Gantry Park

We wanted to spend our final Saturday in NYC doing something fun, so we went to one of our favorite places in Queens, Gantry Park.  It's like the only grass in Queens :)  We met the De Leons there and had a fun afternoon.

Ty loves going outside

And I was really excited to see a waffle cart - it was on my NYC Bucket List.  That and recognize someone famous - spoiler alert, I never did recognize anyone famous.

My fancy waffle in NYC :)  Yum.

We also played at the playground for a little bit.

Ty laughed spinning around

And I had promised Chase we'd get an ice cream, so he was happy to see an ice cream truck arrive.

"I want chocolate."

Best buds

It was a great day at the park.

Pre Pre School

One of Chase's favorite activities each week was his Pre-Pre School class.  We met at the church on Thursdays, and the moms all alternated teaching.  These are a few pictures from his last class, which Holly taught on the letter J.  

So many great friends!

Craft Time!

Story Time!

We looked forward to his class each week - Chase always came home and talked nonstop about the letter he had focused on.  So glad we had such great friends!

Tram Outing

After our ward egg hunt, we went into the city to ride the Roosevelt Island Tram with the Zimmermans and De Leons.  We took the bus to the tram, rode the tram to the island, played in the grass, and then split to do our own things heading back home.

Chase was great on the bus hanging out with his buddy Jesh

They were excited as they realized the tram was near

Heading over the river

A sign on Roosevelt Island: Thou shall not walk thy dog in our garden

Ty checking out the grass

It was really fun to have an afternoon hanging out with some great friends.  Chase especially had a blast!  On the way home, we stopped at one of our favorite places for lunch, Tres Carnes.  It was a fun day off work! :)

Snow Men

Obviously there was a lot of snow in New York City with this blizzard.  Our stake ended up canceling church because the roads were such a mess and mass transit wasn't reliable yet.  Instead, we spent a calm day home as a family -- with no meetings!  For a little bit in the afternoon, Chase and Marcus met Alexander and Fernando down the street to play in the snow.  They boys were excited to build a snowman, or a snow blob :)

Chase, Snowman, and Alexander

Happy Chase

Christmas Eve

We had Christmas Eve dinner with some of our good friends, the De Leons.  Chase was really excited to have dinner with his two buddies, Alexander and Javier, and he kept asking all day when we were going over to their house.  We also got to hold their new baby sister, Elena.  Sorry, I don't have pictures of her.

The boys' table:

Food for the bigger people:

Marcus' Brisket

It was all very delicious

Chocolate Pie

It's sad to not have family close during holidays, but we're very lucky to have friends like the De Leons to celebrate holidays with.  Merry Christmas!

Ward 4th of July Campout

Every time a ward campout comes up, Marcus always wants to go, and finally I couldn't come up with a decent excuse not to go.  This year they planned it for the 4th of July weekend.  That wasn't my favorite idea at first, but it was nice that most people had the Friday off work.  That made the idea of getting up and back seem easier since we had more time.  I also knew Marcus would obviously enjoy camping, but I was certain Chase would love it too.  Chase was so excited talking about seeing bugs and sleeping in a tent -- it really was cute.  So we decided to go.  Not sure it was the smartest decision I've made as I was 36 weeks pregnant, but I lived to tell the tale.  However, we rented a car, so honestly, if something had happened, it would have been easier to get medical help than normally :)  

We decided to rent a car with some friends, the De Leons.  It was pretty tight in the car with 2 dads, 2 pregnant moms, 3 little boys, and our camping gear.  And due to where carseats needed to be installed and rental car insurance, I ended up in the back corner of the car.  Melissa was next to me.  Dads were up front, and the boys were in all the other spots.

My view (blurry since we were driving)

Luckily the ride didn't last forever.  It took awhile to get out of the city, but it was nice to finally reach some trees and fresh air.  The campsite was beautiful.  It was up in the Catskills -- an area of NY we've never visited before.   

Chase was really excited to get his tent set up

He was a great supervisor while Marcus worked

Yeah, we all slept in the little tent...

Chase could hardly wait to get inside

There was a lake just behind the campsite, so of course, that's the first place all the kids wanted to go.  We didn't have time to even switch Chase into his water clothes, but what would camping be without unexpected dirt, bugs, water, etc.?!

Chase loved throwing rocks in the water

We grilled hot dogs for dinner on the fire.  Of course Chase wouldn't eat one, that little turkey, but he did try it!  Progress ;)

Alexander, Javier, and Chase having dinner

He enjoyed every second being outside and dirty

It was my friend Angela's birthday, so her husband brought Sprinkles cupcakes to share.  Definitely my kind of camping -- delicious cupcakes for dessert!

Yum yum yum

Chase's favorite thing to do right now is give flowers to his friends.  He was happy to see some flowers that he could pick and take to Angela and Harper, two of his most favorite people.

By the time the sun went down, we were all exhausted.  Chase and I got in bed first, took all the room, and fell asleep.  Marcus squeezed in a little later.  We definitely weren't cold.

Two fit easily.  Three was just a little close :)
Mainly because Marcus insisted I needed an air mattress.  Probably smart!

In the morning, Chase was excited to explore more.  He quickly let us put shoes on him, and he was out the tent door, in his PJs.

Looking for more flowers

Enjoying the morning fire

Alex and Chase playing with water squirters

What a goober!

This cracked me up -- indigestion, Pledge of Allegiance?  :)

We did end up leaving a little earlier than planned because it started raining.  We stopped at a huge mall on the way home to get lunch at Chili's (I wish we had one in the city!!!), and had no issues with traffic at all.  Amazing for NYC on a holiday.  We were all excited not to be squished as long as the ride up to the campout.

The car didn't have to be back to the rental company until late Saturday night, so Marcus ran a few errands to the church and store.  We finally put the rest of the bins in our hallway in storage!  Be impressed -- they'd been there for probably a couple weeks.  Marcus got home after the Macy's firework show had ended but just in time for the replay on TV.  While Chase snored away, we enjoyed our traditional 4th of July firework show on our television.  It's funny knowing how close the real show is (you could see the show from our favorite Gantry Park), but this is definitely the better view.  Plus we can hear the music that accompanies the fireworks.