Brennan's Knowledge

When we went to FAO Schwarts in NYC, we brought the boys home some stuffed animals: an elephant for Nolan, and a caribou for Brennan. Brennan, being his knowledge seeking self, wanted to know everything about the caribou, like where it lived and what it ate. Brennan and I had a little discussion about it and he was so impressed with what he learned that he wanted to share it. He ran into the living room to tell Papa and Gigi his new found knowledge, though it came out different than expected.

Brennan: I know what Cannibals eat!!!
Papa: Huh? (looking at me like I'd actually discussed this with a 6 year old)
Mama: Caribou, Brennan, not cannibals.
Brennan: They eat Plants!!!

New York, New York

I know that you are all dying to know how our trip went... so here goes with all of the information I can think of! (I know it's long, sorry!)

Saturday: First off, I have to say that without the help of Don's parents, his mom in particular, this trip would not have been possible... yes, they kept our kids, but his mom also woke us up Saturday morning after we slept in. If not for her, we would have missed our flight and our entire trip!!!! So thanks! After our flight to Dallas and onto New York, we arrived at La Guardia Airport just after noon. Flying in over water and landing on a runway built on water scared the heck out of me (ask Don about it), so I was already a little leery about the trip. Once we got our bags, we found the car that don had scheduled to pick us up. Abey, our driver, was just as crazy of a driver as any of the taxi's...I was scared of dying on the way to the hotel!! I'm not at all joking....at times people just jump in front of you, missing the car by inches and every car has scratch marks on it. Oh, the craziness of the city! When we got to the hotel, they informed us that check-in wasn't for another three hours, so Don and I decided to go get some lunch and see the Empire State Building. We ended up going to eat at this very authentic Irish Pub where the food was good. From there, we went to the Empire State Building.

(Don at the Empire State Building)

Having been to the Sears Tower in Chicago, I would have to say that the Sears Tower was more informative and nicer than the Empire State Building, but the Empire State Building allowed you to walk out onto their observation deck. It was so windy that I thought my glasses we going to fly off!!! The view of the city was amazing- it blows my mind how many buildings can fit on an island the size of Provo. After our climb up the Empire State Building, we walked back to our hotel. It was only 3 and check-in wasn't until 4, but I was sooooo tired, that Don spoke to a manager to see if they could get us in. Don walked up to the desk clerk and said "Don Borchert, super-duper Gold Elite Member, checking in." (FYI- we stayed at the hotel for free from all of the stays that Don has from being in California...he has TONS of points and really is an elite member). The clerk said "Yes, just like everyone else behind you.... (then he looks at his computer)...oh, my, you really are. Sorry!" Don just laughed it off, but the clerk worked really hard to get us into a good room quickly- I guess his trick worked. We had a corner room on the 16th floor with a great view down Broadway!

(Don standing in the window sill of our hotel room, which was a historic building)

(Us at the Rangers Game at MSG)

After Resting for a little while, it was time to go to see the RANGERS at Madison Square Garden, the most famous arena in the world!!!! It was really exciting to watch the Rangers play the Penguins. The game was really exciting... going into the third, Pittsburgh led 2-0 because of two lucky goals. With about a minute remaining, Lundquist the goalie, went to the bench and we had an extra attacker. After 30 seconds of passing and shooting, the Penguins had a shot at the empty net, which they missed. With 10 seconds to go, the puck was passed to a Ranger, who shot and scored with 8.4 seconds left. It was awesome to see such a great goal and Don's pure joy at the score. They went into overtime with no one scoring so it went to a shootout. The first two shooters of both teams missed the goal, our third shooter made the shot and their last shooter was stopped by Lundquist. The Rangers won the game!!! Being in the stands with all of the thousands of other Ranger fans was so amazing... I can't describe it other than totally AWESOME!

(The Rangers "Saluting" the crowd after their win)

Sunday: Waking up, without the assistance of little ones, is such a small thing that I miss so much! It was great to just wake-up, order room service, and get dressed at our own pace. Heaven! After dressing, we decided to take a walk up Broadway and see Times Square on the way to our first show. It was a ZOO. No only are there a million stores everywhere, but they had an entire block shut down for street vendors. Zany. After having Lunch at the ESPN Zone (while all of the Sunday football games were playing), we walked through the shops...it reminded me a lot of Las Vegas. After walking another mile or so up Broadway, we arrived at the Winter Garden Theater. The theater itself was so old and intricate and Mamma Mia was spectacular! I expected it to be entertaining, but I was really swept into the story and the acting/singing was so amazing~ I really did want to get up and DANCE! Don even enjoyed it, which is saying a lot. So, if you have the chance to see the play, you should.

