New York: Day 2

On our second day in New York, we woke up at 6:30, and didn't stop until 11:30 that night.  What a day!  First, we went on a Liberty/Ellis Island tour.

 

 The view from Battery Park, where we boarded the ferry.

The view from the ferry.  You can see the new World Trade Center buildings that are being built.  More on that later.

 The giant flag at Liberty Island.

While taking pictures of the flag, we got to see the space shuttle Enterprise as it took its final tour around the city.

 

 Lady Liberty.  Did you know that the copper covering of the Statue of Liberty is less than the thickness of two pennies?  Crazy!  We weren't able to go inside the statue or the fort due to renovation projects, but it was amazing still to see it up close from the outside.  This is the view the immigrants would get when first landing at Ellis Island.

There is a sonnet, "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus, at the base of the statue that reads:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lighting, and her name

Mother of exiles.  From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame,

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips.  "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Of course, like so many famous authors from her time, she wasn't recognized for her writings until after she had died.

 

Walking in to the building on Ellis Island.  Here, we learned that 22 million immigrants, crew members, and other passengers landed here between 1892-1924.  I had no idea that there were so many!  We got to walk through the museum here and learned about what the immigrants had to go through to enter America.

 This is the main hall upstairs where the immigrants would wait for their name to be called so they could begin their screening to get into the country.  The tiled ceilings are beautiful!  That's one thing I noticed a lot of while we were in New York.  Lots of tiled ceilings like this.

 

 Ellis Island from the ferry.

By the time we got back to Manhattan, we were starving!  Someone had recommended we go to the Stage Deli.  We ordered a corned beef, pastrami and brisket sandwich.  It was huge!  Good thing we split it!  I couldn't even finish half, let alone the whole thing.  It sure was tasty!

We had lots we wanted to do and see while in New York, so after lunch, we took a walk up towards Central Park.  We ended up taking a pedicab tour through the park.  Best way to see the park if you ask me!  We got an hour and 15 minute tour, and got to see tons of the southern side of the park.  Did you know Central Park is 843 acres?  Huge!  There are 21 playgrounds in the park, and 7 bodies of water.

This one was in the movie "Stuart Little"  It's where the boat race was held.

 I can's remember what this building was, but it sure is pretty!

 The Angel of Waters at Bethesda Terrace.

This is the outside of the staircase going down to the fountain.

The bridge across from the fountain.

 This is the underside of the bridge.  We were so surprised to walk in there and see so much detail!  Absolutely beautiful!

The walls under the bridge.  Gorgeous!

Here is the walkway you see in tons of movies that is across from the stairs that go down to the Angel of Waters.

A fun tidbit... Our guide told us the top floor of this building is owned by Caroline Kennedy.  It used to be Jackie O's apartment.  I guess some paparazzi took some pictures of her from an apartment across the way, so they had a wall built for privacy.

 This is the bridge where scenes from the movies "Home Alone 2" and "Elf" were shot.

 The John Lennon Memorial.  You can't see it very well because of how the light is in the picture, but it says "IMAGINE" in the middle of the circle.

 This is where John Lennon used to live.

 The flames burning in the lanterns in front of the building are eternal flames.  They keep them lit all the time in memory of John Lennon.

Central Park is soooo beautiful!  I wish we could have spent more time exploring it.  Maybe next time! :)

After Central Park, we went back to Carmines and ordered tiramisu to go, took it back to our room, and ate it for dinner.  So bad, but oh, so good!  After eating "dinner", we got ready and headed back out to see "Jersey Boys" on Broadway.  There was a bit of language, but the music and storyline were phenomenal!  Loved, loved, loved the music.

We were pretty hungry after the musical since we didn't really eat dinner earlier, so we stopped at Olive Garden on the way back to the hotel.  By the time we got done with dinner, it was about 11:30 at night, and the town was still hoppin'!  People out walking everywhere!  There's quite the night life there I tell ya!  We had such a busy, fun-packed day!

