Cool things that happen in New York

I have to interrupt our Cruise posts so I can post about something pretty amazing that happened in New York City today. They flew one of the four prototypes of the Enterprise Space Shuttle up here to New York and it went right by our window looking over the Hudson River!! It was one of the coolest things I've seen. This Enterprise never went into space, but it was used to do other things, and this one is going to be housed on the Intrepid that is also here in New York.

Here are some pictures I captured quickly while trying to watch with my own eyes and trying to get a picture of it also.

This is it going up the Hudson to show everyone on the ground what it looked like. I liked this picture because you could see how low and close it really was to us.

And here is it going back down the Hudson. I was lucky enough to see it fly by THREE times!!

The third time it flew by I took video, and yes I'm aware that I get super excited about it with saying "this is the COOLEST thing ever!" But really...how many times will this really happen!? :) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb1BFu6RZdk&feature=youtu.be

Disney Cruise- Day 2

Our second day on the cruise was a day at sea, trying to get over to St. Maarten. So, we had to figure out what to do all day, which actually wasn't very hard at all. First thing we did was have a character breakfast!! Spencer got all kinds of autographs. 

Minnie Mouse

 Pluto

Oh, and our servers started making us hats out of napkins. We figured out it was all from Peter Pan, so Spencer was a pirate. Like his hook and pirate face? 

 These were our dinner mates that Spencer had so much fun with. The boy on the left got the Peter Pan hat. 

Mickey Mouse

Mickey with Spencer and Tyler

Tyler's napkin hat....not quite sure who it would be??

My hat was of Tiger Lily! 

Family picture, with Spencer's hooked finger still. 

The ocean is BEAUTIFUL!! I loved just being on the water the whole time. It did get rocking a bit, and we had moments when we would walk on the ship and look like we were drunk because of the swaying. Luckily we were on Deck 5 so we didn't hear the waves slapping up against the side of the boat, but we did feel the swaying. Spencer and I never got motion sickness, and Tyler kept his Sea Bands on the whole time and he was fine. 

Throughout that day we just did activities that were on the boat. After breakfast we did Bingo (we didn't win anything, but it was a blast!). They had a fun move or thing to do for some of the letter and number combos. Like for B-11, they would do this dance. Afterwards they told us why they danced like that, because B-11 in Spanish is "Bey-on-say" but spelled Be-once. So if you say that what does it sound like?? Beyonce!!!! Which means they had to dance and chant "B! Eleven! B-B, eleven!" Spencer and I kept singing that all week long because it was stuck in our heads. 

After Bingo we really just relaxed while Spencer played in the Lab or Club and did their activities, I think we also took a nap that day too, we were tired, or at least I was.

We then went to dinner and then went to the show for that night which was called "Villains Tonight!" It was FANTASTIC!! And have you ever noticed that most Disney villains wear purple?!?! CRAZY! I really liked this play, it was just about how Hades (from Hercules) was running out of evil and had to get more evil in 12 hours, so he got help from all of the other villains. It was fun. 

After the fun filled day we came to our cabin and found this: a rabbit? We said a rabbit, but the next day was Easter and I was positive that that was a rabbit. Any other guesses? 

Disney Cruise- Magical Moment

One of the best things that happens on Disney Cruises are the magical moments that seem to happen to a lot of the kids onboard. Spencer was able to have one of those magical moments.

The first night we were there we realized that we had no autograph book for the characters to sign, so we went to the gift shop on board and bought one for Spencer. We went up to the sales lady to buy the book and she nicely asks Spencer "An autograph book? Do you want my autograph?" Spencer looked at her then at me, to which I told him "Of course you do!" And he told her "Sure, but you will have to open it up." It was wrapped in some plastic stuff. So the saleslady said to Spencer "I'll let you open it up and then you can come back and get my autograph, how about that?" Spencer said, "Sure." Then asked, "Do you want my autograph?" The lady looked at him with a smile and said, "Yes!" Got a piece of paper and let Spencer sign his name on it. She said thank you and we told her we'd come back tomorrow night for her autograph. 

The next morning we were about to leave our room and then saw a bag hanging outside of our door with this inside:

She gave him a certificate and a Disney pin!!! Spencer felt so special. Sadly, we forgot the autograph book that night to take to Mary Beth, but we went and saw her. She showed Spencer that she still had his autographed paper in her pocket! Spencer was smiling from ear to ear. Mary Beth then told Spencer to come back Monday night, which was Pirate night, to have her autograph the book so she could see him all dressed up. 

