Nate Turns 40

 For Nate's big 40th birthday this year, I planned a weekend away for us in New York! Nate did have some say in the things that we did, and at the top of his list were a couple different pizza places!

When we arrived in NY we took an Uber to our hotel to check in and drop off our bags, and then headed out. Our first stop was Angelo's Coal Oven Pizzeria (ended up being Nate's favorite)!

Afterward we walked around Central Park and Times Square. We stopped for coffee to warm up and rest our feet!

Next stop was Lazzara's Pizza! Very different style pizza, and not either of our favorites. Still fun to try it! :)

Nate's last request of the night was to stop by McSorley's Old Ale House, so we hopped on the subway to find it. It was established in 1854 and is apparently New York's oldest continuously operated saloon. There was lots of cool historical stuff all over the walls and supposedly Abraham Lincoln has been there! 

The next morning we woke up bright and early, grabbed Starbucks and took the subway down near the Brooklyn Bridge entrance! We walked the bridge to Brooklyn (just over a mile) and strolled around for a little bit. We found a cool picture spot with a great view of the Manhattan Bridge before walking back! 

From here we walked over to see the historic Trinity Church and the site of Alexander Hamilton’s grave. We had a few minutes to kill before lunch, so we walked over to Battery Park to get a view of the Statue of Liberty! Unfortunately due to a complete renovation of the park, we couldn’t get as close to the water as we would have liked. 

Next was another spot on Nate's list, Fraunce’s Tavern. This place is a historical landmark and is where George Washington gathered his officers to bid them farewell at the end of the Revolutionary War. The food and atmosphere were great!

We also visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.

We rounded out our day of sightseeing with our third pizza spot, John's of Bleecker Street (my favorite) and seeing the Friends apartment building. 

 

We made our way back to the hotel to freshen up for Nate's birthday dinner at Keens Steakhouse! 

After dinner we strolled around for a while looking in stores and trying to find somewhere to get dessert. Without much luck, we settled on ice cream cookie sandwiches from CVS! :) When we got back to the hotel we checked out the rooftop which had a great view of the Empire State Building!

The next morning we got yummy bagels and coffee for breakfast before heading to the airport. We covered a lot of ground (and walked a lot of steps) but we had the best time! 

We celebrated Nate's actual birthday with an Einstein bagel date for breakfast and cookie cake and ice cream with the family after work!

Happy 40th Birthday, Nate! :)

January and February

Jade has been dying to go to a concert, so for Christmas this year we got her tickets to go see Kelsea Ballerini at the United Center! She is one of my favorites, so I was more than happy to go with! We had the absolute best night!

The girls' Christmas gift from Nate's Aunt Nancy and Uncle Paul was a day of skiing at Alpine Valley! This was the their first time ever skiing! They started the day with a 2 hour lesson and then were hitting the slopes like pros! Nate and I got to tag along and ski too. Nate did extremely well for only having skied once in his life. It took a little bit for me to get the hang of it, but I eventually got there! We all had so much fun but sure were exhausted and sore at the end of the day!

Jade had her winter band concert where she again played with both the 7th and 8th grade bands! She was also among three 7th graders who received an Ionian award, which is a specific award given to band members who play 12 IMEA (Illinois Music Educators Association) lines without making any errors.

Jemma also had her winter band concert and as section leader, she got to announce the percussion section! She did a great job! Unfortunately, everyone except myself and Jade were either out of town or sick and had to miss the concert.

The last few months have been very busy with sports! Jemma has been doing 5th-6th grade recreational volleyball and basketball leagues with games both Saturday and Sunday! Jade has been doing a 7th-9th grade volleyball league with Saturday games and two soccer leagues with games on both Saturday and Sunday. We had to divide and conquer many times, but somehow we pretty much got everyone everywhere they needed to be! It's been crazy, but so fun! 

Here is just a tiny snapshot of basketball (Jemma is black team #7) and volleyball. I usually only take my phone out to record at one or two games during the season and hope I get something good! No videos of Jemma scoring in basketball, but she did have baskets in most games!