Our last week in New York

The time has come to begin our move to California.  Even though the military moves us, there is still a million little things to do to get ready for a move, especially a cross-country move.  A big project we had to do was get all the Legos ready for the trek.

We also had last hang outs and sad goodbyes.

But one great thing for the kids and I was that the house was "normal" until we left.  It was nice to have things feel comfortable as we prepared for our next adventure.

 

Jone's Beach with the Nieves'

We had a great afternoon with the Nieves's at Jone's Beach. 

I will forever be thankful for this family.

I took this video to try and capture what it's like at a Long Island beach and to give a contrast to a California beach in a few weeks.

Legoland with Damian

These boys have been dying to go to Legoland together and wanted one last hurray together, so Damian's mom decided to make their dreams come true.  I'm so thankful she did because they had an amazing day!

From what I heard, they rode all the rides many times, built some cars, traded mini figures and had a slushy.

 

Last New York field trip: Cradle Aviation Museum

 Colin and I went to the Cradle Aviation museum for a little field trip.  It's been on our list to check out and we took advantage of military getting in free during the summer.  It was smaller than we expected, but we still had a fun afternoon.

First Day of School!

Ready or not, here we come!  Senior year!

Eli is in High School!

Colin is in 7th grade!

If Alison were typing this, she would like to point out that this is my last year to take pictures of all 3 of my kids on the first day of school :( But happy official decade of homeschooling to us!  

We get bonus points for starting school when we did.  Schools here don't start for another month, which means all of our friends are still in summer when we're starting up work.  Our motivation is to be done in May (like normal people) instead of crazy end of June.

I thought it would be fun to kick off our day with homemade donuts and Uno.

This is what happens when you try to take a picture of a 7th grader.

We got the ball rolling on our work and then Alison and I went to the store to turn in our change.  It was very fitting for this day.  You see, we've had this bag of coins since day 1 of homeschooling.  Alison says she doesn't remember not having this bag of coins in our school room and there have been countless times it's been brought out for math throughout the years.  It's definitely sat for a few years and all of the kids are officially out of Saxon math, so it was time to say goodbye.  First day of Senior year is a good time to do that.  We've made estimates how much money was actually in the bag over the years and I was actually surprised to find it held $20.  

Later in the day, the boys and I walked to get gelato and then visited Alison at work.

Truth be told, I was a little nervous starting up school, simply because this summer was not the most refreshing.  But I was so thankful when the books were opened and lessons began, because I really do love homeschooling these kids and I still absolutely love our days together.  Even with eye rolls and not so cheery faces all the time, I love my job and I'm so thankful that I get to do it.

Beth's visit

My sister came to visit!

{Thank you Beth and Ben for taking pictures}

The first night she was here, we went to 'Sunset Serenades' and listened to Frank's band (Colin's guitar teacher).  Colin was there too, he just jumped out of the picture.

The next day we went for a very hot walk and then to the Sea Cliff beach.

Unfortunately it was more hot and humid than normal when she was here.  It didn't stop us from having fun, but it was definitely uncomfortable at times.

Saturday, Ben, Beth and I went into the city.  The first stop was at the world's best pizza...at least that's what I'm told.  My mouth is full of smash fries here, but the best pizza is documented.

Then we walked through Times Square.

And then took the subway up to Central Park.  We walked through to the MET and were drenched in sweat by the time we got in.

We were so thankful to find ice cream on our way out.  It definitely helped get me back to the train.  

We also watched a lot of the Olympics, got ramen and dumplings and Beth got to see a little bit of our normal life here.  Her flight got canceled and had to stay 2 more days!

Alison's 17th birthday!

We started the day off right with a walk to Starbucks for a birthday drink...and pretended that Alison doesn't get free drinks everyday ;)

Her theme was 'Dancing Queen'

She opened her wrapped presents:

First Lululemon hoodie!

Then we drove to Brooklyn.  Ben, Eli and Alison got pizza.

Colin and I got tacos and then we all met up at Brooklyn Charm.  It's a place where you can custom make a charm bracelet or necklace.

Then we did some thrift shopping.  That's hard to come by on Long Island, so we were excited to find some stores.

When we got home, Alison made a dessert charcuterie and a couple of her friends came over for a movie night.

They couldn't decide on dinner, so they all walked to North Shore Farms and picked out some premade entrees.  We set up a cozy hang out area for them in the basement and projected a movie onto a big sheet.  We didn't see much of them, but heard lots of giggles.

Happy Birthday baby girl!  I am so thankful for you!!!