String Puppet Show

Yesterday Freddy T. and I took Jack on a special outing to the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater in Central Park for a puppet show. The show was called "Three". It was about the Big Bad Wolf who said he wasn't really bad, his mom just gave him that name and he wished he could change his name. The three fairy blind mice came on the scene and granted him 3 chances to be nice and if he succeeded he could change his name to the Big Good Wolf. So he entered the story of the Three Pigs, he tried to help them build a sturdy house, but they all fell down. Then he entered the story of the Three Bears. He was supposed to clean their house, but he ended up eating the porage, breaking the chairs and beds. Finally he was in the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. He ended up not helping the troll get any food. In the end the audience begged for him to have one more chance, it was granted and he built the pigs a big brick house, bought the bears all new furniture, and planted the troll a garden so he would have food. And finally his name was changed! Jack had fun. We look forward to seeing what other shows come to this theater. It was great entertainment for families and very reasonably priced!

We had a little time before the show to walk around and explore a new part of the park. Right behind the theater was a beautiful garden with a path winding through it that lead to the Belvedere Castle. We climbed in the castle, took a few pictures, then headed to the show. Jack was convinced it was the castle from Scooby Doo!

Freddy T. and Jack overlooking the Great Lawn where Jack and Elliott could end up playing Little League when they get older.

Finally headed home. Jack prefers a window seat and claims he is controlling the train. He knows what to do to stop it at the stations and make it go again and even announces "Stand clear of the closing doors please" as the doors start to shut!

*Keep scrolling down, I've added several post today... catching up!

Pigtails

They are small pigtails, but they are pigtails!

Mommy's Day Off!

We've settled into a good, general, weekly schedule with Mary and Lydia. Basically they work with us part-time and the other part of their week is free for them to work or have down time, whatever they need to do.

Tuesdays they have the kids all day and it is MY DAY OFF! I can't tell you how excited it makes me to have a whole day once a week to just do what I need or want to do. This past Tuesday was my second week of having Tuesday's all to myself. The first week it was pouring down rain and windy and cold. This past Tuesday it was beautiful. I started my day walking a few blocks, we'll 2 long blocks and 10 short blocks to the train (I took a different train than normal) and rode to the North side of Central Park. I've never been in that section before so I figured I'd just walk and come out further down the park. It was beautiful. It felt more like I was in the woods than in a park in the middle of a huge city.

These pictures were in the North Woods.

Afterwards I caught a train and headed down to Herald Square and walked all around that neighborhood. I'm not sure the miles I walked that day, but it was a lot. The church meets in that area, actually several blocks down in the Flatiron District, but this was where I started my exploring. We've talked about the possibility of living closer to the church for lots of reasons and I wanted to see what the area was like and if it would work for our family.

I still think it's wild that on a casual day out this is what I see (and every Sunday on our way to church)

I read on a Noel Pipers blog the other day about her visit to Macy's for the Spring Flower Show. She said if you lived in NYC, Chicago, and a few other cities you still had a chance to catch it. So I went. If you've ever been at Christmas, just imagine that scene switched out with tons and tons of fresh flowers. This picture doesn't do it justice. It was pretty neat.

I went in Macy's looking for comfortable, flowy skirts to wear this spring and summer. After last summer I realized that was the coolest (not necessarily fashion cool, but not burning up cool) way to endure the heat around here. Didn't have any last year, this year I will!

Have you ever been shopping in Macy's in this city? It was crazy! I have no idea how anyone shops in that store. It is so big and overwhelming. Unless you're looking for a particular designer, I don't know who has the time to look at all the options. I got the twins an outfit, no skirts.

And I think it's still neat that several of the escalators in Macy's are still these old timey wooden ones.

And as I was heading toward the train. I heard someone call my name. It was Nathan and Lesley from church. I love running into people in the city that I know. It happens every now and then and it really makes it feel more like home when you recognize someone out of millions ever so often.

Monday at The Zoo

Freddy T. takes Mondays off so this past Monday we spent it at the Central Park Zoo. We've been to the zoo several times, but this was Lillie and Elliott's first time in the children's area.

The kids inside a big turtle egg.

Duck watching!

Lillie first spotting an animal in the petting zoo.

At each of the petting zoo stops there are animals like this that represent what's in the pen. If you pet it it makes the animal noise.

Jack feeding the sheep.

Petting the sheep.

Elliott crawling through the hollow log.

Elliott the Bunny Rabbit!

Easter

Happy Easter! What a great day of celebration that our Lord is ALIVE!

We had a great morning at The Gallery. Lots of new faces and a wonderful worship service.

After church everyone grabbed lunch and headed to Madison Square Park for lunch. It was so nice to be out with everyone.

This was my attempt at a picture of Jack, Lillie, and Elliott before church in case they were dirty afterwards.

The rest are just pictures of the kids playing at the play ground we finished eating.

The Easter Bunny showed up right as we were leaving.

Lillie had on Jen or Emily's glasses. She left them on for a long time!

Easter Family Tradition

This year as we remember Jesus' death on the cross and his resurrection we are starting a new tradition with our family. Thursday night when we went to bed we turned all the lights off in our apartment and they will remain off until we wake up Sunday morning. With the lights off we are remembering how horrible Jesus' death was and the darkness that covered the earth those days while he was in the grave. On Sunday morning we'll turn on all the lights and celebrate that our Savior lives and is no longer in the grave! It's been a good meditation for our family.

Jack doesn't mind the lights being off. We have talked a lot about it and he knows why we are doing it. Once the sun goes down it's a little harder for him because it is dark, with the exception of a few candles, but he has done well with it.

Yesterday morning I was cooking breakfast with no lights and it was dark in our kitchen. Jack came in and said "Mommy, are we celebrating God in the kitchen too?" I love that he was thinking about it. He'll be so excited tomorrow morning to get to turn all the lights back on and we'll have a great day celebrating our Risen Savior!

Family Easter pictures will be posted tomorrow. I hope they turn out better this year than last.