New York, New York

My husband wouldn't let me give this post a cool title, sorry.

A few months ago my husband caught me looking at travel sites. This is something I do often, look at airfares, look at hotels, explore new cities via the internet. What can I say? I am infected by the travel bug. When he caught me he asked if I wanted to take a trip for our first anniversary and I shyly replied, "yes." (He would like to point out there was some downcast eye action going on too.) Christian asked where I wanted to go and I listed a whole bunch of places, but told him I was fine staying home too. Well, he surprised me a few weeks later by informing me that we were headed to New York City--a dream for a theater geek like me.

Last Thursday night we started our adventure. The highlight of the flight---I got to watch the King's Speech on the plane, there was also the lady sitting across the aisle from us who decked her husband. Not quite sure why, something about having to go through airport security. We took a cab into the city and arrived at our awesome hotel--The Michelangelo. Since it was already late we just hit the sack to get ready for our adventure.

The first day we walked the two blocks to Times Square. I was awed by the gigantic Disney Store, M&M Store, and the Hershey's Store. It was just a bustling crowd full of excitement and energy. We walked around for a minute trying to decide what to do and snapping some pictures along the way.


Me showing off that I really do have a baby bump, despite what all the naysayers say!!!

Since my one "have to do this" item was to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island we decided to get them out of the way first. It was about ten or so and we naively thought we would be finished by two or three. Yeah, wrong. We got to Battery Park and discovered a half an hour line just to get tickets (I knew I should have bought them online) after we purchased the tickets we went to go and hope in line for the ferry. The line ended up being a half mile of people from the dock. We valiantly stood there for two hours to hop on the 1:30 ferry to see the islands. At least there were food vendors along the way so we could eat hot dogs and pretzels. Other than that we kept each other entertained and tried to keep each other warm with the biting wind.

Once we finally reached our destinations we got out and explored. It was fun to walk around the Statue of Liberty and learn about how it was made and it's dedication. I of course took many MANY pictures.



We even got a rare picture of the two of us. We then hopped the boat to Ellis Island and looked a bit for my great grandpa's information...we never did find it leading me to believe he was an illegal immigrant hiding out from the law, well that or it was because no one in my family knew how to spell his last name correctly.

We explored Ellis Island for a good ninety minutes. Then it was back to the city. This time for some real food. Christian had two goals on this trip 1- eat at a good New York Deli 2- eat good New York Pizza. We accomplished the first that night eating at the Carnegie Deli. I have never seen this much meat on a sandwich before...and this wasn't even the biggest sandwich they had there.
After a post dinner walk around Central Park we headed to our first Broadway show of the weekend- WICKED.
Now I love this show, my husband had never seen it but by the time we left he decided he really liked it. Pregnancy hormones had me crying the whole time. It was also fun to walk through the small museum they had there and see all the tokens from past Broadway productions.

The next morning for our anniversary, and because my husband is the best man on the entire earth, Christian took me to the Stardust Diner. The waiting staff bursts into song all the time and dances. It was awesome!!! I might have cried there too, yeah go pregnancy. Then we just started wandering. We went in the huge Disney Store in Times Square, walked over to Rockefeller Plaza (where we found the NBC store and its Chuck and Psych merchandise!!!), and wandered along Fifth Avenue. Of course the only store I went in was---FAO Schwartz!!

I found the Sorting Hat there. After leaving the toy store my husband took me on a carriage ride though Central Park, cross that one off the bucket list. I told you he was awesome.

As if my husband was not awesome enough he then went with me to Chinatown to meet my friend Amy, her friend Janet, and their sons for lunch. The Wo-Hop was a hopping place and we had to wait a bit to get the table but it was worth it. The food was fantastic!!! And it was fun to spend some time with Amy too.

That night we went and saw Mary Poppins, it was a fun play even if we were surrounded by high schoolers who didn't know how to act while at the theater. We tried to take some picture that night, but it was too crowed so of course we wandered back on Sunday and snapped a few on a less crowded 42nd street.

My mother used to call me Marry Poppins, not sure if I agree with her but I wouldn't mind having her magic bag.

While we wandered around Broadway we also came across "God's Favorite Musical" The Book of Mormon.

Christian had his picture by that sign, I think he was most excited that John Stewart liked it, then we went and got him some good New York Pizza.

We found some crazy things in Times Square. I think the craziest was the gigantic Toys R Us with the Ferris Wheel inside. There was also many picture points...I liked the Candy Land one.





It was fun to get away for a few days and just spend some good quality time together. There is no one in the world like my husband. He is a good, good man and I am forever grateful for him. So happy anniversary love and thanks for the awesome trip and great memories.

Forts!

It is not a surprise to anyone that I like to be crafty. Unfortunately being sick and working full time has left me little time to actually work on crafts. I have a half finished baby sweater and another four or five in queue to get done. Well last summer I worked on my first jean quilt top on my own. It has sat on my sewing table since July and I even got the bottom sewn and ready, I just didn't quilt it.

