I’m back! I had every intention of publishing a blog post last Sunday but I was taken out by a stomach virus that made it impossible for me to do anything besides be sick and moan, “oh no, oh no, oh no” over and over again. Uncle Dave & Nana really stepped up to the plate to make sure everyone was taken care of that night. It was such a bad virus that 10 of the 24 people at our seder got sick! So now I’m backing up with what I’ll call a Super Blog because it’s two weeks of updates including a full week in NY.

Steven, Sammy and Amaya love taking turns to use the key card at school. On Monday, 3/26, Sammy was having a very rough morning and the promise of the key card was all it took to help him get back on track.

The kids love to run up ahead and hide in the hall before I get there. They hide in the same spot every week and are still so thrilled to jump out and surprise me.

Last year I had a wonderful triplet mom secret sister (and do again this year) and she went above and beyond by sending us some new puzzles in a format that SSA have loved (16 pc licensed characters). Steven and Amaya breeze through them pretty quickly and Sammy is still working on the focus to take it step by step.

Tuesday night I got ambitious after work. I bought some Star Wars cookie cutters from William Sonoma and really wanted to bake cookies with SSA.  It was a success, thanks to Megan who suggested we cut the cookies when they were just about done baking rather than while the dough was still super sticky. Perfection!

Chewy for Sammy, RD2D for Steven and Darth Vadar for Amaya. (Plus Yoda for me! And off-camera cookie for Jason.) It was fun but I’m almost inclined to use these for play doh and/or kinetic sand instead.

Another Steven original. This time a drawing of Daddy. Looks just like him! <3

This was so cute. Amaya said she hurt her leg so Sammy and Steven jumped in to help. Sammy was the tech who took pictures of her knee and Steven was her doctor.

Sammy – getting the photos.

Showing the photos to Dr. Steven

He’s on the case!

A full work-up for Amaya! It was so cute to watch the whole scene play out. Everyone was very into their roles including Amaya who limped around expertly when she first got up.

The week leading up to Passover we spent breakfast time telling Passover stories and watching YouTube videos of Passover songs. This is Amaya’s imitation of Pharaoh. And, yes, her dress is on backwards.

Sammy decided he wanted to dye his hair for NY so, on Thursday afternoon, we did our best! We went for blue and he was so patient but, unfortunately, it didn’t take in his darker hair the way it does in Amaya’s. He was adorable through the process, though, and amazingly he wasn’t too disappointed when it didn’t really take.

Amaya was going to get her hair dyed, too, but she got the same virus Steven had the weekend prior and Sammy had the week before that. Poor thing. Nausea is the worst.

Sick kids get to sleep with Mommy or Daddy. How sweet are these two together?

By Friday morning this girl was pretty much back to herself, even enough to get her hair dyed. I still wanted to be sure she’d be okay flying that night so we made our way to her doctor’s office to be for zofran. Amaya needs Benadry to fly as it is (for nausea) and I didn’t want to leave anything to chance.

Little Mama did not like the car ride.

Just fine by the time we left the dr’s office, though. And thank goodness.

We were ready for our trip to NY!! YAY!!

“I’m a really strong guy.”

Last April was my first time flying alone with Steven, Sammy and Amaya and it was unexpected after Sara’s flight to Detroit was canceled. I fly alone again in August and, by this trip, I felt like I really had a handle on things. A year makes a huge difference in the lives of 4 year olds and the bribes were ready just in case.

Before the flight, everyone got their wings from our pilot. This still hasn’t gotten old for the kids.

Not only were there pilot wings but SSA were invited to the cockpit! Only Amaya took advantage of the opportunity. She climbed right into the captain’s chair and pushed all of the buttons. Poor Sammy had to be reassured that Amaya wasn’t really going to fly the plane.

And off we went! Sammy was ready to sit across the aisle next to a stranger motivated by full access to my iPad.

“Mommy! I see the Delta symbol. Do these letters spell Delta?”

And there were were! New York!! Sammy took off running into his Nana’s arms.

We got back to Nana’s house at 10:30pm but Sammy didn’t want to go to bed until Nana lit Shabbat candles. So sweet.

Saturday, the kids were besides themselves for the opportunity to see everyone. It was a morning of playtime followed by an awesome Seder with family and our friends the Honigs and Lewises.

These girls had been counting the minutes until they were together again.

We love Uncle Dave!

Before the Seder the boys were still tired from their nap so I offered Sammy a small taste of grape juice to give him a boost. We don’t do juice often at all and this was a first time for grape juice. He took one sip, looked at me and said, “I love it.” No surprise there!

