Fall Break Part 1 - New York

This is a Fall Break that we'll always remember! We actually had this trip originally planned for Fall Break, 2020, but it had to be rescheduled thanks to Covid travel restrictions. We flew out of Atlanta on Friday morning and landed in New York City a few hours later.

We grabbed a quick bite at the airport and then surprised the girls with a limo ride from the airport into the city. They were both speechless! I love when we can pull off a surprise like this!

It was a beautiful day which made for a great drive in.

Our driver stopped to let us check in to our hotel, the Freehand New York, in Gramercy Park. We had a four person bunk room which worked pretty well for us. There was a reading light and charging outlet by each of the beds, and this let us spread out just a little bit. It had a little bit of a dorm feel to it, but the bathroom was in our room which was appreciated. This ended up being a great place for us.

They had a free arcade game in the lobby; early risers Ryan and Lily took advantage of that while Mia and I got ready in the mornings.

We hopped back into the limo, and the driver took us over to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. We actually got to meet up with our friends Heather and Mary Preston Harvey and Heather and Lauren Martin. The two moms and daughters had come up a few days prior to attend the Harry Styles concert. We were able to meet up with them before they headed back to Atlanta later that evening.

I love this memorial and museum; it is so incredibly well done. Lily and I visited a few years ago, and I'm very thankful that Ryan and Mia had the opportunity to see it on this trip. We didn't take many pictures while inside out of respect for the site.

After saying our goodbyes to our friends, we decided to head on up towards Broadway instead of taking time to go back to the hotel and change. Definitely the right call! We landed on Juniors for dinner which was so delicious. Some good burgers and Dr Brown sodas were just right for dinner.

Of course you can't go to Juniors and not have a slice of their famous cheesecake. Ryan and Lily split the plain slice while Mia and I split the strawberry. They were so good!

We walked over from there to the Marquis Theatre to see Beetlejuice. It was so good! This was the show Mia picked, but we all absolutely enjoyed it. 

Alex Brightman was an excellent Beetlejuice and he led a great cast. This was a great first show!

We headed on back to the hotel from here, and I think we all slept pretty hard this evening!

On Saturday morning we walked over to Gramercy Bagel to enjoy a New York staple. They were quite yummy.

After breakfast we headed back up to the Times Square area where we spent a few hours having fun in Madame Tussaud's.

We loved meeting all the Marvel characters and going to their 4D show.

Of course we wanted to hang around royalty.

You've got to meet some Broadway stars.

A few athletes were hanging around whether we like them or not.

And you just never know who else will be around!

It was a really fun morning! By then we were starting to get a little hungry, so we walked over to Famous Ray's for a slice. It wasn't exactly the small slice we planned on! It was a really good pie though, and it was fun to have another New York staple today.

We made a quick stop in the Disney store and M&M store while we were nearby.

We then walked over to the Gershwin Theatre to enjoy Lily's pick of Wicked. This has been her favorite show since seeing it here a few years ago. It was a great performance!

Mia bought Lily the little flying monkey as an early 16th birthday present to commemorate getting to see her favorite show; Lily named him Ozzie.

After the show ended, we walked over to our dinner reservation at Butter by chef Alex Guarnaschelli. We love watching Food Network, and she's one we always enjoy!

This restaurant was fabulous and one of my highlights of this part of our trip. We started with the Parker House rolls which was amazing. They came with their two house butters of the day. One was a sour cream butter and the other was a mixed herb butter. They were both so delicious on the rolls!

We all enjoyed our entrees too. Ryan had their roast chicken, and Lily had the gnocci mac and cheese. Mia and I couldn't choose between the same two entrees, so we each ordered one and split them about halfway through. She ordered the salmon on succotash while I ordered the special of the day which was very similar to a baked spaghetti.  

Dessert was a fabulous way to end the meal. Lily actually ordered more rolls; she's not really a sweets kind of girl and they were absolutely fantastic. I think we all could have ordered more of those! Ryan and Mia both had raspberry beignets with a vanilla dipping sauce. I ordered the plum cobbler with vanilla ice cream. This meal was outstanding, and I want to go back!

After that fabulous dinner, we took our time walking back over towards Broadway. We went to the Majestic Theatre for an incredible performance of Phantom of the Opera. It's a classic! The moment you hear those opening notes, you're drawn in. The music is so incredibly beautiful. We had recently learned it will be leaving Broadway in mid-February, so I'm very thankful we had the opportunity to see it while it's here.

