Weekend Wrap-Up

Hey everybody!  Happy Sunday!  This weekend flew by as usual.  It was a fun one.  

Saturday morning was my last long run of 10 mile training.  I left the house at 5:30am and ran most of the 9.5 miles in the dark, though about halfway through I caught the start of sunrise (top picture) and then the beautiful oranges and pinks started popping around mile 8.  It was my best long run of this cycle of training, and I feel really ready for next Sunday- RACE DAY!

After dance class, we met Pa at Woodlake Nature Center for some outdoor exploring!

Then later we went to our friend Nik's 40th birthday party BBQ.  Maya stuck pretty close to me, but Callie had fun playing with the other kids there.

This morning we went to watch Boom play bells at church, stopped by a park, and went to hang out at Boom's house.  The park pictures were the only ones I got from this morning.

We had a deck dinner tonight with Uncle Dan, Auntie Hanna, Mitchell, Isla and G-ma!  It had been a few weeks since the girls had seen their Gosselin cousins, and it was a beautiful night to be outside.

Have a great week! It’s almost October!!!

A Delayed Picture Update

I thought I posted this last night, but apparently not! 

This week has been insane. I’m so tired. So here you go:

Monday and Tuesday crazies

Wednesday and Thursday bus pickup, soup, and confirmation 

Friday morning sky!

Timehop Tuesday

First up- Covid teaching *insert scream face emoji*

Then…cute cousins!

Weekend Wrap-Up: The NYC Edition!

Happy Sunday evening everybody!  As you can tell from the blog post title, this will be a bit of a different wrap-up than we usually have on a Sunday.  Chris and I spent a whirlwind 36 hours in New York City this weekend!  The origin of the story is that in early July I saw that Sara Bareilles (my FAVORITE singer/songwriter) was going to reprise her role as Jenna in the Broadway musical "Waitress" (which she also wrote the music for).  The day I saw that announcement I told Chris about it, just thinking it was very cool that she'd be able to help open Broadway back up.  Then...later that day...he texted me asking if I wanted to go back to NYC this fall to see it and that he was already looking at tickets with our friend Nik, who also knew his wife, Danielle, loved the show.  I was like, um...WHAT?  At the start of the school year?  That's so crazy!  

But we did it!  And it was amazing!  I will say that I had some major anxiety and slight panic attacks the few days leading up to the trip because of everything COVID and worrying about bringing it back to the girls, etc.  But Chris and I are some of the most careful people about COVID we know, and he reassured me we would do everything we could to be safe.  And that NYC has a very strict policy for showing vaccination cards to go inside anywhere.  So...WE DID IT! Chris and Nik booked 2 nights for an NYC getaway for the four of us...and it was also Nik's 40th birthday.  Fun times!

While we were at the airport on Friday afternoon, Auntie Cat picked up the girls from their school bus stops and they headed to her house for a sleepover.  As you can also tell from the top left picture, Callie sent me a picture from the bus with her new phone.

We got through security fairly easily and were on the plane by 3pm. It is an easy 2+ hour flight to NYC, and we flew through a variety of clouds as we were landing at LaGuardia.

We got a large Lyft with Nik and Danielle, checked out the view from our hotel room on the 31st floor, and just as we got into our room, the girls Facetimed us so we could show them the view too.

Then it was time for dinner!  Chris and I convinced them to eat at the same Indian restaurant we ate at nearly 2 years ago (when we did a similar whirlwind weekend December 2019).  It was once again AMAZING.  Still the best Indian food I have ever had.  We got to eat in a partial open air patio, which was new since COVID times (we assume).

Later we went to the hotel bar for after dinner drinks.  I was very grateful that already we got the impression that NYC takes COVID precautions seriously.  Our vaccination cards and IDs were thoroughly checked in both places we went that night (and all weekend), and the hotel bar was not at all busy so we were able to sit away from anyone else.

The Saturday morning views out of our hotel room (Marriott Marquis in Times Square) were stunning! 

We met up with Nik and Danielle around 8:15am to get coffee at the hotel, and then started out our trek for the day at a nearby bagel shop.  As you can see, it was AMAZING.  