New York, Day 1

Trent and I had the wonderful opportunity to get away together a couple of weeks ago.  Last year he had won a trip to Hawaii, but since I was due with Jillian right in the middle of the trip, we opted not to go.  Well, they were super nice and told us to pick a place we wanted to go, and when, and they would arrange the trip for us.  (I tell you what, the perks from a sales job are pretty nice sometimes.)  Anyway, we chose to go to New York.  We left early on the morning of Thursday, April 26 and got in to New York by 2:30.  We got to stay right in Time Square at the Marriott Marquis.

 Here's the view from our room.  We had fun that first day walking around Time Square.  Manhattan is LOUD.  Everywhere you go you can hear honking, sirens, vehicles, etc.  And there are tons of taxis.  I swear more than 70% of the vehicles on the road were taxis.  All I know is, if I lived there, I would walk everywhere I possibly could.  I would be a wreck driving there!  Wall-to-wall traffic everywhere, and everyone drives like maniacs.

 On our venture around Time Square, we saw a Ferris wheel inside of the Toys 'R' Us store.  A whole, huge, Ferris wheel!  Crazy! 

Time Square at night.  Just wild.  You walk out of a store or restaurant and it still seems like day because all of the lights are so bright, and there are so many!  It's a happening place.  There are tons and tons of foreigners, both tourists and residents.  I heard people speaking other languages (or with heavy accents) more than I heard English.  Quite the melting pot.
On our first night there we ate at an Italian restaurant called Carmines.  SO GOOD!  Very, very yummy food.  So good that I got a cookbook for my mama.  (She just made a Carmines dinner for us this last weekend and everything was delish!  I'm going to have to get online and see if I can order another cookbook for myself.)  It was definitely a lot to take in, but we loved every minute of it!

My Lady Lou

My sweet baby girl turned 1 a couple of weeks ago.  I can't believe it has already been a year!

A few things about my girl from her first year of life...

 I'll never forget this moment.  Here she is, just minutes old.  It is amazing how one tiny person can hold so much of your heart.

And here she is, only a day old.  I remember this moment as if it were just yesterday.  Trent had left for a little while, and it was just the two of us.  I couldn't bring myself to put her down, even for a moment.  I just couldn't get enough of her.  She kept looking at me with her dark, dark blue eyes; the deepest shade of navy; looking at me with all of the trust in the world.  I was smitten.

 She was blessed by her daddy when she was 2 months old, on Father's Day no less.  :)  My mom made her blessing dress, and it turned out absolutely beautiful.

2 months old

She was such a little cuddle bug.  (Still is.)  And a great sleeper to boot.  I spent many of her nap times with her in my arms instead of putting her in her bed.  I just felt like the rest of life could wait for a little while if it meant I got to snuggle with my baby.

3 months old

These are some of the first pictures I took of her using something other than my cell phone camera.  It took me long enough, I know.

 

 4 months old
She has always been a very happy and smiley baby.
 

Even in her sleep.

 I just had to throw this one in.  She was such a little peanut.  What is it about babies and kids when they are sleeping?  They look so angelic and peaceful.

5 months
Still smiling.  Don't let her fool you though.  This girl has had a temper from day one.  She has always been very content and happy, but the second she became (becomes) bothered by something, you best watch out.  There is no in-between with this girl.  We're talking 0-60 in less than 2 seconds.  No warning whatsoever.  We are very lucky that 99% of the time she is all smiles and happy.  :)

5 months
Her first taste of a lollipop.  We only let her have 1 or 2 tastes.  Yep, she loved it.

6 months

She loved her first taste of cereal.  She had no problems chowing it right down.

 However, she was not that thrilled with her first taste of squash.  I used to make homemade baby food all the time for Trenton and Colson.  I don't know what my deal was with Vivi and Preston.  I guess I got lazy, but I was determined to make homemade, organic baby food for Jilly.  Except for the fact that she wouldn't eat it!  The little stinker.  I tried several different foods.  All to no avail.  But when I would giver her the same foods from a store bought jar of baby food, she loved it!  Oh well, at least I tried.  She'll eat anything you put in front of her now though.  I was eating a Caprese salad for lunch the other day, and I swear she ended up eating half of it.  She LOVES food!  It literally makes her giddy.  I can't blame her one bit.  I feel the same about food.

