Helping Dad

 Lilly is a super helper.  No matter what it is, she is ready to help.  After helping me plant tulips yesterday, she helped John clean out the sand box.  The people who lived in our house before us left it, and come to find out, it was full of sand and little green army men!

 John and Lilly also did some trimming on the bushes.  They made about 10 trips back and forth with branches. 

 She was always three or four steps behind...

 but was always proud when she threw her branches on the pile!

Nana and Hanna

Lilly had lots of visitors this weekend.  Nana Bobbi, Auntie Hanna, Grant, and Jack came up for the weekend.   Lilly had all of the attention she could ever want. 

 She insisted on modeling her Halloween costume

 Got some cartoon watching in with Grant.

 Poor Jack had no one to pay attention to him

 And finally, spent some time outside with Hanna.

We had a great weekend overall.  Lilly was exhausted, and I got a much needed break!

Pumpkin Time

 I am not a fan of carving pumpkins.  From the smell, to the mess, it is just not for me.  This year we painted pumpkins instead.  We stripped the kid down and put her to work. 

 Here are my creations.

 and a final pic of all three.

NYC Part 3

After the family gathering Sunday night, John took another walk across the Brooklyn Bridge.  Here are a couple of the night time pics.

 Monday morning we were back at the airport bright and early.  We found a nice quiet area and Lilly had a blast watching planes take off.

 Lilly did a super job flying.  Several people commented on how well behaved she was!  She seriously never got upset or scared and was fairly quiet the entire flight.  When we took off, she all of a sudden yells, "Weeee!"   She had lots of people laughing!

NYC Take 2

 Day three of our adventure took us on a leisurely walk across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan.  It was about half a mile from our hotel, 1.1 miles across, then back, and half a mile back to the hotel.  Not bad for one morning!

 Here was the view approaching the bridge.

 Quick family pic.  There was so much going on it was impossible to get Lilly's attention. We were about half way across and met a huge, and I mean huge, group of pink people.  We literally walked into the Susan G Komen 3 Day Walk For  a Cure.  It was an amazing sight to say the least!

 This was our view to the right, the Manhattan Bridge.

 And our view to the left, no intro needed.

 Day four, we went into Brooklyn a little farther, to John's aunt and uncle's for a family gathering/post wedding reception.  Lilly was so excited to ride the "school bus" aka public transportation, because she sees the school bus go by every day at daycare.

 She spent lots of time playing with baby Everette, John's cousin Kristin's son.  He was such a cutie!

 And finally, a quick family picture.  Somehow we were never able to get Lill to look at the camera.  Seems to be a trend.

NYC Part 1

We were very lucky to travel with John's family to NYC for a wedding.  We flew out last Thursday and returned on Monday.  It was a super fast weekend with tons of sight seeing, family time, and city stuff.  I had to break it into multiple posts because I had so many pictures to share. 

After relaxing most of the day Thursday, after our 7 AM flights, we set out to see the city on Friday.  John, Lilly, and I were staying near the Brooklyn Bridge. Lilly was super excited about the hotel because she got to ride the alligators (elevators) and sleep in a king size bed with mom and dad.  This was a new one for us.  At home Lilly never sleeps with us, and I mean NEVER! Ok, back to sight seeing....We took the subway to Central Park and from there just started walking. 

 Lilly and John did some hiking in Central Park.

 When in the city, you have to visit with some pigeons.

 Gotta love Letterman

 One of the two high points to Lilly's day.  If you know her at all, you know she is nuts about Mickey and Minnie. She literally jumped right out of her stroller into Minnie's arms!

 After some more walking we took in the sights and sounds of Times Square.  It was oddly relaxing, even with all of the hustle and bustle.

 High point number two for Lill...the HUGE Disney store.  She was truly in awe!  We actually got out without any new stuffed animals, but did splurge for a NYC t-shirt with mouse ears on it.

 We hit a giant Toys R Us store, complete with a Farris Wheel inside.

We hoped back on the subway for two more stops.  Our last was Ground Zero/WTC Memorials.  Everything was under construction so we couldn't see anything, but we did run into the Occupy Rally between the subway and the memorials.  It wasn't as crazy as it was over the weekend, and it was kinda funny to see them all scramble when a monstrous downpour began.  At that point, we headed for the subway and called it a day since we were thoroughly soaked.  

(We did have one stop between Times Square and Ground Zero, but it was kinda illegal so I am not going to go into great detail.  We hit up Canal Street in search of a new purse, wink wink.  It was scary, but probably not as dangerous as it seemed.  I would do it again.)

Silly Lilly

This kid is a hoot.  She seriously comes up with something new to make us laugh everyday!

 Last weekend we were getting ready to go to the grocery store.  She had her coat on and was ready to go.  All of a sudden she grabs a book, plops on the floor, and informs me she is too busy to go to the store. 

 After cleaning out my purse a couple weeks ago, she picked up the empty one and told me it was hers now.  Ok kid, at least you have good taste!

Before church this morning, it was back to the books.  She told us she had to finish her "Hungry Pillar" story before we could leave!  Ok Lill, but you know how your mom feels about being late!