Jane's Carousel Grand Opening In Dumbo!

Oh how we've missed riding on carousels particularly the ones in the city. Jane's Carousel and the Seaglass carousel are our favorite ones to go to in the city and after a year of being closed due to the pandemic have both opened up! We went ahead and decided to go on grand opening weekend! The lines weren't too crazy at Jane's but we did stand in line for about half an hour but you can't beat the view of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges and the price to ride it isn't too bad. So it was worth the wait! For two bucks you can ride it and it's a good timely  ride. The kids are 16 and 11.5 years of age and they still love riding on the carousel. I hope those days of them riding on the carousel never end. We ended the day eating ice cream and pizza at our favorite spots in Dumbo. We absolutely love this area. There is always fun things to do and see all year round here. 

Snippets From September!

There are days when I'd rather put pen to paper and write about my day or post little captions underneath a tiny square photo on my Instagram page rather than sit in front of a computer editing my photos, and write until my eyes or my wrists ache which is why I haven't been blogging as much. However, I did want to document some of our fun adventures during my birthday month. So much happened in September that I neglected this small space on the net but I did capture a lot of moments and posted them on my Instagram because that honestly just seems simpler and easier to do these days. 

Sunday in Dumbo & The Brooklyn Flea Market!

Having the Ross's visit New York all the way from Utah was a perfect excuse to skip church and meet up with them this past Sunday. We hadn't seen them since 2004 back when we were neighbors living in our tiny basement apartments in Sugarhouse. The only kids we had back then were Sierra, Lexie, and Trace, and now we have four kids each! I can't believe how fast time flew for our kids and to see both Lexie and Trace as teenagers together was surreal because the last time they saw each other Lexie was four, and Trace was two! It was so nice getting current pictures of this gem of a family! 

A Birthday Celebration In Brooklyn.

Since the girls birthdays fell on a Sunday this year we decided to celebrate them on Saturday. I had asked the girls on new years what they would like to do for their birthdays, and Chelsea said ice skating. Lexie, being the humble, and money saving girl that she is said it didn't matter. I then said to her, "there must be something you'd like to do, or want."

Under The Brooklyn Bridge.

This photo makes my heart swell. It'll probably be printed and framed. The morning she flew in from Utah, and as soon as we pulled into the driveway Noah and Chelsea both came running outside of the house with squeals of delight. She didn't even seem to care that she was jet lagged. She was so happy to see this little guy including all of her sibs, and of course catch up on some sleep. Unfortunately due to taking a red eye flight we didn't let her nap too long, and so far the past couple of days spent with her have been active, busy, pretty tiring, and pretty darn fun. 

The "she" I'm referring to is my lovely daughter Sierra.

This past weekend we spontaneously drove to the city to take all of them to one of our favorite spots under the Brooklyn bridge. The last time we came here the kids absolutely loved it ,and so we had to bring the older girls to check it out. Riding Jane's Carousel is one of the kids favorite attractions, and this time both Lexie and Sierra had a chance to finally ride on it. 

^^^ Never too old to ride the carousel! ^^^

I just love coming out here, and feeling free. There's something about the city that just makes you not have a care in the world about anything or anybody. The view of both the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges are amazing! We had so much fun taking pictures, and laughing in between the saying, "say cheese".

^^^ After all the picture taking, and having the kids play around for a bit we decided to grab a bite to eat. Of course the lines were crazy long because of the holidays, and the fact that it was a Saturday evening didn't help either. I personally was craving pizza, but was outvoted by the kids to eat at Shack Shack. I obliged, and didn't complain. I was craving Julianna's really bad (there's nothing like New york pizza in Jersey!) so that kind of tells you how much I love my kids. They really wanted to eat hamburgers, and I let them. In the end I had no regrets eating at Shake Shack because their crinkle fries are back!! The had become obsolete for awhile, but I guess by popular demand brought them back. Hopefully for good this time! ^^^

We ended the evening walking along the Brooklyn bridge, and taking in the beautiful view of the skyline. We always go to Manhattan, but am beginning to fall more in love with Brooklyn. Still...it's nice to see both "worlds" from time to time, but it's time that we don't take Brooklyn for granted. I'm so glad we were able to take Sierra into the city while she's here. Here's looking forward to six more days of quality time spent with her before she takes off! 

Happy Monday! 

Jane's Carousel in Brooklyn.

^^^ Kudos to my husband in taking this shot of the Manhattan Bridge with the Empire State Building in the center! ^^^

Summer is becoming my favorite time of the year, and so is Brooklyn. Brooklyn rules this time of year with so many places to go and see. Every time we come to the city we usually go to Manhattan but on this day we decided to walk the sidewalks of Brooklyn. I truly love it here, and the kids did not want to leave. I think it's the fact that they would prefer riding a scooter over driving in a car, parks that have fountains where you can wear your bathing suit and get wet, eat good pizza, Coney Island, and having a nicely, beautifully renovated carousel for all to ride in Brooklyn Bridge Park.  

An interesting fact about this carousel is that it was created by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1922, and in the '80's an awesome couple bought the entire carousel at an auction rather than it being sold piece by piece, and refurbished it. You can imagine how this carousel looked like when they bought it, and having it renovated must have taken a lot of work. Apparently they scraped off 62 years of "park paint" with an X acto knife so that you can see its original 1922 carvings in the horses...WoW! The couple then donated it to the city of New York and now has its permanent home in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn. It is such a beautiful carousel and the kids loved it. The best thing about the ride is the scenery. You literally are in between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridge and that is an added bonus. The price isn't too bad either. It only costs 2 bucks to ride, and as long as Noah stays under a certain height he gets in free! We could have ridden this over and over again. Why not when there are three rows of 48 horses to choose from! It was so awesome and I guarantee we will be coming back again. 

^^^ Mandatory pics with our main man... ^^^

Walking the streets of Brooklyn can be tiring especially when you're used to driving more than walking and we had us some hungry kiddies...including us! We have always eaten pizza at Grimaldi's whenever we go to Hoboken, but just found out about another pizza place that's right next door to Grimaldi's called Juliana's. And let me tell you...I personally prefer Juliana's over Grimaldi's. Sorry Grims...but it's a fact. Everything about Juliana's pizza was perfect. The taste, and how they take their time in making it. I can tell that the owners priority about this pizza is the quality...not the quantity. It was absolutely delicious, and I'll tell you something...we will be back for more! 

^^^ Don't you just love Noah's expression on his face. ^^^

There are days when I just want to pinch myself because of all the things that I am allowing to do with our family. Taking my kids outside of Jersey, and exposing them to a variety of culture, and there is so much of that here in New York. This week has been pretty awesome, and although I miss Lexie, and Sierra coming with us on our trips I still manage to take these two out into the 'real world' to fuel their imaginations while in the city.

And it never gets old.

We just keep coming back for more.