Sweethearts on the Hill

1. Balloons and presents made him very happy... 2. Tree Houses looked like this… 3. Sam's Mommy looked like this... on the 3rd level of a Tree House... 4. Sam and Charlie could fit on the same swing, which hung from a giant Tree House… 8 stories up... 5. Sam, Charlie and their Daddy looked very handsome inside a Tree House… on the very top floor 6. Five candles and a Spiderman ring adorned Sam's birthday cupcake… 7. His frosted nose made him laugh… 8. It made Charlie laugh too... 9. Sam and Charlie had great friends named Eric and Rachel... 10. And frosted noses made them laugh too… 11. Sam and Charlie had their first sleep over… 12. And they all loved watching Despicable Me with their balloons dancing overhead… 13. Rachel snuggled up with Charlie… 14. And then she spooned him… 15. And life was lovely, innocent, and effortless…exactly as it was meant to be...

Something unbelievable happened to me this morning… I just don't understand it… Can anyone help explain it to me? How is it that I put this little guy to bed last night… And running into my room this morning was this big boy yelling "Hey Guys… I'm FIVE years old today!" Maybe it was all just a weird dream. I know MY baby isn't five years old! He was just born a couple months ago...I think I'll go back to sleep now. 

Fall is here, hear the yell Back to school, ring the bell Brand new shoes, walking blues Climb the fence, books and pens I can tell that we are gonna be friends Numbers, letters, learn to spell Nouns, and books, and show and tell At playtime we will throw the ball Back to class, through the hall Teacher marks our height against the wall And we don't notice any time pass We don't notice anything We sit side by side in every class Teacher thinks that I sound funny But she likes the way you sing Tonight I'll dream while in my bed When silly thoughts go through my head About the bugs and alphabet And when I wake tomorrow I'll bet That you and I will walk together again Cuz I can tell that we are gonna be friends Yes I can tell that we are gonna be friends

Well, this concludes the (over) abundance of posts I've created for our New York trip. So, in true Agrestic form, we had to leave our Manhattan adventure behind with a bang by travelling over to LaGuardia in this… (The real story is while we were hailing a yellow cab, the driver of this car ~ who lives in Queens ~ wanted to make some cash on his trip back home… so he offered to transport us over there for the same price as a yellow cab… Otherwise, we really wouldn't have splurged for this nonsense! :) Regardless, it made for a nice finale to our NYC getaway! Little lady killers coolin' out in the backseat of their ride... Charlie… doing his thang, curled up on the seat Looking rather pensive as we leave our adventures behind… Sam and daddy in deep conversation in the background A little more of this edible yumminess The ever so functional mirror on the inside roof makes for fun photo ops Good-bye my sweet city. Hugs and kisses. Until next time...

We saved our visit to FAO Schwarz for our final day in New York. This enabled us to bribe, convince, threaten, punish, and reward our children the entire trip with the promise of what they would (or would not ) experience at the most amazing toy store in the whole world! The same toy store where the Smurfs went while they  were in Manhattan! As you can see, FAO Schwarz definitely delivered! Crazy animal hand puppets, magic tricks, Iron Man, Star Wars, Legos like we've never seen... It was certainly the grande finale these two peanuts dreamed of! A visit to FAO Schwarz wouldn't be complete without dancing across the BIG Piano! Of course, Sam and Charlie have no appreciation for the brilliant Tom Hanks turning this piano into a New York City icon, but they marveled at its interactive features just the same. They were fascinated by the colors and the sounds I was a bit jealous… I have no doubts if the crowds were gone, and the cameras shut down, I could dance the night away ...

I bet you never thought I'd get to this point, did you? Well, before you get too excited about this NYC overload finally coming to an end, I just want to prepare you that our last night there leads into another 10 hour day of adventures :) So it's not quite over just yet. But it will be soon. I promise. We spent our final night in New York in the Upper West Side. This is definitely one of my favorite neighborhoods in the city. We had a lovely dinner at Ocean Grill, and then simply enjoyed the nighttime sky (at a perfect 70 degrees) by walking 25 blocks back to our hotel. It stands out as one of my favorite adventures of our entire trip.   We listened to "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" on my phone as we walked alongside Central Park   We kept thinking we were going to take a taxi, or hop on the subway… but the walk was too perfect  We passed by the fountains at Columbus Circle We passed by the Ed Sullivan Theater where the legendary Late Show is filmed   Sea...