(Us in our rickshaw in Times Square)

Coming out of the theater, there were tons of little bicycle rickshaw drivers, so Don decided that we should hop on and go for a ride back to the hotel. Our driver was nuts! Driving between taxi's and posts, just missing getting killed. It was fun in the sense that I knew that nothing would happen, but scary in that I had no control over what he was going to do next. Again, something you should try just once in your life.

After taking a quick break at the room, we were off again to hike back up Broadway. On the way, we stopped in at Macy's New York. I have never been in such a large store in my life. It was 8 floors, with each floor being the size of a normal Target or Walmart. As we rode the escalators up to each new floors, it amazed me to see what they had inside the store. They had 5 restaurants and some snack bars to just relax at and on the children's floor was a full sized McDonalds. On the last few floors, they even had the old wooden escalators still in use. Crazy weird! After grabbing a quick bite at Macy's, we made it to the Shubert Theater to see Spamalot. If you've ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you know what it's all about. The songs were laugh-out-loud funny and the acting was superb. And Clay Aiken was even in that nights show. And he was really good! We definitely got into two great shows... I'm so lucky! After the show, we went to Carmines (a fabulous Italian Family Style Restaurant), which was also really great. (Oh, I wish I was Italian and could cook as well as they do!)

Monday: Today was our day to really see the city, and what a beautiful day it was. We got up and out around 9. First stop, Ground Zero- which was really, really downtown so we caught a cab (I felt like we were really, really going to die this time). Ground Zero was eerie... in a city that has a billion building and little open area, to see such a large open space kind of freaked you out. Different, but I'm glad I saw it. From there, we walked around the Financial District, saw Wall Street, and the New York Stock Exchange. We even found the Bull on Wall Street (yes, that is me grabbing the "bull's balls"~ anyone know the movie?) From Wall street, we went to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty. We thought about going out to the island, but the line to get on the boat was nearly three hours long, so we passed on that one. Although we did see that Korean War Veterans Memorial, which reminded me of my dad. I was very proud of him! Eventually, after walking around the ENTIRE park, we found the subway to central park. The ride was quicker than expected and super cheap. I can see why lots of people take it.

(Don with the Bull on Wall Street)

(Me grabbing the "Bull by the Balls")
(Central Park looking out to 5th Avenue)

(Us in our carriage in front of The Tavern on the Green. I really look 6 month pregnant here!)

We got off the subway at Columbus Circle, just across the street from Trump Tower. We were now on the ritzy side of town, and you could tell! Walking into Central Park was like walking into a different dimension. It was quiet and peaceful and full of beautiful autumn colored trees. We decided to take a horse drawn carriage ride though the park. It was beautiful to see the playgrounds, fountains, ballparks, lake, and all of the people out in the park enjoying the beautiful day. We ended our ride at "The Tavern on the Green", a very hoity-toity place, where we decided to have lunch just to say that we've eaten there. The food was excellent, but the waiter was so snobby!!! I couldn't believe that way that he acted toward us, not all out hostile, but definitely "I'm better than you". It kind of made me angry. Oh, well, I guess that's how some New Yorkers act. After lunch, we walked forever to go to the FAO Schwarts Toy Store. I wish the boys were there with me. They had every toy imaginable! From FAO, we walked another forever down to the NHL Store, where Don got to meet one of the commentators from ESPN. Very cool for him. After that, we walked another forever back to the hotel. By this time, my feet were killing me and I felt as though we had walked all over town (which we had). I think we walked like 10 miles that day.

(Don and the ESPN Commentator at the NHL Store)

After resting at the hotel for maybe 5 minutes, our driver Abey was there to take us to the Ranger vs. Islanders game in Long Island. It was an hour long drive through Queens and Nassau county to get to the game. This game was good, though not as good as the first. The Rangers beat the Islanders 4-2, but that's not really the interesting part. The interesting part of the game was watching the Rangers/Islanders fans fight in the stands. Security escorted 7-8 people out of the arena for fighting. Don warned me, but I didn't really believe him. I guess that it's good that Don is a lover, not a fighter.

Tuesday: After having not slept well all night (I was up throwing up all night long), I woke up to Don's phone vibrating. It was the airline calling to tell us that our flight was cancelled. WTH? So we quickly packed and ate and hurried to the airport once our driver arrived to pick us up. It was pouring buckets and buckets and they expected it to turn to snow in the early afternoon. With our flight cancelled, they had moved us onto the next flight into Dallas, but Don checked to see if there was any other way to get back to Little Rock. Lucky for us, we had a very understanding booking agent, who went through a lot to get us on a delayed flight to Chicago and then on to Little Rock. We barely made the flight~ I would consider us extremely lucky to have made it to NYC and even luckier to have made it out! Although we had to wait in the Chicago Airport for 4.5 hours, we made it to Little Rock before our cancelled flight would have made it and the flight that we were bumped to was delayed and we would have missed our connection. We were really lucky!!!

I really, really enjoyed this trip with Don after having to deal with him not being home for the past 10 months. Hopefully, we will be able to go back again in a few years!!