We did finally get the autograph from her, and I think we went into the shop most nights to see if Mary Beth was there, and she was and whenever she saw Spencer she would always say "Hey Spencer!" He of course would say hi to her then tell her what fun things he was doing. I love Disney for these magical moments they have with our kids. 

Also, the last night we were on the boat we stopped by the shop to say goodbye to Mary Beth, and Spencer asked one last time "Do you still have my autograph in your pocket?" Guess what?? She did!!! 

Disney Cruise- Day 1

We knew we wanted to take a trip this year as a family, and decided that a Disney Cruise would be fantastic! Thankfully Santa brought us at Christmas time a Disney Cruise! The cruise we had at first was leaving from New York City and was in May, but then we found out that cruise lines don't like women to be over 24 weeks pregnant while on a cruise....and at the end of May I would be over 24 weeks. So we had to change the cruise, and since Spencer's Spring Break was last week then we thought that would be a perfect time even if we had to fly down to Florida. 

As the time grew closer we got really excited! It was even during Easter, so we knew Disney would do something fun, right? Thankfully the Easter Bunny knew we were going on a cruise and wouldn't be home on Easter morning so he dropped off treats the Friday morning we left for the cruise. 

Spencer finding his basket and seeing his big bunny.

Excited about the Mini Eggs he got!

After we checked out our candy we had to get ready for our trip. We had to wake up at 5am to catch our flight down to Florida. It wasn't too long of a flight down there, especially since we were upgraded to First Class (thank you skymiles rewards!!). At the airport we didn't even have to worry about getting our luggage, Disney would do it for us. We got in line for our bus to take us to the cruise ship and then were off. 

This is inside the cruise terminal, and yep Minnie was there to welcome us!! Along with a model of our ship, the Disney Magic.

 Once on the ship we could just explore. We didn't have our luggage yet, so we just walked around the top decks to see where things were. 

Spencer looking out the side of the boat, and wondering what everything was on it. Most things were covered up because it had just rained at the port. 

 This was the front of our ship, and we later found out that this was actually the crews area and pool. 

 What could we see from our cruise ship?? Well those white buildings in the background is Kennedy Space Station!!! Kinda where that crane line is, is where the shuttle takes off on flight. Pretty cool. 

 Soon we were on our way and the boat started to move. It was getting close to our dinner time, so we went to dinner and met our dinner mates. They were a great family and we got along really well during our dinnertimes with them. Spencer and their boys got along wonderfully and became really great friends. After dinner we went to the play in the theatre that the entertainment group put on called "All Aboard: Let the Magic Begin". It was fabulous and we all loved the music and acting they did. We were able to meet the Cruise Director, Darren, while at the show and then also saw a lot of characters. They did a show like this most nights, and I was really glad that Spencer enjoyed these shows. After the show we came back to our suite and guess what was waiting for us?!!? A swan!! 

We were tired from the day and decided to call it a night. The next day was going to be filled with activities! Every night they would give us a newsletter for the next day's activities, it was really good to have and take with us around the ship, because there was so much to choose from. Here are what the newsletters looked like. 

These were all the ones we got. 

The front.

Our activities!

ALL the activities for the day!!! CRAZY BUSY RIGHT?!?!

Information about certain activities. 

The back for times that restaurants are open and other things on the ship. 

Hot, hot, hot Chocolate!!

That title is suppose to be the song from The Polar Express.

Okay, so my sister and her family gave us a hot chocolate maker/mixer for Christmas and so we had to buy some of the best hot chocolate to try in it!! 

These are all the Stephen's hot chocolate flavors we got, so yummy!

Starting up the hot chocolate. I wasn't sure how much we would use this maker/mixer, but we really, during the winter, used it at least once a week, maybe twice a week. It just makes great hot chocolate to warm you up! 

My sister went one step further in the present giving and added a mug to my present that is PERFECT for myself. :) The boys will not touch this one. 

Thanks sister for the excellent gift!!!!

Visitors- 7

Tyler's brother's family came to visit us during February and we were so excited to have them come see where we live and be able to see them!! Layton and Ashley had everything planned out to what they wanted to see most, and where they wanted to eat. Both Tyler and I said that we think they were the visitors that got to the most places in such a short amount of time. It was lots of fun and very filling! 

