Zoo Trip!!!

Today we ventured out to the Phoenix Zoo.  On half days Brooke only goes to school until 9:40 (why bother??) so I decided to get out for the day.  I guess I didn't think it would be too hot, but let me tell you when its 104, its HOT.   The good thing about it being hot is hardly anyone is at the zoo and you don't have to deal with crowds.  The bad part is that none of the animals are out because they are smart enough to be inside their air conditioned rooms!  Luckily the zoo has some splash pads and we spent the majority of our time there.  I ended up buying a yearly pass so we can enjoy it more when the weather cools down.

Here we are at the orangutan exhibit.  This lovely lady was hiding until we came up and then she ran up to the window!

I packed lunches which were a big hit and easy on the wallet ;) They had kid sized picnic tables on a lake with huge birds so the kids were very entertained.

Of course we had to ride the carousel.  Madeline chose to ride the lion and Brooke rode the zebra.

At the end of our day, we finally found the giraffes and ostriches.  Those were what they wanted to see and lucky for me they were in the same exhibit (and had shady benches with misters blowing on me).

Here is a bonus pic of Madeline at the splash pad. 

Overall we had a great day.  Of course on the walk to the car I had to endure the 5 year old "I am dying because I am so thirsty and tired" speech.  We only saw half of the zoo today but since we now have passes we can go back and see the other animals on another day (preferably one that is under 100 degrees). 

American Girl trip #2

Brooke had received some money for her birthday and was dying to buy her first American Girl doll. Knowing how indecisive she is, I had her go online the night before and pick one out. This really did not work out well. After an hour of browsing online, we narrowed it down to four dolls. 

After walking through the entire store for an hour, Brooke narrowed it down to McKenna and a doll that looked like Brooke. Then became the internal turmoil of having to choose. Now she was not asking for both, just very torn over which doll to choose. Soon she was in tears sobbing on the floor of the store.  Luckily, a very nice man who worked there came over and talked to Brooke about each of her choices and what the differences were, etc.  Then once she said what she chose, he quickly took the other doll away and out of her sight.  This man was good.  I am guessing she is not the first child to have a meltdown inside the store LOL! 

Here we are on the LIRR heading into the city. 

First subway ride!

Standing in front of the McKenna display

Here we are narrowed down to two dolls.  She sat here for a good 30 minutes trying to decide on her favorite.

Soon she was crying.  Devastated that she could not choose. 

Here she is!  Finally happy with McKenna out of the box!

Our visit to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Brooke has been begging to go to the Statue of Liberty for about 6 months.  Only my 5 year old would be obsessed about a national monument LOL! 

We decided to surprise her and not tell her where we were going on her birthday.  I bought the tickets for the ferry in advance.  I HIGHLY suggest doing this since we only then had to wait in the security line and skipped the ticket line.  Another tip is to go early.  We got there around 9:30 and walked right on the ferry.  When we left around 1 the ferry line was at least 2 hours long!  Crazy!

So we drove to Battery Park and parked a few blocks from the ferry.  On our walk there you could see the Statue so we pointed it out to her and showed her.  She was so excited! 

Here we are on the ferry ride!  It was cold :(

 

Here is the Freedom Tower.  It's getting pretty tall!

 

Here is Brooke in all of her Lady Liberty glory!  She was loving it!

and of course some more pics with the statue:

Then of course my girls had to have a snack right that second.  So they got to have a mini picnic on the grounds of Liberty Island:

Unfortunately the statue and museum are closed for renovations so after a quick stop at the gift shop (where Brooke purchased a snow globe and a mini statue) we were back on the Ferry and headed towards Ellis Island.

Once at Ellis Island we had lunch.  After that we realized that Ellis Island is not a trip for little kids.  It was really informational, but Curtis and I decided it was much more our speed so we headed out. 

Here are  the two pics from that stop LOL:

 

By some miracle, Madeline fell asleep in her stroller.  This has not happened since we was 6 months old.  Maybe even earlier! 

We had a great day and I am glad we are going a lot of this while we live in NY and can easily do day trips to see fun things! 

The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

Before I had kids if someone told me they were spending money on something like this for their 4 year old I would have laughed and said it was a waste of money.  Then I had kids.  Girls specifically.  Once I knew the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique existed, I knew Brooke would love it.  Over Christmas we went to Disneyland and I booked this (3 months in advance) for her.  Yes, I am super behind on blogging right now LOL.  December and January were very busy for us. 

The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is a salon inside of Disneyland (they have it at Disney World as well) that does Princess makeovers on girls and Prince makeovers on boys.  There are different levels of packages.  We did the lowest package for $49.95.  This included a hairstyle, crown, makeup, sash, and jewel on the face.  My mom also paid for a separate photo shoot after this was all done that was ADORABLE.

