our annual apple picking adventure has come and gone. and boy oh boy, it was a hottttt one! we had planned it with my mom, my brother dan, his girl agata, our family, my sister’s family, and my sister. it’s hard to coordinate a day with that many people, so we had settled on a sunday {the weekend before fall officially arrived}, where honey crisp apples were ripe for picking!
the temperature was not in our favor. i was hoping, everyday leading up to the day, that it would change but it did not. it was going to be 90 degrees and humid. ugh. i don’t mind it being hot but when you have two little kids and one who is high maintenance, it’s literally a sticky situation.
as soon as we got there, ellie was having a fit. her cheeks became extra rosy and she was sweating profusely. oh goodness, she was so grumpy and uncomfortable!
we met up with everyone in front of the restaurant area and once we were all there, we headed to the line. it wasn’t as long as when we first got there {everyone rushed into line when the orchard opened} but it was still long and you definitely don’t wait in the shade! ellie screamed and cried and wanted to be held but it wasn’t comforting for her at all. oh boy.
we finally paid for our bags and got into line for the tractor wagon {and the workers there warned us of the mosquitoes in the orchard, they said it was realllllllll bad and to top it off, honey crisp apples were not available to pick. whaaaaaa?!}. they dropped us off in the field and we walked down a row of trees and boom! the mosquitoes attacked!!!!! bzzzzz zzzzzz zzzzz bzzzzzz. no joke. they landed on us left and right. buzzing in our ear. biting us. bleeding on us. bouncing off my face. biting us through our clothes. i swatted mosquitoes off the girl’s faces non stop. five mosquitoes landed directly in the middle of ellie’s forehead! holy crap! it almost looked like child abuse, i was hitting the girls so much just to get the little blood suckers off their bodies! my sister and family came running at us {they were a bit further down the orchard row} and said they were leaving and ran away! ohmergawd! it was so bad!
we all left, although, we actually did a decent job picking apples despite the circumstances {my mom, agata, thuy, and dan decided to hit the other side of the orchard to pick}! the rest of us walked back to the main area and debated on leaving or staying. we weren’t sure what we wanted to do but i definitely didn’t want it to be a wasted trip. ellie was a mess. so, hc took her to the car to cool down. my family and i decided to get food. we walked into the restaurant, ordered food and sat in an enclosed area…it wasn’t air conditioned but it was covered, there was no sun shining directly on us and no bugs!!!
we cooled down, relaxed, and really enjoyed ourselves. after filling our bellies and imbibing some cool libations, we were feeling good. we all decided to head on over to the shop and peruse a bit. {i text hc to bring ellie and meet us} we nabbed mini apple cider doughnuts, bought too much candy, toys, and random knick knacks. after hanging out in the shop with my family for a half hour or so, we decided it was time to leave. we had apples, we had pictures, we had doughnuts, we had fun! we really did!
here’s to hoping that next year’s date is a lot cooler and less buggy! happy fall y’all!
[apples on the market]
[ellie started to burn up right away! she was so uncomfortable!]
[here comes the tractor and wagon]
[mom and thuy]
[my sweet family]
[collecting apples!]
[she’s sweet as pie]
[my current favorite picture of her…she’s so tumultuously sweet]
[the only moment where she wasn’t crying…]
[me and my babe…i can’t express in words how wonderful she is]
[hey girls…let’s take a picture together. girls: let’s look the other way!]
