Last minute TRIP before School!

So Thursday morning of last week I all of a sudden got the brilliant idea to go across the country by my self with 2 kids. Madness!

So I called up my SIL in Boston and asked her if I could come for a quick visit to surprise my older brother.

The flight out was a bit of a nightmare because I decided to go through San Francisco instead of straight to NY so that I would have a better chance of sitting by the kids. We had a forever long lay over but the kids behaved beautifully and slept the ENTIRE flight cross country to NYC. That was a HUGE relief.

I have been wanting for some time to go spend a day in New York devoted only to what is one of my absolute favorite places on this earth...CENTRAL PARK!

So Friday we rode the subway (by myself with kids mind you), to the Upper East side of Manhattan, and tasted some famous New York bagels for breakfast, then headed into the park for a day full of fun!

Our first stop was the Central Park Zoo which I have been dying to go to. It was cool to tell the kids that this was the zoo that was portrayed in Madagascar, and it was a bit freaky to stare at the penguins through the glass after seeing Happy Feet since it was exactly like that.

When we first walked in we got to see the sea lion show which the kids liked.

After the zoo we were off to the carousel which was of course the highlight for Jasmine.

This picture depicts why I love this place so much. There is something so ironically serene about this paradise set amidst the towering skyscrapers. It is enormous!!! 843 acres to be exact. I could go on and on about it but I will refrain. :)

I turned around and found Jasmine peacefully looking out at the Bethesda Fountain (from the show "Friends"). It was so cute.

You know, I thought I needed just 1 full day there but I literally could have spent 3 days! We barely scratched the surface but it was so fun anyway. I knew I was having more fun than the kids but it was a bit deflated when Shayden, in response to my fifth exclamation of "isn't this the coolest place ever?!" said to me "mom, this place is cool but not amazing". He kept asking me when we could go see his cousins.

This was the pond from Stuart Little. You could actually rent these motorized boats!

So I said enough and we took the next train back to the airport. The flight was a bit delayed and we didn't get to Boston until about 8:30pm and it was so fun to surprise my brother! Except he had already pretty much guessed it, oh well. So we spent that night catching up and just hanging out.

Then the next day, Saturday, we spent the entire day at the lake! They have a boat and I got ride on a two seater tube behind it. It was exhilarating!

The kids had so much fun playing on the beach.

Check out the name of this lake.

Then when we were done there we dropped of my SIL and nephew who both had plans already and just my brother, 2 nieces the 3 of us decided to go to yet another lake and have a sunset cruise! Oh that was an adventure as D had never done the boat by himself and I was pretty much useless, but we managed with minor problems and lots of memories.


My niece kept jumping off of the boat and Shayden even did it once which is HUGE for him! And he even got to "drive" the boat! I was very proud of him.

After that we just went home and gave the girls baths and let the bigger kids play while we just talked and talked...it was such a good evening!

And then off to our home on Sunday morning. The kids did amazing on the way home as well. I don't think I could have made it if they didn't behave so well. They were truly awesome.

So in a matter of 3 days we managed to take 5 plane rides, a boat, a car, a bus and a train! Wow!