Welcome to the Museum of National Stuffed Animals by McKenna

Hi friends -

This is McKenna and I want to tell you about my experience in New York City.

My favorite things about the city were:

• FAO Schwartz (3rd place) - They had tons of Harry Potter stuff and Indiana Jones built out of legos which was super cool.  I was looking so froward to dancing on the big piano but it wasn't that great because there were so many people on the piano and I couldn't hear myself play. 

Griffindorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

• The American Girl store (2nd place) - They had lots of fun and cool books to read that I got to look at.  We went up to the salon where you could have your doll's hair done and people were actually paying for it and my dad said it was ridiculous.  I thought it was neat.
• Double decker bus (1st place) - I liked this because there were lots of things to see and I learned that Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492 and that New York City was once our nation's capital.  It was so hot when we were there - they were having a heat wave and whenever the bus stopped, people would jump on the bus and sell water bottles for $1.  One time, they put the water bottle in a light bulb pole so we could reach it from where we were sitting.  Sometimes, the tree branches hung really low so we all had to duck at certain spots so we wouldn't get hit. 

Times Square

"Anyone want water for $1 ?"

My least favorite things were:

• Dylan's Candy Bar (3rd place) - I thought that Dylans Candy Bar was going otbe as big as Bellevue Square...I thought the first floor would be hard candies, 2nd floor would be sweet tarts, and on and on.  It was not like that at all.  It was not that big.  It was 3 stories high but there were more barbie and ken things than candy.  The music that was playing in the background was all about candy.
• Carrying bags (2nd place) - we had to carry our bags from the bus station at Port Authority to the subway to the first hotel.  And then we had to carry them again from our first hotel to our second hotel.  It was so heavy and Sydney would not carry any bags because they " were so heavy for me" and it was 104 degrees oiutside.  Not fun.

"I'm hot!!!!!"

• Museum of Natural History (1st place) - I had seen the movie "Night at the Museum" and I had lots of expectations about what it would look like and things they would have.  When you go in, all you see is a dinosaur, not Rexy, just a plain old dinosaur.  Then we go in and I am so excited - and then I realize that in order to see the dinosaur, frog, or space exhibit, you have to pay extra - BOO HOO!  We didn't see any of those things - we went into the main museum and it is just a bunch of stuffed dead animals that I had seen in real life at other places.  BOO HOO HOO!

Overall, I decided that I need  to be older to really like the city and have lots of money.  I would definitely go back when it was cooler outside and when I could get the whole city to myself!

Shout outs to Emmy, Riley, My new soccer team, all of the people who are famous that live in NYC, Dawber, Uncle Rick & Aunt Donna, Emma, Jessi, Anika, Katie A, Clyde & Nancy, and all of you who are reading the blog.

Peace out - McKenna

sydney's new york city

HI - its Sydney and I want to tell you about New York City.  First off, we went to drop off the car because we needed a new repair for the air conditining.  Next, we went and got our bags and we headed to the bus stop and then we hopped on the bus and rode to New York.  We then hopped onto a subway and we rode that to our first hotel.  It was very hot outside - we were all sweating a lot.   In the hotel room, there was 2 beds for all of us to sleep in.  In the morning, we walked to the subway again and we rode to our next hotel but the room was not ready for us.  But once we got to our room, there was a bed for my mom and dad and then a fold couch for McKenna and me.

My favorite things in NYC were:

• EVERYTHING! 
• Dylan's Candy Bar - so much candy and I got to buy one thing - a sweet stick.  They even had a bathtub full of gumballs!
• FAO Schwartz - I got a stuffed yellow lab there named Dawber and I love him so much.
• American Girl Store - so many dolls.  I got a dog book there.
• Times Square - so many big signs and people.
• We went to a park with our friends, Luna and Rachel, and played in the sand and slid down this long slide that went really fast when you put water on it.

My least favorite things:

• The Heat - I got so hot that my mom was worried that I was going to faint or something.
• The Museum of Natural History...the animals there were real but dead.  Not my favorite.

Shout outs to Hadassah, Dawber, Macy, Kait, Anya, Maggie, Emmie, Jess, Rachel, Amanda, Bella B, Auntie Donna, Lucy, Ava, Gracie, Blake and Tatum.

Bye for now - Sydney.

P.S.  From Karie:  Sydney really did like NYC and the thing that stood out to me the most is that she never seemed scared or overwhelmed by all that is NYC.  She was a trooper!

On the Road

 

Kennebunkport and the red apple campground

So, we are having such a hard time keeping up with our blog posts because we don't want to overdo the posts but we don't want to forget everything we have done so we are doing our best to keep up.