6 months

I love her chubby little cheekies.

6 months

It's just like her outfit says... This girl is "wild" about her daddy.  She loves him to pieces!  When she was just a tiny little squirt, she would just stare and stare at him whenever he was in the room.  Her eyes would follow him wherever he went.  And she could totally recognize his voice from the time she was just tiny.  It's probably from all of the talking he did to my belly when I was pregnant with her.  She is definitely a daddy's girl.

 My girl at 7 months old.  She had finally just started sitting up!  I love all of her chub!

 Jilly and I on Christmas Eve.

Her first Christmas.  The kids were more excited to show her how her new toy worked than they were about their own toys. :)

 In their new Christmas dresses grandma Guercio made them.  This was right after church on Christmas day.  Jilly was in serious need of a nap.

7 months
Her new trick.  She still does this sometimes, but not as much as she used to.  I love it.

 7 1/2 months
She wore this hat all winter.  So cute!
 
 Her first rally.  She would start clapping every time people would cheer.  She loved Mitt Romney! :)

 8 months old and still just sitting up.  Although I have to say, I was totally content with her not being able to crawl yet.  I was not going rush her on that one.

 8 months
She started doing the funniest thing.  Whenever she was tired, she would reach up and lightly run her finger tips back and forth over her eyelashes.  She also started reaching up and doing the same thing to my eyelashes when I would rock her to sleep.  She was really, really gentle too.  So cute.

8 1/2 months
She finally started to get up on her hands and knees.  She wasn't completely crawling yet, more just scooting, but she was really close.  She took off a couple of weeks after this and I actually had to start thinking about how to keep her out of things. ;)  

 Between 10 and 10 1/2 months old, she got a whole set of teeth.  She got two bottom teeth within days of each other.  About a week later, her four front top teeth came in, all within a week.  So she got 6 teeth all in about 2 weeks.  I love her little teethums.  Adorable!

11 months
Her first time in the swing, and she absolutely loved it!  She laughed hysterically! 

 Just shy of 1 year.

 She loves her siblings so much, and they love her to pieces!

And now she is one. 

Here she is, coming through her streamers the morning of her birthday.  We went downstairs after this, and the older boys, who really, really like their food, asked, "Are you going to make waffles?!"  I had just planned on giving Jilly a banana for breakfast (her favorite), but the boys quickly reminded me that waffles are our birthday tradition.  Needless to say, we had waffles.  We also turned on the "Birthday" song by the Beatles for Jilly, to which Preston promptly said, "Hey!  That's my birthday song!"  After a minute, he agreed to share it with her. :)

Standing at the sliding glass door, watching the older kids play on the deck.

Cake time! As we sang "Happy Birthday" to her, she looked around at all of us with pure confusion on her face.

I think she liked it though.

She didn't know what to think when we set the whole cake down right in front of her.  She spent a few minutes poking her finger in the hole where the candle had been.

When she finally started to dig in to the cake, we all started cheering really loud.  She loved that!

Getting her first really good taste.  Yum!  It was a pretty tasty cake if I do say so myself.  Strawberry Coconut cake with cream cheese frosting.

She did a pretty good job on her cake.  Funny story:  As Jilly was going to town on her cake, Trenton said, "I wish I could do that on my birthday!"  Uncle Sean started cracking up and said, "What... You wish we could strip you down to your undies, put you in a high chair, and let you dig in to a cake with your hands?!"  That brought on quite the mental image, and we all started laughing hysterically.

After getting nice and messy from her cake, Jilly got a bath in the sink.  Also a 1st birthday tradition at our house.

  All nice and clean.
 

Getting ready for the balloon launch.

The whole gang.

Jilly has been such a blessing in our house.  We all love her so much and can't imagine life withour her.  Happy birthday sweet girl!  We love you to pieces!