NYC

Tim watched the girls so my mom and I could take a trip to NYC a few weeks ago!!  

Best. Gift. Ever.

We stayed at the Casablanca Hotel in Times Square - the same place we stayed two years ago.  I love this hotel.  Perfect location, nice rooms and awesome concierge level with a European-style outdoor patio.

And they are always leave this nice "Happy Birthday" wine bottle for my mom.  Her birthday is actually on Christmas, but that's not a good time for us to travel so we celebrate in the summer.

Here are some of the highlights of the trip.

9/11 MEMORIAL MUSEUM
We were so fortunate that the museum had recently opened to the public.  There are no words to describe the experience.  We spent two hours in the museum.  Could have spent longer.  There were tears, but we left feeling proud of our country.

 The pictures above and below show a memorial to those that could not be recovered from Ground Zero.

 All members of Ladder Company 3 were inside the North Tower still heading up to those trapped in the building when the tower collapsed.

 A piece of facade from the North Tower from the floors that were struck by the airplane.

 The slurry wall.  This was built in 1966 for the construction of the World Trade Center to prevent the river water from seeping in and flooding the site.  When the North and South towers collapsed, there was concern that the integrity of the slurry wall may have been compromised, causing flooding.  This would have significantly affected the rescue efforts.  Fortunately, the slurry wall held.  It still freaked me out to be standing so close to it, so vulnerable.  The wall is massive.  You can see the tiny people looking down at the wall in the top left corner of the photo.  Also pictured, the Last Column to be taken down at Ground Zero in the center of the room.

 One of the pools at the 9/11 Memorial.  There were many flowers placed on the ledges.

The outside of the the 9/11 Memorial Museum

BROADWAY
I cannot stop singing Carole King's songs.  This musical was the best I've seen in a long time, possibly in my Top 5 (along with Wicked, Book of Mormon, Jersey Boys and The Lion King).

We also saw Kinky Boots.  It was fun and had some good music.

BRUNCH
Hands down this is my favorite meal of the day to enjoy in NYC.  There are so many delicious restaurants to choose from.  

Rock Center Cafe at Rockefeller Center

Some of my other favorite brunch spots in NYC are Norma's at Le Parker Meridian, Bouchon at Columbus Circle, Sarabeth's and Junior's in Times Square.

TREATS
There is no better place to abandon my sugar-free diet for a few days than NYC.  I have died and gone to Treat Heaven.  Here are some of the best.

Levain Bakery
We bought 26 cookies on our way to the airport before heading home.  We didn't mess around this time.  I had to see if my attempt at making the Levain Chocolate Chip Walnut cookie was at all close to the original.  Here's the real deal:

Oh my sweet goodness...

And here's my attempt:

I purposefully made mine smaller because it's hard to justify eating an 8 oz cookie in one sitting.  My cookies were about 4-5 oz each but not too shabby for my first attempt!  I just have to figure out how to not let them spread as much so their more chubby.

Chelsea Market
There were so many delicious bakeries to choose from.  We ended up going with Ruthy's and she didn't disappoint!

 Mom loved the cannoli! 

Farmers Markets
We stopped by one of the farmers markets in my old neighborhood to see if my favorite baked goods from Meredith's Bread were still there.  The sweet breads are the best!

Happy birthday Mom!  xoxoxo

PS - My mom and I saw the Lambert Airport STL 250 cake by the American Airlines ticket counter, but we were racing to our gate so I didn't get a chance to take a picture by it.  None-the-less, I'm still counting it toward my cake total.

STL 250 Cake Quest - Webster Groves

We all knew our days with temperatures in the 70s and low 80s were numbered.  July in St. Louis is notoriously hot and humid.  Today St. Louis showed its true colors with a high of 95 degrees and lots of humidity.  It was the perfect day to find the five STL 250 cakes in Webster Groves, ending our journey at Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream.  Click here to download a PDF file of the map below.

We started out at the Reperatory Theatre of St. Louis.  

 This one was a little tricky to find.  You need to park in the parking lot attached to the brown and white building and walk toward the Administrative Office.  It's right outside the office.

