nyc, part 2

the dramatic conclusion!

ferrying out to see lady liberty in all her glory:

touring ellis island:

and grand central station (i mean, the architecture in this city is just BEYOND!):

the oculus (see what i mean?): 

which was accompanied by a fantastic dinner with the even more fantastic maurones:  

meandering around central park in fall:

bethesda fountain:

and the one world trade center (view from the 9/11 memorial south tower pool):

we visited the 9/11 memorial and museum, which was one of the most profound things we did while in new york. i thought i knew a lot about 9/11 going in, but nothing really prepares you for the solemnity of that space and the artifacts and voices and stories collected there. so much information and depth is packed into the exhibits that, even though we spent several hours combing through them, we felt as if we had only scratched the surface. 

and for our final trick, a stop by times square on our walk back to our hotel after seeing come from away:

my eyes are totally puffy like that from all the crying i did during the play. it's so, so good. bryan even stayed awake the whole time and he said it was good. his exact words were, "that was better than i thought it would be," which, once translated from bryan into the more effusive language some of the rest of us use, means, "that was really, really good."

'twas a new york city broadway miracle.

the end.

no sleep till brooklyn

nyc, part 1

so bryan has been to new york a lot. like, a lot, a lot. like, he even spent a chunk of time this year going every single week. in fact, his trips were so consistent that he was recognized as a regular by the tuesday night manhattan temple crew.

anyhoo, before the year of super awesome transcontinental flights was over, he wanted to take me with for a quick trip and hit up the city like full-blown tourists.

and that, my friends, is exactly what we did. 

so without further ado, and in a totally randomly selected, non-consecutive order (split between two blog posts), here's a look see at some of what we did: 

crossed the booklyn bridge, of course.

took in the MoMA:

and the new york city public library:

and the MET:

30 rock:

the empire state building:

and st. patrick's cathedral (where we saw a wedding!):

besides sightseeing, there was the food. i had made a list of what i wanted to eat while we were in new york city, and per my usual, it ended up being mostly treats. we didn't get to everything (and we photographed even less than what we got to because, eating), but we managed to try cereal milk ice cream and crack pie at milk bar:

cookies from levain bakery (the peanut butter chocolate--not pictured--is AMAZING!):

and my first ever shackburger:

(i'm so sorry, in-n-out! i thought we were forever, but the shackburger was...better. in order to be absolutely sure, though, more testing of both burgers is most definitely and deliciously needed. stay tuned.)

and of course, we had to head up one night to see bryan's friends at the manhattan temple:

to be young and in love

in new york city.

bryan and i are back home from a quick getaway to the big apple (our first trip there as a couple!). we ate the food, saw the sights, saw the shows, stayed up late, and walked over thirty miles in four days.

we {heart} ny.

birthday girl

summer wheeler turned eleven years old yesterday.

summer is a friend, a musician, an artist, a reader. she is responsible and curious and (mostly) patient. she is confident and intelligent and imaginative and eager to please. she likes surprises and specialness and crafting and being warm and cozy and comfortable. she dislikes being alone and the broth in chicken noodle soup and when her baby brothers push her just a little bit too far.

summer is sensitive to the suffering of others. she has a heart as big as this world, and she uses it every day to lift and to lighten.

we love you, sweet summer! happiest of birthdays to the baby girl who was born with her eyes wide open, just taking it all in.

this is halloween!

um...who else has had that song stuck in their head since, like, october 1st? anyone? just me?

well, another halloween is officially in the books. this one marked a couple big transitions for our family festivities. first off, no handmade themed costumes (audible gasp!). i know, i know, but after last year's epic group costume send off  of our decade-long tradition, the kids were eager to pick out their own costumes (and in an effort to appear like i'm less controlling than people rightfully think i am, i let them).

caleb wanted to be a a tie fighter pilot. so, basically, no one knew who he was. his costume was confused a ton with darth vader--amateurs! but he got to carry around a sweet (unloaded) star wars nerf gun, so....he was pretty unfazed by any bouts of mistaken identity. next year he wants to go trick or treating by himself because the rest of us were taking the whole thing much too slowly for his liking. 

summer wanted to be a musketeer of the guard. honestly, i was kind of surprised she picked this one. remember, as a reward for being such good sports for the past ten halloweens, i literally handed the kiddos the costume catalog they had been drooling over every october for years and said they could pick *whatever they wanted.* go for it. sky's the limit. all that jazz. i feel like i know summer pretty well, and i just never would have predicted her selecting a musketeer costume. summer said she was enamored of the hat and the sword and the leg warmers. (side note: most musketeer costumes are missing....muskets for some reason.)

dallin's costume was also a surprise pick: a giant octopus! he was very pleased with this one for reasons yet unknown--he's never mentioned octopuses before *in his life,* and i really thought spider-man was a shoo-in here. but as it turns out, what do i know? as an added bonus, watching him waddle around with those extra bottom tentacles while trick or treating was an adorable sight christina and i are not soon to forget.

and finally, afton was quorra from tron. this is the heart of the reason why we did not do family costumes this year. afton is a really, really big fan of tron, especially quorra, and she has been wanting to do this costume for awhile. hers was the only one i made, and she was pleased as punch with how it turned out (although if you ask afton, she can pinpoint all the discrepancies between the one i made and the one quorra really wears). the identity disc i had shipped all the way from shanghai disney as that's the only place where they are still sold. my commitment to authenticity.

the second big change we made was not going downtown to trick or treat. it's just become a lot to fit in when the kids don't get home from school until almost 4pm and they also want to do night trick or treating (plus, dinner!).

i missed not going downtown more than i thought i would. it's so nice to take pictures and trick or treat and see all our friends and neighbors in the daylight hours. the above pics were taken at 6pm when it was already almost pitch black dark around these parts.

and just between you and me, i also really missed not doing family halloween costumes. again, i didn't think i would--they're a lot of work, we've done them for a long time, and the kids were really excited about their own costume selections--but the night of, i was legit sad they were missing.

so here's to growing up, girls and ghouls!

oh, and happy halloween!