Remember the episode of Friends where Ross is dating one of his students and doesn't trust her to go on Spring Break with her college friends? Obviously I do, because any time I hear the phrase "Spring Break," I think of the line "Spring Break...WOOHOO!" that recurred throughout that episode. Somebody please tell me they know what I'm talking about!!!
Anyway, Spring Break (WOOHOO!) 2012 was certainly one for the books, so I'll walk you through it photojournalistically. Yup, I just made up that word. Like it?
Day 1: Good Friday. Ryan had the day off from work, so I jumped at the opportunity to do a little Easter Bunny shopping by myself. Coming out of Target (duh, it's where all the cool Easter Bunnies shop), I saw what I first thought was a huge plume of smoke in the distance. Ever the optimist, I convinced myself it was a patch of dark rain clouds among some lighter ones. My first thought turned out to be right, as this is what I spent the rest of the day watching on the news:
Ummmmm, yeah. That would be a fighter jet that crashed into an apartment complex a few miles away from my house. I live a few miles from a naval air station that's been here much longer than I've been, so I'm totally accustomed to seeing, hearing, and feeling these low flying feats of aviation every single day. I'm not, however, used to them crashing and have been a bit spooked ever since. Not a single person died in this crash, which most you ask will say is a miracle, especially considering that it happened on Good Friday. Call it what you will...but holy hell, I still can't believe this happened!!!
Moving on, Easter Sunday was a fun day with the girls. They had such a good time searching for the eggs the Easter bunny hid in the backyard:
Playing with the goodies the Easter bunny left was a riot as well:
The girls got all gussied up in their Easter dresses and stood for a few pictures. This one pretty much sums up my daughters - Camryn is a wisenheimer, and Brynn quickly grows tired of her antics:
We stuffed our faces at the Psimas Family's Big Fat Greek Easter, and tried to get a good night's sleep to face the week ahead, which started with babysitting the girls' cousin Lucas:
We had so much fun with this smiley little guy, even if it did put the nail in the coffin that is my baby-making days. I love me some babies, but I just can't imagine starting all over again! Good thing Kevin and Meghan will share little Roy George with me when I need a fix.
Our day with Lucas was filled with laundry, packing, and prepping for our girls-only trip to New York. I recruited Grandma to come along for the ride and help meet my children's demands while I drove. After dropping Grandma off at Aunt Patti's house in New York, we picked Dayna up from the train station and headed over to Scahhhhhhsdale for a sleepover with Ali and her now enormous family. And then it happened. Ali's husband Tony came home from work and casually stated that one of the New York Rangers was signing autographs at an ice cream shop down the street. This conversation ensued:
Ali: "Really? Who is it?"
Tony: "Ummm...Richter or something? Mike Richter?"
At this point, I may or may not have blacked out. But in my mind, I felt much like Elaine Benes when she shoves Jerry, George, or Kramer and yells, "GET OUT!!!" I LOOOOOOOOVE Mike Richter. I had newspaper clippings of his puck-stopping prowess all over my bedroom wall in high school (yeah, and college too!). Hell, I even dated a guy who looked like Mike Richter. Who also played hockey. But I digress. Once I realized Tony wasn't yanking my chain, we gathered our shoes and our children and walked down to the ice cream shop. Sure, I paid a little too much for a picture of a retired hockey player and his scribble of a signature, but screw it!!! I got to chat it up with him AND have my picture taken with him too, so I consider it money well spent. Be still, my heart:
And our night only got crazier from there. The girls eventually all went to sleep, leaving the adults to tend to the babies and a couple of bottles of champagne:
Just to clarify for all you mandatory reporters who read this blog, the champagne was for the adults. The babies were drinking formula. I swear on my autographed picture of Mike Richter.
