The Lindsay's Take Manhattan...

My friend, Lindsey Pizza, aka, "One of the Lindsay's" came to visit me!  Yay!  I love, love, love visitors, and she was quite the special treat.  Day one she came out to my home where we took her around our town and visited with her sister-in-law who also lives out on Long Island.  Friday, after sending Finnley off to school, I got a sitter and we headed into the city for the next two days.  It was a blast.  We went non-stop, talked non-stop, ate non-stop, and laughed non-stop.  It was a much needed "release" and I'm still feeling its benefits weeks later.

Our day started out at Central Park where we rented bikes and rode the loop, hitting all the must-see's along the way.  Then we detoured over to Levain Bakery so Lindsey could see what all the fuss was about.  She wasn't disappointed.  Who is? 

 

 

 

Next, we headed to Times Square where we picked up some tickets to Jersey Boys, and shopped around until it was time to head to our show.

 

 

After Jersey Boys, which was amazing, we headed to Shake Shack at 11pm.  Linds had never been, and although she's not a meat eater (what!!???) she enjoyed that burger and fries (and shake) as much as me.  We rolled into bed after 1am and of course, kept talking and talking like we were 16 and could survive long days and late nights like it was nobody's business. Wrong. 

Saturday we headed down to Chelsea Market and ate flatbread on the Highline.  We met the most amazing people throughout our weekend.  We would start talking to people, and then next thing you know, we're getting the sweetest email from them.  It happened several times, and literally made our weekend. 

 

We finished our day walking through Washington Square Park, SoHo, shopping Tori Burch knock-offs on Canal Street, eating more delicious food, and eventually training it back to Long Island. It was such a fun, quick, weekend, and I hope we do it again before I move.  If not, we'll just come back together!  Thanks for the visit Linds. 

Another Day at Disney...

On my birthday my friend Courtnie Hopkin flew in town with her little girl Myka to hang out with me for the week. It was the best birthday present and we had a blast. After spending time at Griffith Park, the Americana, and driving around Hollywood, her husband arrived in CA and we met up with the Pizza's on day three at Disneyland. We tried to squeeze as much as we could into one day, and were all exhausted by the end.

The new parade was adorable, and probably one of the kid's favorite parts.

The Boys...

The Girls...

5.30.2011

We had a great time this Memorial Day playing on the beach with the Pizza family. Our kids had a blast and wore themselves out. They dug for sand crabs, jumped over waves, and ran from the water. The adults had fun playing smash-ball, soccer, and frisbee. We had planned to only stay a few hours, but couldn't leave. We ended up spending the entire day. It was a fabulous way to kick-start our summer and we loved spending it with a few of our favorite people!

Finnley and Will

The Lindsay's

Makaya, Will, Finn and Dieter

This is D's "cute face". I absolutely love it!

Can't wait to see what the rest of the summer brings.

Pizza's Visit...(part 2)

The last four days of the Pizza's visit were just as busy as the first three! Chris flew in late on day 3 and we headed down to Newport for the long weekend.

We kicked off day 4 by hitting the beach! We had fun in the sun finding sand crabs, digging holes, and even relaxing for a bit. That night we met up with Mitch and headed to an Angel's game. We had a blast, but the people around us were not as excited to be sitting by four little kids. Oh well.

Day five was spent on Doheny Beach in Dana Point. We met up with some of our South Pasadena pals, some of their pals, and some of their pal's pals. It was a fun mash-up of friends.

Lindsey and I decided to brave the frigid water and join the boys surfing. We worked on our weak skills, and had a great time. We each got up a couple of times before we could no longer feel our legs and decided to go in and thaw out. I'm now determined this is the summer I will get good at surfing! (we'll see)

Me (Dieter), Lindsey, Jamie (Zack)

Makaya and Dieter. These babies were dreamy! They both just went with the flow and napped on the beach. Dieter is such a chunk! I love it. He is such a fun little man and, even with a bagel in his mouth, looks adorable. Hmmm, you'd think I was a little bias.

Day 6 took us on a fun bike ride through Corona del Mar down to Balboa Island and on the ferry over to the peninsula. It was fun to really show off this area to the Pizza's and let them see how charming the homes and area are.

I love Finnley's pose in this picture. Cheese-ball!

Day 7 we were back to the beach. This time we headed down to Laguna and hit up Strands. The boys surfed while the ladies chatted. It was another random group of people with random connections. I loved it. It was a perfect way to celebrate Memorial Day....oh, and my birthday!

Dieter was LOVING this hole of water Mitch dug. He was splashing away and had sand everywhere and anywhere you can imagine. It was also coming out in his diapers for days. Its amazing how much fun can be had in one little sand hole!

Later that night we celebrated my twenty-something birthday. Man, I'm getting old.

The Pizza's left early on day 8. We had so much fun with them and I'm so glad they decided to finally make a trip out to California. Thanks again!

Pizza's Visit...(part 1)

The Pizza's came for a visit and man did we go, go, go - for SEVEN DAYS STRAIGHT!

The first three days went like this:

It started the minute we picked them up from the airport - Lindsey, Will & Makaya. It was off to lunch at the Americana, shopping, and a trolley ride. Then, we drove over to Griffith Park where we took a couple of turns on the ponies and then home. Once we were home we made pizzas, went on a walk, and I introduced Lindsey and her kids to the bubble guy (more on him to come in the future!)


After a morning walk, day two was filled with HOLLYWOOD! We saw it all - Kodak Theater, Grauman's Chinese theater, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, The Grove, you name it! The kids were serious troopers. We finished the day off at the Farmer's Market with ice cream and one of MANY Diet Cokes. After the babies were down, Lindsey P. and I snuck away for a Chinese foot massage while watching the Idol Finale. Fabulous!

Will Smith

Matt Damon

Brad Pitt

The Grove Farmer's Market....mmm.

Can you guess what we did on day 3? Yep...DISNEYLAND! Well, we actually did California Adventure and Disneyland. The kids had a blast and loved seeing their favorite characters - Cinderella, Mickey and Woody - and dancing along with the street parade.

Even though we didn't see any famous people while we were in Hollywood, we scored at Disneyland. Not only did we see little Juanita from Desperate Housewives, but we also saw LeAnn Rimes and new boyfriend Eddie Cibrian. She walked past us on the way in. Might I add she was pointing and smiling at my very own Dieter! She thought he was a babe. :)

That's only the first three days! The next four are on the way.