Bronx Zoo

We went on a family outing to the Bronx Zoo on Friday since Asher had school off. Aside from it being way colder than I anticipated, it was a great day. Of course, there were a few annoying moments that were to be expected, but the kids had a blast. We went on the monorail, saw the lions, watched the Dora 4-D movie (of course), ate lunch while looking at the flamingos, rode the bug carousel twice, went through the mouse house, saw the birds and penguins (Apparently those exhibits are not people's faves... totally empty. Lucky us!) then took a nice long scenic walk back to the zoo entrance, where Asher talked Nate into letting him ride the camel (which was the only money we spent the entire day!!). On the way back to the subway we stopped at a playground and let the kids run wild, then headed home. Asher and Sayer were both sound asleep by 6pm. Bart of course fell asleep on the subway ride home so he didn't go to bed until much later. 

I loved being with just our little family all day! 

Bart is already channeling the Christmas spirit!!  On the subway ride there.

Waiting in line for the monorail

View from the monorail platform, overlooking the Bronx river

Our little fam on the monorail

Bart and I hung out while dad and the boys watched Dora

Lunch with the flamingos in the background

Cheese?  Bart kept saying cheese during lunch.  Didn't know he knew that word.

1st time around

Bart looked like he was going to fall asleep, but apparently he won the battle and managed to stay awake the entire day.

2nd time around

Dad and Asher on the camel!

Sayer's camel ride!  Of course, Sayer insisted the he did NOT want to ride the camel.  But as soon as he saw Asher and dad doing it, he wanted to do it.  Sayer takes awhile to warm up to new ideas.

Lately...

We've been spending a lot of time in our "library" (aka, the corner that where I put big pillows and a cushy chair and a basket for the library books) and getting as much park time in before the cold weather hits

Central Park after church...

I love this picture.  Such a sweet sweet face!

Handsome Sayer!

Asher and I were having a very in-depth conversation about something.  Wish I could remember what.

Bart has become an expert climber.  He is constantly going up and down, up and down.  He's crazy.  And crazy cute!  Just look at this face.

These last 12 pictures are from our old camera that Bart dropped in the bathtub so it no longer works.  Thankfully the memory card was still totally intact.  It's amazing how dull they are compared to our new one.

Museum of Natural History

We've made a couple of trips to the MONH in the last couple of weeks. This last time we met up with my cousin Christian who is now living in Brooklyn. It was so great to get together and catch up while Sayer and Bart enjoyed the splendors the museum has to offer. We of course spent sometime in the whale room which is one of our faves, then we checked out the deer and moose and antelope and other animals of that sort. From there we headed to the dinosaurs. Bart is proving to be an independent minded little stinker. He loves to be able to run free, but when he has to be detained or re-routed for any reason, he. gets. ticked. He likes to do the whole "go-limp-throw-head-back-and-thrash-and-kick-legs-and-arms-all-over-the-place" thing. It's really fantastic. But, he is still super cute and cuddly, so we forgive him.

Another successful trip to the museum, and a wonderful chat with my cuz.  It was a good day!

My friend runs fast!!

One of my good friends ran her first marathon this last weekend!! For a normal person, that would mean that their main goal would be to just finish the race. Breanne however, was not only running her first marathon, but was also shooting to qualify for the Olympic trials. Yeah, she's amazing. Did I mention that her baby is 1? Well she is. Some friends and I wanted to be there to watch her cross the finish line, so we borrowed a car and drove up early {EARLY} in order to be there before they closed the roads. We had a lovely breakfast at a little mom n' pop place called Ashley's. It was good. It was also $6! Not too shabby. From there we headed over to the 1.5 mile mark, that was also the 5 mile mark and not far from the 8 mile mark. We got to see Breanne 3 times before she headed into the finish line. In order to qualify, she needed to get under 2:46 {that's a 6:19 minute mile pace people!}. Unfortunately, she woke up with severe stomach pain, and somehow made it to the starting line, and was able to run 26.2 with this pain. She crossed the finish line at 2:54 (5th place overall!!), and immediately passed out. Poor thing had to go to the hospital right after her marathon debut.  She is fine now, lounging on the beaches of Hawaii, with her cute little fam, as we speak.  She was definitely bummed that she didn't reach her goal, but rest assured, she will get out there again, and when she does, she is going to ROCK it!

Hartford was beautiful!  This is the capitol building.

Kate, Mel, and me holding up our totally awesome signage!

I had so much fun with these ladies!

Adorable Kenna.  Who, by the way, pretty much looked like this the entire day... including the hours spent in the hospital ER.  Not a peep from her the whole time.  Angel.

Breanne at mile 5

Again at mile 8

Congrats on an amazing first marathon Breanne!!

**A few of these pictures are taken from Breanne's blog