New York City Day 1

   For my graduation, I knew that I wanted to celebrate with a trip somewhere special.  Joey and I went back and forth as to whether we would take the kids.  He asked his dad if he was available to babysit and he was.  So, that decided that we were going to go without kids.  We decided that we wanted to go to New York City.  Joey had never been before, and I had only been once before for only two days.
   Joey has listened to this radio show on Sirius radio for a very long time.  The hosts are named Covino and Rich and they have an entire community of fans.  Every year, they host a fan convention in NYC.  Joey has always wanted to go.  The timing was perfect, so we decided to go to NYC during the convention.  I decided that Joey did such an amazing job of supporting my dream of getting another master's, that I needed to support one of his dreams.
    We flew out on Wednesday morning.  There was some weather on the east coast so our flight was a bit delayed.  Joey and I were a little nervous how were were going to get to our hotel once we landed.  Luckily, we met someone on our flight that had grown up in NYC, so he told us he would help us navigate things once we landed.  What a help that was!  By the time we landed, it was dark and a little overwhelming to say the least!  We did as true New Yorkers did, and took an air tram to some train station, where we then boarded a train which took us to Penn Station.  From Penn Station, we took a taxi to our hotel.  It took a lot of different modes of transportation, but we finally got there!!!!

    Joey and I were amused to see that our hotel was an authentic New York hotel room.  It was the tiniest room I have ever stayed in!  The location was great and we spent very little time in the room, so it wasn't a big deal.  The only issue was that the room was so small we could leave our suitcases open and out, so every morning we had to zip them up and put them on top of the armoire.

Joey demonstrating how small the room was 

He could almost touch his hands from wall to wall

   After we checked out our room, we needed to get something to eat.  We looked on Yelp, and there was a restaurant that got really good reviews right by our hotel.  It ended up being next to the hotel.  The upstairs was a pretty lively bar, but the basement was a quaint little area that was much more our style.  We ordered poutine and a chicken sandwich and both were really, really good.

At dinner

Yummy chicken sandwich! 

   After dinner, we walked around the midtown a bit and saw some of the famous NYC sights.  I just love New York City!

Times Square which is literally the sea of humanity at night

   After some sightseeing, Joey wanted to meet up with some people that were there for the convention.  We met them at a bar called The Perfect Pint.  I have to admit, it was a little awkward meeting and hanging out with people we had never met before.  It wasn't awkward for long because we truly met some of the nicest people ever.  We had such a amazing time during our trip meeting new people.

   After a drink, we were exhausted from a long day of traveling and we knew we had a busy day the next day.  We called it a night.  Our first night in NYC was a definite success!!!!

Emmy at 18 months

  Here is out little cupcake at 18 months.  She is growing like crazy and shows us something new almost every day.  She is such a delight!  By far her favorite thing in the world to do is play outside.  She is such an outdoors girl already!  She is like the dog, and literally will beg out the back door to go play.  She will play in the backyard for hours.  I love that she loves getting fresh air.  She always sleeps like a champ after all that outdoor time. 

Playing outside.  

Playing some basketball 

She is obsessed with these blocks and asks me to get them out multiple times a day

Poor thing fell on the back patio and scraped her chin up good

Water World

  Jameson is the only one of the kids with a summer birthday.  He decided this year that he wanted to go to Water World for is birthday.  My brother, Ashyn, Dawson, and I go every year.  Everyone else had not been in years and years.  My sister got a birthday package that came with all sorts of neat stuff like a private cabana.  The weather was great and we got lucky and it did not rain at all.  The kids (and adults) had such an awesome time.  I'm hoping Jameson decides to have his birthday there every year! 

Waiting for Water World to open

Ready for some fun

The kids 

Our group

Part of the birthday package included this ginormous funnel cake layered with ice cream.  This thing was huge and I am not kidding when I say the kids devoured this entire thing in under 5 minutes!  It was really tasty!  

What a special birthday cake!  

DeLorme Family Visit

  Every June, the DeLormes (Adam, Jane, Owen and Blaine) make a trip out to Colorado.  They have a lot of family to visit when they are here, but they always come and stay with us for a few days.  We love having them visit and the kids absolutely love getting to see their cousins.  We had a great time this year.   We went to the park, went to lunch, spent a lot of time at our house, and us adults even got a double date night out.  It was a great visit, but as always much too short.  

Our attempt to take a picture at lunch

Ashlyn and Owen sharing some ice cream

At the boys third birthday party

Cake time with the cousins

Gracie loves her cousins

Gracie and Owen.  Owen is a very tall boy!  

The DeLorme men

Touch a Truck

  While Joey and the kids were at the Boy Scout camping trip, I was holding down the fort with the girls at home.  Our community center puts on a Touch a Truck event every year.  The girls and I walked down and checked out the trucks.  Gracie had a great time sitting in all the different cars/trucks/equipment.