Santa Pictures

I took the kids to see Santa at Market Mall. We got there before Santa, so we were lucky. About 10 minutes after we got there, so did everyone else! It was packed, and as we were leaving I heard them telling people it was a 40 minute wait. Santa pictures aren't THAT important to me!! Anyways, just wanted to share the pictures I took. Clara wasn't all that impressed with Santa and was very hesitant to sit one his lap, but I bribed her with a candycane, and she did it. There was no getting her to smile though, which was ok, because not everyone can be happy all the time. I think that the sad santa pictures are the best anyways. Donovan, of course, smiled and laughed like always.

We're Back!

So I would say that our trip to Boston and New York was very successful. I had such a good time. Jeff had to work, so the only thing he really enjoyed was New York. I spent the rest of the days shopping with Donovan. We were lucky to leave Clara with Stacey, who she absolutely loves!!
Donovan and I arrived in Boston on Wednesday the 29th later in the evening. Jeff was actually staying in a smaller town about 30 min west of Boston, so we rented a car and headed that way. I guess I need to ask for better directions because I soon learned that Boston's highways can be a little confusing!! Plus...there were toll booths everywhere! It was weird to have to pay to drive on a road, but I guess it's because their roads are so old, that they just need lots of work. The price you pay for visiting such a beautiful area that is so full of history. It didn't take long to get into the swing of things. First thing in the morning, I was out shopping!! I headed to the outlet mall first. It was about 25 minutes from the hotel and it only took me about 2 hours to find it!! Again...confusing roads. It was so worth it though! I absolutely loved it there. THey had everything, except a gymboree outlet, but that is probably a good thing! I found some CRAZY good deals. I wish I had more money because I found so much stuff I liked there. I had so much fun that Donovan and I headed back the next day. There was a mall that was close to our hotel so I stopped there for a quick peek. The Gymboree there was absolutely packed full of stuff and everything was a stupid good deal. I really had a hard time leaving that store, but I didn't have lots of money to spend there, so I had to limit myself to very little. The mall had Pottery Barn Kids, it had Janie and Jack, it had Hollister and tons of other stores that I was so happy to see. I am so jealous that I don't have these stores. After the mall I headed to Target. That store was even better than I remembered. I wish we had Target up here. The things I wanted most were quite large so they would never have fit into my suitcase. Oh well.
Then was our trip to New York. What a great time that was. We honestly had one of the best times of our lives! I would really love to go back there. What an incredible city, just full of amazing things! When we were first driving in I was so nervous and scared that we would be jumped or something. Once I got a feel for the place, I felt so safe. There are so many people that I don't imagine much could happen to you. I felt so safe that I had no problem walking down the streets of Manhattan by myself at 10pm. What a great place. I just hope I can go back sometime. We were only there for a short time so we didn't get to see everything we wanted, but maybe one day we will have the chance again. I am just so grateful for the opportunity.
Once back in Framingham, the town we stayed in, I was right back to shopping. That was my whole purpose of the trip, and I sure got that job done right!! They have the best shopping there.
Now the most important part. Donovan. He is an absolutely amazing little boy. THere is no way that I could have asked for more from this little guy. I was a little nervous about flying with him, but he had no problems. We had 4 flights in total and on one of the flights he whined for like 2 minutes and that was all. He slept for most of the flights and when he was awake he had no problem being on my lap. What an absolutel angel. Shopping was a breeze with him, no problems, he would sleep when he was tired and he would play when he was awake. He had no problem being confined to the stroller. Honestly he was SO INCREDIBLE. In New York, he slept in the backpack when he got tired, he slept in the fancy resteraunt we went to for dinner and he never complained about being stuck in the backpack. Truly...there is nothing more that anyone could ask from a baby. He had some fun too, he learned how to pull himself up on the crib in the hotel, so now he is pulling himself up on everything! He climbed into Jeff's suitcase and just laughed, it was so cute!!
All I have left to say is I can't wait until June when Jeff may possibly be going back to Boston for another 2 weeks! I sure hope so because I would love to go back!! There is so much I would like to see!!
 

