Maddie Turns 9 Years Old

Today Maddie turned nine.  Maddie still has many similarities to when she turned eight; still, the tallest girl in her class with bright blue eyes, loves the ocean, and enjoys playing outside, swimming, art, animals, and building Legos. She is always asking questions and finds joy in the little things.

Happy 9th Birthday, Maddie!  We hope you had a great day and we love you lots girl.

Since we happened to be home today and it was in the high 90s it was the perfect day to celebrate Maddie with her friends' party too.  She had four of her closest friends over for cake, treats, and lots of swimming.  It went super fast, but so fun for the girls.  We also opened family gifts and ate her dinner of choice, personally made pizzas.  

Day 12: New York City

Today was our last official day on vacation as we will spend the next two days driving home.  We again took today easy with lots of walking and shopping.  We experienced a filming of the upcoming movie, Ghostbusters, where the streets were shut down and many takes of one simple shot were done.  We also took the kids to Chinatown and Little Italy so they could experience it and relate to what they learned at Ellis Island.  The final stop of our day was taking Dad out to a nice dinner at Hard Rock Cafe for Father's Day.  A great ending to the trip!

Day 11: New York City

Today we really slept in thanks to getting to bed around midnight last night.  We had nothing on the agenda and it was a great day!  We started by hitting up Caleb's favorite place, Harry Potter New York, the first and largest Harry Potter store.  We then spent our day walking around visiting shops, eating yummy food, and people-watching.  

Day 10: New York City

We started our day by sleeping in thanks to the late night.  We then got on the subway again and rode it north to Central Park.  We enjoyed the park and the kids loved climbing some of the high rocks.  After the park, it began to rain and thankfully we had tickets to the History Museum during that time.  We ended up spending over four hours there, which was not originally planned, but the place is HUGE!  The kids really enjoyed finding Dexter, DumDum, and other artifacts from the movie, Night in the Museum.  We then ended our night with another major favorite, we took the kids to Wicked on Broadway.  Elyse was beyond thrilled; the others just went with the flow.  After the show, Caleb wasn't a fan, Ian and Maddie enjoyed it a lot, Elyse loved it, and Kallen was beyond in ah!  I don't think he moved from leaning on the bar in front of him the entire show.  He said it was by far his favorite and it was obvious.  The show was just as fantastic as the first time Dad and I saw it, the acting and vocals were astounding!  

Day 9: New York City

Today we jumped on the subway for the first time and headed down one of my top three things of the trip, the 9/11 Memorial.  It was so beautifully made and beyond emotional; I'm pretty positive both Dad and I cried at one point.  We then visited Hamilton's gravesite, Wall Street Bull/Financial District, and jumped on the Staten Ferry for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  The kids weren't too excited about Ellis Island but didn't complain and were glad they went.  Even though the day was fantastic; the night was by far the highlight of the day, we went to Lion King on Broadway.  Even though Dad and I had previously seen it, watching their eyes light up and appreciating the theatre made it feel new again.