New York City

For Emma's birthday we promised to take her to the American Girl Place in New York. We left Sunday after church and spent the night at Uncle Jay's apartment.



In the morning we spotted this crazy sculpture at the south end of Central Park.

First stop, American Girl Place. Emma brought her birthday money and more that she had been saving and spent it all at the store. She loved it!!

The #1 thing she wanted was to have her picture taken with Felicity for the cover of their magazine. Emma picked out their outfits before we left. I think she did a great job of matching colors! The rest of her money she spent on modern clothes for Felicity.


Next stop, the Nintendo store. Clay and Emma had a great time playing the new Resort Sport game on the Wii.

I had a not so great time chasing Rebekah around the store and hoping she doesn't break anything. Then she found Pikachu :)

Third stop, M&M World. If you know Clay, you know this was very high on his list!

We let the girls create their own mix of m&m's. Emma ended up with the same colors she and Felicity were wearing!

We stopped for lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner (thanks to the Monks for the tip). It was a fun diner like Johnny Rockets where all the wait staff are trying to make it on Broadway and sing karaoke non-stop. Finally, we took the girls to Top of the Rock so they could see just how big the city is.

Emma looks like a professional NYC shopper!

I had no idea that they keep the ball in Times Square all year!!

It was very hot at the Top of the Rock. Probably b/c we are up so high. Walking around on the ground was a perfect temperature. I guess all the buildings keep it shaded and cooler.

The girls were tired by now. We went back to the apartment so the girls could take a nap. I got a long nap in, but the girls just played with Clay.

For dinner we took the metro to Little Italy for some new york style pizza.

Hershey Park

We spent the day at Hershey Park. We had so much fun! Clay went off on his own to ride a couple of the big rides in the morning. So I took the girls to all the kiddie rides. They had a blast. It was really a fun park, and not crowded at all. Of course we did have to take shelter for about an hour when we had a downpour. I am just so used to the lines at the amusement parks in California that this looked like Disneyland on a dead day. I loved how they also had lots of trees to shade everything too. And tons of benches by all the rides.

The girls LOVED this ride!


They also had a great water park that is INCLUDED with your admission (again, so unlike CA). We had a relaxing time going around the Lazy River about 6 or 7 times. Then Emma and I went on this water slide called the Whirlwind. It was awesome. You're on a two-man raft going through a long and windy tunnel (I was backwards for all of it!) and then it drops you into a giant funnel! And when I say drop, I mean it. We were completely airborne. When we got off the ride Clay said Emma looked like she just saw someone get killed. But she liked the ride.


Here we are at the end of the day!

Chocolate World

Now that I am feeling better, we drove up to Hershey, PA and went to Chocolate World. We went on their little tram ride to learn about how they make their chocolate. Emma actually really enjoyed learning about the process. Then we bought some chocolate. Yum. We found a place for dinner and then back to the hotel for our big day tomorrow.

Mono

I have had Mono for the last 2 weeks. I started feeling sick a few hours after Emma's birthday party was over. I went to the doctor for my sore throat, she put me on antibiotics and it just got worse. And I was tired all day. I finally tested positive for mono. I started taking Vitamin C and Acidophilus, and Clay made me several fruit smoothies and gave me a Priesthood blessing with the missionaries. That seemed to do the trick, because it only less than 2 weeks. I am finally feeling better, so we are going to go out and have some fun!

Some fun facts about Mono: Once you get it, you aren't supposed to get it again, just like chicken pox. Clay didn't get sick at all because he got it in college. Of course, I had chicken pox twice... Mono has an incubation period of up to 4-7 weeks! You want to get mono as a kid, it will only be like any other cold or flu and then you are done. We think the girls got it first and passed it to me, because they did have the appropriate symptoms a week before me. When you get it as an adult (usually late teens and early twenties), that is when you get the sore throat and tiredness. If you take some types of penicillin when you have mono (b/c the Dr thinks you have strep) you can develop a rash over your body. Many people who think they are allergic to penicillin may have simply had mono at the time and didn't realize it.

I am so thankful that is over! And I am thankful it only lasted 2 weeks!

The Tooth Fairy!

Yeah, her tooth finally came out!! Emma was actually drinking juice when she felt something floating around in her mouth. Good thing she didn't swallow it!!

Just chillin'

Rebekah loves freezer pops. However, I refuse to let her eat them inside the house. Just way too messy. So whenever she wants one I send her out on the deck. Today, I watched her as she created her perfect spot for eating her freezer pop...

Tooth Fairy...where are you??

Emma is now 7 years old and has still not lost a tooth yet. Most of her friends lost teeth in Kindergarten. She is now getting ready to start 2nd grade and that darn tooth still hasn't fallen out yet. It has been loose since Christmas time. But it's got to be soon...