It’s hard to tell but this is Amaya dipping her pickle in gravy at the seder dinner. And later in the week she dipped her pickle in ketchup. Odd little girl. 😉

Nana, in her traditional Matzah apron. 🙂

Steven, Sammy and Amaya brought a whole host of Passover supplies to NY. Seder plates. Elijah’s cup. Afikoman bags. Matzah covers!

There was also the parsley. So, about 6 weeks ago the kids planted parsley in plastic cups and the intention was to grow it for the Passover seder. (This was a school project.) It started getting moldy and had to be tossed but SSA were so excited to eat their own parsley at the Seder that I told them I’d mail it to Nana’s house. When we arrived, Nana had little bags of parsley labeled with each of the kids’ names. It was perfect. I think this big was the highlight of Sammy’s day. For weeks he’d been talking about eating his parsley. <3

Chase and Nana doing the 4 questions.

Very focused on his matzah.

Amaya, Joe and Eli. Says Joe, “I’m going to make the blog!” Hahahaha.

It was a great day with friends and family, wrapped up with a sibling photo + Nana. Passover is my favorite holiday and this one totally delivered.

Sunday was a much needed quiet day. We spent the morning at Nana’s house doing crafts. Steven, Sammy and Amaya tried perler beads for the first time. I think they’re still a step away from independently ready (or patient enough) but it was fun to try.

Steven, working on his horse. Of course it’s all green.

In the afternoon we went to the Goldberg’s house. Steven and Amaya went out back to play with Chase and Charlie while Sammy and Uncle Dave played demolition monster truck. He looooooved it.

You can’t have a night with Charlie without a fashion show.

So all was going well until about 5:30pm when I started to feel sick. Sometimes you know it’s the real deal. And it was. 🙁 I’m so grateful to Dave who made sure Sammy, Amaya and I got home and to Nana who took care of everyone while I was soooooooo sick. Sadly I wasn’t the only one. Over the next day and a half, a lot of us went down including Chase, Charlie, Sara and Austin. Our saving grace was that whatever it was was fast moving.

Everyone was recovered by Monday but it was still a quiet day at home for the kids. Nana held down the fort, Papa got in playtime and Savta came over to visit.

“I lost my hand!”

By Tuesday we were ready to head out again and took everyone to an indoor play place called Cup ‘O Fun. It was kind of old and run down, especially for the admission, but the kids had a blast which is really all that mattered.

Of all the times I’ve been to NY with Steven, Sammy and/or Amaya, we’ve never been to NYC. Can you believe it? So Wednesday was a dream day for me. We left early and drove into the city to go to the dinosaur bone museum (American Museum of Natural History). Steven and Sammy loved the drive through the city. They were captivated by the skyscrapers, emergency vehicles and fire escapes. 🙂 I answered question after question. “Mommy, do you know a lot about New York City because you used to live here?” I even took a route that ensured I’d drive by 96th and CPW so I could see my old neighborhood.

Dinosaur Bones!! (Which reminds me that I want to mention something Steven said at the seder – “Is Moses dead like the dinosaurs and Poppy Steven?” He’s making connections lol!

Lots and lots of dinosaur bones!

ROAR!!

GRRRR!

Making a souvenir penny for Aunt Sara.

Poor Steven really struggles with public bathrooms. It’s particularly difficult for him in large ones with all of the toilets flushing. He’s nervous to use public bathrooms as it is but all of the toilets at the museum really stressed him out. Amaya was a little uncertain, too, so I told the kids they could get small 2nd prize at the gift shop if they peed on the potty. I even had their potty seat. Amaya bit immediately but Steven just said, “I think my 2nd small prize should be a pull-up.” And so it was. He’s still new to all of this and was seriously distressed so I didn’t push. He knew what he needed.

After a great day at the museum, the boys and I headed home only to learn that the battery on Nana’s car died! After a 45 minute wait they got a jump only to put the wrong address in the gps and ended up at her address in Brooklyn instead of West Hempstead! What should have been a 1:15 drive home took about two and a half hours instead. I’m told Amaya and Charlie were total troopers the whole time.

It wasn’t hard for the rest of us to kill time while we waited.

Steven picked out this vehicle set as his present from the gift shop and we spent time together building it.

Thursday was also the requisite cousin sleepover. In the past, the Cline kids were all together in one room and the Goldbergs were in their room but, this time, there was a lady room and a man room. SSA’s first real sleepover experience!

Nana kindly let me sleep in the next morning while the cousins played together.

Someone was happy to see me when I finally materialized.

It was another evening at Sara and Dave’s house, this time for some overdue baths.

The kids were so excited to play with the bath toys at Aunt Sara’s house. “Isn’t the mermaid beautiful,” says Sammy.

