new york public library.

Let's be honest.

This summer has been a blah for reading on my behalf, and I feel terrible. Blame it on spending more time on the final preparations getting Sierra ready for college, having family visit, the fact that we might be moving again, and that my concentration is solely on making sure that my kids are number one in my life, and that they are all doing well. Still...reading helps me escape in many ways, and soothes my brain. I miss it, and after going to the NYPL I'm going to at least finish one book before the end of summer!! 

Lexie and Sierra continue to read faster than lightening, and Chelsea gets more motivated when she sees them with books. 

I have so many books listed on Goodreads, but have yet to finish the one I was reading. I currently have my eye on this one at the moment. I have a love for young adult fiction (blame it on my teenage girls.) Sierra is currently reading Dante's Inferno, and Lexie is reading The Kite Runner, wait...A Thousand Splendid Suns, oh... she finished that one, Davinci Code, what, already! Not only does this girl have laser focus, but she reminds me a little bit of Dr. Spencer Reid when it comes to reading. Seriously, that girl can read the Harry Potter Series in a week! She did read them all in a week, and has reread them three times already this year!

Because of her my motivation for reading keeps increasing. Chelsea would rather go outside & play in the pool or park, but for the most part she does have an interest in reading. We have a few books on the list that we are getting, and she gets excited whenever we go to Barnes and Noble, or to our local library to check out books.

She is currently reading Mandy, and it's perfect for her.

When we went to visit the New York Public Library recently she was floored! First of all she said to me, "this is the same room like in that movie with the ice age storm." I fell in love with this library, and I'm telling you if we lived here we would be here almost every day.

The children's reading room is a good size room where you can take your young children and sit for hours reading to them. It's so cozy, and there are so many books!

The Rose Reading room is amazing. I can tell this area can get pretty packed quick. We were lucky to have found an empty seat! 

There is a "laptop room" and although the room looked a little plain the paintings on the wall made it beautiful.

Chelsea spotted George Washington in a second! 

This library is my absolute favorite, and there are times when I wish I was a "real" librarian so I can broaden my mind with the knowledge in all kinds of rare books, history, and every kind of book from fiction to biographies.

It truly is a beautiful library with timeless artwork. I feel right at home when we entered inside. Every new yorker is so lucky to have this library in their backyard, and I sure hope they don't take it for granted!

**Have you done any summer reading lately?

a new york post.

This past Friday we pounded the hard concrete on the streets of New York walking at least 50 blocks (or more) all around Manhattans upper west side. Luckily for Noah he was in his stroller sitting comfortably taking in all the action. At times he wanted to get on papas shoulders for a better view, but for the most part sat in his stroller giving papa a break.

Going to the Rain Room wasn't his cup of tea, but he did love all the colors of the art at the MOMA. Venturing out onto the streets of New York no matter how crowded, busy, or smelly is something our kids love, and writing about it gives me great pleasure for the mere fact that this is one city I really appreciate, and LOVE.

Although I love the peace, stillness, blue skies that semi small cities brings, I long for the adrenaline, and inspiration that any city can give. Coming from a small town in Texas, and moving to Salt Lake City 21 years ago helped me realize that there's more to life than small towns. 

I wanted more.

Salt Lake City (compared to Corpus Christi and Kingsville it's big), and San Antonio taught me how city life is to be lived. Numerous trips to Seattle, Portland, and Las Vegas also prepared me to what  I would expect in an even busier city. 

Having lived in the outskirts of North Carolina for two years slowed me down a bit (good thing Raleigh was just 70 minutes away), and I was okay with that, but we still did those five hour drives to D.C. as well as adding an extra two hours driving to New York City.

Living in New Jersey has spoiled us in so many ways, and it has really grown on us. Although I wrote about moving to New England we will always have room for the city. We love it, and I'll never grow weary of it.

This day brought us more adventures as we walked the streets of New York, and this is what our day looked like...

We went to Madison Square Park where Noah swung on a green tire swing, and made new friends. We then hung out and ate at our favorite burger place.

My city boy.

The new art installation looked pretty cool, and adds a lot of character to the park. At first I wondered what the heck it was and then I read about the artist, and I was impressed at how she weaved and painted this rope in large sections by hand! It looks like this work of art will be here until Labor day, and then it'll be reimagined & reshaped, and moved to the city of Boston. 