[yup…ellie cried, they were melting from the heat, and olive asked me if she could stop itching from the mosquitoes bites]
[cooling off and eating bug free. she had pink spots all over her face and neck from the mosquitoes]
hc, last minute, booked a trip to nyc for our anniversary…and during our trip, it was also fashion week! so, yay for me!
our scheduled departure time was early and, of course, we got there extra early. yawwwwnnn {i dislike early mornings}. we waited in our terminal after grabbing coffee and breakfast. our flight was full and we were so ready to get there!
traveling style can be tricky. who doesn’t want to be comfortable? plus, we are most likely going somewhere cold to warm and you have to make sure you’re dressed appropriately! i love layering because i am always cold, so if i get too warm, i can always peel off pieces. i’d rather be warm than cold, so a jacket or shawl is mandatory!
once we arrived, we checked into our hotel and our room was ready!!! sweet! we were worried that it wouldn’t be because we were arriving early but it was and we were super excited to settle in and start our day in nyc!
we unpacked and headed out. hc and i are methodical with setting up house in our hotel room. actually, i think hc is more ocd about that than i am! once we were settled, we were ready to do a lot of walking. when we were there last, we literally walked everywhere! honestly, it’s the best way to explore the city. you discover the best nooks and crannies of the town.
i really wanted to check out a cute little shop called sézane, eat at a place called egg shop, and just explore. most of it went as planned! but we were so open to the idea of just winging it and see where the city takes us! sézane was an adorable little boutique with the prettiest things and i loved so many of their tops and accessories! i could have spent so much money there. such beautiful pieces!
after perusing the boutique, we went on a hunt to eat at a place called egg shop. so we found it and it was tiiiiiiiny, packed, and so warm inside. i knew in an instant that hc was not going to go for this, so we went on another hunt for an eatery. we found a place called the butcher’s daughter but they only had seating inside and again, it was the same situation…it was too warm inside. so, off we went to find another place.
afterwards, we walked back to our hotel to relax. we decided last minute to try a restaurant called cote, a michelin star korean bbq establishment. that was a joke…there were not open tables at all! i was not surprised but as we were leaving, i ran back inside to see if they had an open reservations for sunday night and they did!! yay! we were excited to eat there! we ended up at a little hole in the wall restaurant but walked away well fed and happy.
on sunday, it rained, rained, rained! oh and it rained! we headed out to find our way to a breakfast joint or some sort of eatery, our goal was to land on sarabeth’s. along the way, we search for a raincoat for hc, that was a bit difficult in midtown south but we kept walking. we somehow, not on purpose, ended up at chelsea’s market. oh how i loved it! it was chock full of good things! we wandered around, found sarabeth’s and decided that it was so tiny and we weren’t feeling it at the moment. we then walked into a furniture store and found the cutest little restaurant called the blackbarn. it was so quaint and cozy inside! our food was delicious and our belly’s were full.
we then started on our journey. we walked {in the rain} towards the september 11 memorial…and shopped as we walked {in the rain}. we finally made it to the site and as hc i were walking towards the fountains, i completely teared up. the memories, sadness, pain, and devastation flowed back to me. i was so emotional. we stood there staring at the fountain in silence for minutes…remembering all who perished – the first responders, the plane passengers, the wtc victims, the victims at the pentagon. it all still seemed so vivid and fresh. it’s amazing to me that it was 17 years ago…it felt like this just happened the other year.
we stood in line {in the rain} to enter the museum. it was so solemn, respectful, and very emotional to see all of what they had collected to showcase this horrible day but completely pay respect to those involved. it was deeply moving and heartbreaking. i cried again when we entered a room where they showed pictures of those who were trapped in the buildings, and talked about those who had fallen from the towers. those images haunted me for years and still do. the unimaginable, desperate conditions inside the buildings…
after the memorial museum, we walked towards the statue of liberty just to catch a glimpse of her {in the rain}. we traipsed around battery park and proceeded to walk alllllll the way back to our hotel. i think we walked 10 miles in total that day, if not more! it felt so good though! i felt energized and strong being able to walk such distances.
we headed back to our hotel to relax and got ready to head out to dinner at cote! of course we did more walking {in the rain} and enjoy an amazing dinner at this michelin starred restaurant! we were so confused because honestly…at any korean bbq restaurant i have ever been to {mind you – not a fancy one}, you cook your own meat but who knew at this michelin star eatery…they cooked it for you? whoops. we moved the cutting board of meat and proceeded to cook it ourselves {ha!} and the server came by and practically scolded us. oops. okuuuuurrrrr, never mind. we didn’t want to cook our own meat anyways!
