New York: Day 2

More of our New York Trip!  One of the coolest things we did was walk all the way across the Brooklyn Bridge.  This was Brian's idea of course and this is one of my favorite pictures that we took.  So fun!

Creighton, our friend, raved about this steak house in Brooklyn.  It's called Peter Luger's.  We had to go there, of course.  AMAZING!  Melt in your mouth steak.  Yum.  Seriously--some days, I remember a bite of Peter Luger's steak melting in my mouth and I just sit back and smile.

All day Friday it rained.  The fabulous people of New York pulled out their rain boots and splashed through the many puddles.  We did not have rain boots.  Our shoes got very very wet.

We went to Chelsea Market.  Loved it!!  We were in heaven as we tried all the different kinds of food.

The best was The Filling Station.  They had all kinds of vinegars and oils.  Some of my favorites: Chocolate vinegar, apple cider vinegar, raspberry vinegar. We tried pretty much all of them.  Thank you thank you, Brian for my Christmas present (he sent me some of my favorites!)

Here we are at Ellis Island.  Very interesting and informative place.  I was in awe and felt a kind of reverence for our country's progenitors as I walked around in the museum.

I can't believe I finally saw the Statue of Liberty in person.

Here we are at one of Brian's favorite little cafes.  It's called The Nook.  DELICIOUS FOOD!  It was just a quaint, cozy little place.

The famous Magnolia Bakery!  I was giddy as we looked at the baked goods and decided what to buy.  Also, I love the picture of us outside because you can see Brian's reflection--him taking the picture of us in the window.

I just want to send a shout out to Brian:  Thank you for being such an awesome host!  It was an amazing trip all because of YOU.  We love you and can't wait to get back to New York to visit you again.  You're the best!!

New York New York!

The blog is BACK!  We're going to try to post a lot more. Hopefully we can keep that promise!  Since it has been so long, we have some major catching up to do.  No better place to start than with our fabulous September trip to NYC.

Brett's brother Brian lives in New York, and we had always wanted to go see him.  We finally got that chance and we flew up with our friends Creighton and Brenda.  And let's just say we lived it up!

The first thing we did after a fun dinner in a little cafe was go a Yankees game.  Now, we definitely wouldn't consider ourselves Yankees fans, but we had an excellent time at the game.  Brett even committed to become a Yankees fan for the evening.  The Yanks won in dramatic fashion, and we took the subway home with a bunch of elated fans of the Bronx Bombers.  

The next morning we were up early because we had a date with Regis and Kelly!  Kasia has always enjoyed the show, and we were pumped to be on TV.  We made a sign for Maisy because it was her birthday, and we really hoped we would get on TV.  

And we did!  We were in some really good seats and we got our five seconds of fame.  And Maisy was able to see her happy birthday sign. We had a great time watching the show. Kasia enjoyed seeing one of her favorite Twilight stars, Taylor Lautner, in studio.  So fun!

Here we are in Central Park.  It is bigger than we thought it would be.  We walked through the park on our way to . . .

. . . the temple?  We randomly happened to find the Manhattan LDS temple as we were roaming the streets.  

. . . and the Metropolitan Museum of Art!  We saw some incredible artifacts, from ancient to modern.  Kasia was in heaven.

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Here's Brian with Kas and some great Hellenestic age statues.

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One of Kasia's all time favorite paintings, by Seurat.

After a broadway show we hit Times Square, which was just as bright and lively as we had always imagined it.  What a fun day.  To be continued with Day 2 on our next post!

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Bear Down

 This year Maisy's dance recital was to Goldilocks and the 3 Bears.  She was precious and we all enjoyed watching her.  Her friends Rylei and Lexie were in her class.  Tabitha was in the Humpty Dumpty tap dance number.

 Grammy and Pop came to watch her.

So Maisy was not the only performer this year.  Miss Vicky, Maisy's dance teacher mentioned that their dance had appearances of the 3 bears.  She asked for volunteers.  I was very quick to volunteer Brett to be Papa Bear and Wilson to be Baby Bear (or Junior Bear as Miss Vicky liked to call him.)  Some other mom volunteered to be Mama Bear.