Art For Heart

I just decided I couldn't leave this out of the blog. It was just too touching to not post these pictures.
Scroll down to the World Trade Center post for an explanation of these pictures.


 

Lights

Christmas is so pretty in New York. I believe it is pretty everywhere, but it was neat to see all the lights. There were soooooooooo many people around the tree in Rockefeller that we didn't even try to go at night. We were on a bus that drove by so that's how I got these pictures.


The building in the back is Saks Fifth Avenue, they do a light show every 15 minutes or something, and it includes snowflakes that fall down their building. It is really neat. This is a picture of Macy's at night. It's a tree down the side of the building. They have amazing Christmas displays in their windows, and they are so beautiful, but there were too many people, there was now way we could get close enough for pictures.
THis is us in front of the tree during the day. It's not as nice, but at least we got to see the tree up close.

I LOVE NEW YORK

Here are some random pictures from our trip. We didn't have time to go to the Statue of Liberty, so this is as close as we got.

Traffic in Manhattan is CRAZY!! I have never seen anything like it. It is always like this too!! We had one cab driver who was determined to kill us I swear. He took off like it was the daytona 500, and he turned every corner like it was a 90 degree angle. Suprisingly, we only saw 1 accident. I thought we would see way more. Everyone sure knows the size of their cars though, because they cut in front of people and drive beside people so closely, with only a centimeter to spare in space. I now know why people who live in New York don't drive!!
This ferris wheel is in Toys R Us in times square!! The toys R us is 4 stories high. This ferris wheel has different toy cars for the people. IT's really neat. There was a little tikes red car, like Clara has, so we know she would like that one. They hae the little tikes bus, there was a my little pony, a spong bob car, a fire truck and tons more. The ferris wheel is 60ft tall!!
They also had this 2 story barbie doll house that kids could go play in. That was pretty neat too.

This is the view from our hotel room. We stayed at the Milennium UN hotel, it was pretty nice. Our room had wrap around windows, so 2 large walls were almost completely windows! It was pretty cool. These pictures are a little blurry because they were taken through windows that couldn't be opened. The top picture is of Grand Central Station, the other picture is of the Brooklyn bridge.
Here is a picture of us in Grand Central Station. It was SO crazy to see how this place is exactly like you see it in the movies. I imagine it gets just insanely busy, it wasn't too bad while we were there.
This is Times square. I just remember we were walking down the street and turnd the corner. I looked up and I was just dumfounded. It was just absolutey crazy to see this in real life. There were people everywhere, there were neon signs on every building and it was HUGE!! It was just so neat to see this place. Pictures can't even describe how amazing New York is!! 

World Trade Center

Well...this was probably the most memorable part of our trip to New York this weekend. It was so overwhelming to actually visit the place where 9/11 happened. To be honest...I never thought much of it, it didn't directly affect me, and it was so easy to forget about. Being here opened my eyes to what a horrible, horrible thing this was. The picture of the wall with the clouds and pictures was the hardest part to see. It was full of artwork from children who decorated it in rememberance of someone close to them. Most of them were for their fathers. I can't get over the feelings that I felt there. Reading what these kids wrote. There were many parents who died that tragic day, and it was just such a reality to get a glimpse of how this affected so many. Some parents left behind multiple children. One picture I won't forget was of a rainbow and the kid wrote, 'in memory of my dad, who is on the top of the rainbow'. I don't know why, but that is something that will probably remain in my head forever. There were so many pictures and so many lifes affected that I just couldn't even take it all in. I now wish I had taken more pictures, but at the time, I just couldn't, it was too hard. They had a timeline of events posted and it was so crazy to see it all written out like that. What a wake up call to me this visit was. We are so blessed.
This is a memorial from the church that is directly accross the street from the site. The church was just full of memorials and history.

This is as close as you could get to the actual site, there was a lot of construction, but this is where the twin towers used to stand.