What a week - Sparta Cup Tournament

 This week has kept us really busy!  Brett begins this Summer with a new soccer season and a new team (advancing in rank). He has been busy training, coaching and teaching them how to work together to succeed... and that's a tough task with a bunch of 9 year old boys, most of who have never worked together before.  He has seen the team coming together and prepare for their first real game of the soccer season - A tournament no less!  We fought hard for 3 days advancing to take first place in the semi finals and on to the finals.  The boys brought home the silver medal for second place, and although you could see the sadness in their eyes, they've come a long way and learned alot.  Here are a few shots...

McKaleigh's Graduation Trip NYC

 Wow, What a week!  First a little background.  When our children begin school in kindergarten, we take them on a trip (just with mom and dad) and we do the same thing when they graduate (just with mom and dad).  They have the choice - anywhere within the U.S. or a cruise. McKaleigh chose NYC, and had a long bucketlist of things she wanted to see and do while she was there - and we managed to cover them all ( The MET, The Natural History Museum, 9/11, The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Yankees Game, China Town, Little Italy, Times Square, The Cloisters Museum, Central Park, NYC Thrifting, Grand Central Station, The Empire State Building, Epic new foods, Broadway, The Highline, The Strand).  Here is our first day - a little weary from all of the travel...We found some good food and walked up to Central Park - saw some of the sights and a castle that she had on her list.

 We were so very lucky that Brett was able to get a hotel right in Times Square - lots of hustle and bustle and the noise was neverending!

 We spent an entire day at the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the 9/11 Memorial - a few tears were shed.

Here is a picture at the 9/11 memorial - all of the names carved into the stone around the never ending pool

 And at the survivor tree - the one with the ribbons on it in the background. It was the only tree to survive the catastrophe.  It was super emotional and if you stay and think about it too long - you just sob!

 We took lots of pictures at the Museum of Natural History - but this one is my favorite!  We kept the old girl superbusy!

 We also trekked across town to see The Cloisters exhibit - its an old castle with the famous Unicorn tapestries!  I love them so much - and it sits in an old castle type building overlooking the river and is quiet and peaceful!

 I had not heard of Bansky - but apparently he is a famous spray painter who paints random images all over NYC.  If you happen to have one near your business or notice one - it's important to try and preserve it so it doesn't get ruined - we ran across this one in our travels.

 OF COURSE we had to eat at Serendipity!  It was so good - and such a fun place to share together!

 Here she is, all gussied up to see Les Miserables.  It was amazing!  McKaleigh knows the whole play and all of the songs.  It was so much better than I thought ( I bawled ) and Brett agreed it was a pretty good choice - if we couldn't get into Hamilton! We joined the Lottery every day and stood in the sun for 2 hours to here a 4 minute song...Hopefully she can see it when it comes to Utah!

 Here's what we got to see after 2 hours - the Main lead and Hamilton writer introduce his replacement and sing 1 song...

 In Central Park there were so many statues that McKaleigh knew about and wanted to visit...

 The MET was McKaleigh's overall favorite place...We covered a good portion of it in a day - but you just can's see it all - It's so big and holds so many wonderful artifacts!  Here are a couple favorites - Egypt and the Monet paintings...

 I feel so fortunate that we are able to provide these experiences for our children. McKaleigh chose such a wonderful destination  - so fitting for her personality!  As parents, we are lucky to have a daughter that appreciates beauty, art, history and the world we live in. It was a great trip...and one of the few we have left with her!