Fall Soccer

Nick decided to play soccer again for the fall season, after taking a year off to play tackle football.  He had a slow start to the season after breaking a toe after the first practice.  It was a real bummer.  He continued to go to the practices and games to support his team and was able to play on the final weekend of the season.  He loved every minute of play during those 2 games and said it was worth the season on the sidelines.  

And he scored a goal!

Day 4, our last day

We spent the day in Central Park.  

The boys had a blast tackling each other in the open fields and climbing over all of the boulders.  The picture perfect weather made for a beautiful day at the park!

Later that night we met up with Aunt Jessica, Uncle Kevin, Brandon and Jonathan for dinner and a Broadway show, School of Rock.  It was fantastic!  We all loved it.  

Uncle Kevin treated all of the boys to drum sticks after the show!

NYC was a treat.  The weather was amazing the entire time, clear blue skies and temps in the 70's.  We can't wait to return!

Day 3 in the city

We started out day 3 at the Museum of Math.  This was a fun, hands on kind of museum that the kids, and Eric, loved!

Next we walked down to the Empire State building, a request from the boys.

The views from the top were amazing!  86 stories high!

Times Square was next on our list.  We got there by pedi-cab.  We risked out lives for a lot of adventure traveling the short distance to Times Square!  The driver was crazy, weaving in and out of massive NYC traffic!

The boys loved the hustle and bustle of Times Square!  I was afraid to let go of their hands for fear I would lose them!

M&M store.  A favorite amongst us all!

From there we walked to Rockefeller Center.

So much to see!

We had dinner at the Sea Grill, next to the ice skating rink.  We had a view of all of the skaters as they glided past the window.  It was quite a special dinner!

Our 2nd Day

The second day in the city we went by subway once again into lower Manhattan.  The boys were so funny on the subway, especially the night before, the first time we rode.  We got onto a crowded, no seats available, train.  There was even someone singing.  It was loud and the boys weren't so sure they wanted to ride the subway anymore, until the next morning.  Mid-morning subway riding was much better for us, It wasn't crowded and we all got a seat together.

Our first stop was at the Staten Island Ferry station where we enjoyed some beautiful city views while waiting to take the ferry to Staten Island.  The ferry went right past the Statue of Liberty.  A great, free way to view the beautiful monument.

 

Wall Street.

We made our way into Manhattan after the ferry ride.

Fearless

We had lunch at Eataly, near the Freedom One building.  It was so delicious! Sam found a few pumpkins in their store.

After lunch we went to the One World Observatory at the Freedom One building. 

It was amazing.

An elevator took us to the 102nd floor where the doors opened to a floor to ceiling window with a 360 degree view of the city.  

We went to the 911 memorial and museum next.  

The memorial was so beautiful. 

The museum was difficult.  

Eric and I have vivid memories of that day, as so many of us do.  It was heartbreaking to explain to our boys what we were viewing and why we were so sad but interested in reading and spending so much time in the museum.  

Nick, Sam and Ben are standing in front one of the many trees surrounding the memorial.

 Where Freedom One and Freedom Two once stood is the memorial, an inverted fountain.  Along the border of the memorial the names of the victims from 911 are inscribed.  It was a beautiful sight all lit up at night.