I stayed behind taking all of these photos on my own while my family was ahead of me. They were waiting for me at a corner stoplight when all of a sudden it turned red, and like a true new yorker just walked on through.

I saw my husband laughing as I was walking towards him, and asked him why he was laughing. He said, "you're so New York just walking through the red light."  I just laughed!

Love the sight of yellow cabs, Rockefeller Center, and I got to have me some roasted almonds! 

The inner child in me quickly pulls me towards FAO Schwartz, and the kids get very excited when we come here. It's always interesting to see what's new in the store, and any changes that come with it.

As soon as we walked in the store we saw a huge minion, a gorilla, and Chelsea spotted two of her Wonka favorites. 

And her favorite...playing on the big piano with her feet. Her sisters will be jealous! 

We spent our entire day here, and to tell you the truth I didn't really want to go home. No matter how many times I've been to Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Flat Iron District, Greenwich Village, Soho,  Midtown, any New York neighborhood it never gets old. 

Five years of living an hour and twenty minutes away from here keeps us spoiled and wanting to return as often as we can. There's always Philly which is a 20 minute drive across the bridge, but New York has, and will always have my heart. 

We had way too much fun, but know we can always come back. 

I was joking with my husband about moving here, and he was like, "Umm, I'd have to be making quite a bit of money to live in a decent part of the city."

True, but who knows...Hoboken is always a possibility, and we'll still be in the state of Jersey! Hey...there's always Brooklyn! Just another dream thought I suppose! Sure loved our days spent in Brooklyn when we visited here, here, and here! 

Even if we never live in the city I'll always be grateful to be living so close to a magical one, and will take advantage of going every chance we get! 

Christmas in the city can't come soon enough...I still want to enjoy the rest of the summer, and fall though! 

The Rain Room & the MOMA.

Had I known about the Rain Room sooner we would have gone in a New York minute, but because we waited until the last weekend of it's showing, we ended up waiting in line for at least an hour. 

After careful thought, and the fact that we had Chelsea and Noah with us we decided to forego the eight hour wait and go to the "view only" line which means you get to see the rain room without getting underneath the ceiling. You can see other people taking cool pictures right in front of the light. We didn't get to go underneath the rain to feel the actual experience, but we were able to get a close look at this ingenious attraction without getting wet. 

One of the workers grabbed Noah's hand from underneath the rope to take him in. He was a little nervous, and only lasted under the rain for about 30 seconds. I thanked the worker for being so kind, and managed to vine some it here. 

I was a little jealous of those who were under the rain getting the full effect, but they deserved all that amazement. After all...some of them were up camping out as early as 2am to be one of the first in line. Crazy huh?

This was such an amazing exhibition, and had we not had the kids with us we would have done the eight hour wait. That one hour wait with the kids was totally worth it though. To see an awesome video of the rain room click here. Even though we didn't feel the full effect it truly was amazing, and worth the wait!!

*****

After viewing the rain room we headed back inside the museum. We saw paintings by Van Gogh in which Chelsea did a replica of "A Starry Night" it in her art class this past year. She got so excited when she saw the real painting!

Paintings by Monet were so beautiful. I didn't realize how big of a picture he painted!

"Water lilies"

"Japanese Maple"

And one of my all time favorites Picasso-

This is the Chatham Series in which Noah thought were a bunch of Lego's glued to the wall.

There were so many types of art that were made into fluorescent lights, metal fixtures, painted wood, molded plexi glass, and abstract art. It was impossible to take too many pictures, and I certainly don't want to over share too much when you can look online & read about some of these paintings.

Call me bias but besides my love for Picasso, this one was my favorite. Not because I'm Mexican (okay...that may be one of the reasons why) but mostly because of the meaning behind it.

I read the depiction in regards to the painting, and it shows a somber moment in the Mexican Revolution, as Zapatista's which means Zapata's peasant followers marching to their death. 

Apparently Orozco took part in the Revolution, and witnessed too much butchery. Although it's a sad story behind the painting it truly is a beautiful one.

"Zapatistas"- Jose Clemente Orozco

Chelsea, and Noah would take a break in between floors to look at the view from the window, and stood there for quite a while. 

Sometimes New York City can be a work of art as well...it depends on how you view it. 

And we love it!