Sunday, May 31, 2015

#tatstakenyc take two

This is take two of the Tataipu's amazing trip to NYC. We had so much fun sharing our city with them, and when it was all said and done I wished that Ash and I could raise our babies together in some kind of family compound. I guess it should also be mentioned that this would require a minimum amount of real estate since we fit all 10 of us in my 480 square foot apartment. The crazy thing is that it totally worked and I would do it all again in a heart beat--right now even!

Sunday:

Quinny is a crazy crawler these days, which made this impromptu cuddle session on Sunday afternoon all the sweeter. The big four were laying down after church watching Veggie Tales, and Quinn crawled right up to Avery and laid down beside her, full of smiles and charm but just as still as can be. These two little girls are going to be the best of friends, of this I'm sure. Lucky little cousin-sisters! 

Sundays are for long picnics in our backyard, AKA Central Park.

After churching and then resting and then eating, we walked for miles and miles around the park, showing our family all of our favorite spots. Bethesda Fountain is right up there on our list.

Belvedere Castle and the turtle pond are tippy-top for my littles, and boy does this scenery look good on Ash and Aves! Ever Knight climbed a big rock and then asked me to take his picture--so there you go!

The big boys had run ahead and before I knew it Talmage was trying to climb this "statue". It (she?) slumped down and Talmage had a face of pure shock and fear when he said, "Umm...I think this statue is alive!" We were laughing about that moment for the rest of the night, and I'm so glad I have a picture to remember it forever!

 Monday:

Monday was Memorial Day and we like to do something military related every year so our kids can understand what this holiday is really all about. This year we took the Staten Island Ferry to Staten Island (duh!) and then took the train to a nearby port so that we could eat a Veteran's BBQ and tour a navy destroyer. Long lines and high heat made for a few mini meltdowns, but overall it was a great day. Plus, the Tat's got to see Lady Liberty up close and personal.

Our Navy babies!

We explored Wall Street and the financial district before hopping on the ship.

Sailors, sailors everywhere. I just love Fleet Week in NYC.

Dirty nails and an achievement medal that one of the sailors gave Ever Knight. I wish he would have given us four (fights! fights!) but it was still a pretty special thing to receive and Ev was so excited and so grateful.

The week of braids, this was. 

How lucky do I feel to live here? Real lucky.


#keepinitreal. Those poor, emotional, second children twins.


We toured the USS Barry and the kids mostly loved seeing the big guns and asking what the most dangerous and fast weapon was. That right picture is too cute, right? Ever just saw it and said, "Oh, cute. Winc is a navier!"


Case in point. "Mom, will you take a picture of me by this ginormous gun? It's awesome!"

Five Tat's and that pretty lady in the background.


That night Ash and I went on a sister date and this was just the greatest GNO. We hit up a few stores and stopped to admire this Banksy number on the UWS at sunset. 

Memorial Day pride around this place. I LOVE all this red, white and blue. #godblessamerica, right Ash?!

There were quite a few days on this trip that Ash and I were accidental twinners. Sometimes I would change to make it less noticeable, but sometimes we just owned it! Chambray shirts and colored pants on this GNO.

Frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity is always, ALWAYS a great idea, especially when you're discuss mothering goals, life plans and must-reads with your bestie while sipping that chocolatey goodness.

Tuesday:

We went to Times Square to share the HUGE Toys R Us with Kai and Aves. They rode the ferris wheel and I let them each pick out a special toy to remember their NYC vacation (and for Kai's birthday, which was 2 days after they left the city). I think they were impressed!


        
I have such a love/hate relationship with those creepy Times Square characters, but Kai and Aves were so excited to see them for the first time that it almost felt like Disneyland. They each got to pick a character to take a picture with (although Spiderman just jumped in the picture without being invited and much to his dismay without being paid). My favorite moments of this experience were Ash yelling at Mickey to get out of Avery's Minnie picture (they all try to jump in and then demand payment, crazy people), Puss in Boots creeping into the Tat's Times Square picture, and Kai saying "I didn't know that superheroes were real but I saw the real Hulk-Smash!" 

After another Shake Shack visit and maybe some more ice cream Ash and Logo headed downtown to the 9/11 museum and I watched all six kids. It was mostly just fine, but there were a few moments where these two ganged up on me and I thought, heck, if I can't please them I might as well photograph them! Those crying babies have my heart.

When the kids were all asleep a sitter came over and I escaped to Brooklyn to meet up with James and the Tat's for pizza at Grimaldi's and a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. I love that view at night and it's always fun to get out on a date with James and realize that we are humans and not just mean old parents!

Sisters in Brooklyn by the glass house at night--that bridge and that Freedom Tower in the background are almost as special as the two of us. {Cheese, cheese.}

And since we were only mostly stuffed and not completely stuffed, we decided to get some Rice 2 Riches on our way home. If you like rice pudding and are visiting the city you need to go here. Shoot, even if you don't like rice pudding you should go here--this stuff is the real deal.

A completely empty subway almost never happens so of course we had to make the most of the moment by acting suuuper mature. Yes, this was definitely another highlight of our whole trip because sometimes acting like a two-year-old is amazing therapy!

Wednesday:

The Tat's left NYC on Wednesday evening and as is almost always the case when fun trips come to a close I woke up feeling super melancholy. They had some packing to do in the morning, so we kept the plans really low key and went to the Granite Slide on the east side of Central Park.

Winc-Winc's first slide, and boy did he fly!

On our way to Sheep Meadow we saw the most charming band playing music and stopped to dance and admire this moment. 

Me and my boy! I love this little naughty!

These two were so cute twisting and twirling to the music.

Quinny missed out on ice cream (dumb milk allergy) but she was still smiling and sweet crawling through the park. She's just the best baby these days--I wish we could press pause.

I guess matching wasn't exclusive to Ash and me, look at these cute teal cousins (and Aunt!)

After breaking out T early from school early (again) we headed to that Natural History Museum. The idea was to see the big whale and some dinosaur bones, but the littles were more excited about the fountains so we let them run their silly's out in the water before heading home for the final check-out.

This moment is always the worst. The worst! We had such a fun time with the Tataipu's and saying goodbye is not easy for any of us Wig's. We raced their Uber to the end of the street and then cried our way all the way home. Family compound, ok? Thanks for coming to visit us Ash and Co. We can't wait to party with you again sometime soon!