New York in Spring

In April we randomly had a long weekend pop up so we decided to take advantage and head off to the Big Apple with our little family. It wasn't until I was on here beginning to post this that I realized this was our first, real, just-us family vacation. Since Owen was born we have been to Mississippi and Palm Springs, a random house in Maryland and took many trips home to IL, but this my friends, was our very first vacation for just the 3 of us. What a fun milestone!

So we drove up Thursday night and took our time getting there...and by "took our time" I mean we took almost 6 hours of our time! It was nice though, to not be in a hurry, to be able to stop and eat dinner, and to not have to stress about traffic. PS- we ate at a Mimi's Cafe in Maryland! Thats right folks, Mimi's Cafe apparently also exists on the East Coast! Hallelujah! ...but I digress...

We arrived at the hotel around 11pm and were pleased with our all around experience at the Regency on Park Avenue. When we checked in the front desk workers gave Owen a "Little People" toy as a welcome gift. They brought in a nice big cot for him to sleep on and he did really well both sleeping and napping in the cot. FYI, Robert and I also did really well sleeping and napping in our super-duper King sized bed dreaming about someday when we will have a bedroom large enough to hold a bed that big...but again, I digress...

Owen was just getting over a bout of sickness and we were rin a go-with-the-flow mindset so after breakfast on Friday morning we spent a lot of time exploring Central Park. We rode the carousel, played at the park, climbed some rocks, got a little turned around, stumbled upon Tavern on the Green, watched horse and carriages trot by, and eventually found our way back to the hotel. After a nice nap for all 3 of us (see, I wasn't kidding before) we ventured out to Times Square, Rockefeller Center and obviously grabbed cupcakes from Magnolia. Owen got to go in his first NYC taxi (which thrilled him equally as much as taking the taxi in DC) and while in Times Square we visited the Toys 'R Us amusement park-er, I mean toy store. Owen was allowed to choose one toy and much to our delight, he chose a $7 "racing car" to bring home. I, on the other hand, chose a t-shirt, a mug with his name on it, a baseball glove, a big wheel, a stuffed taxi and wanted to go for a ride on the ferris wheel. Good thing Robert was there to keep me in check, and we walked out with just the racing car and "Owen" mug :-) Later we also hit up FAO Schwarz where Owen got to play on the floor piano from the movie "BIG." We learned the secret to visiting that store is to go 45 minutes before closing on a Friday night! It was great, and a great end to our first day!

Saturday morning we hit up a unique little place for breakfast called Alice's Tea Cup. Owen was not in the best mood to appreciate the atmosphere, but this place would be a little girls dream to visit! After breakfast we headed to the Natural History Museum especially to see the dinosaurs. Unfortunately, someone should have told us not to spend $15/ticket to do something we could do for free at home. So after only about an hour we were back in Central Park and this time we got to see some tee-ballers and little leaguers playing right there in the middle of Central Park. We watched for a bit, then headed over to "Ballplayers Park" where Owen wanted to swing and climb. Then it was off to Columbus Circle where we wanted to grab a snack before heading out of town. That didn't quite work out, so we checked out of the hotel, got our car and decided to head out to Cafe Habana, a little Cuban place our friends told us to try. (which I am now telling you to try! Seriously, so worth the wait!) We decided to stay in NY a little longer then planned and took some time to enjoy SoHo and Greenwich Village. And before getting in the car, Owen and Robert played at a really cool park while I stood in line one last time for some Magnolia Cupcakes to bring home :-) There would have been no better way to end our weekend!

Having fun at the hotel

Our room...and the bed of our dreams...

Whoa, thats a long way down!

Checking out the taxis below

Random Art on the street

Kinda looks like something from a Dr Seuss book

Central Park

We found the carousel!

Playing in Central Park

Toys 'R Us

Times Square (above) and Cupcakes at Rockefeller Center (below)

One of our many taxi rides

FAO

Natural History Museum

So long New York, until next time-thanks for the lovely days!

We'll Miss You, Mike

This week we had to say goodbye to our beloved family member Mike the Cat. He'd been a part of our family since early 2004 and was my constant companion through deployments and travels. He was a great cat, a companion to Missy and a playmate to Owen. Here are some things we'll always remember about Mike-

Mike Loved

-Watching over Owen from the day we brought him home

-His pal Missy

-Sleeping in our bed

-Snuggling up in a basket of freshly washed (and even folded) clothes

-Opening the cabinet doors and investigating whats inside

-Purring in my ear from the back of the couch as I tried to watch tv

-Rubbing against me whenever I got on the floor to play with the babies

Mike Hated

-the vacuum, his arch nemesis

-his cat carrier

-getting his nails trimmed

-any door that was closed

-being held

Owen and Mike were best friends and we knew telling Owen what had happened would be the hardest thing of all. How do you explain death to a 2yr old? We sat down and told Owen that Mike got sick and we had to take him to the vet but he was very very sick and he died. We explained that because Mike died, he is now in Heaven with Jesus. Owen listened intently and after thinking started to explain to us that Mike got sick, went through the vent and is now with Jesus. Hmmm, not quite the take-away message I was hoping for. We spent the next 1/2 hr trying to explain the difference between a "vet" and a "vent" and I even pulled up pictures of veterinarians on the computer. He still doesn't quite get it, but there are a few things he does get...he told me he wanted to tell his teachers at Kids Church that Mike was with Jesus and when we were singing worship on Sunday he heard the word Heaven and whispered in my ear that the song was about Mike. Such a sweet little boy who misses his kitty.

Easter

Easter was tons of fun this year, and even though Owen wasn't feeling 100%, we still managed to have a great time!

Sundays tend to be very busy for us with serving at church in the morning and we planned to have Easter dinner with our friends in DC, so we decided to have a fun-filled Easter celebration on Saturday. We started the morning with the Easter EGGstravaganza that our church puts on every year. There are games, face painting, prizes, pictures with the Easter Bunny and of course, an egg hunt! Owen loved it this year, he was eager to get his face painted like a lion and to share his basket with the Easter Bunny. His excitement doubled when he spotted his friends Naomi & Judah to hang with.

After the fun at the EGGstravaganza we came home for a nice nap and the Easter Bunny, being a flexible rabbit, was going to come after Owen woke up from his nap. So the sly bunny sneakily deposited an empty basket at the bottom of the stairs in Owens room and left a trail of eggs leading to the Easter basket which was outside. Not too long after, we heard a knock at the basement door and there was Owen, with his basket full of eggs from the trail. He loved picking up the eggs and then found his basket waiting for him :)

And in typical "first grandchild" fashion, Owen got 2 other Easter baskets from the Illinois Easter Bunnies!

Next was the egg dying that actually, I think Robert and I had more fun with. I mean really, what fun is it for a 2yr old boy to: "wait for the tablets to dissolve," "be gentle," "don't crack the eggs," "drop them in slowly," "don't spill the dye"...etc, etc.

What a fun weekend that was topped off with dinner at the Mongelli's new home in DC on Sunday afternoon. And Owen, fever and all, was such a trooper! Fun, fun Easter :)