This weekend I finally had some extra time...and energy...to actually put the quilt together. And with some help from Paul and Christian, I was able to finally get the quilt up. Of course the kids found this to be the best thing ever as they had a new fort and liked to pretend apparating from one end of the quilt to another. Who knew it would be so easy to entertain them.

These first pictures are from Saturday night, that is why the girls are styling in there hair/curler protectors.




Christian made me go to bed as well shortly after these pictures were taken. The quilt had maybe 15 minutes work left but I was tired so went off to bed. Sunday afternoon I decided to finish the quilt only to walk in and found that the kids had truly taken their fort to a new level:



It was decked out with quilts, pillows, and looked like a whole lot of fun. I ended up waiting to finish the quilt until Sunday night, after most had gone to bed. The girls are already asking when the next quilt is going up. I am not sure if that is because I told them I would teach them how to make their own quilts this summer, or that they like to watch the needle "pop", or so they can set up a new fort...probably all three.

Valentines and Waffles

So, it was getting to be time for Valentine's Day. For a teacher like Natalie who's in charge of the student body officers at her school, that of course means it was time to do a bunch of extra work to make sure the school dance goes off without a hitch. The plan was to pop down to the school for an hour on Saturday afternoon to make sure they didn't have any problems putting up their homemade chandeliers, but due to a few complications (students stranded up in the air when the lift ran out of batteries, stuff like that) we ended up spending most of the afternoon there. This ended up being great for the kids, cause they had a bunch of new big friends doting on them as they worked on fancy big craft projects. You would have thought Eve had beamed straight to heaven from the amount of fun she was having.

James thought it was all sorts of fun to tape up the giant paper. Mostly I think he had a crush on that girl cause she gave him some goldfish crackers.

They pretty much had a million fun.


Speaking of fun, did you ever have an awesome breakfast of readheaded waffles? The kids totally did. Jam for hair, yogurt mouth, banana eyes, a little syrup for the nose, and you've got a snazzy way to start your day.

Anyway, I suppose it's time to mention the really big news: we're having a baby, and it's going to be a boy. We had our ultrasound this week and everything is looking good. We're pretty excited.

-Christian

The Epic Breakfast Quest

Occasionally Christian and I enjoy embarking on epic quests to find an elusive item. These quests become missions which cannot be abandoned or discarded. The only outcome will be success, there is no other option. Our first epic quest was in October of 2009 when we visited about ten different stores in order to find plastic halloween pumpkins for the kids. Our most recent was this morning as we went in search for breakfast.


Breakfast, a lovely meal. One I quite enjoy. This morning, after sleeping in, we decided about 10:30 to take everyone out to breakfast or brunch if you will. We all piled into the car headed for our destination- The Blue Plate Diner.


Now, those of you who have not been fortunate to sample the fantasic cuisine of The Blue Plate are missing out. Imagine a great diner full of incredible food. This place was so great it was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. I love the Blue Plate and their breakfasts are the best thing there. As we turned on to the street we were dismayed to find that others love the Blue Plate as much as I do. There was a line out the door indicating at least a fourty minute wait.



Dismayed we continued on. We wanted breakfast. We wanted good breakfast. I headed to another breakfast place I had not tried, but heard it was good- Eggs in the City. As we turned on to the street I knew we were in trouble. The street was full from one end to another with cars. We looked at the resturant and there was a line headed out the door.


Dismayed we thought for a moment to simply try Subway but the draw for hash browns drew us forward. Knowing that we needed extra help we called in reinforcements- my brother Adam. Alas, he did not pick up his phone. The hunger was now getting overpowering and we knew there was a coupon for Village Inn in our car. So we headed there.


Right before we got to VI the phone rang. Finally, reinforcements. On the phone was my own resturant critc Adam. He demanded that I turn the car around and go straight to The Original Pancake House. He tempted me with the idea of the most incredible Biscuts and Gravy that he had ever tried. Tempted we turned the car around and went back to the other end of town. Finally we arrived at our destination only to find that the line here was out the door and down the street.

Discouraged we were ready to just go to the Dee's across the street when I remembered a place I used to go to breakfast while in college and it was just around the block. Finally we completed our epic quest at The Olympian. While there we enjoyed the greek omelet, sausage wrapped in pancakes, biscuts and gravy, french toast, and scrambled eggs. Not only that there were hashbrowns and crazy Greek mom's getting after other people to finish something or try this.





All in all it was an epic quest and with all epic quests after we finished eating we found many other breakfast establishments, or remembered many other breakfast establishments. But all in all it was one of the best epic quests ever!!!!

Blogging Failure

So it has been two months since we last blogged. We have plenty of excuses on why. Mine would be that I have been really sick the past two months and just haven't had the energy between teaching and daily tasks to blog. Christian's would be that he hasn't had any pictures in which to blog with so yeah. We were blogging failures for the past two months but we are repenting and promising to do better with the new year.

We were also much better at taking pictures during December, so without further ado Christmas with the Bradleys.


One of Laine's school assignments was to teach the class about her culture. She got her Hamoni to come to school to talk about Korea. Hamoni made each of the kids a wonderful outfit. Unfortunately I only got a picture of James in his. But what a cute boy he is growing into.