PumpkinBob

PumpkinBob is the creation of Brennan's Imagination for a school book report. He got to chose his favorite book (of course it's a SpongeBob book!) and create a pumpkin that represents the main character. Since parent involvement was highly stressed on the assignment, I drew the face and body, Brennan cut out, colored and glued it all together. Doesn't it look just like SpongeBob?

Baking Cupcakes

I've decided that it is the funniest thing to watch children bake. Everything has to be just so~ from lining the cupcake pan to mixing the batter to licking the bowl cleaner than the dishwasher could ever get it! Luckily, we have lots of fun in our house baking cupcakes!

Double Tagged

Thanks Steph!

Tag #1

Here are the rules: You pick the 4th picture on the 4th file on your computer.

Seeing as how Don moved all of my files onto the upstairs computer, I selected this picture off of my cameras files. It's of Nolan and Carlee in the tub together. Although it isn't my favorite of them in the tub, it catches Nolan's cute smile and Carlee mid-yelling. Classic!

Tag #2

7 Random/Weird Facts About Me

1. Although I've tried to participate in local Blood Drives, each time I go I get turned away! I've always just had surgery, was pregnant, or was nursing. Knowing that I have such a common blood type, it just kills me that I can't help!

2. I have become quite a diagnostic medical mother. For about the last year, I've been able to look at my kids/husband and know exactly what was wrong before going to the Dr and getting it confirmed. Strep, the Flu, broken toes, spider bites... I'm a pro! I think I actually learned a lot from having a nurse for a mother.

3. I still bite my nails and have passed this "nervous twitch" on to Brennan and Nolan, who both like to nibble/chomp down their nails too! When I really focus, I can quit for a few months, but then I go back to old habits.

4. I am a full-on teacher at heart. Whenever Brennan asks me a question about science, I don't just tell him the shortened version; we get into a full on discussion and sometimes a demonstration as well. Our latest science topic: Condensation on glasses/Dew on the grass. Scary huh?

5. I really like to bake! Muffins, bread, cinnamon rolls... if it can be put in the oven, I'm all for trying to make it. I'm not Betty Crocker yet, but I'm getting there.

6. Since graduating from high school, I have not spent two consecutive yearly holidays in the same house. Example: New Years 2006-2007 in Dallas, then New Years 2007-2008 in Illinois. We just move too often to be able to spend more than a year in a place.

7. I ALWAYS do a double check of the house right before I go to bed, even if I've already made sure the doors were locked when I put the boys down. I check to make sure they boys are sleeping in a comfortable position and have a blanket, then I check all of the doors leading out of the house to be sure they are locked, then I set the alarm system. If I don't do it, I can't fall asleep. Weird!


I'm tagging all of the people I know who blog: Tammy, Stacie, Brendalyn, and anyone else who might be reading my blog!

Pumpkin Patch version 2.0

Even though we went to a great pumpkin patch in Arkansas, we still wanted to get some pumpkins and apples to bring home so we decided to go to a farm here in Tennessee, which didn't turn out quite as expected.



Well, first off, the "farm" wasn't really much of a farm compared to what we've been accustomed to (Edwards Apple Orchard and the Arkansas Pumpkin Patch). Second, even though they had posted on their website that they had pick-your-own apples, their trees hadn't quite reached maturity but they "would definitely have them next year". And to top it all off, the farm was right next to Kentucky, which is a little farther than we were expecting. Even with all of that, the boys still managed to have some fun with the giant slide, playground, and hay maze. What really bummed me out was that the only way to get pumpkins from the patch was to take a hay ride out there and there was no way that Nolan was going to hold still for a ride... so we didn't get any pumpkins or apples, but I did get some cute pictures anyway.

The hay maze was really different... Brennan and Nolan both loved running through the hay bales and touching the hay.So I finally broke down and bought Nolan a "backpack" (aka leash) so that we could keep up with him. He has recently started to run toward anything that is moving (cars, dogs, swings, birds) and has gotten away from me more than once. Yes, I know... I was never going to do it, but he didn't really mind and I always knew where he was.Do you have any idea how difficult it is to take a picture of a turning object? Nolan really loved it!

Seeing as how we didn't get pumpkins this weekend, and Brennan desperately wants to carve them, we decided to stop by a church by our house that has a little pumpkin patch set up. Brennan took forever deciding which pumpkin he wanted and Nolan kept picking up pumpkins only to drop them on the ground. Good for him they didn't break!

Peanut's peanut allergy

So I had the weirdest/craziest afternoon...

