NEW YORK CITY! July 6th

What better way to enjoy the sabbath then in NYC? Such a spiritual place!! We made our third trip (and probably the last) to NYC! Here's the WHOLE crew in the subway! SO nice to have Mike and Jeriah get to be part of the action! Getting THREE strollers off and on the subway was a bit of challenge! We did surprisingly well! Sometimes (most times) we were literally running on and yelling at kids to stay close! Tammy is a whiz at the subway and does great at leading this bunch through the streets of NY!

We had to go back to ground zero! Directly across the street is a fire station - there was a fire truck backing in (and of course our kids were amazed). One of the fire fighters invited us in to see the station! There is a tribute to the fire fighters who lost their lives on 911! I don't know if our kids knew how amazing that was to be able to go in - I was thrilled! What an honor! We also went to Central Park and spent on hour trying to find the carousel - the park is over 760 acres! Needless to say, it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack! Our kids loved sitting next to a little lake (from Stuart Little with the little boats) - and feeding the fish! Bell loved crawling on the lawn and looking for "DOGS" - yes, she's obsessed! We gave up and moved on to the toy store! We went to Times Square!!! I was in heaven - what an unbelievable place!! TV screens everywhere - people everywhere! The toy store is RIGHT in Times Square! TOYSRUS is AMAZING - 3 stories! There is a two story Barbie house you can go up in - a HUGE T-Rex from Jurassic Park and a REAL Ferris wheel! My kids were in the Toy Story car on the Ferris wheel! They have been earning their toys for a couple weeks and each picked out something special! Bri got a wedding gown dress up with a bouquet and veil, Bo got an Iron Man guy and basketball hoop and Bell got a Sleeping Beauty cell phone!

Genis was the event planner for the day! She had a great idea to go to "Dyan's Candy Store." Did you see this on Oprah? It is owned by Ralph Lauren's daughter - seriously incredible!! Just like being in Willy Wonka and Chocolate Factory! One of my favorite parts was they played the song, "On the good ship lollipop!" I LOVED that song when I was little! Bella was quick to grab a sucker - she knows the sign for candy and signs it often! How can you resist that? Look at cute Bri and Ry on the subway - Bri was in heaven to have friend! They were giggling SO loud when Bri was putting her lipstick (from the candy store) on Uncle Brad - the people on the subway were all watching too! The last photo is of the Statue of Liberty - the trouble is you can't see her! Really she looked pretty big from the shore! Anyway, good to see her again! We won't see her again for A LONG TIME! New York wears you out - it takes a couple days to recover from one day! WHEW!