Priceless

SADIE FOR SALE. I know everyone thinks that their own kid is the cutest. I am no different I adore the things Sadie says and does all the time. I notice the little things that only a parent would. But, seriously this kid can be a show stopper. Whenever Sadie is going down the street she is always looking at all the people, she is quick to throw out a friendly wave, a finger point, and even a "hi" or "bye bye". Complete strangers do double takes at her, stop to say hello and tell her how cute she is. She is a friend to the friendless (she sees the lonely guy on the bench and twists her head to get their attention and almost always gets a smile in return).

Please ignore me in all of these pictures, if I could crop myself out I would've.

Sadie is such a sport when we drag her around and stop at places that are really no fun for her. She is getting creative and finding ways to entertain herself and other strangers too. She snuck up here and was totally hamming it up for everyone walking by. It was hilarous to watch (so funny I told Ryan to go snap a few of our adorable little manequin). People were snapping pictures and taking video of her. She didn't disappoint and put on her best show.

Including giving high fives.


Blowing kisses.

And that's all folks, shows over.

I love baseball too!

Since I met Ryan I have known that he LOVES baseball, it is one of his passions. His parents both love the game, and even played together back in the day. Ryan's dad played on a mens leauge team, so the family spent some summers travelling around to cheer him on. Ryan played it growing up, his summers were devoted to baseball games, practices, and tournaments. I knew this is what I married when we were dating we went to Trappers games in Edmonton. I pretended to love the game but knew I was loving him and the treats more. After we were married he joined a mens team and had one last season of playing the game. I was fun to watch him play and it didn't hurt that the team was really good. They won Nationals that summer. I'm glad they did so well, so he could bid farwell to his days of playing baseball. It was exhausting and time consuming he played a LOT of games and tournaments and of course practices. He loves watching the games on T.V. Of course loves going to the games LIVE. We all had a great time at the game. Ryan would give a better run down of what an amazing game it was. Here is what and how I remember it. Ride on the subway, I was feeling the excitement already. Food at the game ridiculously expensive, but good and all part of the expereience. There were a couple of homeruns hit. There was an in the park home run. Johnny Damon got kicked out of the game. 7th inning stretch was all that I hoped it would be. A -Rod was back & everyone was loving him. Cheering for the Yankees was so so fun. Yankees were down the entire game, but I kept on cheering and holding out hope that they would pull off a win. In the 9th inning they came through, it was awesome. I LOVED it! I was high fiving the strangers in front of us and truly felt like a part of New York!!

Everyone was having a good time and good laughs at the game.

Ryan cheered for the Twins and I cheered for the Yankees. It was amazing I'd do it all over again. Just for the high at the end of the game when the last run was scored and the music starts and Frank Sinatra sings New York, New York I want to be a part of it.... At the start of the game I probably would have said I don't really care who wins, if Twins win Ryan's happy, if Yankees win the home crowd is happy. As long as I'm living here I'm cheering for the Yankees, & I don't care. I think that is why they have so many fans anyway.

Nana & Grandpa

I'm just doing some catch up. Ryan's family was here for a visit last week. Sadie definetly liked having these visitors around. Sadie got loads of attention from her Nana & Grandpa Tilleman. It was fun to have them around and I think they had a good time discovering the city, even when we weren't with them.

I love Sadie acting so big and showing them the way in the city.

I also loved having them visit, we went out mulitple nights without Sadie. Carrie stayed home with Sadie one night, so the rest of us could go out to the baseball game. It was so much fun. Thank you Carrie!

Ryan's parents both love baseball, so I guess I can partially blame them for Ryan's obsession/love of the game. We were happy that we all went to one together, what a fun night. Ryan & Eric went to a Met's game one night too.

Carrie & I in Central Park.
One night we had a girls night out and went and saw Jersey Boys. We love, love, loved it. The music and singing were amazing. After the show we hit the streets and the crowds and went to Juniors from some delicious cheesecake. Thanks for the night out girls, and thanks to the boys for staying in.

Sadie & Grandpa, Grandpa & Sadie. These 2 just go together. Sadie is totally drawn to her Grandpa. There are many possible reasons that she adores her Grandpa. It could be that he seems to have endless treats for her, or that he will follow her around anywhere, he is always looking out for her, he has yet to say no to any of her requests, will "go" with her outside or the hallways whenevever she wants, will carry her, walk with her and just adore her. You get the picture she loves him, he loves her. She pretty much has him wrapped around her little finger.

