Vacation continues

     I am so pleased with Catherines swimming progress this year.  At the beginning of the season she could not or would not jump into the water.  Now, she is doing three strokes and doing them very well.  She is fearless now...well, she's coming along!!

These two poor buggahs look like they were just out looking to enjoy some water time....little did they know a bomb awatied them from above. 

   Jackie has started putting his head under the water and spending more time in the water.

  Catherine is learning how to dive and wants to be on the dive team next year.

  Here is a swim creature that came up from the blue lagoon

                                                             and the pitch

  Jackie showing us his backstroke and then he just quit and thought about just floating around.

     There is a volleyball court that keeps their attention for quite some time.  They play games of newcomb with all the other creatures.

Trip to New York City

Loved the Chinese guy that drew the pictures of all four of them. Their eyes all look a little chinese in the drawing. I really like the picture though. They all sat still for it which was surprising. 

  In years past we had spent these two weeks away from home in the mountains.  This year, we decided that we would just pack up and go where ever we landed.  The first stop was a nice trip to New York City.  A four hour car ride, we woke up wayyy early in the morning with all the kids excited to go from the start, which was around 4:00 am.  We must have been very lucky because the traffic was not so bad the way there. 

Lyn's co-worker had stayed in NYC recently and recommended a hotel for us to stay at in Queens.  We got there early and the hotel was nice enough to let us check in very early, thankfully.  We got into the hotel room and was out and about in about five minutes heading out to the train.  The train took us into Penn Station and we were let loose into the city. 

  There is such a magical feel to the city.  We walked and walked and then walked some more.  Out into Central park we went.  Its funny walking into the park with all the vendors trying to sell you bike rentals and other things. 

  The first stop in the park we made was to the playground with the rock mountain.  Cat and I had been there for her birthday two years ago.  Jack was all over the place.

  Of course Laura found the hollowed out head of the rabbits.  She has never found one of these that she didnt stick her head in. 

  As usual, we started looking for the baseball parks and batting practice for all four of them.  It was a hot day and the ball parks were well groomed and empty.  I packed an expandable bat and each kid had plenty of swings. 

 

                                               Of course we had to go find Balto the dog. 

  At one point i turned around and saw Jimmy tying Jackies sneakers.  I knew i had to find the camera and remember that they can get along sometimes.

  At the end of day one, we had to go find the Staten Island Ferry and see lady liberty.  I had never seen the Statue of Liberty so close.  The ferry went over to Staten Island and we also took the return trip back to the main island. 

  What was really exciting was seeing Jimmy actually want to go on the carousel with the other three.  They really liked it and went on it twice.

  We also took some time to spend at the Central Park Zoo.  That polar bear was quite amazing and as soon as we walked in he was about four feet away from us, behind the glass of course but amazingly huge. 

  After we got out of the zoo we met up creepy elmo.  I remember seeing him when i was here two years ago.  The kids went running right up to him so I took a picture.  Getting a little bit closer to him he hit me up for a couple of bucks.  He kind of creeped me out.  I googled him later and learned that he had been arrested for doing racist rants and scaring off a bunch of kids. 

                                        She is just so damn cute!!!

                                            My god he is getting so old....

 

The Return to Black Gordon

   It wasnt easy, but we got all four of them back to Black Gordon.  So many years now we've been coming over here starting with just Jimmy and now with Jack.  Jimmy grunts about coming here now because he's too cool for all this stuff.  He warmed up to it when I brought it up earlier and off we went.  Especially after I told them we'd get some pizza and have a picnic in the park area.  I boiled up some hoP dogs and threw together a bunch of snacks too. 
  How many pictures do we have on this train landing.

  All four of them tucking into the train that doesnt move.

  Enjoying some pizza under the watchful eye of Black Gordon.

  They had a some actors playing different roles in the park area and did a little show about the mill girls and their fight to get better pay.