Trivia Night

Tonight, we attended a trivia night with some good friends and we had a great time! What better place to pool the useless knowledge in our heads and actually benefit a good cause in the process? All of the proceeds from the evening went to the preschool that our friends' daughter attends. There were ten categories (ten questions each) and almost everyone was able to contribute an answer to at least one question in each category. I pretty much sat out the sports/religion rounds, but the 70's/80's music round was MINE! An excerpt of ten songs were played and we had to write down the name of the artist for each song, which all contained the name of a color (i.e. Barry White, Silver Convention, Simply Red, etc). Everyone at our table was laughing at me because I was blurting out the answers 3 or 4 seconds after the music started, before they even recognized the song. :) Anyway, we all brought yummy snacks/drinks to share and had our own little picnic at our table. Thanks for including us in such a fun evening, Tom and Margie!

The girls: Linda, Margie, Julie, and me

The guys: Frank, Perry, Dave, and Tom

A little over a year ago, one of Dave's aunts gave us a year-long subscription to the "Simple and Delicious" magazine for Christmas. We really only get the chance on the weekends, but we've experimented with several dishes and all but one or two have definitely been delicious, although the "simple" part of the title is.....well, sort of......NOT true. One of the recipes that Dave decided to try actually took him 6 hours to prepare and cook! I think the prep time that they give you as a guide means that the meat is cooked/browned, veggies are chopped/sauteed, etc when you start cooking. At any rate, if you enjoy cooking (and have the time to experiment with new meals), I definitely recommend picking up a copy of the magazine the next time you're at the grocery store. The dinner that we made tonight was Chicken and Red Potatoes; it was a slow cooker meal and was very tasty. Dave even ventured out of his element (he typically doesn't cook anything if it doesn't involve charcoal and a grill!) and whipped up some yummy chocolate/peanut butter Easter eggs--with sprinkles, compliments of Tyler. :)

My proud hubby and his newest creation

Usually, either Dave or I sit in the glider and read to Connor at bedtime, but Tyler has recently decided that it's his job. :)

No More Basketball

Today was Tyler's last basketball practice and we're all disappointed that it's over, especially our little athlete. I've had no luck finding another basketball program to enroll him in at the moment, so for now, he'll have to settle for one-on-one with Dad at home using his Grow-to-Pro hoop. We have totally gotten our money's worth (and then some!) out of that thing. Tyler got it for Christmas right before he turned two, and has used it almost daily ever since.

At the end of practice, Coach Dave presented Tyler and each of his teammates with a medal, which they thought was really cool. I overheard one of the boys say, "Look, Mom, it's just like at the Olympics!"

A pre-game chat with Coach Dave

Tyler with his medal and Connor passing the time playing with cars

SLU Blue-Out Game

Today, Dave and I took Tyler to both the Women's and Men's SLU b-ball games at Chaifetz Arena (Connor stayed home with Mama Carol). By the end of the night, I realized just how much of a die-hard basketball fan Tyler really is. He didn't ask once to go potty (or home); didn't complain that he was hungry or tired--and we were there for almost 6 hours! He watched both games so intently; it amazes me how much he really understands about the sport at his age. He noticed when players travelled (at times before the ref even blew the whistle) and would tell me which player committed a foul after one of the refs called one. He knows that a player only gets to shoot free throws if he's in the act of shooting when he's fouled. Oh, and one of his favorite plays (other than a slam-dunk, of course) is a 3-point shot, which he calls a "down-towner." The reason: Dave yells "From way downtown-BANG!" everytime a player makes a 3-pointer. The other thing that surprised me this year is that after only attending 2 or 3 games, Tyler memorized each player's first and last name, along with their corresponding jersey number. He has declared Kevin Lisch and Tommie Liddell III as his two favorite players. In fact, after tonight's game, Tyler and I chased Kevin Lisch halfway around the Arena so that Tyler could have his picture taken with him. Afterward, we walked right by three other players, and when I asked Tyler if he wanted a photo with them, he said, "No, Mom, I got Kevin Lisch, so I'm ready to go home now." :)

We're ready for the game!

Clockwise from left: Tyler hanging with Pat in his funny golf hat; me with Carol and Linda, two other band wives; Steph, Janelle, & Becky at halftime; Melissa has a crush on Tyler :); Tyler is hoping to catch one of the balls that are thrown into the stands during a timeout (with a little bit of help from Mr. Earl).

Pat, Whitey, and Dave belting out some tunes during a timeout

Our win against Dayton marked the first time the students rushed the court at Chaifetz.

The many faces of our beloved Mike, the director of the Best Damn Band in the Land!

Kevin Lisch high-fived Tyler and posed for a quick picture with him--the highlight of Tyler's whole evening. :)

IS there a better way to eat ice cream?

Mommy's cutie pie is all smiles while enjoying a fudge "diddit" (his way of saying "donut").

We're back!

There were two VERY excited boys waiting for us when we arrived home last night. As we pulled into the driveway, we could see Tyler inside, running fast past the windows of the house to get to the kitchen, which is where we always come in from the garage. He and Connor must have been standing right against the door, listening to us get out of the car, because as soon as I reached up to open the door, it suddenly flew open. And there were the two faces we missed the most this past week, greeting us with the cheesiest ear-to-ear grins we've ever seen. Tyler was quick with hugs and kisses, but there was about a 3-4 second delay for Connor as he sized me up; it was almost like he was trying to remember who I was. Then all of a sudden, he realized it was me and laughed, saying "Momma! Momma!" over and over again. It was short-lived excitement, though, because as soon as Dave walked in the door behind me, Connor switched over to "Daddy's my favorite" mode and forgot all about Mommy. :)

We let the boys stay up extra late tonight, which didn't bother them at all! Tyler was so excited to show us the Valentine's Day gifts that he "bought" for us while we were gone. Connor just ran around and played, coming over to us once in awhile to give us a hug, and seriously, giggled non-stop until we put him to bed. We're ALL definitely glad to be back under one roof again.