If Sadie could actually remember anything from right now, this might be it. She was in heaven just laughing and having the best time. When the Tillemans left Ryan & Sadie walked with them downstairs to say good bye. Sadie didn't know she was going to be saying good-bye so it was a tearful one for her. She always misses the visitors the next day when she wakes up and sees all this empty space and no one but Ryan & I.... boring I know.

Keeping Cool

I have heard the weather updates from friends & family back in Alberta. Not once did I think we were missing out on a thing. It has been gorgeous here, and we are loving being outside everyday. Today was hot again so on our way home from the park we stopped at the fountains in Columbus Circle to cool off. It felt great! You know its hot here when before 11:00 you have multiple sightings of bikinis and guys shirts off. We opted to keep our clothes on and just get wet.

So I guess the old saying; "if you don't like the weather in Alberta, just wait 5 minutes" isn't holding true as of lately. While I've been here I've learned my own about New York "if you don't like the smell (there are many nasty ones) just walk 10 steps."

5 Years!

It was 5 short short years ago on May 1st that Ryan & I got married. Really where has all the time gone. It has totally flown by and sometimes seems like a blur. It is so fun to remember our first years together and how our lives have changed and we keep moving forward.

5 Years was a BIG deal to celebrate for a few reasons. The really big one was just getting out just the 2 of us. It was amazing to have a night to ourselves. We took the subway down to the meatpacking district and went to a really great restaurant called the Spice Market. We ate sooo much. We wandered around a bit after dinner and it was such nice night out so we decided to make the walk back (a mere 40 blocks should work off at least the dessert) to our area. We stopped to see the action of Times Square and then back to our apartment.

I am so lucky to have Ryan in my life. He is an amazing husband and a great dad. He has so many really great qualities. He makes me want to be a better wife, mom and person. When we are together as a family I think our life is complete and perfect. Not a day goes by that I don't want to spend together with him and Sadie too. So happy to be married to this guy!

It was so fabulous to spend our 5th anniversary together in New York. Who knew way back when we got married that we would ever end up here. I am so blessed in so many ways. I have to say THANK YOU to Ryan's parents who babysat Sadie so we could go out! To 5 fabulous years and many many more.

Top Of The Rock

Ahhhh, I just uploaded these pictures backwards, and can't change it. So, here I go in reverse order. Here is me at the end of Mothers Day enjoying a red velvet cupcake from my sweet husband (who thinks it is much better to eat something beautiful and delicious then to stare at at some beautiful sweet smelling flowers). New York has so many delicious bakeries. I'm pretty sure it's not just my sweet tooth self that notices one like every half a block, and I can't resist.
Here is Sadie at supper a true Canadian making her own ketchup chips. It seems these days in New York she can get away with just about anything. As long as she is happy, the rest of us are 2, so whatever it takes, we give.

I forgot that I haven't seen a real sunset in quite a while, or even a star in the sky for that matter. I didn't really notice because I am surrounded by so many other amazing things in the city.

On Mothers Day we went to the Top of the Rock (Centre of the Universe as they refer to it). So here I am with on top of the world with my 2 favorites! Lucky me!

We got a great view of the Empire State Building and the gazillion other buildings here. It is a really amazing site to see and to try to grasp how big this city is and all the people living here. So many of the buildings here have such a cool story and history to them too.

Here we are again Top of the Rock with a view of our backyard (Central Park) -that we share with the million other people in the city.

Here is Central Park. It has got to be one of my favorite things that this city offers. I don't think I could ever get sick of it, EVER! Sadie & I go there all the time and we just love it. There is so much to see and do and discover.

Sadie checking out the city.

I can't believe how big this girl is getting. I can't think of a better girl to push around New York City. She LOVES everybody she sees on the streets and they think she is pretty cute too!

Here Sadie and I are on Mothers Day, just me and my girl that I love. I love being a mom. It really is the greatest thing in my life. I still have a lot to learn about being a mom, and I'm sure I always will. Being a mom is so great because I can honestly say it is probably the hardest and most rewarding thing I will ever do. What an awesome responsibility being a mom is. I love watching Sadie learn, grow and love.

I can't lie being a New York mom isn't just a walk in the park. I knew things would be different here for our little family and I have had moments when I wished I could do it the easy and convenient way. For the most part we are just rolling with things here and really loving this little adventure for now.

