spring break

What a week in NY. This was our third time staying at this AirBnB, affectionally referred to as “907”.

I had a number of meetings throughout the day on Monday so we headed over to the Goldberg’s house for the day where the kids played and I was able to get my work done.

Amaya dressed for the day with her mix & match fashion – all created with one sweatshirt.

Doing word puzzles with Nana.

The kids love to play a game with Charlie where they use a bathrobe tie to pull her around the house on her roller blades. I think I have pictures of this from earlier in the winter, too. The game lives on! (Sometimes Charlie puts on her helmet and knee pads and Uncle Dave pulls her fast through their cul de sac.)

Super Mario Party!

Charlie came back to 907 with us for dinner and some shows before heading home for the night.

Broccoli Boy

This sweet boy loves to keep his mama close by, even when I’m one room over. <3

On Tuesday, the kids, Nana, Aunt Sara, Chase, Charlie and I spent the afternoon at the Bronx Zoo. (Reportedly one of the best zoos in the world!) We spent over 4 hours there and saw a tiger, bears, very active seals (and sea lions?), giraffes (my favorite!) and an incredible Congo exhibit with amazing monkeys and gorillas. The “walk from NY to Africa” was Steven’s favorite part of this trip to New York.

How big are we compared to a tiger?

With my girl…

Nana treated everyone to a Bronx Zoo souvenir. A snake for Amaya (named Sequin), a parrot for Steven (named Fruit Loop) and a polar bear for Sammy (named Polar). Steven wants you to know that Charlie’s monkey is named “Peely”.

Carousels – fun for all ages!

Walking through a big fallen tree.

Steven (who’s sitting with me as I write), wants me to share that he thinks this monkey’s face is very pretty. Honestly, it was wild to make eye contact with the various apes. I felt like they could really see me.

Amaya loved the baby monkeys.

The gorillas were incredible and there we so many of them! Again, it was kind of freaky when they’d look at me. I definitely had a Planet of the Apes vibe.

We wrapped up our zoo day with a sleepover with Charlie.

On Wednesday morning, the kids all went to visit Savta! There’s always so much to see at Savta’s house.

Regular stop at the Halls Pond playground.

We had a big lunch together at Nana and Papa’s house. It’s so, so nice to be back there.

Our Wednesday afternoon activity was ice skating – a first for SSA! It was a lot harder than they expected but they all persevered and made great progress through their time on the ice.

As time went on, the kids got comfortable enough to venture away from the wall.

Can you spy Sammy with Nana and Amaya with Aunt Sara?

Watching the Zamboni before we headed out for the evening.

We made the decision to take a leisurely drive home to MI and start the journey on Thursday evening so, early Thursday morning, the crew headed to the Goldberg’s to say goodbye to Aunt Sara, Uncle Dave, Chase and Charlie and then Savta and Papa came by for goodbyes. Goodbyes really stink.

Our afternoon adventure was a visit to the American Museum of Natural History. The kids visited about 2 years ago but it was definitely time to return. We were so lucky that Nana decided to join us!

We spent over 3 hours walking around and SSA were really interested in all sorts of exhibits from dinosaurs to meteorites to exhibits on peoples of the world. I was very impressed with how engaged they were and the questions they asked.

If you play Animal Crossing you won’t be surprised to hear that the dinosaur exhibit reminded the of the island museum.

This is the largest meteorite on display in any museum in the world. It’s so heavy that the support beams go all the way through the museum basement into the bedrock below.

There was a lot to learn about central and south America.

When the museum closed at 5:30pm, we said goodbye to Nana (SADNESS) and started our journey home. First stop – the Poconos and Bushkill Falls! I booked a villa not far from Bushkill Falls which the kids looooooved. From the entry level, you could go down a small flight of stairs to two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Up a small flight of stairs was the main living area. The highlight, though, was the spiral staircase that led to a sleeping loft with two twin beds.

Due to a Door Dash mishap, we didn’t eat dinner until 9pm – which created its own excitement for the kids.

Our Friday morning adventure was a visit to Bushkill Falls. It was opening day for the season and it was a cold morning! The hiking kept us warm, though, and the views were definitely worth it.

In case you can’t see him, that’s Steven on the bridge.

Between the late night and the morning hike, I had three tired kids when we hit the road after lunch.

To break it up we made a few stops along the way including a quick visit to the Bees Knees Winery where I got some fruit wine (yikes) and the kids got honey sticks.

They liked this little bear.

We stopped for the night just past Cuyahoga National Park. It was a long day but not too long, which was my goal. One last night on our spring break trip!

On our last morning, I fulfilled a promise to the kids – mini golf. We drove about 2 hrs to Toledo before we stopped for two rounds of golf.

All 3 kids managed at least 1 hole on one.

Hole in 1 face!

Hole in 1 face! Steven also got a hole in one while there was a red light on, which meant he got a special price – a discount off our next game and an orange golf ball.

We made it back home a little after 3pm. I was really torn about leaning on Thursday evening but I think having the full day home on Sunday was the right call. It gave all of us some downtime before heading into the week. The kids got to play outside and spend some quality time with Jason. I was able to unpack and catch up on work.

Checking out a new swing addition on our play set.