Saturday, July 12, 2008

I had been excited about taking our vacation for months! Vacations are exciting anyway, but I was more excited about seeing my very best friend Courtney and her family. Even though we still talk on the phone every day, it's been really hard not being able to hang out with her on a regular basis. We had such a fun time visiting with them in CT, and to make it even more of a fun time our great friends Lisa and Josh drove from Maryland to visit, too! Here is a recap of our vacation...

Saturday: Leaving on a jet plane...
Though I was very nervous about taking my sweet girl on a plane, she did wonderfully! She slept almost the entire way from Nashville to Baltimore, and then ate lunch and played from Baltimore to Hartford!Isabelle, Madi, and Anna Kate playing at Courtney's parent's house.
Anna Kate wanted to walk like the other girls so bad!
Sunday: A fun day spent with friends...
Good morning! Three still sleepy headed friends.
It was surreal to have all three girls together for the first time. Lisa and Josh moved away a couple summers ago, and then Courtney and Bobby left Chattanooga last October. Sure do wish that these three could have regular play dates!
I met Courtney and Lisa at Lee University almost seven years ago! I spent many a night on their dorm room floor, because I just loved being with these girls so much that I did not want to go back to my own room! Who would have thought back then that we would all have our own little girls now?
Courtney and Bobby took us on a beautiful walk through a quaint little New England town. The houses were dated all the way back to the 1700's! They were beautiful! It was such a relaxing morning walk, and we followed it by a quick visit with Courtney's grandparents and then a scrumptious omelet for brunch.


Time for an afternoon swim! Goodness these are three little bathing cuties! I love this picture... It was very hard to get all three of them to hold still long enough to get a good shot.
friends for always...
Chris and AK with Josh and Madi (we missed you while you were at work Bobby)
On Sunday night we had to say good bye to Lisa, Josh, and Madi... It was so great to see you! Wish we had more time together!

Monday: We (heart) NY...
Want to know how to cover 60 blocks of NYC, seeing almost all the the main sights, in under 12 hours, with two babies and a pregnant woman? If you don't mind sore, swollen feet, achy backs, a good bit of sweat, and a long day, it can be done! Monday morning (with the help of a rented mini-van) the six of us took to the road and headed to the Big Apple. I was very excited about my first visit to NYC, and we had so much fun! Here are a few (OK more than a few) of our favorite pictures from the day. I will try to get the rest of them in an album on the side of the page.
The Empire State BuildingIn front of Macy's
Per my request, we got to eat lunch in Little Italy! I had a scrumptious dish of lobster ravioli.
For desert, we went a few blocks down where we found a Pinkberry. It is amazing! They serve non-fat frozen yogurt in three flavors... original pinkberry, green tea, and coffee. While none of us were fans of the coffee, we all loved the original and green tea! I opted for green tea with fruity pebbles on it ( heard Ellen talking about how good it was so I HAD to try... yep... AMAZING)! Anna Kate could not get enough of it either! The best thing of all is that it is very hard to order soming in this place that is more than 100 calories. The worst thing about it is that they are only located in CA and NY. :o(
Nap time for my baby! Thank goodness for the baby bijorn. Both her naps were taken straped to the front of me or her daddy.
Visiting the World Trade Center site was very humbling. You can't help but think about all the lives on the very ground you are standing on. It brought back all the terrible pictures seen on the news of people running terrified through the streets that we were walking.
This is the space were the towers should be standing.
There is no way that we could have passed up the financial district. Chris was so excited to be in the most famous area in his field of work. We arrived on Wall St. right at 4:00 p.m. as the closing bell for the market was ringing. Because of the down day, the people in suits filing out of the Stock Exchange had very somber faces...

Anna Kate petting the bull for good luck. With his friend the bear raring his ugly head here lately he needs some encouragement to get back into the game full force. :o)
Because of our extreme time crunch, Battery park was as close as we got to Lady Liberty. She was still beautiful from afar!
What the big deal about a coffee shop? Well any fans of the show Felicity will understand. We were disappointed however to not find Ben, Felicity or Javier inside to make our iced latte. (not really sure who the guy is that is posing in the back of our picture)

Rockefeller Center... This is where the ice skating rink and huge Christmas tree are in the winter months.
Da-Dup, Da-Dup, Da-Dup, dadadadadada! That was my best written impression of the theme song from The Appentice. This is inside one of the many of Donald Trump's shiny towers in NY.
The only store on 5th Ave. that I just HAD to make time to go into! Love me some Tiffany's!
Anna Kate and Isabelle taking a break from the strollers to play in Central Park. I know... the t-shirts are a little big. We found them for a $1.50 and the only size they had were medium!
a beautiful view of Central Park...
We were so hot, sweaty, and tired, but had to pose for a picture in Times Square!
It was after 8:00 p.m. by the time we ate dinner, so the girls were delirious. Isabelle cracked us up showing off her tricks with her sippy cup.
I could not get over how neat Times Square was at night! Everything just comes to life! This was probably my favorite part of NY.

All in all, I would say that our day in NY could not have gone any better. Isabelle and Anna Kate both were amazing. I think that they really liked the hustle and bustle of city life. I really can't believe how much we saw in just one day. Thanks Bobby and Courtney for going with us!

Tuesday: Happy birthday Courtney!
Tuesday we had the privilege of celebrating Courtney's 26th birthday with her. We had an early lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (yum!), and then browsed around at a super nice shopping mall.
We were all chatting at the table and looked over and saw this... It was so cute! Isabelle was very coordinated in feeding AK, and Anna Kate opened her mouth right up for Isabelle! Maybe Issy is just practicing for helping out with her new little sister.

After the girls took a nap on the way back, we all went for a swim at Courtney's parents' house. Daddy and AK had a ton of fun swimming together!
We ended the evening with a cookout and ice cream cake to wish Court happy birthday.
After we got Isabelle and Anna Kate in bed, the four of us played Mexican Train. This was perhaps the most simple thing we did the whole trip, but one of the most fun. It was just like old times when we hung out every week.

Wednesday: I hate goodbyes...
After a yummy lunch of grinders and soda (aka for us Southerners sub sandwiches and diet coke... that will never cease to crack me up) we packed the car and headed for the airport. Courtney and I have a pact to always keep goodbyes to a simple hug with no talking, although it still always results in tears. It is exciting to know that next time I see her we will be celebrating the birth of Emma (due mid-October)!
Anna Kate loved standing by the big windows while we were waiting for our flight.

It was a beautiful day above the clouds!
AK slept, played, and then ate on the way home.
So very sad to leave our friends, but always glad to return to Chattanooga! I don't know how much longer I could have survived without some good ol' southern sweet tea! Ha!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love all the pics! It was so, so fun to see you guys! I really wish we could have stayed longer...it was way too quick of a trip! Miss you so much already!

Love,
Lisa

Becca said...

looks like you had a blast - and I read that you flew out of Nashvegas: HELLO! next time, give us a shout and you guys are MORE than welcome to stay with us!!

i can't believe how big Anna Kate is getting! she is so stinkin' cute.

-brittany- said...

I have been anticipating the pictures. I am so glad you guys had such a good time. You guys were able to do so much in your time up north. I got a little winded just reading about it. Isabelle has gotten so big. I am floored by all of her hair. Ada has an I heart NY onesie from when we went on our Babymoon. We should get twinkie shots of the girls.