After leaving Acadia, we headed south to Kennebunkport, Maine which is a darling little town that we liked a lot.  The history of the area, the beautiful old homes, the cute shops, the beach...we loved it.  Taking a step back though, we had not made campground reservations for Kennebunkport so on our way there, we jumped on-line and looked at our options.  We knew we wanted a place that was close to downtown and the first campground we came across looked pretty good and they had availability so we booked two nights there and RED APPLE CAMPGROUND, here we come!  We checked in and got ourselves settled and noticed a couple of old guys setting up some speakers.  We found out they have music every Tuesday night by the hammocks and we were not far at all from them so we thought that it might be fun to hear some music during dinner.  They started warming up about 45 minutes before their scheduled concert and we were busy BBQ'ing our dinner and I hear over the mike, "BABABABABABA" and "Diarreah, Diarreah" and the girls start giggling.  Now, I am known to get the giggles from time to time that I have a hard time stopping and they started in.  All Aaron remembers is "old bitty's in muu-muu's, Wilfred Brimley on the mike and the song "Mountain of Love."  They then launched into a medley of oldies that ranged from Elvis Presley to Credence Clearwater Revival.  It pretty much was Karaoke for 70 year olds...hilarious!  Bruce & Al were awesome and the girls loved listening to them and making friends with Omer, Nelson, Patsy, and Lucille.  From our new friends, we learned that Wednesday night is BINGO night and the girls were determined to make that get together.  We played BINGO and none of us won anything.  But we now know that Betty's surgery went well and we answered a trivia question and won a lottery ticket for $73 million which we did not win but from that, we got to explain to the girls what the lottery is and they daydreamed what $73 million could get them...lots of legos and american girls and donkeys.  :)

Wednesday was filled with the Trolley Museum, downtown Kennebunkport, and a trip to Mother's beach for some body surfing and frisbee tossing. 

The girls at the trolley museum

I mean, come on, look at this place!  Gorg!

This was a vintage ad in one of the trolley's and this lady reminded me of my grandma.

Mother's Beach...

We left Kennebunkport and headed into Jersey City and Manhattan for 3 very FULL days and I think we all want to blog seperately on our experience there.  So, that is coming up next.  We head out tomorrow to Savannah, Georgia for a few days and then on to Atlanta.  

Love to you all - the Cato Tornado 

Maine Part 2

 

Maine

 

Maine Part 1

 

Maine - Acadia National Park and Baw Hawbah

Hi everyone!

We are currently in Galax, Virginia at Aaron's aunt & uncles house  - we are here until tomorrow morning and if everything goes the way we hope, we will have a car with a/c today at 2:30.  More on that later. 

We spent a couple of days in Bar Harbor, Maine which included Acadia National Park and then a few days in Kennebunkport, Maine.  We had been told by so many people that you couldn't leave Maine without seeing a moose which we were really hoping to see but what we didn't know is that where we stayed and where Acadia National Park is, is actually an island, Mount Desert Island, and there are NO moose there unless they decide to swim thru the channel to get to the park.  The park ranger said that they have not seen a moose in the park in 5 years.  Bummer! 

Acadia is beautiful...right on the water, everything was so manicured and easy to get around.  (Kristin, you were so right!)  We started at the Visitor Center where the girls made a mad dash to two places:  1) to the first Park Ranger they found to get information about the junior ranger program and 2) the desk where they could have their national park passport books stamped.  I would highly recommend both of these things because they are totally educational for the kids and it is a piece of memorabilia they won't forget. 

Sand Beach was our first stop and it felt like a regular beach with sun bathers, swimmers, picnickers, etc.  We were not prepared for that but we enjoyed ourselves none the less.  McKenna and Aaron totally slipped on a rock and fell into the water which is kinda starting to be a pattern.  :)   Much to McKenna's surprise, she was standing in the water with the Weasley brothers from Harry Potter - we even got a picture.  :) 

Do you see them?  Ron Weasley's brothers?  hahahaha!

Our next stop was Jordan's Pond which was a really nice walk that lead to a wonderful restaurant on the water that is known for their lemonade and popovers with fresh strawberry jam.  Secretly, Aaron had made reservations for us on the lawn which was so nice to rest after walking for quite sometime in the hot sun.  The popovers were so yummy!  After eating, we walked down to the water where we got to pick wild Maine blueberries.  So fun!!  I was wondering what my blueberries look like at home. 

After walking a lot more both in the park and thru Bar Harbor, we came back to the campground where the girls were itching to get into the pool at the campground which had a diving board.   McKenna, not to our surprise, was determined to learn how to dive and that girl dove and dove and belly flopped her way to a really good dive.   It has confirmed for both Aaron and myself that she is a quick learner and determined to improve in whatever she is doing.    She is like a dog on a bone.  :)

The next day was filled with more Acadia - Thunder Hole, hiking around Cadillac Mountain, hiking along old carriage roads, and watching the Womens World Cup in a bar with our kids.  Memories!  We had our first (and hopefully our last because I am still sad about it) road kill in Maine...Aaron will talk about that in a future blog. 

Maine was beautiful...please go there in your lifetime!  The one thing that we did not do was eat lobster - I know, I know...you can't believe it.  But we didn't due to cost, the girls wouldn't eat it, we are not huge fans, etc.  etc. 

From Acadia, we drove south to Kennebunkport, Maine for two days.  It was such a cute town - we loved it there.  I will post on the "Bunk" next.  And then after Kennebunkport, we changed scenery and headed into Jersey City and Manhattan which was an experience for sure - we will NEVER forget our time there and I learned a lot about the city that I love that I had not experienced before.  

We hope that you are all having a wonderful summer.  We have 3 weeks left and are still excited about what is to come but we are looking forward to pulling into our driveway, seeing our Dawber, and seeing all of you.  Your notes and messages make us smile and we hope that this blog is making you smile if not laugh out loud at our sometimes pitiful stories!  :) 

Love and hugs - Karie

P.S.  Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!  Love you guys!