saturday in the city

on saturday, i took a trip to nyc with my parents.  the weather was absolutely gorgeous and we had a great time exploring the city.  we started our day out with lunch at the meatball shop in hells kitchen before going to see the new broadway musical bandstand.  after the show, we headed downtown to walk across the brooklyn bridge.  we worked up an appetite walking across the east river, so we grabbed pizza for dinner right under the brooklyn bridge at grimaldi's.  we admired the views of manhattan from brooklyn bridge park before boarding a water ferry to cross the east river back to manhattan.  before we headed home, we made quick pit stop in carlo's bakery to pick up a few treats to take home.

our trip was totally unplanned and was a last minute decision, but everything went great and we had a great day in the city.  here are some pictures from our day in the city on saturday . . .

^lunch at the meatball shop was so good.  ryan and i ate at the west village location last spring and we absolutely loved it so i was excited to take my parents there.  i love that they have vegetarian meatballs, they're so good!^

^ever since i saw the first teaser for bandstand i've wanted to see it.  it just opened this spring but is already closing in mid september.  i'm so glad we got to see it before it closed.  we all loved it!^

^i spy the statue of liberty off in the distance.  ryan and i have walked the brooklyn bridge twice before (in 2013 and again in 2015), but my parents never have, so it was nice to be able to do it with them.  it was a bit crowded since it was a saturday in august, but the weather was beautiful and the views were great so we didn't mind.^

^after walking across the bridge, we stopped for pizza at grimaldi's (which i totally forgot to take a picture of because we were all so hungry we scarfed it right down).  we strolled around under the bridge and admired the view of manhattan from brooklyn bridge park.  jane's carousel is so pretty too.  it was closed on saturday evening for a private party, but i'm glad ryan and i had the chance to ride it a few years ago.^

^the east river ferry is a nice way to travel back to manhattan instead of via subway.  ryan and i rode it a few years ago, and enjoyed it.  it was especially pretty with the city lit up at night (but very windy)!^

^before heading home, we made a quick pop into carlo's bakery in midtown to grab some treats for ryan since he couldn't come to nyc with us.  he was grateful for the treats!^

love, laurie

while mom and dad are away, leko . . .

. . . convinces his baby sitters to let him in the bath tub, apparently.

while we were away on our cruise to bermuda, two of our friends took turns watching leko.  it's so nice to get away, but it's so hard to leave our fur baby.  luckily our friends texted updates and pictures while we were gone so that we could check up on the status of our little guy.  however, i had to laugh because all of the photos they sent us had one thing in common . . . all of them were pictures of leko in the bathtub!

our one friend knows about leko's bath tub and sink faucet routine.  however, our other friend did not know about it and we never got around to explaining it to her before we left.  when we came back, she told us that he led her to the tub, made her open the shower curtain, and jumped in the tub.  she didn't know what on earth he wanted and she said he just kept staring at the faucet handle.  she knows cats hate water, but he was so insistent that she turned it on for him.  she could not believe her eyes when he started drinking the water and getting soaked.  i didn't know whether to be proud or embarrassed as she told me that story!  too funny.

have a great weekend

love, laurie

a little video from our celebrity summit cruise to bermuda

we had a really great time on our family cruise to bermuda aboard the celebrity summit.  it was fun to sort through all of our photos from our trip and share them last week.  today we wanted to share a little video from our vacation.  i'm glad we were all able to go on another family vacation together and grateful to have these memories!

love, laurie

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you can see more photos from our cruise to bermuda here, here, here, and here

peach festival '17

ryan and i spent the weekend working the peach festival at our local concert pavilion.  the four-day peach festival is a lot like camp bisco which i worked earlier this summer.  we both worked the load in and the load out but had alternating schedules for show call with ryan working the day shift and me working the night shift.  needless to say it was an exhausting schedule with long hours and late nights (or should i say mornings since we technically didn't get out of there until around 4am).

we're both grateful that was the last major multi-day festival for the year and all we have left for the rest of the summer season are single day concerts.  we're hoping to be able to catch up on sleep this week and return to a somewhat normal schedule again!

love, laurie

a low-key birthday

yesterday was ryan's birthday.  we had originally planned to do something fun, but when we woke up in the morning we were both beyond exhausted and not really feeling 100% like ourselves.  we spent the entire weekend working a four-day concert festival and didn't get home until 3am on monday morning.  the long and late hours totally wiped us both out.  we decided to take monday slow in order to bring ourselves back among the living.  i felt bad that we weren't doing something "exciting" since it was ryan's birthday, but a low-key day together was what he wanted and it turned out to be exactly what we both needed.  we did a little shopping and then used some of his birthday coupons to grab something to eat for lunch and dessert.  it was so funny because i think we were both somewhat sleepwalking for most of the day like zombies.  we finished out the evening by opening presents and taking a very slow leisurely walk before coming back home to crash with some popcorn while watching a few shows that had backed up on our dvr.

i didn't even have the strength to dig out my camera, but i did manage to snap a few pictures on my phone.  we're looking forward to celebrating ryan's birthday with our families soon with a slightly more "exciting" party and birthday cake!

love, laurie  

happy birthday, ryan!

a very happy birthday today to this guy who i love beyond measure!

love, laurie

celebrity summit cruise to bermuda: crystal cave

after walking around st. george on our second day in bermuda, we boarded a bus and went to crystal cave.  bermuda is known for its beauty above ground, but it is also known for its incredible caves below ground.

crystal cave was discovered in 1907 and features incredible stalactite and stalagmite formations among a 55-foot deep lake of truly crystal clear water.  walking through the cave, it was hard to fathom that the formations we were looking at started over 30 million years ago!  i have had the opportunity to tour other caves before, but crystal cave was something special.  i'm glad we had the chance to see it while we were in bermuda (despite the fact that we had to wait in line several hours to get in)!

here are some pictures from crystal cave . . .

love, laurie

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you can see more photos from our cruise to bermuda here, here, and here