NYC & D.C. (our beloved cities)

New York city. 

I'm sure many of us develop a love/hate relationship when one visits for the first time, but for the most part it truly is a magical city in which loathing it would be impossible (at least for me). If you hate it...you'll end up loving it even more after you leave. Trust me.

Visiting the city for the first time thirteen years ago was a dream come true for me. I thanked my brother in law for living in Connecticut so that we could have an excuse to visit so that we can come to the city! Although I was a bit overwhelmed by the tall buildings, mumbling voices, construction noises echoing off the street, and endless honking I fell in love with it. We loved it so much that we took the express train to Grand Central from Connecticut to the city three days in a row. 

New York City is so magical that in spite of the hustle and bustle, and endless noises you end up loving it after one leaves. The adrenaline builds up, and helps guide you as you step foot into the city. It truly is a different experience going for the first time, but if you have a love for crowds, broadway, lights, culture, variety, good food, and diversity then you'll have no problem taking in all of the action and energy this city has to offer. Some of us could possibly live here too, and some may never want to come back. That was their "once in a lifetime" "been there seen it" "never going to go back" "marked that off my bucket list" kind of attitude. I personally love it, and luckily for Ceyda...she thought it was pretty cool too!  

The crowds, and lights at Time Square were a bit overwhelming to her, but nonetheless we walked and walked all over the city with two kids in tow, and one riding in the stroller. Yeah...a stroller in Times Square where the streets are super crowded. Smart huh? Well...Noah was asleep, and holding him all night long was not an option so I had to use that stroller (luckily it was a small one). 

We had gone to a carnival over at Governors Island earlier, and being there all afternoon wore the kids out. Noah fell asleep, and because we only had one stroller, Jon gracefully took Celeste and put her on his shoulders, and I could tell she was mesmerized by all the lights. Made him miss the girls when they were little. 

Times Square never surprises me. You see all kinds of characters...weird, and not so weird. We always look forward to see what new "characters" we'll see. We searched for the cool ones and ran into these Disney characters, and one of my favorites...Madea (not a Disney character).

We grabbed some grub over at Bubba Gump, and watched Forrest Gump on the tube while eating. The food here was delicious. 

I was a bit disappointed though being that they didn't have Dr. Pepper as a beverage, but that was cool. You'd think they would being that Forrest Gump drank like 15 of them in the movie. 

We maxed our time out as always in the city, and headed back to Jersey to await Ceyda's next adventure on the east coast! For the most part...she loved New York City!

*****

Capitol Hill is one of the most classiest, and savviest places in the world to visit and live. I love D.C. and I couldn't let Ceyda go home without taking her to see some of the attractions here. Her main love was visiting the White House. 

and taking her to eat at one of the best authentic BBQ restaurants near the city.

This is the place to eat some tasty BBQ. Haven't had good brisket this good since Texas! Even Noah ate some, and this boy can be one picky eater. 

The past few days with Ceyda have truly been wonderful, and I'm so grateful that she came to see us. I know that I'll be catching up on a lot of zzzzzz's when she leaves, but seriously...I will miss her! 

Georgetown.

I've never really actually stopped and gotten down to walk the streets of Georgetown where they have so many shops, and delicious places to eat. We drove through there one time like seven years ago I think. I remember the first time I watched this movie, and how my dream was to fulfill a "college life" just like the characters in the film...without the partying of course. Now that I have a kid heading to college in the fall, and a thirteen year old whose mind is so focused on anything that has words in it or strings on it motivates me to continue to go out and take them out to explore our surrounding areas in the tristates, and tour different universities. Hey...it's never too early to start them out young right?

Alexandra already has two colleges she'll be applying to in five years...Harvard, and now Georgetown. Just as Sierra fell in love with Julliard when we first took her to New York city when she was five, Lexie fell in love with Harvard when we first went by the university. She was eight years old. Her goal...medical school. Since we moved to the east she has had a fixation on colleges. What eight year old has a focus on wanting to go one of the most competitive Ivy league schools in the country! Now that I have seen how focused Lexie is on her academics, and in just being a beautiful example to everyone she meets I believe that she can do it. Just as I believed that Sierra can also attend one of the greatest art schools in the country.

On our way home from picking up Sierra from EFY we decided to stop at Georgetown, and have a taste of this quaint, old college town.

I absolutely loved it! We absolutely loved it! The minute we drove through the university, and got down to walk inside Lexie was like, "I'm applying here." Sierra said, "Mom, I'm going to be visiting Lexie when she attends here." I tell you hearing words like that coming out of my children's mouth makes me one happy mom. Makes me realize that I am doing something right with these girls, and that I'm not screwing it up!

So on this day we had too much fun. Way too much. With so little time on our hands to cover this past weekend in D.C. and driving to and from Virginia was worth all those hours sitting in the van. And all the depictions of photos that your about to see was so needed after spending those endless hours in the car...without air condition! 

The first thing we did was stop by the university, and it is gorgeous!

We didn't care how hot it was. We managed to walk through the town, and I just love the architecture of the shops on M street as well as the row houses. Those row houses are to die for! When I watched St. Elmo's Fire for the first time I always imagined what it would be like to live in those. They are dreamy! 

Although I've heard that Georgetown cupcake is the greatest I didn't feel like standing in line for hours! So instead we decided to have... 

This...

We cooled off with some yogurt from Pinkberry. Gotta have those toppings, and it was delicious!

