Another visit from Nana and Bompa and a journey to the BIG Apple.

We got lucky again this month to get a visit from Nate's parents. They took the red-eye to NYC and spent a few days enjoying a Yankees game (Nate can't think of anything worse unless it's a Yankees game and the Red Socks have just slaughtered them.)
Saw a few Broadway shows, and did things that I only imagine doing Cause you can't do them with kids, like go to Shephora (Can you imagine what could happen in that store with two kids???), walk to SOHO and window shop, barter for purses in China town, or enjoy a dinner where you actually eat it while it's hot, and you don't go home wearing most of it or sporting the OH so cool, "I just peed my pants look" courtesy of the inevitable drink that spills across the table and lands in your lap because you have child number two sitting on your lap and your parent reflex of jumping at lightning speed is slowed due to the extra 40 lbs.

Unfortunately (like always,) Nate had to work so meeting them in New York wouldn't be possible. Or would it?...OK sure I'll do it by myself. Who can pass up New York City with personal tour guides and Mommy's helpers at your side? Tricky part is get to NYC where this help is awaiting.

I packed the car the night before, made sure the DVD was good and charged, and had breakfast on the ready for our early departure.

The kids did good most the way, we had to stop for a pee break and a DVD swap out. And Owen cried (more like screamed OUT OUT OUT!!! The last 20 minutes then crashed.)
Then I parked in the parking garage at Newark Penn station, made sure my car was LOCKED, strapped Sleeping Owen good and tight into the stroller, (surprise he woke up.) Strapped on the backpack which also had another stroller strapped to its side, put on our rain gear (Yes it was pouring thanks to Hurricane Danny. I just can't seem to get away from hurricanes.)

We bought our tickets got a little lost finding the track. Found the right track, and hopped on the next train to NY Penn station. Thanks goodness it's a short ride, there are never any seats at the front where I can sit with the stroller so I end up standing between two cars in the breezeway.

We get to New York where open arms are awaiting grandchildren squeezes. We then head back out into the rain for a walk to the hotel, which sat in Times Square and our view was awesome! The boys also created their own game of hide N seek in our room.



We then took the kids to the CMOM (Children's Museum Of Manhattan) A hands on museum, with four floors of adventures waiting to be found. The favorite floor was obviously the Dora and Diego exhibit, but a close second was the alphabet eating dragon.



That night we took Liam to see Shrek the musical and it was Fab! It is just like the first movie, but with songs added. Liam Laughed and laughed at the Donkey, so hard that people were laughing at him. True to Liam form, he fell asleep the last 15 minutes and stayed asleep through the down pour we were running through to get back to the hotel. There were even water puddles in his lap, but he never even stirred. (why didn't little brother inherit this gene?)

The next day we headed out to get breakfast and a trip to FAO Schwartz and the Disney store but had to turn back when we could no longer see where we were going and the thought of driving three hours in wet clothes was sounding less and less appealing.

The boys took their first NYC cab ride (no car seats.) glad it was only a few blocks to the station. And both boys enjoyed the freedom of riding restraint-less.

We had another rush to find our track, got on the train as they were pulling out, and got home in time to get dinner with Nate.

But the fun didn't stop in Hershey I think it just began...




We enjoyed a day at Hershey park, and Nate got to come with. We even got to ride a few "Big Kid Rides" while the G-parents took the kids on a few rides. And a trip to Chocolate world. (A visit to Hershey wouldn't be complete without a visit to Chocolate World!)

We decided a visit to the Hershey Gardens would be a perfect place to let the boys get out and run around. They LOVED it, except the part where Owen face planted into the rock drinking fountain and got a goose egg and some lovely scratch imprints of the pebbles. Hew blew it off pretty quickly. (I guess this makes up for the light sleeper trait.)

POOR NANA! We thought this was the perfect photo opp, but it turns out this Cow is a little slipperier than you'd think. She is always a good sport and laughed at us laughing WITH her!

The Gardens were awesome! The boys got to run around, play with butterflies, chase bunnies and I never once had to stop Owen from an eminent death. I think we'll have to go there more often!



























And I had to take them to my new find; Lake Tobias. Nate REALLY wanted to join us, so he did a 24 the night before, came home; the rest of the house left for a walk up "duck poop pond trail" (aka: Jonathan Eshenour Memorial Trail at Bullfrog Valley pond) so he could get a little uninterrupted sleep, and three hours later we were off for an animal adventure.

And I guess it's good thing that we did cause I never knew that one of his life's dream was to pet a buffalo. Who'd a guessed? So I guess we can check mark that off the list since one of the huge beasts couldn't get enough of us scratching her back. In fact she turned around to the other side and looked at us like: "Oh, a little higher, a little lower, yeah that's the spot."
Here are a bunch of photos from the day,



The boys of course loved every moment of it, Liam I guess was a little pooped from all our partying the days prior and fell asleep during the safari. (I tell you that kid can sleep anywhere!) Thanks to Bompa for lending his thigh as a pillow.

But, here are the top 8 favorites!

And I'll tell you why...



Do you think they're related?



I noticed this Green fella poised and intense. So I got a closer look.



LUNCH! (notice the dragonfly on the rock. He was taunting big Green, and it was almost his last, but he narrowly missed seeing the inside of Big Green and will taunt another day.)



Have you ever seen such a fat relaxed ground hog?



Disturbing in SO many ways!



I love how they are both looking at whatever they were looking at with the same interest.



My little animal LOVER. He had to give loves to ALL the animals he could. (Can you say hand sanitizer???)



This one on the other hand wanted to love them from a better, safer view. About 6' 5" safer to be exact. Who can blame him, those buggers are aggressive.

It was so fun to have company, especially for a last summer Hoorah!

Our next Poulson adventure....

New Orleans, LA October 2009!