Dave's parents took the boys to the Base so that Tyler could pick out V-Day presents for us. A Billiken figure for Dave and a football-shaped bottle of Dr. Pepper for me (Tyler was so excited when he saw it and told Mama Carol that it was the perfect gift for Mom--does my child know me or what?) Oh--we also each got two sticks of licorice and homemade Scooby-Doo cards. :)

Thanks for the V-Day card and money, Mama Neanie and Papa Scott!

Good-bye New York!

This morning, we had cereal and scrambled eggs for breakfast (our room didn't have a microwave, but came with a stove top right next to the sink--go figure!), checked out of the hotel, and hit a few more places in Times Square before heading home.

One last "Hoo-rah" for me at M&M's World before we leave town!

This is why we "hoofed it" everywhere we went!
Apparently the little sign that says "No Parking" just doesn't get the job done.

Views from our plane as we took off from Newark.

We took our only subway ride of the whole trip this morning and caught the ferry out to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We spent more time on the island than we'd planned because it took over an hour to get through TWO security lines--one was set up to screen your belongings as they do at airports (right before we boarded the ferry) and the other one involved getting "sprayed" with short (but strong) bursts of air from head to toe (right after we docked at the island). By doing that, I guess they're able to detect whether or not you're armed with any type of explosives. Anyway, when we were finally able to enter the attraction, it was very interesting to read about and see pictures/drawings of the history & planning behind the Statue of Liberty. This is definitely something that we'll do with Tyler when we bring him to New York (which he has already MADE us promise to do!). :)

Afterward, we grabbed gyros for lunch at a restaurant right next to Ground Zero. Took a few pictures, did some shopping at a store called Century 21 (reminded me of Burlington Coat Factory, only bigger), then walked over to Wall Street and The New York Stock Exchange building. We ended up at a pedestrian mall and happened to see an ad for the Bodies Exhibit, so we decided to go ahead and do it since it was included in our City Pass. VERY interesting exhibit--glad we caught it out here since we missed it when it came through St. Louis.

The New York Stock Exchange, Tiffany's, and more glimpses of the New Year's ball.

The Bodies Exhibit

We enjoyed a fun dinner at Planet Hollywood!

A Day of Tours

Today, we headed down to Rockefeller Center and arrived just in time to catch the last few minutes of the Today Show. There wasn't much of a crowd, so we got some pretty good glimpses of Lester and Amy. Then, we did the NBC Studios tour--wasn't allowed to take pictures. We saw the set of Conan O'Bryan and actually got to sit in the seats where his nightly audience sits. Also saw the huge room where Saturday Night Live is aired. Since we happened to be doing the tour on a Saturday, we hung around a little longer and watched the crew work on some of the sets for tonight's show. We also stepped inside the studio where Bryan Williams does his broadcast for "NBC Nightly News." After that tour, we immediately got in line for the Rockefeller Center Tour, which was also a lot of fun. We then headed over to Radio City Music Hall, went out to dinner, and visited the Empire State Building. It was a very busy (but fun) day!

Our tour guide told us that there are an average of four marriage proposals per day on this famous ice rink--during the month of December alone.

The perfect purse for me!

We actually got the chance to meet and talk to one of the Rockettes. I told Dave to keep it clean for the photo. :)

In the bottom photo, the crew is beginning final preparations for Anita Baker's concert tonight. Would have liked to have seen her!

We had a very nice Valentine's Day dinner at a great Mexican restaurant called Dos Caminos. The food was excellent!

We made it to the top! Well, the 86th floor anyway--here's a view of the city from our vantage point. And I love the red/pink lights in honor of V-Day. :)

A Busy, Fun, Blustery Day!

We decided yesterday to purchase a 3-day New York City Pass and are determined to get the most out of it--starting today! We got an early start this morning and began the day with a visit to the Intrepid Museum. This tour was right up my hubby's alley--his dad is a retired Air Force pilot, so Dave has always been interested in anything and everything involving aircrafts. I even found it kind of interesting. :) Afterward, we took a 2-hour cruise down the Hudson River, during which time our tour guide pointed out some of the major buildings/landmarks in NYC and Manhattan. It was pretty entertaining and Dave got some great pictures (I stayed inside for most of the cruise--it was FREEZING today!). On our way back to Times Square, we decided to stop for a quick dinner at Chipotle (my first time there--I'll definitely be eating at the one here soon!), then headed over to Madame Tussaud's wax museum. We've enjoyed visiting her other locations (Amsterdam, London, and Las Vegas) and this one was a lot of fun, too.

Don't forget that clicking on the photo collages will enlarge them, which makes some of the smaller photos a lot easier to see. ;)

We really enjoyed our tour cruise down the Hudson River.

I think you can figure out who all of these people are. :)

Dave is obviously the more animated one in this relationship. ;)

At the end of the tour, Dave and I sang our own rendition of "Celebration." We definitely did NOT do Kool and the Gang proud with that one, but we had a blast!

We took this pic at the NBA Store in Times Square. In case you ever wondered just how big Shaq's hands are.......