The fountains! 

This is every kids happiness, and so many of them dominated the area...including my daughter. Just see watch them here.

She made a friend too...Camilla from Venezuela.

This is the part where I thank mother nature for heat and humidity because without her we wouldn't have these glorious fountains to cool ourselves off with! We had too much fun! Too bad we didn't bring our bathing suits. I only packed the littles theirs.

Watching all these kids having fun made me want to get in there with them. I didn't care if I didn't have a suit. When the heat index in D.C. is 100 degrees I don't think it matters whether your clothed or naked, but...we kept our clothes on! I had so much fun running under the fountains with my Noah. At first he was a little timid of the water, but after looking at his sisters being brave jumping and running through the fountains he went for it...with me! 

And we had the best time of our lives! 

Now...This was the icing on the cake, and the perfect end to our day in Georgetown...especially for the kids. 

There were so many other things I wanted to explore in this old college town, but exploring the streets & shops of Georgetown, and playing in the fountains was good enough for our family. 

Good enough.

national zoo in D.C.

Life certaintly keeps us busy with four kids, and although school is out...when summer comes it gets even busier! The first week of July is now a part of history. I can't believe how quick that one flew by! I haven't had time to document our adventures in my handwritten journal, and I will just as soon as I post about the weekend we had on our way to pick Sierra up from EFY. 

Rather than waking up early in the morning to drive six hours to Virginia to pick up Sierra at 7am we decided to spend the day in D.C. and actually take our time to do the things we love the most. Living in the center of three great cities (Philly, New York, & D.C.) spoils us because there is so much to do and see. We certainly need  more than one day to see all the sights. Luckily Sierra going to EFY again this year gave us a reason to venture out yet again. 

The last time we went to the National Zoo was four years ago before Noah was born. I have always wanted to take him, but every time we come to D.C. we end up going to the LDS temple (which is my favorite), our favorite bookstore as well as eating at one of our favorite restaurants that are not local in Philly, or Jersey. 

If we're lucky with extra time on our hands we will go to the National Mall and see some of the sights. Luckily we have already seen, and documented most of the nations capitol, but there are still more places I would like to go to such as the Holocaust Museum, Mount Vernon, and take a tour inside the White House.  

Luckily my love for Abe was fulfilled when we saw the Lincoln Memorial as well as the veterans memorial. My favorite! 

So this time we decided to go to the National Zoo, and spend our afternoon there. Now Noah can scratch this off his little bucket list. I love this zoo because it's free, and the fact that there is so much to see! All you pay for is parking, and the rest is up to you to make the best of it. 

Most of the animals were indoors because of the heat, and I don't blame them! It's been hotter than blazes this whole week! Be prepared to do a whole lot of walking too. I seriously think I lost five pounds walking around in this humidity! 

The kids all had a grand time. I don't get how little kids can tolerate the heat better than the adults. Noah  and Chelsea were good sports with walking, and as long as they all had their water bottles they were in good spirits. 

There were moments when Jon carried Noah on his shoulders. As a dad should I might add.

I really loved this day. Even if I didn't take a lot of pictures of the animals because they were hiding and sleeping in shaded areas where you couldn't see them. Noah and Chelsea tip toed, looked through the telescopes, and Jon even picked up Noah to help him spot a fishing cat. 

Even though we couldn't see the entire anatomy of some of the animals that was fine by me. I'd rather take pictures of my kids anyway. Then again it was fall when we experienced the zoo for the first time,  and there were more animals to see. 

For now...I have more photos of three great kids, and tomorrow there will be more pictures, and another documentation of four great kids. 

So enjoy, and I hope you stay cool and don't roast out there in this beast of a hot humid climate! Happy Monday, and have a great week! 

Birthday weekend at the nation's capitol

My family and I feel so fortunate to live just two hours away from the nations capitol. When my better half has the weekend off we make an effort to take our family to D.C. We have been lucky enough to have gone to the temple at least once a month, and since it was Sierra's birthday weekend we decided to forego the temple this time, and spend the day sightseeing.

view of the Jefferson Memorial building across the Potomac River

We love coming here. We've been here quite a few times, and it never gets old. We have come at times when it's packed when there is tour after tour, but we got lucky and had a chance to take some pictures without any extra bodies in them. I went a little crazy taking pictures with instagram so I hope y'all enjoy these pictures I took.

Noah & Fala-Franklin D. Roosevelt's scottie dog

waiting in line for the soup kitchen to open

We saw both the Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial, and Thomas Jefferson memorial.

Jefferson quote

The girls were obviously in a picture mood today. Sierra never really cared for the instagram app but now absolutely loves it on her iPhone. She too went crazy taking pictures of anything, and everything! Maybe she'll post some on her blog soon.

 These are all my photos (smile.)

Good ol' Teddy

Lovely Eleanor

The hands that bind

I am so glad that Sierra chose to spend her birthday weekend in the nation's capitol. I remember the first time we came here, and how much we really enjoyed seeing history. It truly makes you appreciate all that our forefathers, and war veterans went through. It was when we moved further north that we vowed we would take advantage of visiting D.C. as much as we can. 

overlooking the Potomac river

It's so peaceful to have a picnic, and to overlook the Potomac River that flows through the nation's capitol. I have so much appreciation for the nation's capitol, and for the rights that we have as an American. I'm always moved when I arrive here, and it truly feels like home to me.