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Part of Christian's graduation present was a trip to NYC WITHOUT the kid.

Friday night we dropped Berkey off with his Auntie G and Aunt Stefy.  

Saturday we were up at 4 a.m. on the 6:30 a.m. Lucky Star Bus to the big(ger) city. 

We arrived at 10:30 a.m. grabbed some grub and headed to the MoMa.  This trip was all about doing "big kid" things; things you couldn't do with a 3 year old around.  We enjoyed lots of fabulous art from very famous artists around the world.  We even saw the very famous Starry Night, which did not disappoint.

 From there we headed to time square to pick up some tickets for a show.  I REALLY wanted to see Newsies, a childhood favorite for both of us.  It wasn't on the TKTS board, but we met a guy who knew a guy and he hooked us up!  

 We had excellent seats, and even spotted Al Pachino in the audience.  The show was 

AMAZING!!!

I loved every second of it! The dancing was unbelievable; I could see a Broadway show every night.  

 We stayed up late, cause we could, and roamed the city doing all the touristy stuff.  

 Sunday morning we headed to the Bronx for a visit to the New York Botanical Gardens to see the Monet exhibit.  

The Botanical Gardens were BEAUTIFUL!  They recreated Monet's gardens and had amazing flowers, trees, rose gardens and so much more.  

Sadly the time when too quickly.  We left NYC at 4:00 p.m. and got our kid by 10:30p.m. It was a very tiring weekend, but it was so much fun to get away just the two of us.

We cant thank Auntie G and Aunt Stefy who spoiled the kid the way good Aunties do.  

Lost No More

i lost my lost boy today

did you know that the last time he saw his parents he was 10 years old?

did you know that he had to leave or he would be forced to be part of an army that would kill and rape innocent people?

did you know that he walked 1000 miles in 3 months to maintain his integrity?

did you know that he had to drink his own urine to stay alive?

did you know he spent 10 years in a refugee camp raised by nuns?

did you know they taught him english there?

did you know they taught him about God's love there?

did you know in 2001 he and 3,000 other lost boys from the sudan were allowed into the united states?

did you know he was placed in chelsea, ma for the past 10 years?

did you know that he was a manager of housekeeping at a hotel?

did you know that he loved to work?

did you know that when he worked, his shift never had any complaints?

did you know that one day he started having back pain and took the day off from work and never went back?

did you know he loved to play basketball?

did you know he never drank alcohol?

did you know he worked hard to send money to his parents in africa?

did you know that he got spinal cancer? that it paralyzed him from the waste down?

did you know he had to live in a nursing home at 31 years old and never complained?

did you know that he loved the residence at the nursing home?

did you know that he loved the celtics, bruins, red sox and patriots?

did you know that he recently attended a patriots game in his poor condition?

did you know he studied hard to take his citizenship test?

did you know that he past his citizenship test despite losing his eyes sight and the ability to write well?

did you know that i never heard him complain?

did you know that he never lost faith in God?

did you know that he thought he would somehow be healed?

did you know that i loved him?

did you know that he became my friend?

did you know that he taught and inspired me?

did you know that it killed me inside to watch him slowly decline?

did you know that he just wanted me to hold his hand and sing to him the last weeks of his life?

did you know the last time i saw him i sang i believe in Christ to him?

did you know that he died today?

did you know that my heart is broken?

did you know that he is lost no more?  

did you know he walked home to God?

 

The Doctors

I hate when friends move.

We met Nicole and Ryan through our church; they were super cool but also super busy cause they were both completing medical residency.  Somehow with our busy schedules and their busy schedules we found time to hang out.  

The last few years we have spend holidays together, gone to Vermont, East Boston, The Kabob Factory, the Science Museum and other fun places together.  We have had many wonderful meals together, seen many Harry Potter Movies together and watched each other kiddos grow up. 

Nicole and I have been mani/pedi buddies and Christian and Ryry have been late night movie buddies.  

We have also gotten close with Ryan's parents who treat us like their own.

Our Doctor friends moved to Wisconsin this weekend and I am sad.  Quite simply, I am just S A D, sad. I hate when close friends move away; I know we'll stay in touch, but it just isn't the same.  I don't know who we'll have Thanksgiving dinner with this year or who will join us for Trick-O-Treating.  

It's just sad.  

Best of luck Nikki and Ryry and Eloisee!  We will miss you something terrible.

Do you want S'more? Do I want S'more of what?

It's been surprising to me who we've kept in contact through our moves across the country.  This weekend we went camping with some friends we had when we lived in the University of Utah Village, the Hammonds who live near Hartford, CT.  I would have never expected that we would have kept in contact with the Hammonds or even ever gone on a trip with them, but I am so glad we have kept in contact and ended up in the same part of the country.  They are so much fun and we loved spending time with them and their friends the Messengers this weekend. We camped at Nickerson State Park on the Cape, which was a fun place to camp due to lakes and the ocean close by. 

We had warm fires, slept in a tent (Berke's favorite part), walked around and played in the lake, swam in the ocean and caught hermit crabs. 

My amazing husband even cooked me delicious food; he treats me so well.

Berke made a new buddy during the trip; meet Ben, whom Berke followed around ALL day Saturday and Sunday.  Ben, who is 9, was such a good sport to hang out with a little 3 year old monkey and entertain him.

All the kiddos with their glow sticks doing karate moves.

Here is my kid playing in the lake in his undies; yep I was that mom.  I didn't put his suit on and he didn't want to get his shorts wet, so we came up with this solution and everyone was happy.

Uphill both ways

(Megan, Erica, Debbie, Courtney, Aubrey, Laci, Kate and Tracie)

 

At the beginning of the year I sent out an e-mail to some ladies from my church to see if they'd be interested in a fitness challenge; each week we would work out for 4 hours and each month for 5 months would have a different challenge on top of the 4 hours a week of exercise.  Those challenges included sit ups, weight training, giving up a vice and eating fruits and veggies.  Each week that we accomplished our goal we paid ourselves $5.  We all saved our money that we earned over 5 months to take a girlz trip to the White Mountains in New Hampshire.  

It was a great way to stay motivated through the winter months and I am so glad so many ladies wanted to participate in the challenge. 

 Eight of us ended up renting a condo in North Woodstock and spent the weekend hiking, eating, swimming, watching movies and giggling nonstop.  Others participated in the challenge but couldn't go on the trip for various reasons.

We did a gorgeous hike on Saturday to this beautiful waterfall, Bridal Veil Falls.  It was 5 miles round trip and a beautiful and very enjoyable hike.

Megan participated in both hikes being 8 months pregnant.  She is pretty much Super Woman!

After hiking and swimming we got all dolled up and went out to eat and then because we had NO children with us we went to a movie, because we could!  We saw Snow White and the Huntsman; I loved it and recommend it for those who have time.

What a cute group of gals we are.

We did another hike on Sunday that claimed to be "child friendly with slight inclines," which we soon found to be LIES!  The hike was hard, straight uphill and steep.  We were all sweating pretty good and breathing a little harder than normal, but we made it to the "sweeping views."  It was well worth all the hard work.

After both hikes we treated ourselves to a lovely dip in this pool. 

It was a great trip and I had a wonderful time getting to know these ladies more. The trip was sooo fun, but not relaxing or restful in the slightest.  I will for sure do another challenge next winter, so let me know if you are interested!

Thanks ladies for a wonderful weekend and thanks honey for watching the kiddo all weekend!

Please, please, please Seth, just 67 more songs! Please!

I love Kat and Garth!