Brett and Wilson surpassed the description of "good sports."  I could only describe their performance as stellar.  They certainly embraced their roles as bears.  Wilson tried to pretend he was annoyed at having to do his brotherly duty, but every time he practiced with the dance class--he got praise and candy from Miss Vicky.  "Such enthusiasm!" she would say to Junior Bear.  Very impressive.

Above is a video they made together to remember the whole experience.  I hope you enjoy Bear Down.

1st Day of School

Okay, Okay.  So, it's been awhile since I've posted.  I feel like we've been busier than ever before!  I'm ready to catch up though.  Here's a few pictures of the first day of school.  This is Maisy and Wilson with our neighbors Nate and Andrew.  We have been carpooling with them for a few years now. 

This is Maisy on the 2nd day of school.  I couldn't help but take another picture of her!  She looked so darn cute!  Below is Maisy and Wilson on the first day of school.  We have them stand on the fireplace every year so we can see how they've grown.  Ace will be standing with them before too long!

You're a good man, Wilson Gustaveson

 Wilson recently performed in his first major off-broadway production: the McKillop Elementary School production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown. He was cast perfectly as the role of Linus in the play, and he did a magnificent job.

Wilson rehearsed for months and improved his acting, singing, and dancing skills.  One of the highlights of the night was his solo performance, My Blanket and Me.  Here it is.  Turn up the volume and enjoy!

Here are some other scenes from the show that we are sure you will enjoy:

Wilson was so inspiring that another young thespian made his on-stage debut that night:

Yes, Ace and Maisy love the stage, and can't wait until it's their turn to do it for real.

 

We are looking forward to Wilson's next performance!

The Cruise

At long last, here is a brief report on our cruise from last month.  We had a fabulous time cruising the Caribbean with our good friends the Ingles and Deragons. We were on the Carnival Conquest cruise ship for 7 days, with stops in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico.

Life on the ship was really fun.  We ate and ate and ate, and participated in lots of ship activities.


Brett got first place in a game show competition and received a great bottle of wine.  Since he's not much of a drinker, he looked all week for someone to give the bottle to.  He had someone picked out for the last day, and he decided to create a special moment at the last night's dinner and present it to him.  As the moment arrived, the guy said he already had one of those bottles.  So Brett just left the wine bottle on the ship.



Here we are with our favorite server Olga, who served us some unbelievable 3-course dinners every night.  Steak, lobster, filet mignon, fish, creme brulet, etc, etc, etc.  Delicious!

Chillin' in Jamaica, mon.  We had a blast wandering the streets and we feel like we were able to see the "real Jamaica."  We kayaked a river and wandered through the downtown area looking for souvenirs, but only finding lots of Jamaicans.  Very fun!

 Cayman was unbelievable.  We boated out to a place called Stingray City, a sandbar that is home to a big group of tame stingrays.  We carried, fed, hugged, and kissed a bunch of monster rays.  Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

 The group with a big mama

 

 It was a little intimidating to be surrounded by wild stingrays.  Many tourists claimed they heard Brett scream like a girl a few times. (This is Brett with a rebuttal: No they didn't.)

The happy travelers disembarking in Cozumel.

 The girls--Candy, Jessica, and Kasia

The guys--Dave, Billy, and Brett with medals from the Amazing Race competition which they absolutely dominated

At another tasty and filling dinner on the ship!

With a starfish after snorkeling at the Cayman Islands

Lunch at a local restaurant, Cayman  

 

We learned the "Thriller" dance on the boat, as well as the cha cha.  We have since forgetten both dances, so please do not ask us to demonstrate.

We found a very fun little corner restaurant on a noisy street in Cozumel and decided to eat lunch there.  We were rewarded with some exquisite local delicacies, and even got to leave evidence that we had been there!

In Cozumel we got to swim with dolphins.  It was really fun, and we were amazed how strong they were.  They turbo jetted us through the water, then kissed us to show us how much they loved us.  They have fish breath, but that's understandable.  It was FUN!

 This photo looks fake, but it's real!!

A little karaoke goes a long way.  Here Brett is singing with a live band accompaniment.  Usher need not be concerned about any possible competition.  See the hat?  It doesn't actually belong to Brett.  A member of the audience let him borrow to help him channel is inner-Usher.



What an amazing adventure.  We loved out cruise and would love the chance to go on another one some day.  Want to come with us?