More Girls, More Fun

Last weekend Ryan had to head back to Canada for the week. I knew this was coming and I knew that New York was too big of city for Sadie & I to be just the 2 of us in.... boring. So we had some friends come and join us. We couldn't have been happier, and had more fun. One of my best friends Abby came out to visit. I LOVE this girl. We have known each other forever now. We've lived together, road tripped together, done some of the craziest fun things together, no matter what we do together it is F.U.N and memorable!
Abby is due with her first baby (girl) at the end of June. Being this preggo did not stop us from seeing the sights of New York. I still can't believe how much walking she did and seriously never complained, we just loved checking out everything we possibly could together.

We totally hit up some Broadway shows. One night we managed to get my cousin Jason (quite possibly my fav cousin now) to come up from Jersey to babysit Sadie, while we went out. We saw Billy Elliot, which was AMAZING. The dancing, choreography, the music, and the singing were all fabulous. After the show we stopped at Roxys to pick up some cheesecake to bring home. We were cruising down Broadway just chatting and reliving the great moments of the show (the gay friend was a serious show stealer.. no surprise), and just relishing in our Broadway high, when all of the sudden pitter patter, it started raining. We turned the corner and tried to pick up our pace (picture a pregnant lady trying to run faster is very funny) in seconds it was a serious DOWN POUR of rain. We were only 2 blocks from home so we had to just run for it. All of the sudden it was like we stopped getting wet and the sweetest man had come to our rescue with his big umbrella. Our conversation went like this: "THANK YOU, THANK YOU so much. We had no idea it was going to rain, we didn't even think to bring our umbrella." Man: "yea, me neither till 5 minutes ago when I bought this" Us: "You have no idea how glad we are you came, thank you, thank you" man: "don't worry, it won't rain all the time" he walked us right to our apartment. New Yorkers are some of the nicest people around.
I cannot tell you how many times someone offered up a seat for Abby, or me(with Sadie) in the subway. There have been so many men and even some women offer to help carry Sadie in her stroller up the stairs at the subway stations. We even took them up on it, how awesome is it to see 2 young strong men carry Sadie & her stroller up the steps and we just followed behind. It makes me smile just thinking about it.

Ellie, another best friend took the plunge and made the trip up here too. I'm so glad she did. It was a BIG deal for her to come and to her to leave her little 1 year old girl behind (who she hasn't left for more than a few hours). I'm going to have to try this sometime soon with Sadie. I know it was worth it for her because there were only a few phone calls home and NO tears of missing Elizabeth. Yeah, for Sadie she was cute enough for Ellie to get her fill of cute little girls, and New York was amazing enough to distract her from her little girl and hubby at home.

Our trip across Brooklyn Bridge. Their last day I managed to get a Sadie free day and we went to SOHO and Chinatown. Soho was fun, cute, and trendy, almost too trendy. We walked in and out of this store that is supposed to be all the rage, and we just left reminiscing about all the sweet styles of the 80's and not sure we can embrace the jean jumpsuits, florescent, acid wash all over again. I'm telling ya it's totally coming back. Chinatown was hilarious, what an experience. We wanted to get some purses. The first shop we walk in and look at a few and then 2 seconds later the lady is saying "you open too many, no good, out, no good customer," then she literally pushed Abby out. There were tons of people whispering, "handbags, coach, prada, gucci" then if you look at them they are like follow me....down the street, round the corner, down the street, and into a basement, then you will see purses. It was funny at first, and then annoying to walk all that way. So Abby with child would just stop and say "how far?" Sometimes they would just show us pictures and then grab it away when they saw something suspicious. After a couple of not good enough knock offs we hit the jackpot. We all walked away with at least a purse, and couldn't have been happier about it. We are pretty sure we worked they guy for a sweet deal.

We took the ferry out to Staten Island to see the Statue of Liberty, Sadie is clearly not interested.

The Naked Cowboy in Times Square. I have heard of this guy, he is famous around here. This is my first encounter with him, I'm glad Abby was with me to feel his soft skin and share a butt grab from him.

We went to Brooklyn to the Botanical Gardens, it was so AMAZING. I felt like I left the city, and it was truly awesome to take continuous breaths of FRESH air. The Cherry Blossoms trees were perfect, the pictures don't do them justice. We couldn't get enough of them. The blossoms had just bloomed and were literally falling while we were there, a bit of heaven I think so.

Our last night we hit up just one more Broadway show, The Little Mermaid. It was so fun and very cool effects. I had to send them off to see In the Heights on Broadway, because it is my favorite Broadway show, it did not disappoint, they loved it.

