A snapshot of our Spring Break trip

Someday life will slow down. Like when I'm 89 years old, I think. I have hundreds and hundreds of pictures of our Spring Break trip to Boston and New York which might get edited by the end of summer if I'm lucky. (Update - it took me until October to edit them!  I'm adding just a few pictures here, and the rest will go in a special vacation book).  While the memories are fresh, I thought I would jot down a few memories. 

The weather was not our friend on this trip  

Somehow we managed to be on the East Coast during a freak cold spell which included lots of bitter cold wind, rain, and even snow. We were really excited when the high temperatures finally climbed to the high 40s by the end of our trip! One day in Boston (Monday) it was 28 degrees, but with windchill it felt like 18 degrees. And we traipsed all over town in the whiteout snowstorm with a wicked Arctic wind. Brrrr.  I have to go back to Boston someday when it's actually Springtime so I can better appreciate all the historical sites without frostbitten toes.

Despite the weather, we had a great time!  

We still did a lot, saw a lot, and made the most of our time in both cities. In particular, I feel like we did just about everything I had hoped to do in New York. Sometime when I visit again with Dan or for a girl's trip, I would love to spend more time exploring a variety of restaurants and walking through historic neighborhoods, but considering this is a family trip, we managed to see all the main tourist attractions and to have fun together.  We also walked a lot. Our fitbits registered 6-9 miles per day. 

Subways are efficient, only occasionally confusing, yet very dirty and rat-infested. 

We did, however, ride the subways everywhere throughout New York, and we were pretty good at it. We were especially pros at riding home in the late evenings after we watched a Broadway shows each night.  We walked with the crowds right to the huge Times Square 42nd Street station, swiped our Metro cards, wound our way past amateur musicians performing for tips to the correct train, and rode uptown to our stop at 125th Street in Harlem.

The history and architecture in both cities were fascinating. 

I have about 500 pictures of buildings and cool historical places to prove it. 

Everyone in the family likes New York style pizza.  

This is an important fact, because our vacation was so much more fun because we didn't fight any food battles. To accomplish this feat, we did eat at the exact same (very good) pizza and pasta restaurant every single day.

We love Broadway plays. And we are the luckiest people in New York City.  

We saw 4 plays (Dan and Aubrey saw 5).  We paid very little because we got almost all our tickets as "rush tickets" the day of the play. We had great seats for all but School of Rock (when they said "partial view" they meant it!).  We also saw Tuck Everlasting (which is still in previews, and was just fantastic), Finding Neverland (magical), and Matilda (pretty good - not our favorite). 

 

 AND........ we won a drawing for two tickets to the hottest show in town, Hamilton.  We paid $10 each for 2 front row tickets! It was the most amazing luck ever. Thousands of people enter a daily "digital lottery" to try to win the right to buy tickets to the sold out show. Somehow we happened to be in town the one day they did an in-person lottery drawing, and we were one of the few names drawn. Dan and Aubrey said the show was really amazing in every way!
Lin Manuel-Miranda and the Mayor of NYC a few feet away from us - no big deal . . .

Aubrey's face after Dan's name was drawn!

Two tickets to Hamilton!!!!

Front row in the theater!

Our kids are great ages for traveling

It's a great thing to be past the stage of juggling sippy cups, naps, and toddler tantrums while traveling. We wondered how Joseph's 11 year old legs would hold up to all our walking, but he was an intrepid traveler and no one complained about the walking or touring. This made the experience so much more enjoyable!

Aubrey is 16!

We loved celebrating our newly 16 year old!

The Friday before her birthday Aubrey came home from school to a surprise party. I had invited over some of her friends, 3 guys and 3 girls, and prepared an "Olive Garden" dinner. I made pasta and salad and had Dan pick up breadsticks and two types of sauce from Olive Garden, which is Aubrey's all-time favorite restaurant.  Our local fabulous bakery (Chuck's Produce) made a deeeelicous German Chocolate cake for dessert.

The week of Aubrey's party we had painters in our house all day every day, working on the kitchen cabinets. The painter was still in the kitchen until half hour into the party! It was a true miracle that I got the house cleaned and decorated, food ready, and party organized with all the chaos that comes with a home renovation. Not to mention that everything from my kitchen cabinets was stored in my dining room. It was pretty hilarious to be scrambling through boxes, looking for cake servers, birthday candles, pasta and salad serving bowls, etc.  But, it all worked out!

The teenagers watched the video we had made for Aubrey when she turned 8 and was baptized, and then ate dinner.  During dinner I had a slideshow playing with pictures from all of Aubrey's life, not just up to age 8!  

After dinner they watched a few Studio C episodes and then headed up to the bonus room where I had arranged a table of yummy goodies (forgot to take a picture!). They played games until parents came to pick them up.  One of the boys actually came to the party on his OWN birthday. He put off his family birthday celebration so he could be at Aubrey's party.  (Update: this happens to be the same guy who just asked Aubrey to LDS Prom.  Hee hee.)

The next day Aubrey took her final driving test at her driver's ed place. She passed, and didn't even have to parallel park!

Then, the next Wednesday was Aubrey's actual birthday. She had put in her requests for her breakfast in bed, but went to Seminary first and then climbed back into bed to receive her crepes and strawberries. Her Seminary teacher (who adores her) had brought her a "coffee" cake to class that day, so she was already pretty full!

We pulled out the scrapbooks from when Aubrey was born and relived that happy moment. We checked to see if her foot had grown since birth.

Next Aubrey opened up all her gifts (normally she would have just opened a few and saved the rest for the evening) since she had such a busy day that she wouldn't be home much until after 9 p.m.

Her big gift - this weekend I am taking her and he friend Emma to a fun boutique hotel in Portland for an overnight girl's shopping/eating/relaxing trip.

 Bailey passed along all her dating magazines, books, and talks to her little sister!

 Cute skirts from Modcloth!

 She got a fitbit, just like her Mom and Dad, since she has been so focused on health and fitness lately. (Update: however, she has decided that it might be a little nerdy to wear a fitbit to school, so it is still in the package)

And then Aubrey logged onto the DMV website and printed out her license.  Did you catch that - we didn't have to visit the DMV office!!

And then she drove herself to school. Aaaarrgh! It always makes my heart stop when my kids first start driving. Although, Aubrey is a very safe and confident driver.

 Dan and I met Aubrey at a great little Italian restaurant in downtown Vancouver for a birthday lunch.

Then Aubrey returned to school and did non-birthday related things, although she did get to enjoy some gifts and treats brought to her by her friends.  After school she drove home and changed and then went to an elementary school for a repeat performance of her role from Seussical for a celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday (which he shares with Aubrey). A handful of kids from her musical theater company performed four songs, and did a fantastic job. The kids were mesmerized!  After the performance she headed to Mutual, and then home to bed.