The next day included bowls of Cheerios on the couch while watching the new Muppet movie:
That's too much cuteness for one couch, if you ask me. That day also took us to the Bronx Zoo, which was well, a zoo. Turns out everyone gets into the zoo for free on Wednesdays, so it was just a wee bit crowded! We saw a few exhibits, bought some cute stuffed elephant souvenirs, and took a picture for prosperity before heading to Brooklyn for the remainder of our stay:
That little one is not normal. And someone stole my license plate:
In Brooklyn, we spent some quality time with Dayna and Michel, which is always good for the soul. The only thing Brynn specifically wanted to do in New York was go on the subway, so that's just what we did on Thursday. We took the subway from Brooklyn to Manhattan, where we got on the Staten Island Ferry so the girls could get a closer look at the Statue of Liberty without actually having to take a tour.
The subway
Waiting for the ferry
The ferry
The Statue
The girls' first view of Lady Liberty
Someone is sweepy
I call this "Brynn, the immigrant"
All the single ladies!
The children were rewarded for their good behavior on the ferry ride with pizza and another subway ride uptown to Dylan's Candy Bar. You can imagine how that went with my sugar fiend of a toddler. The kid went straight for the lollipops:
The girls were great at sticking to the rule of only buying candy you can't get anywhere else, and I've been great at eating the candy they forgot they bought. Win win, really.
That night, we ate yet another fantastic meal by Chef Michel, and rested up for the long journey home in the morning. It was another whirlwind of a trip to New York, but I think it was one of my favorite visits to date.
Even with my kids being wonderfully well-behaved and sleeping quite well during the trip, I was left shattered and thanking my lucky stars that the girls were scheduled to have a sleepover at my in-laws' the night after we returned from New York. Ryan and I got to ride bikes out to dinner with Meghan and our neighbors, have uninterrupted conversations, and sleep until 8:40am on Sunday! Sunday morning, the grown up time continued with more beach cruising under warm, sunny skies. We headed to Waterman's Crushfest and enjoyed many an orange crush and the company of thousands:
An early birthday celebration with Kevin. Or as his shirt reads, Kevin Bacon.
And no spring break is complete without posing for a picture with a drag queen. At a campground:
It might be near impossible to top Spring Break (WOOHOO!) 2012. I spent time with so many of my favorite people, met a man of my dreams and the two new little men in Ali's life, treated my girls to a bit of city life and American history, and topped it off with a kidless weekend with the hubster. This spring break may have kicked my ass, but it totally kicked ass!!! WOOHOO!!!
Anyway, Spring Break (WOOHOO!) 2012 was certainly one for the books, so I'll walk you through it photojournalistically. Yup, I just made up that word. Like it?
Day 1: Good Friday. Ryan had the day off from work, so I jumped at the opportunity to do a little Easter Bunny shopping by myself. Coming out of Target (duh, it's where all the cool Easter Bunnies shop), I saw what I first thought was a huge plume of smoke in the distance. Ever the optimist, I convinced myself it was a patch of dark rain clouds among some lighter ones. My first thought turned out to be right, as this is what I spent the rest of the day watching on the news:
Ummmmm, yeah. That would be a fighter jet that crashed into an apartment complex a few miles away from my house. I live a few miles from a naval air station that's been here much longer than I've been, so I'm totally accustomed to seeing, hearing, and feeling these low flying feats of aviation every single day. I'm not, however, used to them crashing and have been a bit spooked ever since. Not a single person died in this crash, which most you ask will say is a miracle, especially considering that it happened on Good Friday. Call it what you will...but holy hell, I still can't believe this happened!!!
Moving on, Easter Sunday was a fun day with the girls. They had such a good time searching for the eggs the Easter bunny hid in the backyard:
Playing with the goodies the Easter bunny left was a riot as well:
The girls got all gussied up in their Easter dresses and stood for a few pictures. This one pretty much sums up my daughters - Camryn is a wisenheimer, and Brynn quickly grows tired of her antics:
We stuffed our faces at the Psimas Family's Big Fat Greek Easter, and tried to get a good night's sleep to face the week ahead, which started with babysitting the girls' cousin Lucas:
We had so much fun with this smiley little guy, even if it did put the nail in the coffin that is my baby-making days. I love me some babies, but I just can't imagine starting all over again! Good thing Kevin and Meghan will share little Roy George with me when I need a fix.
