Children's Museum of Manhattan

One of the most fun places to take kids in the city is the Children's Museum of Manhattan (near 83rd and Amsterdam). It's five floors high and there's so much to do there that we didn't even get to visit every floor. One other cool, fun fact about the museum. It's located directly across the street from that cafe that is in the movie You've Got Mail (the one where Meg Ryan is waiting with her book and a rose to meet Tom Hanks and he stands her up)!

During the summer months the museum opens an outdoor water feature area that is a huge hit with all kids. They have a covered area to help get the kids out of the sun, as well as extra large blue aprons that the kids can wear to try to keep dry. But let me warn you... your kids will get drenched regardless and you will need to bring a change of clothes! Larkin really liked playing in the water table and the boat ramp. Her cousins, Gavin and Luke, pretty much played with the boats the whole time. Luke especially liked to lay claim to all of the green boats!




After playing outside, we moved inside and tried to hit as many exhibits as we could. The fire truck and MTA bus were huge hits with Larkin, as was the grocery store (with a kiddie-working version of a check-out conveyor belt and barcode scanner). I think the pictures pretty much speak for themselves... the kids have a blast, are going non-stop the whole time, and don't want to leave!

Girl's Night Out to the Ballet

My Mom, sister, and I had a girl's night out in NYC! We went to the ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center. We saw Don Quixote, performed by the American Ballet Theatre (ABT). The ballet version of the Don Quixote story is nothing like the musical version, but I was very excited to see the dancers - they really are amazingly beautiful. It was cool to see Ethan Stiefel dance live, as I remembered him vividly from the ballet movie Center Stage many years back. We ate in the restaurant in the Met before the show and had a fantastic table right up against those famous windows (that you can see in the background of the picture of Dana and me). We had a fun evening and I look forward to another girl's evening of fun soon!

Bath Time Beauty

Larkin's 2nd Birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Larkin! Larkin turned two while we were in NYC, so the "city girl" got to celebrate with her extended family. These first few pictures are from the morning of her birthday. Isn't she radiant?! She was so happy, it was so fun to share in her festive energy. I've also included a home video of Larkin singing the Happy Birthday song, telling the camera how old she is, and saying her name. She calls herself "Lar-Lee"! It took us a few times to realize that she is trying to call herself "Larky", but it comes out "Lar-Lee". I think it is so cute.

Larkin loves balloons, so her birthday wasn't complete until she had a bundle of balloons that she carried around nearly all day.

Party time! Here are the kids... hungry for some pizza and cupcakes!

Larkin was a little shy when we sang to her, but she loved the whole event. She helped me blow out her candles and then after contemplating it for a minute or two, she dove into her cupcake! It was yellow cake with pink icing and she got a sugar high from all of the icing she ate. Check out the cute video of her during cake time!

This is a frame-worthy photo of our family that was able to celebrate Larkin's birthday with us. It was a great party! HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY, SWEETHEART! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Playing with Cousins

Nothing is more satisfying for adult siblings than to watch their children play together happily. Larkin loves playing with her cousins Gavin (6) and Luke (3) so much, and they with her. Here are a few cute pictures of the kids just hanging out, wrestling, and being silly in general. Just the way kids should be!

This first picture shows Larkin laying claim to BOTH of the Star Wars light sabers. Go girl!

If you put big and small boys in a room together, eventually wrestling will occur! I think that's a law of nature or something. The Hittle/Feller/Cook clan is no different, and as you can see, everyone joined in the fun. Larkin is not one to get left out!

Here is Larkin being silly with my mom, Dede. In case it's hard to tell from the picture, they both are sporting pairs of Larkin's pajama bottoms on their heads!

Larkin is taken by both my sister, Dana, and her husband, Greg. There's just a natural comfort level there. And for some reason, Larkin thinks my sister is hilarious! Larkin falls into a gigglefest whenever my sister comes near! :)

I love this set of pictures. While we were on a walk together one day, Larkin got really upset if she couldn't see Gavin at all times! She was kind of a little obsessed, and Gavin thought it was getting a little tiresome keeping himself in her view non-stop. But he was a good sport and he is so good with her. Here they are holding hands on the walk (Larkin LOVED that) and then other pictures of them kissing each other. So, so sweet! I love seeing these tender, innocent moments they share together.

Luke and Larkin don't do much kissing, but Luke does like Larkin's hair. Every once in a while, you'll find him "petting" Larkin's hair. Here's a picture of him doing so. How cute is that?

Ahhh, at the end of a long, exciting day, nothing's more satisfying than seeing the kids settle in and relax together. Then, off to bed. Good night.

Colleen and Mike visit us in NYC

We were so happy that our dear friends Colleen ("Classy Mommy") and Mike Padilla came to NYC to visit us. We went to our favorite Italian spot Sambuca's. It's becoming a tradition for the four of us! Then, we followed it up with another trandition... Col and me taking a picture together outside of the Natural History Museum. The first time we did our Extreme Mammals pose (see that pic here). This time we imitated the horse rider statue out front. Here we are pretending to be riding the horse! We look ridiculous and more like we're trying to ride a motorcycle, but we had a lot of fun doing it nonetheless!

Before dominating in our game of Ticket to Ride, Mike took some time to play with Larkin and she loved it! He's so great with kids and I got a great video of them playing a variety of games. They played "bubble cheeks", "sleep/wake-up", and "happy birthday gift giving". Since it was only a few days before Larkin's birthday, they practiced opening gifts, giving gifts and singing the birthday song. What a sweet video!

Simon Says in High Heels

Bumble bee top... no pants... and Mommy's high heels. Now there's an outfit every girl could be jealous of. :) Larkin was lovin' it! She even enjoyed doing a toddler version of Simon Says in her get-up. See the cute video of it below.

Fun with Grandpa Bud

Side Kick Scooter

Gavin and Luke both have scooters. Needless to say, Larkin wanted one when she saw theirs! Luke wasn't all that into his, luckily for Larkin, so he let Larkin take his for a spin. Now don't label us as bad parents because she's not wearing a helmet... we tried having her wear Luke's helmet, but it was way too big. Regardless, we never took our hands off her (Brian pretty much pushed her around). She loved it! The one that she rode is called a Side Kick, I believe. It has two wheels in front, which helps with the stabilization - it's great for the younger kids! Also included are a couple of pictures of me with my parents from the same outing.

Luke and Dede's Birthday Parties

We took at trip in May to visit family in NYC. While we were all together, we celebrated 4 family birthdays! Dede (my Mom) had a big milestone birthday - she turned 70! - on April 21st, Luke turned 3 on May 14th, Grandpa Bud (my Dad) turned 69 on May 20th, and Larky Loo turned 2 on May 27th.

These first few pictures are from Luke's 3rd birthday party. He's loves chocolate cake chocolate icing just like me. I love the picture of him blowing out his candles - he's really putting 100% effort into it! I really like that picture of my parents too. The last picture of the group is of Luke in one of his presents from us - a Mickey Mouse costume. It's what he had asked for and doesn't he look precious in it?






Here are a couple of great pictures from Dede's 70th birthday party. Her cake was beautiful and we all just had a lot of fun celebrating that evening. Dede gets along so well with her grandkids, it's great to see them getting to spend time together. Happy Birthday, Mom! We're so proud of your wonderful achievement - 70 years young!