The first day they were here we went over to Jersey to see the Cake Boss' bakery. I had never been there, but I'm glad I went with them because it was really easy to get over there, so now I know! This was where our boat taxi docked. 

The bakery stuff was amazing!! So many things to choose from, and Layton found out that Lobster Tails are little pieces of heaven (although I still think Ashley makes the best little pieces of heaven). It was fun to see all the variety and bring home lots to share with Tyler and Spencer. The line was long, but worth it.

This is their son who is sooo dang cute!!! He was happy with Spencer's toys of cars and trains, and whenever we were home he would just go right back to playing with them. Oh, and he also liked our dinosaur movies. It was just so cute when he would talk to us about it all. 

Another day we went to the Empire State Building, which we had never been to, but knew that we should go see at least once while living here. It was pretty cool, and we got there early enough that there was barely a line!!! 

 Look from the observation floor looking south towards where we live. Can you see our place?? It's amazing to me to see how much fits in this small city. 

Spencer and the view.

Another day we went out to dinner to the best Italian restaurant ever, and no it was not Olive Garden. It was Il Vagabondo, and it was DIVINE!! I went to their website before going so I could see what to eat, and Emeril Lagasse had a video from the show The Best Thing I Ever Ate and he talked about a dish at this restaurant...veal parmigiana. So, I decided if Emeril likes this...maybe I would, and I DID!! YUMMY!!!!

After dinner we took the subway home and started walking to our apartment, and noticed that lots of fire engines were passing by. We looked up ahead and saw at least 6 engines right on a street that is next to our apartment building!!!! I was so worried that something was going on at our apartment, but when we got closer we saw it was a building further down the street. 

 Kinda nerve-racking to see this while walking home. 

 We stayed outside and watched the firefighters for a while, but then started to wonder where the fire was, we could smell the smoke but could not see the fire anywhere. Going into our building we asked the doorman and he said it was a fire up on the roof of the apartment building across the way. We knew our living room window faced that way so we went upstairs opened the blinds and saw this:

There were at least 10 firefighters up there trying to get the blaze under control. Once or twice we saw big flames. It was crazy! The good part was that it was just on the roof garden of this building and did not go into any apartments. So that was some excitement for the night!! 

Could this face get any cuter?? I think not. 

 Cousins. 

We had a wonderful time with Layton and Ashley here with us, and their time here went by really fast. But no visit to Uncle Tyler is complete unless there is a wrestling session. Here are the boys wrestling together. 

One more thing, Spencer really got to know Layton and Ashley both more, but it seemed that wherever Layton was, Spencer was right next to him on the couch. It was really cute, and I thank Layton for being patient with Spencer. :) Thanks for the fun times family!!!!! 

Girl or Boy??

It's a BOY!! Which took us a bit by surprise, because we just felt like it was a girl the whole time, but alas it's a boy and we couldn't be more thrilled! As you could see, Spencer is QUITE excited by having a baby brother. He has already started to tell me which toys he is going to give to him, and which things he will teach him. It's so cute. I told Spencer last night while cuddling with him that the baby can hear him, and he should start telling him stories. So last night our little baby boy got his first story from his big brother. It was all about how Spencer found out we were having a baby and how he found out the baby was a boy. Spencer was excited to know that this little baby will listen to him for hours on end, I loved being in on the story last night, and can't wait to see what else Spencer tells baby brother. 


Here are some ultrasound pictures we got yesterday at the doctor's appointment. 


This first one is a 3D image one of the baby. Head at the top and kind of his arm coming to his chin, Tyler liked to think that this baby was already thinking of very complex things. 

This next one is the regular ultrasound, and it's the baby's profile. The big black dot is the eye socket. 

During the whole ultrasound this kid was moving EVERYWHERE! And whenever the technician would try to get a picture he would kick and the picture would be all blurry. It was kinda funny to me, but I could tell she was just wanting to get these pictures. It also seemed to me that he would "swim" away from her. So I guess he is already a stubborn little boy, or one that knows exactly what he wants. Even when I feel him kick (which is all day long, seriously, the most ACTIVE boy!), and I will put my hand on my tummy to feel it, he won't kick. Then once I take my hand away...oh then he starts to kick again. It's quite fun. We can't wait to meet this little man in just 20 weeks!!!! He is going to be the most loved baby ever, and will probably think we are crazy for how much we love him and how happy we are that he finally has come to our family.