We brought our own dress to wear, but you can pay a large amount of money for a package that includes a dress that you buy inside the boutique.  Unless you want to shell out the extra money for a $70 dress, you can bring your own from home and save a ton of money :)

Here is Brooke standing in front of of the boutique.  She didn't know what was going to happen next!

Here she is with her fairy godmother.  They do a GREAT job playing the part.  She chose the bun with crown hairstyle for herself. 

Here is the final product of the hair before the glitter was put on.  It looks super tight but its just a TON of hair gel. 

Here she is in her costume, face jewel, and glitter.  FYI its been 2 months and I am still finding glitter on her scalp!

My princess and I: 

A bonus pic of her with Ariel.  

Overall it was a GREAT experience.  She loved it, I loved it, my mom and sister loved it! It was packed with little girls all having a great time.  Her hair stayed in all day plus she slept in it that night!  Worth every penny I paid! 

The San Diego Zoo

Every year we spend some time with my in-laws in San Diego but never really do much sight seeing.  This year we decided to take the kids to the San Diego zoo.  They were great ages for it and I had not been since I was a child.

First of all, the weather was gorgeous!  We were actually dressed too warm for most of the trip.   Our first stop was to see the Elephants.  Madeline LOVED it.  We actually got to see them get a bath and be fed and they were really close to us. 

We also saw the lions.  They were asleep but right against the glass so we could see them close up.  Madeline kept screaming saying "ASLEEEEEPPPP".  Brooke was not thrilled.  She had a chip on her shoulder at the zoo for some reason.

We did manage to get one family photo out of the day.  I must say I am shocked at how our photos are actually starting to have all 4 family members looking at once!

The petting zoo was a huge hit as well!  I wanted to burn their clothes after being in there, but the kids had a good time :)

Here are some other animals we saw on our HIKE.  I say hike because I had no idea that zoo was so hilly and rugged.  By the end my legs were burning!

At the end of the day Brooke HAD to see the Pandas.  The line was so long and it was so hot waiting in line to end up seeing this:

Madeline could not even see the Panda and Brooke just said "why isn't he moving?" and that was the end of our Panda experience.

Overall we had a great trip!  Brooke is asking to go to Sea World so maybe we will do that on our next visit to CA.

Here is a pic from our last day in San Diego.  Such a pretty day! 

Our trip to the 9/11 memorial

At the beginning of October we visited the 9/11 memorial.   My aunt had some extra tickets so my mom and I hitched a ride and took the opportunity to see it in person.

I had mentioned a few weeks ago that I wanted to go one day to pay my respects.  Let me just say that this place is amazing in many many ways.

Here is the new World Trade center (or Freedom Tower).  It's a really cool building!   It does not stand where the old buildings were.  It's just off to the side.

If you  plan on going, you need tickets.  They are free but they try to keep it organized, etc.  It is VERY structured to get in.  It was not a hassle, just different sets of lines, security checkpoints, etc.

Here was a sign showing a map of the place.  They have electronic directories of everyone's names to help you locate someone specific. 

Now the mood is very interesting when you walk in.  It's quiet.  Very quiet.  Even with hundreds of people there, it was very still.  No one is laughing or joking.  I saw a few people hovering over names and crying.  I think that's when it hit home.  This is a massive grave.  The size of these waterfalls is amazing, and does make you realize how large these buildings were.

Here is the lone surviving tree from September 11th.  They relocated it to another part of the city until it was replanted here.

Then there are the names.  So many names.  My aunt and uncle knew quite a few people who died that day so it was hard to hear them say so many times "Oh remember him?  He went to our church. Oh yes these two brothers worked together and knew they were going to die so they called their siblings".  Just SAD.  However, it needs to be heard.   We walked around both waterfalls completely.

It was also hard to see "and unborn child" written next to their mothers names.  Those tiny lives that never got to breathe their first breath.

Someone had made little paper cranes and set them around.  I just thought it was pretty and a sweet gesture.  

Here is a close up of the new building.  Love the flag hanging!

My mom and I both felt kind of funny posing for a picture in front of these waterfalls.  It's like you are not happy they exist for the reason they do, but we also wanted a snapshot that we were there.

The 9/11 museum will not open until next year, however I took some pics of the outside as well as an original steel beam that will be inside of it.

After we left we went  to the 9/11 mini museums/gift shops.  Again the mood is very somber and quiet.  We walked inside and it was DEAD quiet.  Not a sound.  They had a few interesting remnants from 9/11 to look at.

First a firefighter's hat:

Also a wallet of a man who died that day.  They found his wallet and wedding ring.  There was a sweet story about how he kept a $2 bill in his wallet always and his wife refused to believe he had died until she saw that $2 bill and knew  he was gone.

Overall it was a good experience but very emotional.  I would like to go again when the museum opens to see that as well.