On Thursday night Steven insisted on sleeping right on the floor instead of his air mattress or the bed. It turns out he wanted to be like Chase who slept on the floor in his room the night before. That is so precious. I love it.

“I don’t want to get dressed yet, Mommy”, was the start to our Friday. But we had a big morning planned at the Long Island Children’s Museum. It was incredible! I can’t believe how much there is to do. We were there for almost 2 hrs and could have easily stayed another hour or more.

Digging for dinosaur bones! A perfect compliment to our museum trip.

A fossil etching, with help from Aunt Sara.

The bubble room.

There was a “tool” room that had woodworking activities for kids 5 and older and an “odds & ends” craft center for kids of all ages. It was one of the highlights of the visit for sure.

Sammy’s craft. Amaya’s was similarly abstract.

Steven’s craft. He had a very clear vision and just needed a little help cutting the cardboard.

The biggest hit, though, were the telephones. You could hear each other through the receivers and Steven and Sammy were completely enthralled.

“Who is this?”
“Sammy.”
“Who’s Sammy?”
“Your brother.”

There were a whole bunch of different phone set-ups (for kids who’ve never spoke on a rotary phone and aren’t actually sure what they’re doing). Sammy and Chase are at one phone with Steven in the bottom of the photo facing away. You can also see Amaya in one corner speaking on another phone (to me, up on another level). Such a simple concept and they loooooooved it.

Shoe shine guys.

Gears!

The afternoon was spent with my college roommate, Rachel, who always makes a point to get to Long Island to visit when I’m in town for a week. We had a grown-up only lunch and then took the kids (along with Nana and Auntie) to a carousel. Only when we got there the carousel was gone! The website still says it’s there, complete with hours, but the space is completely empty! Fortunately I was able to improvise with a quick stop to the cheesecake factory. A sliver of cheesecake for everyone and all was well (along with a promise to visit another carousel the next day).

Decisions, decisions…

Dancing to pass the time.

Before we left the house, Steven insisted we draw a carousel. He directed me to make two circles, one inside the other. Then he drew a pole and had Auntie draw a horse and a bench next to it, which he said didn’t need a pole. Finally, he added these scribbles around the carousel which he said were to show that the carousel was moving. 😮

I’m honestly astonished by this. I asked him who taught him to make squiggly lines to show something is moving and he says he taught himself. If that’s true, it shows such a deep level of conceptual thinking. We have such interesting kids.

Saturday was our last day in NY and we capped off the visit with our first outing to live theater. Peter Pan was playing locally and we got a block of 11 tickets. I was so excited about this. Nana and Papa got SSA a family package to the local children’s theater here in our area and I was excited for both the experience and to see how they’d do.

They LOVED it! Before the show started we were telling the kids what to expect and Steven said, “I love costumes and music!”  Sammy had a ton of questions about what was real and what was pretend. The show was about an hour long which was the perfect length. (And, for some nostalgia, the first Broadway show I ever saw was Peter Pan. My mom and I went with our friends Louise and Sarah Cogan.)

Steven wanted to sit on my lap. The theater seats made him a little nervous and he was uncomfortable with the boosters Amaya and Sammy used to get a better view.

After the show we got to meet the cast. Charlie, Sammy and Amaya were all excited to take a picture with Peter Pan. 🙂

Our last adventure of the trip was a visit to the Nunley’s Carousel to make up for our Thursday mishap. Amaya and Steven were sure from the get-go that they wanted to sit on a bench with me rather than ride horses.

Sammy, on the other hand, went for a horse!

And didn’t like it. 🙁  Poor Bubba. He hung in there, literally, until the ride came to a stop.

Fortunately he rallied and went for another round, this time on a bench.

Amaya wasn’t ready to try a moving horse but she did try a static one and loved it. Sammy said this is what he’ll try next time.

By Amaya’s third ride I had to recruit help from Nana.

We finished up with dinner at Nana & Papa’s and that was it for our amazing week in NY! It always flies by.

And back to MI we went. I’m so proud of how well Steven, Sammy and Amaya do when we fly. We’ve got a great routine in place and they handle air travel exceptionally well. They’re definitely frequent fliers by now. I’ve really crossed over to a point where flying alone with them is barely intimidating at all.

This time Steven wanted the aisle and Sammy wanted a window so Steven was the master of the tablet.

Not sleeping, just bored lol.

And we’re home! All four of us are sad to say goodbye to NY but very, very happy to be home with Jason.

I’ll wrap up this double-up catch-up blog post with this spring’s school photo of Steven, Sammy and Amaya.

Me: What did the photographer say to make you laugh?
Steven: He told us to kiss Amaya’s cheeks and that was silly.

Have a great week!