Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Day 17

Monday, Monday!
As we wrap up our last few days in NYC before we head home we are trying to do the last few things on our NYC list!

The boys and I headed out early on the subway to the Bronx Zoo. The Bronx Zoo has been recommended to us by so many people we knew we had to make time to get there!
 

The zoo was fab! The area of the Bronx where the zoo is not the safest area of town but the zoo was awesome.

 

 

 

 

We spent a little over four hours at the zoo and had a blast. 

Day 16

Sunday we slept in and got ready for brunch and church. We had reservations at Balthazar in Soho. 

 
French fries and fried eggs. So healthy!
 

After brunch we hit up the 12:30 service at Hillsong again. This Sunday all of the services from across the city were combined and all met in the Hammertein Ballroom. 2,000 people worshiping and taking in God's word. Amazing.

 

After church we went back to our apartment and I got to go and get a foot massage while the boys played frisbee in Central Park. Heaven!!!

 

We finished up the day with a yummy supper at BonDurant near our apartment. 

Day 15

Brooklyn!

After our late night the night before we woke up craving a diner breakfast. So we hit up EJ's Luncheonette by our apartment first thing. Then, we hopped on the subway to the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge!

 
 

This bridge is massive-built in the 1800's and so many people cross over it each day.

Walker started out like this: (please not the happy face below. Ha!)
 

Graduated to this: (this is me telling him to get it together, per usual!)
 

And then this is how I walked almost the entire bridge with him:

 

Steps should count double when you carry someone on your back

While we got our bearings and figured out where to go the kids snapped a few pics.

 

 

We walked for a while and stepped in and out of some really cute shops. We bought a few shirts and then we went to the "Smorgasborg," this huge area near the water where they had tents set up with different food...and oh my goodness the food!!!!!! 
After we ate a bite we shopped some more. This is how the kids felt about that.

 

They perked up a bit when we found this bench:

 

The sun was really beating down on us so we decided to get on the subway and head into Soho to do some more shopping. Renzi wanted to go to this denim store called 3X1 where you can custom make your own jeans. Being 6'8 you can imagine it's hard to find the perfect pair of jeans!

 

 

Such a cool place!

After that we walked the short walk over to Chinatown and found a Chinese place to eat for dinner. It was just ok, but it did the trick! 
After dinner we basically crawled home, showered up, watched the Olympics and went to bed early!!!

Day 14

The boys and I got out early this morning and walked two miles to North Meadows Recreation Center to play basketball on their courts. We walked through Central Park and saw parts of the park we had not seen before. Gorgeous!

 

 

We hooped it up for about and hour and a half and then decided it was time for lunch! We ate tacos from this small place near our house called Dos Toros.

Later that afternoon we met up with Renzi and went to the New York Historical Society to tour their museum. They had an exhibit by the children's illustrator and author Mo Willems and Jackson was super excited to see it. Mo Willems books were some of his favorites as he was learning to read.

 

 

 

The museum also had an awesome short movie about New York that we watched and then we went downstairs to the children's history museum.

 

 

 
As we were leaving they had a small exhibit about Alexander Hamilton and the boys thought these statues were hilarious. The statues are of Alwxander Hamilton and Aaron Burr's shoot out.
 

We had a babysitter set up for Friday night and Renzi and I went on a date in the city! Renzi set up our night to hop around to different places and we had a ball.

We started at this place called "Ten Bells" and had wine and oysters. Such a cute little place.
 

We then moved on to this Cider Bar and had cider. I can say right now that I am not a fan of cider. Yuck!

After the Cider Bar we jumped in a can and headed to our dinner destination. The place is called La Esquina-and when we pulled up to this tiny taco truck looking place I admit I was a bit skeptical.

 

We walked up to the door and a guy in a black suit with a head set asked us our names-he then talked into his headset, confirmed our reservation and then led us to this tiny door in the back where another guy is black suit and headset met us. He led us down this tiny staircase....

 

This staircase led us into the most spectacular restaraunt I have ever seen. It was breathtakingly gorgeous. So gorgeous, in fact, that I must have been in a trance because I took zero pictures of the place! Dang it!
We had an incredible meal-enchiladas, corn on the cob, queso fundido and spicy margaritas. After dinner the place turns into this nightclub so we hung out for a while before we went to our next destination.

We tried to get into a couple of places but they were full-PTD (called ease don't tell) and Death and Co., but ended up at a cute place near our house called "Dear Mr. Irving." We stayed for a glass of wine and then called it a night. 

Such fun!!!

Monday, August 8, 2016

Day 13

Thursday Renzi left early for New Jersey for meetings and the boys and I went to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). We had a bit of a snafu on the subway....one of the lines we needed to take was down so I accidently chose the wrong line and we ended up in Long Island. Oops! Nothing an uber ride could not fix. Ha!

MOMA had an incredible audio system for kids so we grabbed the headphones and small devices and starter on the top floor and worked or way down.

 

 

The boys did surprisingly well and I really think they learned a lot. We saw Picassos, Monet, Salvador Dali, Matisse and so many more. It was fun to watch Jackson recognize some of the artists and paintings he has leaned about in art at school.

One of the special exhibits they had was about the decade of 1960's. Interesting and weird things were everywhere!

 

After the museum we were starving so we had a late lunch at Burger Heaven. So good!

We played at the park for awhile after and then we went home because I had to get ready for Renzi's and my fun night. Our friends Reece and Laynie Travis were in town with their family for a movie premiere that her family was producing. The movie was called Anthropod and was playing at Loews theatre. We had the opportunity to be at the red carpet, see the movie and attend the after party.

Here are a few pics from the premiere with some of the stars from the movie.

 

 

It was an awesome night and so cool to see a movie with the people who worked on the movie!

Day 12

Wednesday the boys and I took the subway to midtown to do some back to school shopping. We walked in and out of some of the huge stores and it was fun to watch the boys eyes as they took all of the hugeness in.

That evening we came home to get ready for dinner and The Lion King on Broadway!
The boys looked so so cute in bow ties that my dad and stepmom got for them.

 

 

 

We took the boys for sushi at Blue Ribbon Sushi (ok-so that's what Renzi and I wanted...ha!) and we had a fun dinner trying new things.

 

 

The Lion King was simply incredible. The colors, the costumes, the music, the sets-we were all in awe the entire show.

 

 

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Day 11

Tuesday we got out of the house early and headed out to New Jersey because we were given the opportunity to attend NY Giants training camp!  

The boys were so excited because we were up close to all of the players and to the field.


 

 

 

 

After the "practice" the boys were taken over to where the players would be signing autographs and were right up front.  Jackson and Walker got a chance to meet Odell Beckham, Jr, Sterling Shepherd and Eli Manning!

 

 

 

 
We finished up the day by having dinner with Houda-she works at Saxum in Oklahoma City and was in town to attend meetings with Renzi. She is amazing and Walker Stone adores her...along with the rest of us!