitive. She'll get there though, I'm sure. I'm really proud of her! She works hard, is good, and enjoys herself. It's the perfect combination!

This wouldn't be an update blog without a picture of Halloween! So...

Emer was a pirate this year! Somehow we went from multiple costumes last year to just one this year. Whew, so much easier for me, haha! This picture was taken at the Colts Kids Club Halloween party. She was also a pirate at Lake Rudolph where we made our golf cart into a pirate ship! Halloween continues to be so much fun!!!!

At Christmas we didn't get to NYC this year. As I write this I'm still missing my city! Emer and I had a conversation recently about NYC. She's very insightful at times. We were talking about where we might move to in the future. I said I really wanted to live in NYC. She did not. (Of course she doesn't want to leave IN...) When I asked her why not she said that if we lived there then we wouldn't have our annual tradition of visiting. Huh...that makes sense...I still want to live there!

Let's jump forward to spring break. Emer and I set off for her first international flight! We spent 10 days in Portugal!!! It was so much fun! The country is wonderful - filled w/ nice and helpful people, castles, delicious food, and new adventures. While we were there we met up with Stephen Miller from Ireland and his daughter. That was possibly the highlight of our trip. Emer and his daughter Lily became instant friends, almost like sisters. There's nothing like traveling to one country to make friends with someone from yet another country! It's so international of Emer  :)
Here are a few highlights from our trip:

BOS airport!

 The famous Arch in Lisbon!

 Belem (the castle and Monument to the Discoverers!

 Outside the Monastery.

 National Tile Museum!

 Oceanaria! (the greatest aquarium ever!)

 The obligatory McDonald's from Lisbon!! (Hey, it's a long-standing tradition!)

 Boca de Inferno (Mouth of Hell)

 Coffees and hot chocolates to warm up from the beach!

 Cascais: where else would you eat but an Irish pub?!

 Traditional Portuguese meal in Sintra.

 First of two castles in Sintra!

 Chickens! (A national Portuguese symbol, all over the park in Cascais!)

 Cascais beach!

 The university near our last location, back in Lisbon!

 Mmmm, what a fabulous lunch!

 Castle Jorge!

Last day's hot chocolate and adventuring!

And this brings us to now...spring break is over, school is back in session, swimming has started up again, and life is nearly back to normal.
The next blog will feature things like Emer's quest for braces, her continued effort to lose a tooth in a new location, and updates on swimming or any other adventures she gets into. I continue to love being her mom and think she's just about the greatest living being in the world. She will always amaze me, I think. I <3 3="" br="" emerson="">

Summer Nutshell

I don't know how the time goes so quickly that I don't have a moment to keep up this blog on my growing-like-a-weed child, but sometimes it just does! Since I last blogged we've gone to NYC as a family, Emer has turned 8, I got a new Jeep (Beast Boy!), Steve got a new Mustang, and we have a garden full of tomatoes carrots, and one pumpkin! Emer and I are planning a Spring Break trip to Portugal (although the prices keep going up and I'm getting a bit worried we should have booked this trip 3 weeks ago...) which will be her first overseas trip. I'm super excited b/c it looks fantastic and beautiful over there. I will, of course, keep you all posted on how things turn out and you know there will be pix galore!

In the meantime, she has begun 3rd grade w/ a new teacher who she says, "Is the best teacher ever!". I love that she thinks this of every teacher she has. Her best friend from New Augusta South has moved over to Fishback. This is great news since her friend, Kirsten, and her boyfriend, Malcolm, both moved away this summer. It's helped to have new excitement to start the school year. So far she's managed well to introduce and enjoy her old best friend, her new best friend, and many other friends!

Garden Club recently started up again. And she's deciding if she's going to try Swim Club or stick w/ tennis. Emer played tennis all summer - playing in her first matches! She enjoyed it but didn't seem to learn much. She definitely does better when she's playing with kids who are better than her and this summer she was the best. (I should have prefaced this by saying she was one of the few who had ever played tennis before this summer!)

And well there you have it! That's basically our summer in a nut shell. In a couple of weeks we're going to an event to benefit Pike Township Schools - Jazz on the Green. Emer still loves jazz music and you know what? So do I! It should be a fun evening w/ family, great music, and delicious Cajun food! Until then...enjoy this movie starring Emer as "student w/ one line in the back row":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFtUiQbbkWs

Four Day Weekend!!