When Nolan woke up from his nap, it was time to eat lunch. Nolan got a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, apples and Gatorade. He took one bite of the sandwich and spit it out of his mouth and rubbed it across his face. I could tell that he didn't really want it so he got spaghettios instead. Once lunch was done, and I'd washed his face, he started to get a rash around his mouth and nose. After about 5 minutes, the rash started to develop small white dots. It kind of freaked me out so I called his pediatrician, who told me to give him benadryl and come right down. So I gave Nolan his medicine and took off in the car. By the time we got there, it had been about 20 minutes since the benadryl was given, so the rash didn't look quite as bad. When the doctor looked at it, he said that Nolan probably had an allergic reaction to the peanut butter, which is really weird since I have given it to him before without any problems. He told me to hold off on the peanut butter until he was about 18 months and then to try again with a small sample of it. He also said that the allergic reaction was really different than the ones that they usually see. Nolan had no problem breathing and wasn't acting any different than before- he just had a rash.

So I just wanted to let anyone who might be in contact with him or see him in the next six months to know that Nolan can't have any peanut butter. Weird huh?

Home Canning

I just wanted to let you know that I am becoming my mother! I made Don take me to a farmers market last week to get some tomatoes to can. He hated it! But he did it because he loves me and he wanted to make a point that I wouldn't actually use the tomatoes. Boy, did I prove him wrong!

After many trips to many stores over many days (6 trips to 5 stores over 3 days), I finally gathered up the supplies needed to can. I spent two full days canning tomatoes and am quite proud of my accomplishments. I know that they are not much (especially when I think about how much my mom made us help her can when we were younger) but I did them by myself! All in all, I made 7 quarts of stewed tomatoes, 7 quarts and 3 pints of spaghetti sauce, and 4 pints of salsa. My next goal is to get some apples and can applesauce and apple pie filling. Wish me luck!

Signs of Fall

All the signs are here: chill in the morning air, sun setting earlier, and the changing of the leaves. It's officially Fall in the South! I thought the change of seasons would be more obvious... but I'll take what I can get. I guess that it doesn't help that we live in a new subdivision where there are very few trees to lose their leaves... but the Fall was most definitely present in Arkansas where we went last weekend.

Driving for 5 1/2 hours there and 5 1/2 hours back is not my idea of a good time (esp while pregnant!), but it was well worth the time! When we arrived there Friday, Don took the boys outside to play with the soccer balls and Frisbee. Watching the boys run around, though the leaves, reminded me of the silly times of my childhood and how much I loved just being outside. The boys were so silly... chasing and playing and tackling! It was almost like wrestle mania in the backyard. While Nolan wasn't really into it, Dylan and Brennan loved to jump and tumble all over Don and he just took it!

Nolan doing his own thing with the leaves and ball.

Dylan sure loves his daddy!

I love this picture- Nolan looks like a little prairie dog just popping his head up to see if it's safe to get off!

Saturday was the dreariest morning I've seen in quite some time. When we woke up, it was pouring!!! The rain made for such a sad state in the house because the "Fall Festival" we were planning on going to was shut down because of the rain. So who do we turn to in our time of need? PAPA!! Papa called around to see if there were any pumpkin patches open to take the boys to get a pumpkin and get out of the house. Lucky for us, there was one! When we arrived there, the parking area was completely empty- we had the entire place to ourselves. We went on the hayride (which the boys loved, all except the smell) and when we returned, people had decided to show up. Good thing that we didn't have to wait in line for anything. The boys loved the petting zoo- Dylan was crazy about the goats (all except the Billy Goat Gruff, who butted his hand when he ran out of food), Nolan was fascinated with being able to walk around and just touch the lamb and tiny goats, and Brennan was so proud that he could read each of the animals names (which coincided with a nursery rhyme) and say the rhyme! I would have to say that the highlight of our trip to the pumpkin patch was the pig races. Watching 6 piggies run through the mud around and over post was so fun! The boys laughed and laughed! At the end of the afternoon, the boys got to pick a small pumpkin out of a real pumpkin patch to take home. The constant question since the moment the pumpkins hit the trunk of our car is "Can I color my pumpkin now? Tonight? When?"

Brennan and Dylan actually stopped running around to let me take the picture- they're not looking at me because they are checking out the petting zoo.

Nolan wanted to get into the pens to play with the chickens- he actually kept biting the metal bars (trying to gnaw his way in perhaps?).

Notice that Nolan isn't at all scared of the animals, but Dylan was leery at first (he's clinging to Papa).
Brennan feeding the "Butting Billy Goat Gruff".

Isn't our family cute? and don't I look so preggers? (only 3 1/2 months to go)

Brennan is such an observant child. He noticed this little lizard while waiting for the pig races to start. I caught it and we names her "Lizzy the Lizard". Brennan wanted to keep her- Dad said no.

Nolan was such a crazy child- all he wanted to do was walk around the farm and pumpkins. He didn't cry when he fell or stumbled. He just got back up and kept going. Thank heavens Papa and Don were there to keep up with him.

All signs are pointing to a good Fall for the Borcherts!