I knew I didn’t know a lot about New York, but I didn’t know how much I didn’t know until we got there. I guess when I thought of New York City, for some reason I didn’t really think about history. I thought about fashion and lights and culture and hustle and bustle etc. But staying in Downtown Manhattan had us bumping into history left and right. We explored hundred year old chapels and ate hot dogs on the corner of Wall Street and Broadway. I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, and we took a turn on the Staten Island Ferry.

Of course we went to midtown Manhattan each day. We drank coffee in Times Square, made our way to Rockefeller Center, and spent some time in Central Park. We also ate at some really great restaurants for some really great prices.

Mom and I bought tickets to MoMA where we experienced art in a whole new way… to say the least. We explored an exhibit called “The Artist is Present” where we not only got to see the actual artist but experience recreations of her past performances. There were live nudes and the audience was invited to participate in one of the performances (one of the nude performances), which I’m proud to say I did participate. I left all my clothes on though!

After we saw “Chicago”, we followed the directions of a native New Yorker to what he described as a “you-absolutely-must-eat-at-this-place-restaurant.” After taking a train and walking through Chinatown at midnight, we turned the corner into the lively Little Italy. It was like something straight out of a movie. We finally found our restaurant and were really confused by the lack of extravagant decor and the abundance of photos which featured the owner with various celebrities. I’ll admit at that point I was beyond annoyed at the guy who sent us to this place where the food looked unimpressive and the prices were outrageous. But then, our order came, and I tasted the best Italian food I’ve ever had. And that made our little adventure worth it.

On our last night in NYC, we explored Grand Central Station and ate my birthday dinner overlooking all the travelers coming and going from this historic terminal. This trip was better than I had planned or imagined, and I’m so thankful for the husband who sent me there and for the mother who shared the experience with me.

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I had a great time in New York with my mom. I have a few hundred pictures to check out and share, but for now, I am going to enjoy this birthday with friends and family. It’s good to be home!

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I can hardly believe that this girl is old enough to be a grown up now. My little ornery cousin who rolled her mom’s car down the hill at Grandpa’s house a “few” years ago shouldn’t be this beautiful woman already.

Congratulations Chasity on all the grown up things. I love you!

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We’ve been staying busy here, and that’s the excuse I’m using for being a terrible blogger lately. I’m working on that though. So here goes.

A couple of weekends ago, I got to tag along with Nathan and the guys he works with to the Fab Boar where we enjoyed a Beatles cover band and a fancy shmancy dinner. I also walked away from the silent auction with some cool stuff.

On the night of Emma’s actual birthday, we met up with some friends at the Bentonville Square for the first, First Friday of the season, and we plan to make it a regular event on our calender. The kids rode ponies, and climbed rock walls. Nathan even took a turn. We listened to some great live Celtic music, bagpipes and all, and we were able to avoid all the yummy vendor food but just barely.

I’m expecting our weeknights to become a little less cramped now that Jacob’s basketball season is over. This picture was taken after one of his teammates scored a 3-pointer at the final buzzer which brought them back from what would have been a 1-point loss! We were all pretty excited. Nathan had been trying to keep me sitting on the back row most games because for some reason, I end up yelling or giving “advice” to the players or refs by accident. That night though, I was on the front row biting my tongue until that game-winning shot when I’m sure I made a fool of myself jumping and yelling. We are so proud of Jacob for his hard work with basketball this year… and are so glad to have a break from it!

And finally, we’ve been getting outside a little and exploring. On the trails in front of our house, we visited  this family graveyard where two of the first residents of Bella Vista are buried. If  you continue on the trail, you can see the leftover foundation of their house.

So, we’ve been keeping ourselves busy, and while I think we’re making time for rest and the other good things we need, I don’t really expect anything to slow down at this point. Nathan is sending me to New York one week from today, for my birthday. This will be my first visit there, and I can’t wait to take a ton of pictures…. then maybe I’ll have something else to blog about!

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I can’t believe this perfect girl is 7 years old. We had a nice birthday weekend and appreciated all the cards and well wishes.

Emma invited a friend to Build-a-Bear where she was pro at maneuvering her way through the store.

I thought she looked so grown up on the phone listening to Grandma wish her a Happy Birthday.

Emma is such a great well-rounded girl who seems to do something uber-creative every day. Earlier this year, the school librarian entered a story she wrote into a contest, and we’ll know how it turns out in April. We’re all so proud of her for so many different reasons, and I’ll stop there because there’s too much I could say if I go on. Happy Birthday Emma Grace, we love you too much!

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