May these times last forever……
What a wonderful Holiday weekend we had! It started out with all of us piled on the sofa Thursday morning watching the Parade. We hope to actually see it live next year. We then were off to the Vural’s for a afternoon of food, fun and family. We are Thankful to have such wonderful people in our lives and are so happy that we could spend this day together.
After a good night’s sleep (well, maybe sorta). We awoke Friday Morning to celebrate Kaija’s 5th Birthday. What an amazing little girl she is. So full of Love and Curiosity. I think 5 is the perfect age – I asked her to stay this way forever, but she wants to be big girl like her Mommy. After breakfast we were off to the New York Aquarium. What a great time we had. Melissa and I came up with a scavenger hunt for both girls to do so they would investigate and learn about all the really cool things at the Aquarium. The Aquarium is located right next to the Beach and Coney Island, so after we left – off to the Beach! And to quote Kaija “Isn’t it a great way to spend my Birthday at the Beach Daddy?” I couldn’t agree more. What turned out to be a casual walk down the board walk turned into almost 2 hours of wave chasing, sand castle building and Melissa and I just watching our 2 beautiful girls explore the beach. I wish we could have stayed there forever. Yes, I am sure a few of you are wondering what we are doing at the Beach on November 24th in NJ, but it was a spectacular day.
Around 2 we all decided it was time for lunch. Of course Chayton is pretty flexible as he never has to wait to eat!! Off to find a diner! During lunch Melissa thought why don’t we go the Bronx Zoo to see the Holiday Lights! Well, call us crazy but we did it. So, we left Brooklyn and headed to the Bronx. We arrived just as the Holiday Lights lit up the night sky at the Zoo. If you have never been to the Bronx Zoo it is just an amazing place and we ended up strolling around for almost 2 hours enjoying the lights and even convincing Nazeriah to not only pet but feed the sheep at the petting zoo! Ah my little Diva.
Our journey at the Zoo ended around 7PM and we headed home. One more stop, Kaija wanted Sausage (the vegetarian type) and biscuits for her Birthday dinner – grocery store here we come. After our fine dinner we all retired to bed around 9PM. What a day we had – everything was perfect and we all enjoyed each other and just soaked up the time together. Raising children is by far the best way to spend out days……
Saturday was Kaija’s Birthday party so we had a house filled with laughter and the screams of excited young kids. We spent most of the day just enjoying the celebration and were once again lucky to be surrounded by so many friends to help celebrate Kaija’s special day! We were also very proud of Kaija as she decided in lieu of gifts she wanted to raise enough money to buy a sheep from Heifer so another little girl could also have a special day. We are happy to say that Kaija raised $120 so she can buy a sheep. Check out her site – http://www.heifer.org/myregistry/kaijaallen they are a great organization!
Saturday evening ended with a “campout” in the family room. We set up their tent (big Thanks to Uncle Kip and Aunt Ingrid) and the girls jumped in with a truck load of stuff and had a great time. As I was drifting off to sleep on the sofa I could see them making shadow puppets against the tent wall and the laughter of a new found game filled the room (who knows what time they went to sleep, but it really didn’t matter). What a great way to fall asleep and end a magical weekend together. 