the next day, we walked a million miles {in the rain} to find a shake shack, ate, walked some more, shopped some more, and walked back to our hotel to chill. we were almost comatose before our reservations for our anniversary dinner but we dragged ourselves up, got ready and headed out the door for our sushi experience at satsuki, another michelin star restaurant. it was creative, well presented, and made our mouths happy!
after dinner, we walked west {in the rain} and ended up in times square!! ha! it’s such a madhouse there. soooooo many bright lights and tourists! we actually enjoyed it but hey, we’re not new yorkers who loathe this area!
the next day, we packed up our things, checked our bags at the front desk and this time headed north. we, so blindly, headed in the direction of carnegie deli with nooooo knowledge that it had closed down. duhhhhhh, no wonder we couldn’t find it on google! well, that gave us an opportunity to eat from a food truck! just what hc wanted. we found a halal truck located right next to copious amounts of outdoor seating and scarfed down our delicious street food fare.
we then headed north through central park {in the rain} and ended up in the upper east side at my favorite place…ladurée!! yummmmmmm! there we bought macarons and hc and i sat down inside the shop to enjoy the coffee and the scenery! it was absolutely perfect. ahhhhhhh. we walked back, south, shopped along the way {for cheesy souvenirs and tees for the babes and nephews}.
aaannnnndddd the end.
happy 7th anniversary my love!
[waiting to board our flight…it was toooo early for me]
[i decided to take a picture on every bench i saw in nyc {just kidding}, here i am in the flatiron district,…don’t mind the blurry pic as hc, after years of me owning this camera, still can’t focus on me as a subject]
[yup, another bench picture in soho]
[yeahhhhhh, wondering what food is like at the egg shop, yet another blurry picture]
[aaaannnnnddddd at sézane and another blurry picture]
[flowers at chelsea market]
[soooooo pretty]
[yummy sarabeth’s restaurant]
[sooooo many delicious pastries]
[i loved the cozy, warm, rustic feel of the restaurant]
[ready to manger!]
[it’s never too early for a drink, because it’s always 5 o’clock somewhere!]
[soooooooo good!]
[financial district]
[9/11 museum]
[flyers people put up of their loved ones missing…this was a projection onto the wall, changing photos every few seconds]
[the only standing stairwell in the south tower…stairwell A, where 18 survivors traveled down and where everyone else went up. it’s also know as the ‘survivors’ stairs’]
[box columns]
[no day shall erase you from the memory of time]
[FDNY ladder company 3 fire truck damaged by the falling north tower. this company lost 11 members to the collapse of the north tower]
[last standing column as the recovery site neared completion. it was then decorated by family members, first responders, recovery workers, and volunteers]
[fountains where the towers were]
[seeing this really moved me…so much sadness still]
[we walked over to battery park to catch a glimpse of lady liberty!]
[our cloudy, rainy, overcast day]
[stomping the streets of ny in the rain]
[ready for our anniversary dinner!]
[we stumbled into times square!]
[ed sullivan theater]
[he had been looking forward to this the entire trip]
[radio city music hall]
[this looks crazy but it was soooooooo good!]
[traipsing around central park]
[serenity surrounded by concrete]
[rats with wings were everywhere]
[carnival rides in central park]
[i love this place!]
[sitting down to relax, drink coffee and eat macarons!]
[the prettiest ribbon display]
[sooooo yummy!]
