A Wild Ride

After returning from New York, I could have totally chilled, which we all know means un-packed, done laundry, grocery shopped, re-grouped for a day or so.

But, lest you've forgotten, I had two little anxious girls waiting for me at home.  And although, they had had an incredible weekend with their Grandma, they were salivating for some quality Mommy time. 

With still another day left of a school break, I decided we should make it good.  We grabbed neighbor friends, loaded up in their mini-van and headed a good 2 hours away to the Wild Animal Safari.

Please note, Jack and Daddy are not in the picture...and that is because they stayed back and got that "chill" time I so desperately could have used after our trip.

But all is not lost, the girls and our friends had SO MUCH FUN!  Way better than unpacking and the grocery store!

A good couple of years ago, I took Jack and Mags on this same adventure.  Only differences were Maggie was pretty young and hardly remembers it AND we were on our a guided tour bus.

So, get ready for this...we actually rented this 8 passenger zebra van on site and braved the safari trail guide-less!

It was hilarious, adventurous, un-nerving at times, and totally fascinating!

All the kiddos were armed with a bag of wild animal food pellets and raring to go, but I hardly think any of them knew what was in store for them.

A little of this...

A lot of tongue...

A few antlers...

And a whole lot of drool...

Just as a visual this is what the road looked like.  Literally wild animals in the middle of it and not scared to ram your van for food.

I'm not sure anything could have topped that ride of a lifetime  But, we decided to give the "animal walk-thru" a whirl.

The animals were definitely a bit more docile in this area.  Except we did see a raging Baboon and a Liger {lion/tiger hybrid}.   The kiddos were pretty well conditioned to handle anything by this point.

It was a wild ride, but it was so fun to be reunited with my girls again!

Now, we are preparing to return to a nice normal school routine around here.  No more skyscraper tours or slobbering zebras for me for quite a while.

The Big Apple & Blake

If you know me at all, surely you know I'm a huge Blake Shelton fan.  {remember the ol' country girl at heart references}  I've been listening to country music ever since I could choose my own tunes...like way before country was cool.  I'm telling you it's just something rooted deep in me...although, my Mom is still puzzled about it all.

But, back to Blake {and I promise this will relate to NYC here in a moment}.  I've loved his music all the way back to his mullet days {gag}, but add his role on The Voice and I may just have fallen head over heels.  I am obsessed with all things Blake Shelton.  {sigh}

So as soon as I heard he was heading out on tour, I begged my non-country music listening hubby to take me.  He agreed, only if, "we could at least see him in a cool city".  And now, the title of this post is starting to make sense, huh?

Well, now I imagine you are wondering how Jack ended up on this trip.  Well, I am a Mommy first and a Blake fan second.  When I saw the school calendar gave my kiddos a full 5 days off of school while Clay and I were supposed to be in NYC, the guilt took over.  I just knew we had to take at least one of them...right?!?!

The answer was obvious...we were confident Jack would completely appreciate it, take advantage of all the city had to offer, and enjoy some quality time away from his littles.

So off the three of us went to the Big Apple.

Properly so, the dynamics of our weekend vaca drastically changed when we decided to treat Jack.  After a bit of research and a hefty list of must sees on Jack's part, we hit the city as real live tourist.  Not just Blake fans on a weekend get away.

Upon arrival, we fed Jack an authentic roadside hot dog.  He was thrilled.  {see what I mean by dynamics changing...not exactly the fare I had in mind}

We then checked into our hotel which was situated beautifully in the heart of Manhattan.

Before we could even put our bags down, Jack was ready to start knocking things off his list.  Not too mention, Clay and I were headed to Blake in the evening, so time was of the essence.  I was on board with Jack's anticipation.

His first stop...The Empire State Building...

We decided to walk there in hopes of giving Jack a good feel of the city.  We did just that plus a pair of very exhausted feet.

Once we arrived, we waited in a variety of lines before taking the elevator up to the 86th floor.  Jack was fascinated.  {actually, we all were}

We returned to the hotel just in time to get cleaned up, meet the babysitter {who was recommend by a friend in NYC}, and catch the subway to Brooklyn.  Here I come Blake!

Boots & Blake...I don't know if it gets much better.

As a special treat to me, we got the Gold VIP tickets {that's a pic of my lanyard:)}.  The package included a special acoustic set by Blake and a Q&A session in a private lounge.  No too mention, he gave us some pretty amazing Blake Shelton beer mugs to bring home.

We even got to sit in Blake's original Voice chair...amaze-o!

Come concert time, we were seated in the third row.  I'm pretty sure some of his sweat graced me periodically.  But, what I am  definitely positive about, is that BLAKE pointed and winked at me!!!  That made this country gals day!