On Christmas Eve we spent time with both the Bellamys and the Bradleys. First up at the Bellamys we had the traditional Bellamy Christmas Eve lunch/dinner-beef sandwiches with cheese and many different salads. This was the first year we didn't have Christmas Eve at Nan's so it was slightly bitter sweet not to have the night with all the cousins, but it was still a fun day. Mom and Dad Bellamy decided that we were going to make Gingerbread Houses this year and the kids had a lot of fun!!

Adam and Amy show off their lovely two story home full of windows and a lovely hedge on both levels.

Bart and Hilary show off their down home trailer home. Including tire tree and everything that a down home trailer would need.

Our kids show off their industrial strength home. No really it was full inside, there was no way that house was coming down ever.

James breaks the crackers to help build the industrial home.

After the party at the Bellamys it was off to the party at the Bradleys. We had a great tamale dinner and then there was singing and the traditional acting of the Nativity story.

Eve was the angel this year, dressed in Grandma's sheets. Jacob and Andrew were the sheep and shepherd with the sock ears and all.

Eve continues to deliver her good tidings.

Laine decided to be Mary this year and James was the baby Jesus. I have to admit that James was a rather energetic newborn. There seemed to be more wiggling and jumping then there was that first night in Bethlehem.

After we got home the kids opened their Disney Christmas Pajamas (which the wore the whole next day and the day after...we couldn't get them out of them) and then went to bed. The next morning we went to go and get them and two of the three were waiting eagerly in their rooms for us to fetch them up stairs. While the third woke up really quickly when he found out Santa had come.

Santa was very good to us this year. To quote James, "Santa must really like me, he brought me a lot of chocolate."
We didn't lack on gifts this year either. Our Christmas Tree had some wonderful packages underneath it. With lots of fun and exciting treasures within.

Each of the kids received a pillow pet. They were the hit of the year.

James tries to balance on the chair as his pile of presents starts to grow. He was having way to much fun.

Laine was ready to rip into the packages and have a good time.

James happily shows off his Octopus. Something he had asked for over and over again.

After a fun Christmas morning we spent time with both families. We played games, put together puzzles, and just enjoyed everyone's company.

As an added bonus on December 27th Adam and Amy added another addition to the Bellamy family. Baby Ezra Joseph entered the world weighing nine pounds. Mom, dad, and new big brother are happy to have him here.

I am slightly jealous on how great Amy looks only five hours after giving birth.
And big brother Boston was very excited. Bost rarely smiles for pictures but his grin is just great. Of course about thirty seconds after this picture he gets bored of holding the baby and drops him. Yeah, we have a way to go with the learning curve.

So that has been our Christmas season. We also went to see Tangled, have had movie picnic dinners, and just have had a good time spending time together.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Trick or Treat!

Halloween has come and gone for the Bradley household. We had a pretty adventurous time this year. I was out of town on business right up until Friday, with little Eve in tow to visit her mother in Virginia. That left Natalie to head up the preparations for the festivities and she did a bang-up job, especially considering Eve's birthday is the 30th of October so we had to prep not only the annual Halloween extravaganza but also a birthday party for a six-year-old. First, let me introduce the cake: Mr. Giant Black Spider. With Gummi Worms. Never let anyone tell you that six-year-olds don't know how to pick a cake.

Here's Eve getting those candles handled after the ol' Happy Birthday to You.


Nat put together a stellar spread including leaf-shaped-pie-crust-ham-and-cheese sandwiches (thanks kids for working the assembly line on those), killer dip with home-made pumpkin shaped chips, and green chocolate popcorn. I made some pretty good witches' brew with a combination of a few different sodas and lemonade bubbled up with some dry ice.

The grown-ups seemed to like the food, but the little guys mostly like stripping off the bedsheets and jumping on the bed in James' room.

The Indian Princess (like from India) and the Snow Fairy had all sorts of fun.

And Buzz Lightyear put on his wings and starting blasting aliens with his arm laser.

We finally got all the kids to pile on the couch for a picture.

Anyway, after the morning party we took a little nap/reading time to get ready for the afternoon party over at Grandma's house. Over there we got to play with more cousins and have all sorts of gory party food like witch fingers (string cheese pieces with almonds for fingernails) and blood soup (it was a creamy tomato). We started out our trick-or-treating there, hitting up Grandma's neighbors and scoring some full-sized candy bars. Yes!

While we were out we left a bowl of candy and a sign that Eve made on the doorstep. Can you believe someone cleared it out with instructions like these?

Anyway, from Grandma's house we headed over to hit Grammy and Poppa's street, picking up plenty of loot there. As the rain picked up, we drove home and the kids decided they wanted to do the handing out for a while. We broke out the Clue board and taught the girls how to play. James was on my team in charge of rolling the dice. It went pretty well except for Eve's tendency to yell out "I have that card!" After the kids went to bed we watched a scary ghost flick that had a few good little jumpy moments and left Natalie unable to go to sleep, so we watched an episode of Psych to mellow out and she conked right out. All in all a great day.