Then we took a 40 minute walk through the city and Central Park in the upper west side. 

Our next destination was the Museum of Natural History.  We had 10am tickets and spent a couple hours exploring the cool exhibits.

We knew we wanted to get pizza for lunch, so we headed back towards the Times Square area because we were going to eventually catch a double decker bus.  Chris found this little pizza place where we got slices to go and ate out on the street at a tiny little table surrounded by people just passing on by.

Soon it was time to hop up on the bus.  As you can see, Times Square was insane.  It was so busy all the time.  The traffic was ridiculous.  The bus driver just kind of barreled through, and there were some streets that had bus lanes only.  

We rode the bus for about 45 minutes or so, and got off in order to walk on the Brooklyn Bridge!  I sent Callie a couple of pictures and she was impressed because this bridge is featured on the movie "In the Heights."

While we were in that area, we wandered around and found this ice cream truck (a similar one is also on "In the Heights"), went into the Oculus, a very strange and cool indoor mall (mostly just to find a restroom!), visited the 9/11 memorial, saw Trinity Church (where Hamilton is buried), and the "new" World Trade Center.

Then we hopped back on the bus and drove back downtown along the Hudson River.  It was beautiful. 

When we got back to our hotel, we had about 45 minutes to rest and change for dinner reservations at 5:30!  Chris found this amazing Italian restaurant a few blocks from our hotel.  We were the only ones there at first, which again helped eased a bit of COVID anxiety (they also were diligent about checking our cards).  Our food and wine were amazing.  It was a lovely dinner!

AND THEN...WAITRESS! It was SO SO SO SO SO SO SO GOOD.  So good.  Goosebumps the whole show kind of good.

I caught a couple pics of the curtain call.  So much joy!  

After the show we got one more round of drinks at the hotel bar and went to bed about midnight!

While we were traipsing around the Big Apple, the girls were hanging out doing fun things with G-ma and then later with Boom, Auntie Yoda, Lucy and Mila.

This morning we had to leave our hotel at 6am to head to the airport.  After our crazy busy and exciting day yesterday, it was an early morning...but we made it: NYC--> MSP by 10am.

The girls had more fun with Boom this morning, Luna had fun with Pa, and we were all reunited about 1:30pm.

Chris and I are going to wear masks as much as possible until we can all go get COVID tested tomorrow after school.  The girls have 2 weeks of school under their belts and we obviously just went to a densely populated city!  So many opportunities for germs.  But hopefully the precautions we have all taken means all will be well.  

But thanks to my wonderful husband and friend Nik who planned such a great weekend for us. I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to travel again.  And also, it definitely felt like a different world than a couple years ago.

Have a great week!

A Picture Update

Well guys, We are through our first full week of school and holy moly I don’t have too many pics. Life is busy and whirlwind-ish. But here’s what I got!

A middle schooler and increasing independence. I hide behind bushes at the bus stop but can’t quite make myself leave before she’s on the bus…though her NEW PHONE may help a little as she texts me when she’s on the bus…

We are obsessed with season 7 of Survivor and Maya found a “buff” that she now wears every time we watch.

And there have been some lovely evenings.

Have a great weekend!

Timehop Tuesday

Today…babies and big girls!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Happy Sunday! We had a nice weekend. On Saturday morning I finished a 9 mile training run. It went pretty well, which gives me confidence that the 10 mile race on 10/3 won’t be terrible. 

Our outing for the day was a deck dinner at Auntie Yoda, Jncle Craig, Lucy and Mila’s for Boom’s birthday celebration! 



Auntie Yoda made delicious key lime pie.

The sky was lovely over downtown on our way home.

Today we spent a quiet morning at home. Then we went to visit Auntie Cat at work. It was so fun seeing the cool store!

Last Sunday Maya started fall gymnastics. It’s a different gym than she went to in August (much closer to home) and she loves it! She then contorted her flexible little body while we watched our newest obsession…Survivor! The season we are watching is from 2003…and the girls are obsessed! 

Have a great week.