Sisterchicks in New York City....Day 1

Here's the beginning of my posts about New York City!

I am overwhelmed thinking about trying to record each & every detail, and know I will leave out way too many, but I will try to do the trip justice.

And so we begin:

Thursday, April 14, 2011:

I met Cindy around 4:30 in the parking lot of a (closed) Starbucks and picked her up, then we headed to the airport. Our flight was around 7:00 a.m. We were tired but excited to begin our NYC adventure.

Melissa & Mary Beth arrived in NY about 8:30 ET, with Cindy & I arriving about 11:30. We went straight to the hotel in a cab (interesting adventure) and they met us in the lobby. Screams & hugs for all!

We got our stuff in our hotel room then we headed out to Little Italy to find Lombardi's for a late lunch. We began learning how to navigate the subway system which is really a lot of fun if you know what you're doing.


We enjoyed our 1st meal in NYC at Lombardi's. Since it was a late lunch, the pizzas were large, and we had a dinner reservation later, we opted to share 1 which worked out well throughout our trip..sharing meals. (Leaves more room for desserts later!) :)

Times Square is a fun place to explore....

China Town....did a little "shopping" while there. ;) It is a neat area to explore, lots of interesting people & things to see.



Little Italy....yum....cannolis!

The flowers & trees in NY were so beautiful! I think this was near Washington Square & Greenwich Village?? I'd like to go back to this area.

Our dinner reservations that night were at MESA GRILL, Bobby Flay's restaurant. I found it to be very yummy! There are pictures of pretty much every food we ate the whole time we were there, but I think one of the BEST things we had there was the Mushroom Quesadilla. It was so FULL of flavor. I'm not a huge "eat a mushroom" kind of a person, but it was soooo good, and it had the fried egg on top. Yum! This is a NM tradition that had to grow on me over time...putting fried eggs on tops of enchiladas, etc.....but it has, and this was really good.

M&M's World in Times Square is so neat!

The Disney Store was huge & neat.

The Hershey store...really cool!

Times Square at night is something else....anytime really!


Junior's......you must try it. I'm just sayin'.......

So, that pretty much sums up Day 1. This seems sadly lacking, but it is what it is for now. Day 2 coming.......

LTC & Easter

We had a lot of fun last weekend! It was our annual LTC (Leadership Training for Christ) weekend, which is always lots of fun. It starts on Friday, but we went up to Dallas the night before so we could spend the night with our dear friends, Bret & Krista & their children, Blake, Beau, & Briley. We've had multiple plans for going to their house, but plans kept getting altered.....sickness, snow....random things! We were very happy to finally make it to their house, even if for just a short time. We hope to go back to stay longer another time and hope to have them make it to Houston again sometime. (many times!)


The kids enjoyed playing out in their backyard which has lots of room for running around!

We were first friends with Bret & Krista when we were newly married and living in Lubbock, with no children. It's fun to now watch our children play & become friends.

We were excited that we were meeting yet another couple from our Lubbock days, along with their children.

Troy, Chris, & Bret together make for a lot of laughs. They have very similar humor!

Nicole, myself, & Krista

The six of us had some good times before all the kids came along!

and here are all of the kids...minus just one who was with her grandmother.

After lunch, we headed to the Hilton Anatole in downtown Dallas for LTC. Troy & Nicole and Bret & Krista were headed to a different hotel for LTC. Dallas has 3 different hotels that host LTC that weekend.

We love going to LTC. It is busy, busy but so much fun! It's great to see the kids using drama, chorus, puppets, artwork, song leading, Scripture reading, speaking, Bible knowledge, etc. to show their love for God. We also love the time it gives us to spend time with our church family.

Gracie's puppet group.

Gracie performing as Jesus in her group drama production.

Her 'Revelation' Bible Bowl team with their wonderful mentor & coach, Ms. Nan.

Lots of fun time for the girls. Gramps & Gramme came to help with the little girls and to watch Gracie in her events, but somehow I don't have a picure of them right now. I think I know where I can get one to add later.

I was happy to see Susan, one of my former roommates from ACU.

One of our sweet college students at church is attending ACU, and she came to LTC to watch her little brother perform. She has babysat the girls before, as well. She was so sweet to bring me some of these yummy cookies from Abilene. We used to have these at all of the wedding showers, just with different colored centers. They are soooo good!

Like I said, LTC is very tiring! 4 out of 5 of us ended up napping on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday night, we had a slideshow of the weekend, along with our awards ceremony. Gracie got GOLD in drama, puppets, & chorus and SILVER in Bible Bowl. We're very proud of her & thankful for having her for our daughter.

The next morning was Easter, and the Easter bunny found his way to our hotel room to leave a few goodies.

After we packed up, we headed to church to meet Bret & Krista. Jeff & Angela, who used to go to church with them in Dallas, now attend with us in Houston, so they actually led the way since we didn't know where their church was and they wanted to go there that morning as well. We enjoyed lunch after church together, too. Jeff & Angela have 2 children who are friends with Gracie & Katie, too.

We love the Bronniman family and are so thankful to be closer to them now so we can actually see them from time to time. They are such a special family with wonderful children! It's so great to have friends with such similar values, and where all of us get along so well. Bret & Chris can do all sorts of "guy things" while Krista & I can talk & plan shopping...all while the kids have fun playing together.

It was a good, but long weekend, so the drive from Dallas to Houston made for some good naptime for Ellie.

Once we got home, we had a little Easter egg hunt in the backyard, much to the delight of Katie & Ellie. Gracie acted like she wasn't into it, but I think she liked it more than she let on.