We went to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and enjoyed the Japanese Garden, lilypad ponds, and bonsai trees.

The pictures probably speak for themselves, but the fireworks show was amazing. New York City's show has 55 times more fireworks than anywhere else in the country. We all thought that the grand finale occurred about twenty times. Ian and Gavin were awestruck (and then very tired afterwards). Deon was the master behind these shots (sorry I didn't crop any of them!).

New York City with the Kids

Our first stop was the 'Dinosaur Museum,' which turned out to be a big hit with Gavin and Ian. Gavin ran from room to room in awe of the many dinosaur skeletons while Ian continually roared at all the dinosaur skeletons. We spent the entire day at the Museum of Natural History and Central Park before we met Deon at Grand Central to go to dinner and the fireworks show.

A COLORFUL WEEKEND

This holiday weekend, Jeff, Kim, Deon, Gavin, and Ian chilled in Brooklyn & NYC.

They watched amazing NYC fireworks from Brooklyn Heights, 

found some lovely Farmer's Market finds,

tried to understand what possessed someone to ruin this beautiful brownstone, 

and ate lots of ice cream to stay cool in the super humid NYC weather!  (This pic of Gav is priceless.)

The best part of the weekend was Aunt Non getting the chance to 

baby-sit Gavin & Ian while Jeff & Kim attended a friend's wedding.

On Sunday, Uncle Steve came down to NY to join in on all the activities.  Actually, Aunt Non wasn't all that fun to hang with, so luckily her better half came to save the day!

As Steve was taking Metro-North down from CT, Kim & Deon toured the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens with the boys.  Gavin was lovin' these amazing Bonsai Trees (supposedly the largest collection in the world).

We were all anxious to see what Chelsea Market had to offer in the Chelsea District of Manhattan.

Zagat-rated fares were abundant . . . but we took a break from specialty shops to eat lunch

at the oldest diner in NYC!

Ian is a dog connoisseur; he is addicted to canines!

Deon is addicted to this little car.

From the looks on our faces, Steve obviously had more confidence in our crazy lady photographer than the rest of us (including Gav & Ian).

A little better?

In Greenwich Village, we had the choice of touring the Marc Jacobs store, eating cupcakes at Magnolia's Bakery (notice the line around the block), or playing at the local park.  We chose the later.

My apologies for these horrible photos.  I just took a little digital down to NY.  Kim brought a sweet Nikon on the trip, so hopefully she will post some MUCH better pics when they arrive home from Brooklyn tomorrow.

Thanks again Jeff & Kim for letting us come hang with your awesome family in The Big Apple.  Deon was clearly a pain most of the trip, but hopefully Steve made up it!!!

MY NEW HARE

While washing dishes tonight, we found a hare in the backyard.  Steve only wishes it was the kind that grew on his head (Steve penned this).

My new little buddy is this eastern cottontail that chills in our backyard now & then. Unfortunately, he's not so fond of me.  

I'm starting to sound like Mom, but I really have fun spotting all the wildlife in our CT yard. Too bad our "baby Peter" sightings are short-lived.  Only two more months and we will most likely be viewing mainly traffic from our back window in Central Auckland. 

WADSWORTH MANSION

Steve and I traveled over to the Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown to check out their grounds for an upcoming wedding this next week.  It should be a very beautiful location for the event.  The grounds were amazing!  I thought you might be interested in the landscape history, Lind:

"In 1900, three years after his marriage to Katharine Fearing Hubbard, Colonel Wadsworth began preparing plans for the site of their future country summer residence "Long Hill" in the rollings hills of western Middletown.  An authority on the emerging science of forestry and conservation, Colonel Wadsworth had a concern for the environment far ahead of his time. Working with the nationally renowned landscape architectural firm, The Olmsted Brothers, 500 acres of Long Hill were designed in the tradition of a working landscape.  They created an estate that evolved from the formal and classical near the Mansion, to varied, well-managed forests and pastures."

THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN

My "dream" Celtics team (courtesy of manager Danny Ainge & coach Rivers) crushed the Lakers last night by 39 points.   It was a beautiful sight to behold.   Too bad Nash wasn't a part of the KG/Pierce/Allen combo.  :(

LAST COMIC STANDING

Dave, Steve, & I were faithful watchers of "Last Comic Standing" from Season 1 when we all lived in Logan together- "The Simpson's Era", as I like to call it.  Well, it's that time of year once again. So far, we really haven't been that impressed with the comics making it through the first round, but comedy is truly subjective, I guess.  

CELTICS PRIDE

I am happy to say that at least one of the basketball men I love made it to the Finals.  Go KG!!!!   Even though Steve & I were die-hard Jazz fans for the entire season, we have to give props to the Boston Celtics for smashing the Lakers in Game 1.

  

Here's a little eye candy for you too, Lind.  Mom's gonna love this post.  ;)

APPLE OF MY EYE

Saturday Steve & I stopped by Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, CT.  It's a beautiful farm with a market where they sell lots of good produce and other fun things.  After seeing that their Famous Apple Cider was $5.99 a gallon, I decided that Lindy should do the same this fall in Cache Valley after the apple harvest with her abundance of fruit.  She could even open up her own market like this one with all her wonderful garden goods!

LAZY DAY

Memorial Day Weekend was pretty uneventful in CT.  Deon had a sitting on Saturday in Elizabeth Park, and Steve did a good amount of NZ studying, sleeping, cleaning the house, and watching movies.  We did venture to Canton & Avon yesterday to do a little exploring.  This time of year in CT is so beautiful & green!  

Mom, I snapped a quick pic on all the Canadian geese after they crossed the road.  This family seriously rivals 101 Dalmatians! Obviously the geese were feeling patriotic yesterday, so they were crossing the street to get to the American flag stuck in the grass.  :)

Jeff & Kim's Trip to Mexico

In April we went to Rocky Point, Mexico with our kids and Jeff's business partner's family, Jeff Burningham. Here are some of the pics we took from the trip. We spent our time swimming at the pool, digging in the sand at the beach, riding the 'rhinos' on the beach, shopping at the local markets, and deep sea fishing.

ANIMATED ANNIVERSARY

Steve & I celebrated our #9 yesterday.  Due to our lack of planning, it didn't turn-out as exciting as we had hoped.  It started out on a great note when we went over together to Jaime's for VT.  Her son, Daniel, made us an amazing animated anniversary poster (pictured).  We were very impressed with his abilities!!!  We left Jaime's around 7:30 p.m. to go grab some dinner, but thanks to my stupidity, I had left my wallet at home and Steve only had his AMEX card with him.  The place we were at didn't take AMEX, so feeling defeated, we decided to hit up the local grocery store for some goods and go home.  We weren't in the mood to travel anywhere else.  Lind, we did actually buy a Greek salad for me and Jamaican Patties for Steve, as well as some Aussie Licorice, so we went as 'exotic' as we possibly could.

James

We got to go see little James on Sunday afternoon. He is so sweet and little. I got to hold him for almost an hour while Lindy and Kurt ate lunch. He is just perfect. I was able to take a few quick pictures of him. He really didn't want to show his cute chin and whenever I would pull down his romper to expose it he would snuggle back down into a little ball. Anyway, for those of you who haven't seen him yet at least you get an idea of his cuteness.


This picture is a little blurry but he had the cutest little smile on his face.