Well I haven't written here in too long and now I'm have finishing a blog I started a month and a half ago and writing a new one! I just couldn't resist writing a blog about today. So here goes:

The day began as we both woke up at 7:54ish. I was stirring and the next thing I know Emer is staring at me in bed. She had just woken up and figured it was close enough to 8:00 that I might be up. Neither of us were fully awake so it was kind of funny. I told her our agenda (I had to work for one hour then we could hang out downtown doing whatever we decided to do) and she headed downstairs. I got up a few minutes later and found her on the coach playing with some stuffed animals. Such a creative spirit when electronics aren't numbing her brain!

After breakfast and getting dressed we left the house at 10:00 for work. Emer continues to be fantastic for me at work! I didn't have any packets or anything for her to work on so she brought a book (which she never cracked open!) and a barn of My Little Ponies. She spent an hour playing My Little Ponies while I made calls to coach people. Again, creativity was in full force for her!

Just before noon we finally headed out for our adventure! We literally walked 6.59 miles today! We started at IUPUI, headed to Georgia St. by way of CVS (sun lotion was a necessity!), back up to the circle, all the way up 330 steps to the top of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, over to the canal, and back to IUPUI!

In between this walking we had lunch on Georgia St. from Food Truck Friday. Note the pulled pork in her box and the vegetarian delight in mine, haha!

Remember that creativity I've talked about already? Well this Chickpea decided to make up games along Georgia St. after lunch. It turns out the huge vents on the side walk blow air which smells like a pool and feels like a giant cool breath from the earth. Lots of fun to a happy-go-lucky 7 year old!

Of course we couldn't just go back to the car. The circle was calling out to us. More games, along with songs were flowing from Emer's mind out into the world! It was beautiful to see the fountains running, the sun shining, and smiles on kids and adults alike. Just as I was getting super thirsty and on a hunt for a water fountain, Emer had the notion to go up the monument again. 330 steps up. 330 steps down. From the top we had fun trying to find IUPUI and locate swimming pools and gardens that looked like perfection. Back at the bottom we were told there was a water fountain in the museum. Well all good adventure-seeking girls know you can't just go in a museum for water. You have to spend time walking through the museum and learning!

As we headed back towards the canal I was waiting for some kind of sign that I'd worn out Emer. It never came. In fact, I had said I wanted to check out the peddle boat prices and maybe we could do that some day this summer. That day was today! We didn't make it through the Historical Society b/c we were too busy peddling up and down the canal in the heart of the city. Despite the driver's (Ok, that was me!) inability to keep us in a straight line, we had a beautiful trip through artwork covered bridges, duck and geese picnics, and avoiding sculptures and fountains.

Back on IUPUI's campus we walked a section of the Cultural Trail, stopping for pictures and to play at a sculpture along the way. This was the most adventure in one day that we'd ever had in downtown Indy! We both agreed that it felt like a day in NYC and it was fabulous!

*** City Girls Adventures ***

Spring Break!

It's Spring Break! Emer has two and a half weeks off this year. She's spending the first week bouncing between going to work w/ me and hanging out w/ Gigee and Poppy. She went to work on Saturday w/ me and was fantastic. She entertained herself by making up stories, reading, and drawing pictures. Then she helped me put together packets for an event we have coming up next week. She is the best helper ever! We finished our Saturday w/ a walk to the Lincoln Square Pancake House just off campus. (FYI, I'm working as a health coach at the National Center of Excellence in Women's Health which is a part of the OBGYN Dept. of the IU School of Medicine.) When we finally got home she practiced piano, including roping me into playing a duet w/ her, haha! And finally getting her first win ever against me in foosball! It couldn't have anything to do w/ the fact that she played several rounds w/out me even at the table...
The second week of her Spring Break we went to Orlando!

 While there we took Gigee to Gatorland for her birthday. Emer loved teasing me about the terrifying alligators (these are freaking HUGE and so scary!!!!). We also got to zip line OVER the gators! This was awesome! Neither Emer nor I have ever been zip lining and I'm pretty sure we're hooked now.

 Of course we had to go to Disney World for a day! Our day started out fresh and excited:

 And ended a little wet (from Animal Kingdom raft ride!), late and still happy:

--> Emer continues to grow and change in the most positive ways. She's doing really well in school. She has a couple of best friends that we both love - Greta is her best girlfriend and Malcolm is her boyfriend. (heehee, they are too cute!). Tonight she was just invited to her first sleepover w/ another friend. She says she wants to go so we'll see how it all turns out. I really hope she is able to make it through the night!
Sleepover Update: she was not able to stay but it's OK. She had a great time and didn't miss us at all until the girls went to bed at 10:30. She was trying so hard to be brave! We all agreed we'd try again sometime :