Looking at rainy times square still makes me love it, I swear I can feel the energy from this picture. Normally when it's rainy, I just spend the day inside, but with Abby here that was not an option. I'm so glad experiencing the rain in New York is all part of the experience, and it wasn't that bad. Although when Ellie was here we did have a bad encounter with rain. We came out of the Met and felt like 2 drops of rain, we were prepared so we started putting on our jackets, and covering Sadie and getting our umbrellas. Before our umbrellas were even open the wind came up and the rain came DOWN. It was crazy, we saw a bus and tried to make the run all 10 steps but for some reason we missed it, so we waited 10 seconds saw one more stop and jumped on to get out of the rain. Where the bus was going hardly mattered at that point. I can't believe how soaking wet we got, it was ridiculous.

I love Girls Trips! I am soo glad that Abby & Ellie made it it out here. What would I do without you girls. Love you. A shout out to Jen, who is normally a part of our girls trips. We wish didn't have to be so responsible and work, sheesh.

I am realizing I have taken a lot of pictures since we have been here so after a request from my dad I started a flikr account and it is super easy to upload lots of photos there. So for our real big fans you can check out more here.

I heart NY

Oh my HECK. I don't even know where to begin. I sit at my computer once again feeling overwhelmed at the thought of blogging. How do I put into words what an amazing time we all had together. We saw tons of the city, ate some great foods, walked our butts off, then we ate more, followed by more walking, we laughed (not just at my mom), we got lost (I mean I took the long way to get there just once), we shopped, saw some amazing Broadway shows, they probably had some of their most uncomfortable sleeps (I think it was worth it though, right girls?)

First night we went out to Patsy's Pizza for some amazing NY pizza.

We were pretty pumped for the pizza. We were not disappointed.

Then we went to Serendipity 3. It was pretty much heaven for my eyes and my stomach. I'd say it would be hell for the waistline, but when you walk like 2 miles on your way there, it's all guilt free. We just ordered the most delectable desserts, that were all so delicious. I think for the first time in my life we walked away from unfinished desserts, it was painful. I miss you frozen hot chocolate and chocolate cake sundae....
Yumm!

The Rockefeller Center



Times Square

Pictures really don't do this place justice. If only you could see and smell then you've experienced New York.



Top of the Empire State Building

So here is the scoop on this famous attraction. First of all I got confused with all the big buildings surrounding me. So instead of continuing to follow my step by step navigation, I ditched them and suddenly Lindsay & I were thinking the Chrysler Building was the Empire State Building. So we took a slight detour. We got to the Empire State Building and got in line and passed on the express pass (we should have taken this) Anyway we waited in line for quite sometime. I have to add in what a trooper Sadie was (sure we pushed, carried, and played with her) she was like a little angel just waiting in line. She was pretty amazing everyday as we tried to see as much as possible here. The view was amazing.

One of the views from the top.

Grand Central Station

A little insider tip: check out the whispering wall. You can talk or sing right into the wall and it travels to the opposite corner.

Staten Island Ferry Ride

Not a great picture -but can you see Lady Liberty in between Lindsay & I.

Statue of Liberty

Brooklyn Bridge

Subway- tired or the lingering smell of Chinatown and the subway ewww

One day we left Sadie with Ryan, so we could go go go. I have to say how awesome he was to meet us everyday after work and take Sadie home and put her to bed, so we could go and play more. So we had no Sadie to hold us up, so we packed our day super full. When we got to the subway it hit the girls. To quote Lindsay "If there is no seats in the subway I'm sitting on the floor." Lindsay totally wimped out by the end of the day. I won't lie we definitely did a lot of walking but I had to play the tour guide role (plus I'm kind of a New Yorker now right? I walk EVERYWHERE)

Stardust Diner on Broadway

This place was awesome to take Sadie to, because she was so entertained by the singing servers (aspiring actors and actresses). It was nice to enjoy my meal and the company and watch the people around us ohh and ahhh at Sadie and pay more attention to her than I was.

Sadie in Central Park

A solo shot for Sadie

The Girls in Central Park (on our way home from church)
Bethesda Terrace

FAO Schwartz

Trying to join the Hogwart family.

There are more pictures to see and stories to share, but that is all I will do for now.

I must add that we saw Wicked, and we were on a Broadway high after the show. Then we saw In the Heights and it happened all over again. The shows were AMAZING!

Also, the weather the whole time they were here was fabulous.

I don't think we could have had more fun. It was the ultimate girls trip in NY. I am so glad my mom and sisters could come out to visit.

"It is like a once in a lifetime experience" - Mom