[ellie showing me what gramma got them while we were away]
[digging into their ladurée bag]
[ladurée flavor card]
[she is so good at giving me the funniest looks…she’s so silly!]
i truly had intent to post this well over a week ago but liiiiiiiiife. we were so busy leading up to our trip {i could name the 100 millions things we had to do and had going on but i’ll spare you} and i even brought my computer, with intent – again, to finish this post and publish while i was on vacation but that didn’t happen either {i’m a weirdo when it comes to unsecured wifi streams and won’t log into anything, so therefor, i didn’t log into my web account to finish this post! i should have known…}.
anyhoo, long intro to olive’s very short first day of school. i executed all the necessary preparations. i had pre-picked out her outfit, packed her backpack with the required essentials, filled out all her forms needed, and gathered all her school supplies the night before, amongst other things! olive was very excited for her first day of class this year! she loves going to school, she loves meeting new friends, and she loves to learn.
we got ready and we were all extra early. hc took ellie over to my parent’s house and no one was up and ready to go there! whaaaaaaa? we wanted to get to school early because one: the parking lot gets sooooo full and two: it’s her first day! we didn’t want to rush around and wanted it to be more relaxing and fun. my dad finally came out and hc ran out of the house like flash to come back and pick us up! we screeched the wheels on our way to school, of course the parking lot was fullllllll, and we were late – running our way into the building! ugh! what a start!
to top it off, i couldn’t remember what the classroom number was!! so there we were, walking back and forth, trying to figure it out. i ran upstairs to the office and they told me which room number it was and we slowly snuck into the room! we got called out and the teacher told me to come sit up front with the other parents, with olive and i obliged.
after the introductions and details of the how their day would look, the kids were given the green light to explore and of course, olive beelined for the doll house and barbies! after some time of playing, we circled back together for some final details and then everyone was dismissed!
we then took olive out to breakfast to celebrate her first official day of class. it’s the little things like this, that make me happy and i hope it makes olive happy too! i love making certain occasions and moments in life special. i really hope that actions like this will positively resonates with olive.
it was a great start to the school year and a wonderful start to our morning! we loved having hc there to make events like these whole. although, i had a #momfail moment later on in the day when i completely forgot to take them to their gymnastics class! heyyyy, you win some, you lose some. hahahaha!!
[my girl]
[she was being so silly…she kept dancing all over the place!]
[mean mugging]
[i love her]
[always so somber and cautious]
[going for the doll house and dollies]
[she loves this doll!]
[drawing at breakfast, getting ready to eat her rainbow pancakes!]
we celebrated kim’s birthday this past weekend at pacific standard time, a restaurant of her choice.
so, funny story…i had text hc about our reservation time and confusion ensued. here’s our conversation {modified for your enjoyment}.
me: dinner is at 5 at pacific standard time
hc: 5? downtown? well, if you really think about it, 5pm is really 7pm cst but it’s still cutting it close to get to the restaurant.
me: hun, pacific standard time is the name of the restaurant. thuy wasn’t confused when she said the dinner reservations were at 5 at pacific standard time.
bahahahahahaha!
we all, almost, arrived on time {thuy was a bit behind}. our time was well spent drinking tasty libations and lively conversations between us before we placed our order. our server was detailed and encouraging during our time there. i loved how passionate she was about the menu, the food, and her astounding memory! she absorbed our appetizer {and we ordered a lot} and entree order with no glitches. everything came as specified and i was impressed!
we ohhh’d and ahhhh’d over our meals, we shared plates, and became giddy as our tastebuds were delighted! everyone throughly enjoyed kim’s cod…yes, that was written out comically, but we really loved her fish! it was my, and most, favorite dish!
the food kept on coming and we merrily passed along each plate to consume everything in sight. as our belly’s filled up, our evening out together dwindled. our server then brought out a surprise dessert for kim’s birthday – we awkwardly sang happy birthday and kim angrily blew out her candle {you would have to have seen my instagram story to understand}, and we cheered!
after dinner, we took a few pics outside and enjoyed the gorgeous warm temps. warm summer nights are an absolute favorite of mine! it was a wonderful time out celebrating my sister kim! happy birthday kimberdo!
[pacific standard time]
[ma seours]
[lan. agata, and dan]
[kim’s amazing cod, like, seriously…it was sooooooo good]
[my current favorite picture of her…she’s so tumultuously sweet]