{excuse the blur, he really was close, I am just horrible with a camera phone}

I was pretty much on Cloud 9 the following day.  That's why when Jack wanted to hit every. single. museum in NYC, I obliged.

I can only post so many pictures of dino bones and ancient artifacts.  But, in all truth, Jack was in hog heaven!

We also made a pit stop in Times Square.

The Rockefeller Center.

Took Jack on his first subway ride.

Got him some real New York pizza.

And a big fat trip to Dylan's Candy Bar.

We all slept like rocks that night.  

The following day was a weather shocker.  It had been gorgeous up to this point.  All of a sudden the temps dropped a good 15 degrees and it started raining.  I was miserably cold and wet.

However, seeing this boy's face light up at our next few stops made it all worth it.

What would NYC with a 9 year old be without visiting the Statue of Liberty?  We were making progress on that list of must-sees.

We then followed the dock over to the Intrepid which has served as an aircraft carrier since WWII.

We toured the inside and the outside which I have to admit was fascinating.

From there we grabbed a late meal and headed to the airport.  A quick, but very action-packed weekend in the Big Apple.

And there was plenty more that my little camera phone didn't capture like...lots of jerky cab rides, a boat tour, lots of skyscrapers that were "must -sees"...the Chrysler, 9/11 memorial, etc. , Central Park, the Highline, and a teeny tiny bit of shopping to my dismay.  { and only dismay because of the "teeny tiny" part}

But even with all that incredible venturing out and the amazing night at Blake's concert, I think Clay and I would both agree that a little solo time with our first born was the best part!

Love that kiddo!

EYE Love Halloween

I literally adore Halloween.  Minus Christmas, it just might be my favorite.  I can't get enough of the fun decor, the treats, and the festive activities.  So much to do in October!

The kids and I have been scrambling for a cute {but not too spooky} give away for our classmates.  We knew we had found it the other day in line at Michaels.  A huge bag of eyeball gum balls...PERFECT!

I made a quirky little hang tag and we packaged them up as a family.  Lucy counted, Maggie bagged, and Jack hole punched.  

I knew gum balls would not be age appropriate for a three and four year old class.  And Lucy completely understood that.  So I did a quick search and found these eyeball lollipops at Oriental Trading.

Lucy was more than thrilled and I'm pretty sure liked these better anyway.

We added the same tags and WAH-LAH...treats for pre-school too!

Did EYE mention...EYE love Halloween?

So-So Pumpkin Patch

If you have ever read this blog in the Fall, you know how absolutely obsessed I am with Southern Belle Farms.  It is by far my favorite patch and sadly, I've been to a enough to compare.

So this year, when Maggie's Girl Scout troop planned an outing to a Pumpkin Patch, I was completely torn.  I was super bummed that it was not at my favorite Fall highlight.  But, I thought Maggie would enjoy and we could make a family affair of it.  So, off we went.

Well, let me just preface with it was "so-so" and I won't ever be changing my Fall pumpkin patch tradition...again!

Now that that is out of the way, on to my little pumpkins, who just keep growing up!  {and making the best of "not the best" patch}

We started our visit with pumpkin pictures.  I always like to get this in before my little ones get dirty, tired and sweaty.  Unfortunately, the photo ops were very limited.  I was contending with port-o-potties and giant "DO NOT SIT ON PUMPKINS" signs for the background.  So please bear with me.

While I hit the maze with the bigs and the Girl Scouts, Lucy trotted around the farm with Grandma.  Jack was in and out of the maze in a New York minute.  Maggie and I were lost for what seemed like an eternity.

When we finally made it out {through the entrance, mind you} we found Lucy had been to the sponsoring hospital booth.  In true Lucy cuteness, she has been living in this stethoscope ever since.  It doesn't matter if it has a heartbeat or not, Dr. Lu is giving it a check up.

The maze really did Maggie and me in.  Lucky for her, Grandma was on stand by with the stroller {and with chicken fingers}.

The highlight of our visit might have been this Emoji hay bale.  The kids got a big kick out of it.  Clearly, the entertainment was limited;).

Before hopping on the Hay Ride, we stopped to feed the 3 goats.  {I say 3 with a hint of sarcasm}

The hayride was a nice opportunity to rest our weary boots.  There wasn't much to see, but what's a farm without a hayride?

Lucy is the only one of the three who opted for the Corn Shooter and the Pony Ride.  I'm pretty sure Jack still isn't over getting popped in the mouth by one of those things about 5 years ago.  And it's really not Maggie's thing for obvious reasons.

We ended our visit with the coveted, Pumpkin Picking.  I am more than sure this was everyone's favorite part of the visit.  They still get so excited over this.  I love that!

There is nothing like kicking of the first day of October at the Pumpkin Patch...even if it is only "so-so".