Last Day of School!

 We did it!  This year caused for extra celebration as we finished school amid house showings and some travels.

We went to see Inside Out 2...the only picture I could get....

Which was great because it was a movie that all 3 kids wanted to see and could relate too.

The next day, Alison and I went to get pedicures.  We tried a new place and were disappointed in the actual pedicure, but we still had a fun time.

Done with 11th, 8th and 6th grade!

(He said he wanted a "serious Military" picture)

Real life:

Real life is that it took me WEEKS to get these pictures and this was the first year we didn't have our little ceremony because it was near impossible to get everyone together at the same time and no one wanted their picture taken.  It was like pulling teeth to get what I did.

The Natural History Museum

We had planned on going back to the MET for months; had it on our calendar, Ben had the day off work...every thing was set.  We made the hour drive and pulled into the parking lot.  They search the trunk of the car before they allow you to park and when the guard came to our window, he said, "You know the museum is closed, right?"  No.  No, we did not.  We parked anyway and a brilliant idea came to me:  The Natural History Museum!  I've wanted to take the kids but it's never worked out to go.  It was perfect!  And they were slightly more interested in going than the MET.  So, we walked across Central Park, got some lunch from a food truck and went to the museum.

I may have been more excited than the kids, but we still all had fun.

Ha! When I first saw this picture Ben took, I thought that Eli had his arm around Alison, but it's actually me!  He's excited to show me the giant mosquito...

It still amazes me how exhausting just one thing in the city is.  Of everything we've done, Central Park is my favorite and I was thankful that we got to unintentionally walk through it.

It's funny being in the season when these are most of my pictures because no one wants their picture taken.  

Colin's 12th birthday

Colin really wanted to help make his cake this year...he wouldn't let me take a picture, but he had fun decorating.

It was an airplane themed birthday!

{Maya still has to lick his face in the morning}

He requested sausage, eggs and hash browns for breakfast.

When Alison and Eli woke up, he opened presents.

Alison got him a stack of Mr. Beast chocolates, that unfortunately Maya ate 3 of while we were gone!  

His big present was an acoustic guitar!

Muscles are growing around here ;)

Then we were off to the American Airpower Museum.

Can't decide which is funnier...so you get both.

Lesson learned: if an older gentleman at a museum asks if he can tell you a few things, he will follow you through the museum and tell you every detail about every exhibit.

On the bright side, Colin got to do the flight simulator for free (it's normally $10 for 7 minutes)

After a little playing with some new toys, we went out for dinner and then had cake.

The boys finished the day with watching Ghost Busters.

Sea Cliff living

Walks around Sea Cliff are still one of our favorites.  Colin wanted to recreate a picture Alison took back in California:

The Sno Cone place opened up for the summer!

New York notoriously has zero places to sit, so we had to use the steps to the Children's Library.

The Porch Pickers played a concert on the beach.

Some friends joined me for the concert and I was so thankful for their company on this gorgeous night.

Leave it to Italian friends to make you feel really tall.