More summer!!

One of my favorite outings this summer was our bike ride. We started off our adventure by riding along the pier. The girls were so giddy, they both could not stop laughing. People would stop and look at them, enjoying their continuous laughter. Frankly, I wasn't sure what was causing them to laugh so much, I had to assume they were just really really really enjoying the bike ride.

 

 

Matthew and I were feeling very adventurous and decided to ride across the 59th street bridge and into Manhattan.

It was a lot of fun and the views were beautiful!

Another fun outing this summer was kayaking on the East River.

Olivia took over the sole responsibility of paddling our kayak while I tried to carefully take pictures...trying hard to not have my camera end up in the bottom of the river.

After a while Lyla kept saying "get out...get out!" We're not sure if she wanted to take a dip in the river or if she was ready to be done with the kayak outing.

More summer

Central Park in the summer never disappoints. We were able to spend a lot of time at Central Park this last summer and enjoy everything is had to offer...the amusement park, the zoo, and of course the beautiful park.

 

Lyla loves to look for ducks in the pond.

 Olivia treated visitors to Shepard's Field to a dance performance.

Lyla LOVED Central Park zoo, our first stop was the Rainforest zone where there were birds everywhere...my little bird lover was in heaven.

 Lyla was also excited to feed the animals at the petting zoo. She had no fear and really wanted to get the food into their mouth. Matthew tried to prevent her from getting her whole hand in their mouth.

 A trip to the amusement park is always a much anticipated summer event for Olivia. The second the weather starts to get warmer she begins to ask when we're going to Victorian Gardens. Olivia was very patient this year, since we didn't make it until the last day it was open. The long wait was worth it...Olivia and Lyla absolutely loved it!

 Olivia has always been fearless and loves thrills. She was ready to hit every ride!

 This was Lyla's first trip to the amusement park and we learned that she too is fearless. She was disappointed when she wasn't tall enough to go on some of the bigger rides. She was excited that she was able to get on the roller coaster and she loved it....loved it enough to go 3 times!

Although Central Park is one of our favorite places to go, it is always fun to explore a new area of the city. One of our new adventures this summer was to go on the Highline. Olivia has a book about the Highline so she was especially excited. The city has taken the old elevated train tracks that run through the Meatpacking district and Chelsea and turn it into a garden.

 It was fun to feel like you were walking on top of the city. There were beautiful views and we were excited to have seen another gem the city has to offer.

A slice of summer!

I know that winter is knocking at the door here in New York, but we had such a wonderful summer I had to try to record some of our favorite memories.

 

We all woke up early one morning and took the subway downtown to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. It was such a scenic walk and it was so nice to beat the crowds. The bridge is usually packed, but other than some early morning runners we had the bridge to ourselves.

 

 My two little city girls walked the whole bridge without a word of complaint. I was especially impressed by our little Lyla, besides a quick banana break for some refueling Lyla walked to whole way. For much of the walk she strummed her hand along the railing. Even when a trash can got in her way, she happily strummed the trash can.

 After our long walk across the bridge we decided to walk an additional 30 minutes to take the East River Ferry back instead of the subway, it was well worth the walk. We all loved the ferry.

After spending 7 years in NYC we haven't spent much time in Brooklyn, even though it is less mile away. This summer we decided to make up for lost time and the girls and I enjoyed a trip to DUMBO. The windiest ride ever on the East River Ferry was definitely a highlight of the trip.

 DUMBO had 5 playgrounds to choose from, the water playground was the girls favorite!

Dominican Republic

 

 We had an amazing Lambert family reunion in the Dominican Republic this summer. It was perfect...the surroundings, the activities and the company.

My favorite spot was the lagoon we hiked to...it was beautiful.

 Lyla especially liked waving to the turtles.

 Olivia celebrated her 5th birthday while we there. She was excited to be able to have all of her family there. One of her gifts was her first pet, one of her cousins gave her a hermit crab...unfortunately the crab was dead by the end of the party.

The girls were able to go horseback riding. Olivia really enjoyed the ride.

...Lyla on the other hand immediately started crying.

 After petting the horse and me convincing her that the horse was nice, she quickly changed her tune and loved her horse ride. She kept repeating "nice...nice" as the horse trotted along. Her favorite part was when the horse really started galloping...she laughed and laughed.

I'm often surprised when we come across something unfamiliar to my girls because they live in the city. On this trip I realized that Lyla had never seen stars. In the city you can't see stars, but at night when we would walk back to our little casita the sky was full of beautiful stars and Lyla was captivated. Her head was cocked back the entire walk and she would repeat again and again, "stars...stars."

Lyla did NOT like Matthew buried in the sand, she quickly tried to dig him free.

Sometimes the waits at the restaurants were long...Lyla found ways to entertain herself.

We all loved this trip and would love to go back!