Category Archives: NJ and NY

Day 5!  Today we headed back into the city to take the boys to see Spiderman on Broadway and to visit with Matt and Ted.  Instead of ordering the tickets online, Brandie saw that if you arrived before the box office opened and stood in line you could get $39 seats until they were sold out.  Sounds good to us!  We hopped off the subway at 42nd, crossed the street to Foxwoods Theaters, and arrived at 11am with the ticket booth opening at noon.  Matt and Ted came to meet us in line while we waited.  The boys and I wandered around the corner into Times Square so Davy could see the New Year’s Eve ball, Matty helped himself to a vendor hot dog, and Brandie, Ryla, Matt, and Ted ventured off to get us some Starbucks.  Before we knew it the line was moving, we purchased our $39 tickets and were super excited to land front row Mezzanine seats.

For lunch, we left the touristy areas and walked over to 10th Ave into Hell’s Kitchen to eat at one of Matt and Ted’s favorite Mexican places, Anejo Tequileria.  Between the guacamole and the margaritas, lunch was delicious!  Across the street was a playground, so we took the kids over to run and burn some energy. 

While the boys and I headed back to watch the show, Brandie went over to Matt’s to put Ryla down for a nap.  The show was FANTASTIC!  Matty leans over at one point and says, “Mama! This is the best movie I have ever seen!”  So cute.  Half way through the second act, Spiderman is running around our level, he leans over to give Matty a high-five and then he fires his web all over us.  The boys loved it!

Afterwards, we hopped into a cab and headed downtown to Matt’s apartment.  For dinner Matt, Ted, John, Brandie, Ryla, Davy, Matty, and myself ordered some pizza, drank wine and juice, ate homemade rosemary ice cream, cranked up the tunes and had a great time.  Brandie and I loved seeing Matt and we loved that he got to spend some time with our babies…  🙂

Day 3!  Off to NYC we go.  The day couldn’t have started any better for the boys…they were getting to ride on the train!  We hopped on in Scotch Plains, switched at Newark, unloaded at Penn Station, and then jumped onto the Subway and headed up town.

* I am not sure why all these pictures are so blurry, but something is better than nothing… :)*

On the way to the museum, we decided to go ahead and stop for lunch.  We found a really cute burger and milk shake joint, so in we went.  Now as we are always a moving circus, it is here that Matty gets himself locked into the bathroom.  The restaurant was very small and couldn’t have had more than 10 tables, so when Matty started screaming that he was stuck…the whole place knew it.  Somehow, Davy had convinced him that he should lock the door.  The lock was a long bar lock that slid to the left to keep the door closed and then to the right to open.  Simple enough right??!!  Wrong.  The lock was to high for Matty to reach, we weren’t sure how he even got it locked to begin with.  So now he is kicking the door, screaming, and the owner was trying to figure out how he could body slam the door to get it open.  The hinges were on the inside, the door was heavy at least 3 inches thick, there was a door handle and not a knob that could be removed…he was locked in tight.  As we were all staring at each other and trying to remain calm, somewhere in Matty’s little mind he finally realized that he too needed to calm down and that we were not able to get him out and he had to do it on his own.  The entire process lasted probably ten minutes, but in the end, Matty says, “I got it!”  My smart little boy found the toilet brush under the sink and used the handle to reach the lock and slide it open.  He amazes me every day.  We left a big tip, said “so sorry”, and left as soon as possible.

This trip into the city we decided to take them to the Natural History Museum and to Dylan’s Candy Shop.  The museum was huge and amazing.  The boys loved looking at the dinosaur bones and seeing the great blue whale hanging from the ceiling.  Davy also enjoyed the section on volcanoes and the earth.

We left the museum, hopped into a cab and went to the candy store.  This was a complete highlight of the trip for the boys.  They wanted their picture taken in front of the world’s largest gumball machine and each got a plastic gummy bear to fill up with whatever candy they wanted.  Ryla picked out a large lollipop and a lollipop pillow.

After a long fun-filled day, we hoped back onto the subway, switched to the train, and headed home.

We really weren’t sure what the weather was going to be like, so instead of planning a big outdoor adventure day, we decided to stay close to home.  We were hoping for snow, but we never did get any.  Everyone around us sure did…even Kelly in VA got 6 inches.  Matty put his boots and hat on, he was ready!

To get the boys out, we went to Vicki’s diner for lunch.  They love to sit at the counter, so we did.

For afternoon fun, we took Davy, Matty, and Ryla to the theater to see Oz the Great and Powerful.  In the parking lot there were plowed snow piles…of course the boys were completely over the moon to see these…. 🙂

Day 1!  This year for Spring Break, we decided that it would be fun to go and visit Aunt Brandie and Uncle Laurence.  They recently bought a new house in Scotch Plains, NJ and we were excited to go and see it!  Brandie has been in town for work, so we were fortunate enough to have her fly up with us this morning.  The last time that Matty was on a plane, was in the summer of 2009 to visit Brandie in Long Beach…therefore he doesn’t remember ever being on a plane and was very very excited.  On the way up he got to sit next to the window and on the way home, Davy does.

When we arrived at the airport it was super cold outside.  Being that it was March in Florida, I could not find the boys winter clothes, so Kelly mailed me snow coats and pants.  We picked up the rental car, headed to the house to pick up Ryla and Layne, and then went over to downtown Westfield for some lunch.  You can never go wrong with pizza and pasta, everyone was happy. 

Before we headed back home we took the kids to the park to run off some of their wiggles.  It really was a pretty afternoon. 

Back at Aunt Brandie’s we settled in, unpacked, had some dinner, and then set the kids up in the basement to watch the Wizard of Oz.  Currently, it is one of Ryla’s favorites so she was very happy to get to play it for the boys.