Grandpa and Aerin visit

A couple of days after Gramma left, Grampa and Aerin came to visit!

We ate delicious Italian treats.

Copious amounts of legos were built.

Japanese food was consumed.

Enthusiastically consumed.

We went to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

Axel took this picture. It turned out pretty well!

"Mom, take my picture with this grave!"

We went to a Westchester Knicks game to watch our friend Jordan Bachynski play. And Jimmer Fredette also.

Grampa caught a shirt! It was as long as Axel, but he wanted to wear it anyway.

We went down into the city. This is Grampa and Aerin at Grand Central Market.

Playing in the fountain at Bryant Park.

Eating HB Burger. Yum!

We went to the Museum of Natural History. Here is Axel with the T. Rex.

This dinosaur was discovered so recently that it doesn't have a name yet. It is 122 feet long. Amazing!

We went to the Bronx Zoo. Here we are watching the grizzly bears.

Axel and Daddy looking at the Geladas. 

Frozen yogurt!

We had a fun time! Thanks for coming! We love you!

Easter

Putting together his new Legos with Daddy.

Let the Easter egg hunt begin!

"I can't find any!" Haha, kids are funny.

Showing off his new Star Wars watch.

Family picture!

Delicious Easter dinner

I had to take Axel to the potty and Jeff took this hilarious picture! I love my man!

Early March

I have a friend in the hospital down in Manhattan, so Axel and I have really improved our train and subway travel routine. I couldn't bring the stroller because it is too hard to get him and a stroller up and down millions of stairs by myself. Luckily he is a pretty good walker, albeit slow.

Waiting on the train platform like a boss.

Axel fell asleep on the subway.

We got to meet Daddy for waffles at Bryant Park one night.

It has been warming up so we are able to do more fun things with friends, like seeing the kimodo dragon at the zoo. Look at all those cuties! We love our New York friends!

We are terrible people. Heehee... Watch the video to see why.

Axel's first talk! I'll put the transcript below, since you can't really hear him.

"This is Noah. Heavenly Father told Noah to warn the people that they needed to repent. They laughed at him and did not listen. If they had listened, they would not have been killed by the flood. We have a prophet today that we need to listen to. His name is Thomas S. Monson. He listens to Heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost. We get to listen to him in three weeks in General Conference. I know that President Monson speaks for Heavenly Father and we need to listen. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."

Luke's visit

 Uncle Luke came to visit! He wins the award for easiest house-guest. Seriously, he was a joy to have around! Axel LOVED playing with him, which left me alone to relax, or make dinner without distraction, etc.

Luke had never been to NYC before, so we played tourist for a few days.

At the Bronx zoo.

Luke helped Jeff fix his bike.

We went to Pepe's. Best pizza ever!

Riding the train.

 Snuggling on the subway.

 We went to Battery Park so that Luke could glimpse the Statue of Liberty.

Then we went to the Top of the Rock (the Rockefeller Center has a viewing area like the Empire State Building, but not quite as high). Axel obviously found the waiting area exciting.

 Cute guy borrowed my sunglasses.

 Looking at Central Park through the magnifying glass.

St. Patrick's Cathedral currently has NO scaffolding, so we had to take the opportunity to pop in.

 Then we did a quick tour of the Central Park Zoo. This was the best picture I took there, sorry.

 On Luke's last day, we went to the USS Intrepid. Axel was most looking forward to the submarine, the USS Growler, but he was too short (height limit of 40 inches)... Luckily the employee said that if he could scramble through a porthole by himself, then he could go in. Thank goodness because he was pretty sad when I first told him he couldn't go in.

Here is Axel and Daddy standing on top of the submarine.

 Look at that excited face!

 Axel playing with the guns of the Intrepid.

 The guys with a cool stealth plane. Bill Nye the Science Guy is slightly out of frame here. I didn't want to be a creeper. Luke got a good picture of him though.

 Right before getting in trouble for having Axel on Daddy's shoulders (that always happens when we are on private property).

 The Enterprise Space Shuttle

He is such a big boy climbing up the ladders by himself.

 Steering the ship.

 "R.F. Marr" served on the Intrepid. Distant cousin, perhaps?

R.F. Marr

 Axel and Luke sitting in a helicopter cockpit.

 Axel trying out the beds.

 They had a landing capsule for kids to play in. Axel was entertained for a good 15 minutes.

Then all too soon it was time to take Luke to the airport! Luke took a ton of pictures, so I'll probably add more when he sends them to us. He was like our own personal paparazzo.

(Also, I think Luke is our good-luck charm for seeing famous people. We saw Hoda Kotb outside the Rockefeller Center (which makes sense because the Today Show films across the street), and Bill Nye the Science Guy on the Intrepid filming something)