NYC for the weekend

A couple of weeks ago we headed up for a weekend trip to NYC, which was too short, but worth every moment.  My family was leaving on a cruise from NY to Bermuda, and since Adam is living there for the summer, it was a perfect time to see everyone and have a great weekend in the city. It had been 4 weeks since I had seen Adam (the longest we've ever been apart) and it was especially hard to leave once the weekend ended, but we enjoyed every minute. Now I'm back to single momin' it, but only for another 4 weeks.  (Well, it was 4 weeks when I wrote this, but now it is only a few days.)

While in the city, I got to see where Adam works, eat some great food, hang out with my family, and have lots of help with the kids.  We loved hanging out in central park,

Solana had so much fun playing with her cousins, shopping at American Girl, watching movies, and blowing bubbles and "climbing mountains" in the park.  Even though we are dedicating at least several years to New York, and are very excited about it, it's still hard not to sometimes wish we lived in California, especially because Solana loves her cousins so much and talks about them all the time.  So who knows where we'll end up in the future, but until then we will continue to soak up all the fun things that the east coast has to offer, which is a lot at a very high price :)

Gigi looks so tan next to super white Bos man, but maybe Gigi was just really tan. 

He is such Daddy's boy, and I LOVE it.

Falling asleep in Daddy's arms in Central Park.

My sister is such a great photographer, and I loved this shot I grabbed. Miss her!

"Climbing mountains" together was the highlight of the trip for both Adam and Solana. She wanted to climb everything she could see.  Cuties! 

Solana can be quite the show off sometimes, and boy does she milk the attention.  I told her that I wanted to take pictures, and so she randomly starts posing and putting on a show for all of us, and as we all busted up, she thought it was even more fun and just kept going. I never have a boring moment with this little entertainer around.

Classic in every way.  

I guess Boston wanted to show off his cute bowling ball head instead of his cute cheeky face. Love that little boy.

Yes my daughter is the Central Park flasher, oh that girl!

I love this picture so much. Tender moments when she wants to be big and read like Addie.

The BIG 3!

Solana turned 3!!! Oh how fast time goes and how much we love birthdays around here! Since Adam was gone, working in New York, for her actual birthday, we decided to have 2 birthdays! So we pretended her actual birthday was twice, and of course she loved that, except that when her real birthday came 10 days after her party, she was convinced that another entire year had passed and she was 4!  Makes logical sense I guess.

  We asked Solana what she wanted for her birthday and it was always the same for months: a pink elephant!! So when I asked her what kind of birthday party she wanted, she gave the same answer, a pink elephant!! In case you can't tell from the pictures, pink is her favorite color. She will only wear pink, (and usually only dresses or skirts, "jeans are for boys") and if she had it her way she would only eat things that are pink as well.  Everything must be pink in her world, and it really is pretty funny and difficult at times :)  

Here is a list of this big 3 year's olds favorites: 

-She loves animals more than anything in the world, but her second love is babies. And if you make either one pink, then life is complete. 

-Her favorite movies are Lion King and Dumbo, but lately she's on a Bambi kick

-Her favorite show is Peter Rabbit 

-Favorite animals are elephants, puppies, and kittens

-Favorite foods: Macaroni and cheese, and oatmeal, and orange juice

-Favorite Vegetable: Broccoli

-Favorite fruit: Strawberries

-Favorite book: Pete the Cat 

-She loves going to ballet and tap class and is still loving gymnastics

-Her typical loves of the day are tea parties, bubbles, chalk on the porch, swimming, and dressing up like a princess (that's a must everyday) 

The birthday party was a big success. It was PINK, PINK, PINK! She invited all her friends and they all had a blast, I think she only cried once at her party (which is pretty good for a toddler party).

Thanks to our great friends here and their lovable children, Solana had the best birthday. 

I decided to make some party hats from some scrap fabric I had lying around.  It was really easy, but really time consuming.  But once I started I was determined to finish. I love how they turned out and it's  fun to re-use them for dress up parties as well. 

So my least favorite dessert is cake and ice cream, and if it's not chocolate, Adam usually won't bother with it. But we LOVED how the cake pops and cupcakes turned out. I made lemon cake pops and coconut cupcakes (both Solana's favorite) and they were devoured by all, but mainly us :0

Thowing up the 3 gang sign.  Solana's expression is awesome!

Cute little face.

Boston was a party trooper, he even kept his hat on. Such a cutie.

Haha! We are trying to break the habit. 

The after-party hung around for a day or two. We were pretty exhausted, but it's a good sign the party was fun. 

This is her on her actual birthday. The happy 3 year old.

We headed up to Richmond to go to the children's museum, and she had a blast! She cried when we left, but it was mainly due to exhaustion because we stayed all day! Boston and I were beat as well, but she had the best day, and that is all I wanted for her. 

 Playing doctor to the animals was her favorite. 

It has truly been the best 3 years of our life, and each age gets better and better with new things she learns and more of her personality coming out.  It's our favorite part as parents, watching our sweet little kids change and grow into their own little people.  I love how different she is from both Adam and I, yet it's neat to watch the similarities. She is the biggest helper, and is always willing to do anything. All throughout the day I hear "I can help you with that" its so sweet.  She is also very polite and is always making us laugh.  I asked her yesterday "What makes Solana happy?" she said "when everyone is happy" it melted my heart and makes me want to work harder at achieving that. I'm excited for what is to come this next year and all she will learn. Especially because she starts preschool in the fall....yikes - exciting!!!!!!