Our day with Lucas was filled with laundry, packing, and prepping for our girls-only trip to New York. I recruited Grandma to come along for the ride and help meet my children's demands while I drove. After dropping Grandma off at Aunt Patti's house in New York, we picked Dayna up from the train station and headed over to Scahhhhhhsdale for a sleepover with Ali and her now enormous family. And then it happened. Ali's husband Tony came home from work and casually stated that one of the New York Rangers was signing autographs at an ice cream shop down the street. This conversation ensued:
Ali: "Really? Who is it?"
Tony: "Ummm...Richter or something? Mike Richter?"
At this point, I may or may not have blacked out. But in my mind, I felt much like Elaine Benes when she shoves Jerry, George, or Kramer and yells, "GET OUT!!!" I LOOOOOOOOVE Mike Richter. I had newspaper clippings of his puck-stopping prowess all over my bedroom wall in high school (yeah, and college too!). Hell, I even dated a guy who looked like Mike Richter. Who also played hockey. But I digress. Once I realized Tony wasn't yanking my chain, we gathered our shoes and our children and walked down to the ice cream shop. Sure, I paid a little too much for a picture of a retired hockey player and his scribble of a signature, but screw it!!! I got to chat it up with him AND have my picture taken with him too, so I consider it money well spent. Be still, my heart:
And our night only got crazier from there. The girls eventually all went to sleep, leaving the adults to tend to the babies and a couple of bottles of champagne:
Just to clarify for all you mandatory reporters who read this blog, the champagne was for the adults. The babies were drinking formula. I swear on my autographed picture of Mike Richter.
The next day included bowls of Cheerios on the couch while watching the new Muppet movie:
That's too much cuteness for one couch, if you ask me. That day also took us to the Bronx Zoo, which was well, a zoo. Turns out everyone gets into the zoo for free on Wednesdays, so it was just a wee bit crowded! We saw a few exhibits, bought some cute stuffed elephant souvenirs, and took a picture for prosperity before heading to Brooklyn for the remainder of our stay:
That little one is not normal. And someone stole my license plate:
In Brooklyn, we spent some quality time with Dayna and Michel, which is always good for the soul. The only thing Brynn specifically wanted to do in New York was go on the subway, so that's just what we did on Thursday. We took the subway from Brooklyn to Manhattan, where we got on the Staten Island Ferry so the girls could get a closer look at the Statue of Liberty without actually having to take a tour.
The children were rewarded for their good behavior on the ferry ride with pizza and another subway ride uptown to Dylan's Candy Bar. You can imagine how that went with my sugar fiend of a toddler. The kid went straight for the lollipops:
The girls were great at sticking to the rule of only buying candy you can't get anywhere else, and I've been great at eating the candy they forgot they bought. Win win, really.
That night, we ate yet another fantastic meal by Chef Michel, and rested up for the long journey home in the morning. It was another whirlwind of a trip to New York, but I think it was one of my favorite visits to date.
Even with my kids being wonderfully well-behaved and sleeping quite well during the trip, I was left shattered and thanking my lucky stars that the girls were scheduled to have a sleepover at my in-laws' the night after we returned from New York. Ryan and I got to ride bikes out to dinner with Meghan and our neighbors, have uninterrupted conversations, and sleep until 8:40am on Sunday! Sunday morning, the grown up time continued with more beach cruising under warm, sunny skies. We headed to Waterman's Crushfest and enjoyed many an orange crush and the company of thousands:
And no spring break is complete without posing for a picture with a drag queen. At a campground:
It might be near impossible to top Spring Break (WOOHOO!) 2012. I spent time with so many of my favorite people, met a man of my dreams and the two new little men in Ali's life, treated my girls to a bit of city life and American history, and topped it off with a kidless weekend with the hubster. This spring break may have kicked my ass, but it totally kicked ass!!! WOOHOO!!!
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