Sunday, April 29, 2012

Riding the Rails

We traveled between New York and Washington, DC by train.  It was a great experience!  We enjoyed it so much that we're looking forward to traveling by train again someday.

First, we took the Long Island Railroad from Babylon to Penn Station in New York City

Isaac thought the Long Island Railroad was perfect for napping.  He tucked baby on his shoulder and snuggled into Daddy for a long nap.

We packed light for this trip - we just used two small rolling bags in addition to two backpacks.  That was quite a feat for four people traveling for 8 days, especially considering that we had to pack for chilly weather.  It worked out great, though.  Our bags could fit on our stroller and that made us very mobile in the train stations and getting on and off the trains.

Here's our crew in Penn Station being refueled by Krispy Kreme

Things really got exciting at Penn Station when we boarded the Amtrack Acela Express.  It's the fastest train in North America!

We were happy to find a seating area where we also had a table.  Noah was fascinated with watching the world fly by outside his window.

He was so fascinated that he fell fast asleep.  He was so tired that he wanted Matt to hold him like a baby as he slept.

An added bonus of taking the train was that we traveled through so many states!

By the end of our 8-day trip, Noah and Isaac could now add these states/districts to their list:
New York
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
Delaware
Maryland
Washington, DC
Virginia





House of Fun

I've been having fun looking through our pictures of our stay with the Lanigans, so I have more pictures to share!

Trevor, Isaac and Jonah

Noah was completely fascinated by Trevor's vast collection of sports trophies and medals

Ed showed Noah where Fire Island was and how we would get there

Isaac explores family pictures

Matt and Cindi stroll around the property

Isaac had fun running and falling down

The tree swing was Isaac's absolute favorite!




Isaac had a blast playing soccer with Trevor

Then the "blanket monster" came to visit, which was so exciting

The boys got really good at climbing up slides at the playground across the street

Noah loved having Trevor to help him whenever he needed a hand

More bubbles

And more tree swing fun.  Isaac could have swung there all day!

Thursday, April 26, 2012

New York City

While we were visiting the Lanigans, we took a day trip to New York City to do some sightseeing.

We started at Wall Street

Then had some New York pizza

Jonah especially liked the buffalo chicken pizza

Then we took the Staten Island Ferry.  The view of the skyline was breathtaking on such a beautiful day!  We got a great view of  the new World Trade Center under construction on the left of the skyline

Noah and New York City

Matt and Isaac on the ferry

Noah strains to catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty

There she is!  The Statue of Liberty!

Noah and the Statue of Liberty 

Isaac and the Statue of Liberty

After we finished our ferry ride we walked to the South Street Seaport


Noah, Trevor and Jonah in front of the tall ships

Noah in front of downtown New York City

Two boys say, "I love New York!"

Then it's time to rest

Beautiful view of the Brooklyn Bridge

Nothing tastes better than ice cream after a long day of sightseeing!

Mmm... New York ice cream tastes so good!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Easter in New York


We flew to New York to celebrate Easter with our friends Ed and Cindi Lanigan and their youngest boys, Jonah and Trevor.  It was great to see them again, and Noah and Isaac had so much fun at their house.  A house that holds four boys is a treasure trove of fun!!

Isaac tried a peep, but after one very sugary bite, he decided he didn't like it.  He did learn that Mommy likes them, so I got all the rest of his peeps!

Noah and Trevor dyed Easter eggs

The boys were excited to find bubbles in their Easter baskets, so they went right outside to blow lots of bubbles

One of the highlights of Easter was watching Ed and Matt figure out how to cook a full turkey on a charcoal BBQ.  They got the BBQ going before we went to mass, and by the time we came home, the turkey was almost done.  It was a great (and very manly) way to cook Easter dinner!

The boys had a pre-lunch lunch after we came home from mass


The Easter bunny hid eggs in the front yard and Isaac squealed with delight as he picked them up

Noah was very proud of his full basket


In the afternoon, we went to Fire Island and the boys got a cold and windy glimpse of the Atlantic Ocean

We had a fun walk to the lighthouse 

Isaac and Jonah quickly became buddies

The four boys had fun exploring around the lighthouse

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter celebration!