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! :)

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.

Birthday Party

Two of Chase's friends, Winnie and Pippa, have birthdays a day apart.  They had a joint birthday party at the fancy members-only Sunnyside Gardens Park, and Chase was really excited to go.  And so was I because it's an awesome park complete with sand and grass, and we are sadly not members.  I think it's the only private park in all of Queens, and maybe just one of two private parks in NYC.    

Anyways, for days before he started telling me about how we were going to the "burfday party" and that he wanted to give Pippa a pink flower.  He was seriously that specific about wanting to get Pippa a pink flower.  It was super cute.  Chase and I went to the store on the way to the park, but they only had one squished pink flower.  He decided a red one was okay after I put a pink ribbon on it.  (For the record, we also got Winnie a cute flower with a blue ribbon.)  He practiced saying "happy birthday, Pippa" and was all ready to give her the flower.  Chase can be quite the stud ♥

I took this picture from Pippa's mom's YouTube channel.
It was a cute moment - glad she captured it!

Chase of course didn't just want to sit at the table -- he was off around the huge park as fast as he could go.  He enjoyed the sand, slides, swings, and WATER!  Too bad I hadn't planned ahead for that.  But he had a blast in the fountain in his regular clothes.  

And he also drove Darcy around in a car for awhile.  

And they drove through the fountain a few times.

Chase has so many great friends.  He's a lucky guy!  Glad we got to celebrate birthdays for his friends.

Chase and his friends

Chase has a bunch of cute friends.  Thought I'd share a couple pictures of a few of his buddies.

Chase Darcy wearing their animal hats.

Chase and Alexander making a HUGE mess with shredded paper.

Chase and Harper on a slide

Chase and Winnie reading books.

Chase and Heidi drumming.

Santaland

I love New York City at Christmastime.  It's so festive EVERYWHERE.  One of my favorite places to go is Macy's :)  Seriously though.  They do a great job with all the decorations (and of course Santaland!!!)

This year, I decided seeing THE Santa at the 34th Street Macy's was a must.  I crossed my fingers Chase would agree and headed to Herald Square with Melissa and her two boys.  Did I mention it was pouring outside???  Yeah, quite the adventure. 

Looking like Christmas in Macys

We met up with several moms and kids from our ward outside Santaland.  They were all really excited.

Although this basically sums up our experience...

Yep, Chase was going to be great...

Thankfully there was a train so he didn't run off in the store :)

Basically Chase took off once inside Santaland.  The employees just smiled and said that he'll stop at the trains.  Obviously they've seen a few kids with Chase-like energy.  And they were exactly right.  He stopped right at the trains.

And finally we made it to Santa.  Definitely a magical experience.  Too bad I hadn't planned on being IN the pictures...  There are a couple attempts at a decent picture.  All have personality, but zero Chase smiles.

Probably my favorite :)

Crazy kid.  Maybe next year he'll smile in pictures.  Definitely not in 2014.  Maybe our New Years Resolution will be getting a decent smiling picture of Chase.  Or maybe that's just a little too much for a resolution :)

Since we were at Macy's, I decided that I wanted to go check out the rest of the Christmas section of the store.  Seriously, I love this Macy's.  It's huge, and Christmas is such a big deal in it.

Chase LOVED the singing and dancing Christmas tree

I think that made it even more exciting when my mom got one for Christmas :)
Chase remembered his dancing buddy!

More decorated Macy's Christmas trees

Now we're in the mood for Christmas!!!