The girls had never seen this before, so we knew we had to see it while we were here. 

Mia bought herself a little phantom bear as a souvenir. 

This cast was outstanding! What an amazing show!

It's safe to say we were pretty warn out at the end of this day! We made it back to the hotel, and Ryan and I decided we'd just sleep in a little and have a relaxing Sunday morning instead of hitting the ground running again first thing. Definitely the right call.

After getting ready on Sunday morning, we walked back over to Gramercy Bagel again. We thought about trying something different, but really, we all enjoyed it and an easy bagel breakfast sounded just right. From there we walked over to the Harry Potter store. It was so fun! Not only did they have lots of cool things to buy, but they had props from the films and awesome decorations all around. This was a very fun morning.

We realized we were not far from the Flatiron Building which is something Ryan and I have always wanted to see. What a cool piece of architecture! It's under a lot of scaffolding right now with some renovations, but that's okay; we're glad we've seen it now.

From here we headed on back to the Freehand and finished getting all our things together. It was a great visit to New York City, but we were ready to get to the dock and set sail!

Fall Fun

Some of the fun we've had since school started back.

Lily's friends painted tote bags at Selah's birthday party. I loved the one Lily made!

Mia got creative too, and made these embroidery pieces for her small group leaders at church. Katie's had beautiful mountains and flowers on it, Anna Michelle is filled with Harry Potter items, and Amanda's is all about Disney. Love to see her express her appreciation for them like this!

The Upper School took a few days to go to Camp Highland for some fun and bonding. 9th-11th goes Wednesday through Friday while 7th-8th comes up Thursday and Friday. Since Ryan is a teacher at the school now, he came up with 7th and 8th graders.

Some of the Upper School teachers all sorted into their house colors. Ryan is repping black for Cambridge's black and gold house!

Mia and a few of her 8th grader friends having fun together!

We are thankful for these kids!

Decker and I had some good quality cuddle time together while Ryan and the girls were at Camp Highland.

The monthly ladies Bible study at school, Abide, has started back. I enjoy studying the Word with these ladies, and I'm thankful for how much this has grown over the last few years!

The school hosted it's first Cultivate event of the year, and it was about the purpose behind reading good books that seek to show truth, goodness, and beauty. It was great to hear several of our teachers talk about they are doing this in their classrooms and encourage the parents to join in. I was excited to win one of the door prizes which was this book called Breaking Bread with the Dead!

Lily and I had a fun time shopping and snacking at Town Center Mall while Mia was having fun at Aubrey's escape room birthday party nearby. I always enjoy one on one time with my girls!

I love that Ryan and I pass this little heart back and forth to one another. We surprise the other with it every so often, and it will show up unexpectedly. I sure do love that guy!

The Upper School has partnered with new teacher, Jordan Lyrerly, and his lovely wife, Eliana, in an outreach ministry to the kids in their apartment complex. Each week the kids come to the Upper School to hang out, read with Stonehaven kids, or receive tutoring. This has only been going for a couple weeks at this point, but Lily is really enjoying it.

Lily and I went to Taste of Smyrna for lunch recently. We enjoyed tacos from Zama and a funnel cake for dessert. So yummy!

Ryan and Mia didn't join us, so we picked up these cute and tasty cookies for them.

Lily's Spanish class has been working on cooking instructions recently, so they took one class to make guacamole and another class to make corn tortillas. What a fun class!

The girls had a ton of fun at the church's back to school event at Round 1. Mia loved taking on Charles in Guitar Hero! They enjoyed being with friends, playing laser tag, and just having fun.

The Braves recently had Spanish night at the ball park to celebrate its players and fans from Latin and Central America. Hannah Hanbury, the school's Spanish teacher, had a great idea of inviting all the Spanish students to go to the game together. Unfortunately, we couldn't get enough tickets, so we decided instead to watch the game together on the big screen tv on the green outside the stadium. It was a lot of fun to hang out at the game with friends and celebrate the Spanish culture with Los Bravos.

Even better, the Braves got the win! The Friday Night Fireworks show started as we were leaving, so we watched from our car as we drove away. This was a great evening!

Mom and Dad went down to Gulf Shores for a few days, and Dad sent this picture of Mom while they were dining at Tacky Jack's. I thought it was a great picture of my beautiful Mom so I wanted to include it here.

Lily made the Varsity volleyball team this year, and she's having a lot of fun (and working really hard!) with them. We're thankful for Coach Anne and this team. Here's to a great season!

We're loving this fabulous fall!