I had never been to this area before and the grounds were beautiful.  Here are some pictures just outside the office.

Thee Imaginary Theatre Company at the Rep performs 3 productions on tour at schools, libraries and community centers throughout the bi-state St. Louis area October through April.  Check out their website for more info.

Next we walked over to the Webster University cake.  It was on Garden Avenue right outside the book store and parking garage.  Everything around the school is beautifully landscaped.

It was pretty hot outside so we decided to get our car and drive over to the Opera Theatre of St. Louis (although this is easily walkable from the University Book Store if your kids aren't complaining about the heat and wanting to be carried).

There was a pretty fountain and courtyard in front of the building.

Our last stop (and the reward for the kids) was Serendipity Homemade Ice Cream.

Tim got a scoop of the Salted Caramel and I got a scoop of  the Gooey Butter Cake.  They were both very good, but Ava made the best choice.  She got a scoop of the Gold Coast Chocolate - it was amazing!  You have to at least ask to try it if you go.

As we headed home we passed The College School.  I just assumed it was another college, but it's actually an independent preschool - 8th grade school.

The kids had had enough of finding cakes so I hopped out of the car to take some pictures.

It was nice that they had a sign next to their cake describing their school.  Too bad they have a spelling error!!  I think it's spelled "buses" not "busses".  Oops!

This is their bus that they talk about in the above sign. They have a green house attached to their school too.  Looks like a great school!

Happy cake hunting!

PS - Click here if you want to see some of our other STL 250 Cake Quests.

STL 250 Cake Quest - Chesterfield

Like many people in St. Louis, the girls and I are spending our summer in search of STL 250 cakes.  I looked over the list and identified about 80 cakes/locations that I was interested in seeing. The first stop on Tour de Cakes...Chesterfield!

Click here for a PDF version of this map.

So far we've visited 4 locations on the map (A-D) in 2 days.  Here are some pictures from the locations.

DAY 1

Bonhomme Old Stone Church (D) 

Sidney's preschool's old church has a cake!

Butterfly House at Faust Park (C)

We stopped by the playground and the Carousel before we left.

There are 19 gnomes hidden among the butterflies.

Faust Park Playground

Clara loves carousels.  They are a must.

DAY 2

 Spirit of St. Louis Airport (A)

We stuck around to see a couple of planes taking off.

Old US Air Force plane out front

 Kemp Auto Museum (B)

Yes, Sidney is posing with a pastry brush.  She's been carrying it around for days.

Now on to our next cake adventure - Forest Park!

PS - Click here if you want to see some of our other STL 250 Cake Quests.

Garden Stepping Stone

Our little garden is really coming along thanks to Tim.  I think he may be addicted.  He has me running all over town looking for pots because he's run out of space to plant in the garden.  So far we've harvested a LOT of lettuce, herbs, radishes and string beans.  The cucumbers are starting to come in as well as the sugar snap peas.

I found this cute stepping stone kit on clearance at Hobby Lobby and thought it would be a fun project to do with the girls.  It came with everything I needed except the photos (of course) and a pencil, which I used to make the flower petals.  Since our garden is technically located at my brothers house, I included pictures of my kids as well as both of my brothers' kids in the stepping stone to make it a family garden.

If you want to make your own stepping stone, click here for an easy tutorial.

A couple years ago we made these cute little ladybugs using smooth, black rocks and paint pens.  They've been sitting in my desk all this time.  I thought the garden was a better place to enjoy them.

Hopefully, as we harvest more food from the garden, the girls will be excited to try some new foods.  And if they do, they can record it in their Summer Food Passports!

Summer Food Passport

Our Summer Family Fun Passports were such a big hit with the girls that I decided to make Summer Food Passports for them.

As Ralphie said in A Christmas Story, "Every family has a kid who won't eat."  We have Sidney.  I'm hoping that this activity will encourage her to try some new foods.  So far she has tried grilled chicken, pineapple and spaghetti with pasta sauce!

On the inside the kids record what they ate, where they ate it and when they ate it. And then they draw of picture of the food they ate.  Click here to see how to put together the book.

Click here to download the Summer Food Passport!